Josh Fremd: 'I Need A Statement Win'

So if you’re not acclimated, that’s a problem. And Fremd believes in a pick ‘em matchup, that gives him the advantage on fight night. 

“I think it gives me a huge edge,” he said. “Look at Petroski, he looks like a bodybuilder, so that's going to take a lot of oxygen for him to keep trying to get me to the ground. He's a good fighter, a very talented fighter, and he is really good at one particular aspect of fighting and that's definitely something I've been working on. But I think it (being acclimated) gives me a huge edge and it wouldn't matter if he came out here early or not. It takes a while to get acclimated to this. And I've rarely made trips home because it's a whole different world out here.”

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That doesn’t mean Fremd is counting on that aspect of the fight to make him overconfident. He’s trained with the groundfighting ace, fought on the same LFA cards before, and he’s prepared accordingly for the best version of the Philadelphian.

“Petroski has been out here before,” said Fremd. “He knows what he's getting himself into, so it's not like he's coming out here blind. So I'm going to be prepared for the best conditioned Andre Petroski and I just believe that mine's going to be better.”

And after coming out of the gates in the UFC with a 2-3 record, the 30-year-old isn’t celebrating his two years on the roster – he’s on a statement-making mission.

“I haven't done anything I wanted to yet,” Fremd said. “I haven't put my best foot forward. To me, personally, I haven't seized the opportunity that was given to me, and that's something that eats at me every single day. So I need to go out here and I need to put on a performance that I can be proud of. That's going to be anybody's biggest regret in their life if they get an opportunity and they don't seize it and they don't do the things that they know that they're capable of. That's just going to eat at me forever. So I'm working my ass off to be able to do that.”

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He's got the team around him at Factory X, he’s got the perfect location in Colorado, and he obviously has the talent, otherwise he wouldn’t be here. All that’s left is to put everything together when he makes the walk on Saturday.

“Until I do something that I'm proud of that I can hang my hat on, I'm not satisfied,” said Fremd. “I’ve got three fights on the left of my contract with this one, then two after, and they could cut me at any time. It's not like I'm guaranteed those fights. So when you look at it, every single fight, you're fighting for your job. So this could be my last and I'm thinking like that. So I'm going to go out here and I'm going to leave everything on the table. I'm going to make everything exciting. I am going to try and break this man's will. I've seen him break many times and I believe I can get him to break.”

Yeah, he’s a Coloradan now, but statements like that sound more than a little bit like a guy from the Steel City.

“A hundred percent. That's a Pittsburgh attitude. That's just a Western Pennsylvania thing. I am not going to rest on moral victories. I didn't just want to get here. I want to make a career out of it. I want to make money. I want to change my life and that's what I'm going to go do.”

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Does it start this weekend for Josh Fremd? 

“I need a statement win,” he said. “I am able to put people's lights out and that's something I haven't got to show in the UFC just yet. So I'm hoping that I go out there, put everything together and have a performance that I'm proud of.”