While heavyweight up and comer Juan Adams’ first pro fight didn’t materialize quite the way he expected it to, he nonetheless proved why he was one of the top ranked amateur fighters in his division.
In just over a minute, Adams was able to get a TKO win against Chris Rose at LFA 14 in June, carrying over his winning ways from his amateur days.
“It was a 1:03 second fight, so it pretty much went how I expected it to go,” Adams told MMAWeekly.com. “The big thing with that was getting to the fight, actually. We had a lot of guys pull out or turn down the fight.
“It was originally supposed to be an amateur title fight, but the title holder refused to fight me, so I had to make it my pro debut. Then nobody wanted to take the fight, and Chris was the only one who stepped up. That was kind of stressful.”
A combination of skills, achievements and physical prowess has been a double-edged sword for Adams. While it has cost him potential match-ups, he feels it will make him more desirable to companies who want him to fight for them.
“It does suck to have people warry to take the fight, but I think that was going to be the issue whether I had a lot of amateur fights or not,” said Adams. “I’m also very physically imposing – I’m a 6’5” heavyweight with not a whole lot of body fight and am pretty athletic – and for a lot of people that’s not a good match-up.
“But I think being an amateur title holder and how I won each of my fights, it’s going to help me with promoters and promotions who want to see me fight and want to offer me a fight.”
Adams (1-0) will look to remain unblemished when he takes on Brice Ritani-Coe (4-3) in a main card heavyweight bout at LFA 26 on Friday in Houston.
“For this upcoming fight, I’m not super-worried about it, but I respect my opponent,” Adams said. “I know, especially at heavyweight, one punch can change everything. But I feel that as long as I stick to my fundamentals and don’t get too cute with anything, I’ll have an edge.
“If I do ever feel pressured, I know I can take him down whenever I want to. It’s good to have that security blanket, because I know no one outside the Top 5 in the UFC can handle my wrestling – it’s great to have to fall back on.”
As the heavyweight division looks to replenish itself with young, exciting, fighters, Adams believes he can fill those much needed shoes in the coming year.
“I have a very different appeal than a lot of other heavyweights – and a lot of other fighters for that matter – and I think I can bring a lot of personality to the division for sure,” said Adams. “My talent speaks for itself. We’ll just take it one fight at a time and whoever is ballsy enough to step in there, we’re willing to fight.”
