UFC 140's Claude Patrick Talks Fighting in Canada, Training with "Blackzilians"

On Saturday night, Claude Patrick (14-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) puts his perfect mark inside the Octagon on the line against Brian Ebersole (48-14-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC).

Patrick, who is currently on a 13-fight win streak dating back to 2002, has won three consecutive bouts in the sport’s premier organization and meets Ebersole as part of UFC 140’s pay-per-view broadcast.

UFC 140 takes place at Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and in preparation for Ebersole “The Prince” spent considerable time training in Florida with the "Blackzilians." He’s not only pleased with the results, he’s also pleased that the fight takes place in his home country of Canada.

“It’s definitely nice not having to travel, knowing the lay of the land for before and after the fight and exactly where I’ll be for everything I need comes in quite handy,” Patrick recently told BleacherReport.com. “So, it’s a nice change having being my entire career before I was the away guy I think it’s a well deserved change.”

Speaking of changes, Patrick was originally slated to face “TUF 11” competitor Rich Attonito and Ebersole was slated to face Rory MacDonald, but injuries sustained to both fighters put a halt to the fights.

For Patrick the change in opponents came as no surprise because he felt all along that Attonito wasn’t who he’d be facing on December, 10. With Attonito out and Ebersole in, Patrick now competes on the televised pay-per-view main card.

 “It’s cool to be on the main card obviously,” Patrick said. “I previously fought James Wilks and that was supposed to be on the main card I think and it was removed. So, that was a little bit disappointing, but I’m lucky and very fortunate about the opportunity to face Brian in the upcoming fight. My original opponent was supposed to be Rich Attonito, but I knew for some reason I wouldn’t be fighting him and by chance Brian’s a guy I’ve been watching before that. So, it’s pretty ironic I get his name instead.”

With that being said, Patrick’s compiled an impressive record without the assistance of a “one-stop shop for training."

However, that’s all changed now as Patrick’s a part of Team Jaco and the Blackzilians in Florida, which is led by coach Mike Van Arsdale and features world class training partners Rashad Evans, Anthony Johnson, Tyrone Spong and a host of others.

Having those gentlemen alongside him for his fourth Octagon appearance has been extremely beneficial and Patrick feels blessed to be a part of the team:

There’s quite a few guys there, many people that aren’t really known by the general public yet,” Patrick said. “Team Jaco is pretty new there but at the same time, I’m a guy who’s been in the game for some time now so I’m not new by any stretch. Having been located where I do in Ontario and MMA wasn’t legal here for a long time, I haven’t had that opportunity to really kind of have a core structure, you kind of get together with guys and train and do what you can do.

I think probably my proudest accomplishment is that I’ve been able to do fairly well with very little. So, I might be the guy who’s done the best with the very least or one of them so now when I go down there it’s a one-stop shop for training. You’ve got great strikers, jiu-jitsu guys, conditioning, everything in one spot, (and) great management. It’s just kind of like, wow. The training partners are a great blessing and I’m really happy to be a part of that team. I think that’s going to show some good results in the near future.

Joshua Carey is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained first-hand.

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