Austin Hubbard is loving training closer to home for his upcoming fight.
Hubbard takes on Alexander Hernandez in a lightweight matchup on the preliminary card at UFC 307 on Saturday at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. Previously a member of the Elevation Fight Team in Aurora, Colorado, Hubbard recently shifted to the Valle Flow Striking Academy in Bensenville, Illinois.
Hubbard had no bad blood with his previous gym, and the move was primarily inspired by the birth of his daughter, Charlie Jo, this past May. While Hubbard still has to drive an hour and half each side from his home in Dixon, Illinois, “Thud” likes being closer to his family.
“It was too hard to go out to Colorado for this camp and be gone for seven, eight weeks. So, I’ve been home, and I’ve been training at Valle Flow Striking in Chicago,” Hubbard told UFC.com.
“I love Elevation. They’ve been great for me and my career and obviously they’ve contributed to a lot of my growth, as I was out there for eight years training with them and they helped me get to that next level of myself as a fighter. But it was definitely nice to get a whole new group of bodies to work with and work with everyone’s different styles, different coaching, and just a complete almost revamp of myself and just experience all new everything. And it has been a really nice switch. I feel like everything they do has helped me a lot over at VFS and I’m excited.
“It’s like a thousand miles a week of driving and it definitely gets old, but it is nice being able to be home and help out with the baby and everything. So I guess there’s some pros and cons to it.”
UFC 307: Pereira vs. Rountree Jr. Saturday at 10 ET on ESPN+. Order Now!
This is Hubbard’s second UFC stint after he was previously released in May 2022 on the back of a 3-4 promotional record. Hubbard went on to rack up two wins on the regional scene, earning himself a spot on “The Ultimate Fighter 31.” While he lost to Kurt Holobaugh in the season finale, Hubbard earned a contract and has since bounced back with a decision win over Michal Figlak this past April. Relieved to be back in the UFC, Hubbard says he was primarily fighting on the regional scene to pay off debts rather than enjoying it.
“It’s been crazy,” Hubbard said. “Just the last two years, the place I was coming from mentally and the hole I was in, to where I’m at now, I didn’t think that I could get back to feeling this good again, honestly. And I think when I was going through all that, I really didn’t have much motivation for fighting anymore. I was just broken down all the way around, and just with life in general. And the only reason I was doing it is I was in so much debt. Through trying to get back to the UFC and being in Colorado, it was so expensive. So that was my only motivation to keep fighting, so I can get out of debt for my family, and I really wasn’t enjoying it all that much anymore. But I went through it all and went through ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ and did well, and now I got back in the UFC, I’m coming off a win, and now I’m at a point in my life where I’m really starting to feel happy again and thankful for everything that I’ve been through because it definitely has changed me and evolved me as a person to some degree.”
While he has never scored consecutive wins in the UFC, Hubbard is confident he is capable of it. And to do that he can’t look past his upcoming opponent, as he learned from his first stint.
“From everything I’ve been through, especially through my first stint, I know I’m capable of stringing wins together, but if you get ahead of yourself, it seems, at least in my experience, you tend to stumble,” he said. “So I literally do not look ahead more than what’s in front of me in my contract. And that’s Alex Hernandez. So yeah, all the other things are in the back of my mind, but right at the forefront right now is purely just Alex Hernandez and really nothing else. I do believe I’m capable of putting a streak together, climbing the rankings and all that. So this is a step in that direction and that’s the step I need to take first, and that’s the only thing I’m focused on.”
