Neil Magny (26-9, 10 finishes) will make his 28th walk to the octagon when he takes on fellow welterweight Daniel Rodriguez (17-2, 12 finishes) on the UFC Fight Night main card Saturday (7 p.m., ESPN+) at UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The Army veteran recently spoke with The Post’s Scott Fontana via Zoom for this week’s Post Fight Interview.
Q: You were once a Brooklyn kid way back, right?
A: I was born and raised in Brooklyn until right around middle school, high school.
Q: What was life like for you in New York?
A: Different, for sure. Growing up in New York, my mom was a single mom, and I had five siblings. So we pretty much bounced all over Brooklyn. I lived in Flatbush, Canarsie, Bushwick. I was living all over Brooklyn growing up as a kid. And right around middle school, high school range, that’s when my grandmother decided to try to help my mom raise us. She was able to move us out to Illinois and have me go to school there for a bit.
Q: Do you have any fond memories of your time growing up in Brooklyn?
A: Just the normal things that Brooklyn kids do growing up. I remember the summer block parties, that kind of thing. Being on a stoop all day long, no particular place to go, just kind of hanging out there, the old milk crate on a tree for a basketball hoop type of thing (laughs). Just your basic Brooklyn memories growing up as a kid. Nothing too crazy or anything like that..
Q: A win this Saturday breaks a tie with Georges St-Pierre for most all-time at welterweight. You already passed him in total fight time at 170. What does it mean personally to be in the same company as a great champion like him?
A: Man, it’s great. … The only thing that’s within my control is my consistency and how hard I’m able to work. And being able to be recognized [with] George St-Pierre for the most amount of wins in the welterweight division, that’s just a testimony to my hard work in the sport.
Q: You’re starting to trend toward chasing the all-time UFC fights record — currently held by Jim Miller and climbing. Is that something you might chase?
A: Yeah, for sure. Any way to get into history books with the UFC, I’m all for it. If it means the most amount of wins out there, sign me up. I’ll get there one way or the other. So anything that gets me recognized with some of the great guys that came before me in this sport, I’m all for it. Leave my mark where I can.
Q: You had missed out on that chance last time out against Shavkat Rakhmonov in June. A lot of people think he has championship upside. You’ve beaten three former UFC champions in your career; what’s your read on him now that you’ve been in there with him?
A: Not to take anything away from the guy — he’s definitely a great competitor. He has a very well-rounded skill set, and he definitely showed it in [my] fight against him. I definitely do think he’d be up there with the contenders in the UFC. … The guy’s a very good grappler. He’s a very decent striker, and he has good wrestling, and those are all the tools you need to make a great fighter, so to speak. So he definitely possesses those skill sets. And he’s gonna do great things in this sport with that. But, with that being said, I’m really bitter about that fight still (laughs). With all the fights in the UFC, I’ve yet to earn a rematch. That’s definitely a rematch that’s burning me to go out there and earn.
Q: You’re next facing Rodriguez, a fight that was supposed to take place a few weeks ago but was postponed by his injury. How does a change like that affect your preparation for a fight?
A: Honestly, for this one, it played out very well for me. I had a teammate that was struggling with a lot of things. He had a very tragic situation in his family where he ultimately lost his brother. And he was supposed to be fighting the same week that I was, and because of all the circumstances, it would be very difficult for other teammates and coaches to make it out to his fight. So [when] my fight got pulled back, I was excited. I was like, “Wait, my fight’s postponed; it’s not canceled? I’m all for it.” So I was super excited to go out there and support my teammate. I Immediately got on the phone with UFC and booked the flight to go out to Iowa for my teammate, and it worked out great. He was able to go out there and get the win, and I was able to be there to support him, physically and mentally, throughout it all. So I feel like it worked out exactly how it’s supposed to. And with that being said, also the fact that I was going out there to support him, it kind of forced me to be away from the gym and not overtrain myself. Kind of gave me the necessary break I needed, with the fight getting pushed back an additional three weeks.
Q: He’s coming off the split decision win over Li Jingliang, which a lot of people felt The Leech had won. Do you have any thoughts on that fight and the decision?
A: That’s one of those things. It’s always a toss up to see how a judge is gonna weigh in on a fight. If you watch a total fight, it’s easy to say, “OK, cool. That guy won that fight in particular.” But when it comes to MMA, the fight is broken down amongst individual rounds, so it all boils down to what the judges saw in each particular round that made him reward the decision one way or the other. In my personal opinion, overall, I thought The Leech did enough to win the fight. But for my own personal selfish reasons, I was excited to get a new opponent because I knew following that decision win that he’ll be ranked come Tuesday morning. So I was like, “Oh sweet, a new face in the top 15. A new opponent for me.” I didn’t realize that the opponent would come back quickly, but I was excited to have some fresh blood, so to speak, in the waters.
Q: Do you recall your first experience watching MMA?
A: I remember being in high school, about a sophomore or so, and it was when Matt Hughes and Rich Franklin were coaching “The Ultimate Fighter.” Then I was like, Man, this is kind of cool. I really like this. But at the time, it wasn’t super mainstream where it was anywhere you can go to train mixed martial arts in particular. There were some places here and there for Taekwondo or karate or that kind of thing. But as far as the overall game of mixed martial arts, or jiu-jitsu or kickboxing, it was very rare to find. So it wasn’t until my junior year, going into my senior year, my football coach actually got us a membership for a local gym to keep in shape in the summer. And at that time, Miguel Torres was actually renting studio space from that gym to run his martial arts program. And I remember walking in there the first time, just kind of looking over like, “Huh, this is kind of cool. What are those guys doing there?” But at the time, I was just like, Whatever, I’ll let them do their thing. I can’t afford it. I can’t go there and just ask for lessons. My buddies would wait, so after training, we sneak onto the mat area and grab the boxing gloves, go mess around, and that kind of thing. We did that for probably a good month or so. And finally, after a while I’m like, You know what, screw it, I’m gonna see what it’s gonna cost to go in there. I’m gonna wait till Miguel shows up and try to have a conversation and see if I can train. And as soon as I saw him, I’m like “Hey, man, I’m really interested in what you guys are doing here. I kind of know what mixed martial arts is; I kind of know what jiu-jitsu is, but I want to get a more in-depth feel of what this sport actually is and what it entails. And he said, “Have you trained before?” Like, “No, I’ve wrestled in high school, but that’s about it.” And he’s like, “OK, cool. Go buy a mouth guard, get a cup and meet me here tomorrow.” And sure enough, I go home like, well, I‘ve got a cup. I don’t have a mouth guard. Maybe they’ll let me train anyway. So I just show up the next day like, “OK, I got what I need. Let’s go. I’m ready to train.” And my very first training session was actually sparring with Miguel Torres, and he goes and cracks me right in the teeth with a jab to the point that he actually chipped my tooth. And I was like, “Huh, this feels weird, but in a weird way, I like it. I want to keep doing it.” And that was my first intro to mixed martial arts in general, getting an opportunity to train with Miguel Torres as a 17-year-old kid.
Q: Typical walkaround weight between fights?
A: Between 185 and 190 [pounds]. If I’m not training, I’m not really like watching what I eat, I may get close to 195 or so.
Q: Typical weight on fight night?
A: Same. [On] fight night, I usually weigh about 186, 187. On a lighter night, probably ‘84 or so. I’ve been competing at 170 since I was 14 years old.
Q: What’s the coolest technique in combat sports?
A: One of the best ones is that tradition Mighty Mouse [Demetrious Johnson] did a couple of years ago, where he went from a takedown immediately into the armbar. To get that lift, return and put the armbar the way he did, it’s almost impossible to pull off in training. It’s even more difficult to pull it off live in a fight — in a championship fight. That’s actually one of the most technical, wow moments that I’ve seen in MMA in a really long time.