After a hand injury shortened his time on The Ultimate Fighter’s 11th season, Rich Attonito made the most of his opportunity to fight in the season finale. After defeating the season’s villain, Jamie Yager by second round TKO, he had earned himself a spot on the UFC roster.
Attonito started out going 2-0 in the UFC before losing his last out against Dave Branch via a decisive unanimous decision. While the loss didn’t necessarily prompt the move, Attonito decided to drop weight (15 lbs.) and move to the welterweight division.
“I’d been considering the move down for a long time and the timing was just right. I feel better than I ever have at this weight,” explained Attonito.
The drop in weight shouldn’t surprise many when you consider that Attonito trains at American Top Team, down in Coconut Creek, Florida. With such fighters as Thiago Alves and Gleison Tibau who notoriously cut a tremendous amount of weight, they practically wrote the book on MMA weight cutting.
“Expect a very physically dominate, aggressive, welterweight. I’m physically in great shape and everyone should expect to me to showcase parts of my talents that I haven’t been able to showcase in my other fights. Being lighter in my training, my speed and endurance has improved significantly,” says Attonito, explaining what fans can expect to see at the new weight class.
Attonito will unveil the new and improved “Rich Attonito” at UFC Live: Marquardt vs. Story on June 25th against Daniel Roberts. Originally schedule to face Matt Brown, the card was shuffled just under three weeks before the event, due to injury. The late replacement, especially one with a completely different skill set could cause problems, but Attonito isn’t worried.
“I went from fighting a right-handed striker to a wrestler, so we made an adjustment to the training game plan. I train hard every day and focus on all around MMA so I’m always prepared for anything; this is what I signed up for,” he explained.
The Rich Attonito vs. Daniel Roberts bout will be part of the nights eight fight undercard that will also include two other fighters making their UFC debut at a lower weight class.
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“Thanks for the interview and thank you so much to my fans and supporters. Special thanks to ATT and ML Management, Andre and Tina, and all my coaches and trainers.”
