Modestas Bukauskas

Karyn Bryant here today with me kicking back is Modestas Bukauskas, who is fighting Raffael Cerqueira. Big fight for you up in Seattle with Song versus Cejudo. That is going to be a great card.I'm going to be up in Seattle, it’s an awesome city. So… pretty excellent for you to be fighting on the road, huh?

Oh, yeah, a hundred percent. Just want to say, obviously, it's an absolute pleasure to be talking to you. I fought in Vegas before at the Apex, but not in front of like a big crowd. So I can really call this like my proper US debut, being able to fight in front of the American crowd and show how us London boys do it.

For those uh who want to take an interest in it: if they look at your instagram…it's a real shame you had to train with a guy like Tom Aspinall, couldn’t find anybody Better… 

I know I like why don't I try and find someone smaller, some one my own size. I had to go all the way up north to try and get some training. 

This is like the first time we're getting to talk and it is a pleasure to meet you. Obviously I've worked some of your fights before. People know you: you’ve been in UFC twice now. You were in, then you went back and became Cage Warriors champ again, and then came back to the UFC. So you've already achieved a lot, but at the same time it's like a reintroduction in a way. What do you want people to know about you before we even get into the matchup? If I'm giving people a five second breakdown on why they need to watch a Modestas fight, what should I tell them?

It's funny because my goal for this year was to make

some noise because I feel like more people need to know about me. And realistically, it's just like I want to be

known in the light heavyweight division. I want to become champion.I don't just want to be just another guy on the roster. I want to be working my way towards the top, working my way towards the top-fifteen, and work towards the belt ultimately. If people don't know about me, my last fight I literally took a head kick and then managed to get a submission win at the end of it. I like to bring excitement into the cage and I'm looking forward to do the same in Seattle

That's right. Was that Prachnio? You got the

triangle?

Yes, right.

So if you're a guy that’s getting triangles and stuff like that, are people to know that you are a grappler? No, right?

Because you have more of a kickboxing background?

Yes, I actually started in kickboxing, was a four time British kickboxing champion. That's pretty much my style.

Obviously, at the end of the day, as my career has gone on,

I'd like to make more of an all-rounded game to work my

grappling and stuff like this. But yeah, I'm definitely more known for my striking. I've got a couple of spinning back kick

knockouts in my career and I'm ready to bring the flair when I go and fight again.

Thinking about the light heavyweight division… Obviously, the champion Alex Pereira is a hell of a striker,

and people love strikers. But you have room to make a name

for yourself as that kind of guy in that division, wouldn't you say?

Oh, yeah, a hundred percent. Usually when I fight I like to throw different, more flamboyant things, you know what I mean? It's not often that you see light heavyweights throwing

spinning back kicks and all these more flashy moves and stuff like this. It's not often you see light heavyweights doing backflips at the end of their fights. So yeah, I like to bring my speed, my precision. I’m really looking forward to it.

With this matchup in particular I believe you have more

momentum coming in. So when you were given the name Rafael Cirqueira what did you make of the matchup, and how do you think you can beat him?

Cerqueira is a very skilled fighter. He's definitely predominantly more of a stand-up fighter. He has got a couple of submission wins on his record and many fights in Brazil. He likes to be flamboyant and flashy as well. He's got some very powerful kicks and stuff like that. Kind of similar to my last opponent I guess you could say, in terms of being able to throw powerful kicks in the light heavyweight division. But at the end of the day, I just feel like my striking is much crisper, I feel my hands are better, I feel like I can put the pressure on him I know he’s definitely going to be

coming out all guns blazing because obviously he wants to wipe away the tears from his last performance. He obviously wants to come in with a lot of confidence and kind of be like, “hey, listen, I'm here now.” I can expect him to come out fully confident, looking to rebound off of that loss. I know it's going to be a very exciting, explosive matchup.

I just feel like my skill sets are better in every area and it's my job to go out there and show it.

And you guys are fighting pretty early on the card too, right? So this could be one of those where people need to

get their butts in the seats right away, right?

Oh, yeah, a hundred percent. You lot don't want to miss it! We've got two guys with some very long names. Make sure you hit it up for that fight.

So obviously, if you're talking about wanting to really make an impact and make a name for yourself as one of the more exciting light heavyweights, are there people in the

past that you think -I don't want to say as a hero or anything- 

but you think, “you know what, I'd like to have a career like that guy.” Or, “I really appreciated how this person fought.” And if I could bring that energy, or somewhat follow somebody else's footsteps and be the new version of somebody… Historically, is there somebody that you appreciated?

Oh yeah, a hundred percent. George St-Pierre, an absolute animal. He showed every single aspect of MMA. He showed his wrestling, he showed his striking, he showed his jiu-jitsu, obviously one of the GOATs in MMA. I haven't necessarily worked a lot of takedowns in a lot of my fights but that's something I definitely want to do. I want to show the improvements in my game as the fights go on, just to show all the things that I've just been adding to my repertoire and stuff that I've already had, but I've just not been showing in my fights. And also, Alex Pereira. He made an absolute bang in his career very early on. So with this being my second stint, this is the sort of bang that I want to create in my career right now. I feel like the first stint in my career was a little bit in the UFC. I felt like I was probably

just a bit too young, maybe a bit too immature. And it's funny because I wasn't exactly necessarily crazy young or anything. But I just felt maybe mentally, physically.

And then the way that I was doing things just wasn't quite where it needed to be. And I feel like I’ve changed so many things and I'm ready to show my full skill sets now because I

know I can be the best in the world. So like I say, it's just down to me to go out and do it. And it's very exciting. And I'm definitely coming in with a much more renewed mindset in this run for sure.

We met you over on Fight Island, and you get a debut win, you get a performance bonus. You literally can't ask for

a better debut. And then things didn't go your way. For people who are in the UFC then get cut, it’s tough to come back. I’m curious what was your mindset when that happened? Did you think you were too young? Or was it okay I'm out and I can fight my way back in? 

I just feel like maybe mentally, I just don't think I was

actually prepared to fight in the UFC. Obviously, at the time, you know, you think you are ready because you just notched up a load of big wins in the regional scene and you think, OK,

I'm going to go out there, I'm going to make a statement.

But looking back, I actually think it was… maybe I took fights too early. I should have built myself up a little bit more

because I took on some some pretty tough opposition pretty early on. I fought Khalil Rountree and Jimmy Crute, who are now obviously doing very good in the light heavyweight division. When I got cut I thought that maybe that would have given me a little bit of an extra nod to say, OK,

we might want to keep this guy. They don’t normally keep guys with three losses in a row. And it was quite difficult

because I definitely went through a very dark time. I questioned a lot of things. For some reason in my head, I just knew that the story could not end there, you know? I can't just, okay, my knee got destroyed and now everyone just forgets about Modestas Bukauskas because he's done, he's in the past, he's now ancient history, you know? I went into a dark place as well because a lot of people just sort of turned

their backs on me. People stopped believing in me. I just saw in all areas of life, I just went to a very dark hole. It took me until after I recovered from my knee injury, which the surgeon did an absolutely amazing job, by the way. In fact, I'm doing backflips again. They've done an absolutely amazing job, great doctors. Once I started getting my

recovery back and I started getting better, getting back into training, that’s when I thought let's make this happen! The comeback story is going to be even bigger! The fact that I got there in the first place was a big deal, but now the fact I’m able to get back in there again… how crazy would this story be? Imagine looking back on my life and looking back

on my legacy and stuff like this: Where would I be and how

would the story be written when I'm looking back on it? So that was the thing that really fueled me and drove me and motivated me. And as well, proving a lot of people wrong

at the same time. Because no one thought I was ever going to be back in the UFC. No one thought I was even going

to get back into a fight. So the fact that I was able to do those things with a lot of people doubting me, that really did fuel me. They say you shouldn't be fueled by negative sort of things or emotions. But for me, that worked out really well.

I feel like I seem to fight best during that. And it gave me a bit of almost like a bit of a darkness, I guess you could say,

because I like to be… The way I like to describe it is blue and red lightsaber. I don't know if most people know the Star Wars reference, but blue lightsaber, kind, compassionate, caring, this, that. Obviously, I like to be like that. My parents brought me up to be that way. You've got to have the dark side where you've got a bit of that anger, that ferociousness,

and just intensity and stuff like that. So these things were stuff that I definitely took out from those dark times and I've added it into my skill sets as well. It’s been a crazy journey

and a crazy road but even now the story’s still not over, there’s still more to be done and one of the one of the actual goals uh that I have written down was to make some noise in uh in twenty twenty five so it all starts on February twenty second.

I love that.That's such a great analogy too. So then does that make you Mace Windu? So you're purple actually. You got a little bit of the good and a little bit of the bad.

That's it. It's funny because my training partner and good Will Curry sort of introduced me to that way of thinking. I think actually one of my friends even bought me a

purple lightsaber fChristmas or something because I kept just talking about it over and over again. So a hundred percent.

Yeah, purple lightsaber!

I have to ask before I let you go: you probably do get a lot of support from the Lithuanian community, right? Because in terms of the UFC, we have Rose Namajunas… That's a big deal, right? Repping Lithuania?

Oh yeah, a hundred percent. That's the country that I was born in. And I moved to the UK when I was three years old. So I'm obviously a massive big support and represent in Lithuania since that's where I was born. I've been back there many times with my family. But I just want to add that I am repping the UK as well, big time. So that's why if you saw my

last weigh in on UFC 304, I had the Lithuanian flag and I had the British flag because the way I like to put it is born in Lithuania and bred in Britain. As you can tell by my accent, my mannerisms and my sayings and stuff like that. I pretty much grew up in this country so I have a massive influence from the UK and I do represent them as well. But, yeah,

obviously my roots and my heritage and stuff like that comes from Lithuania. The fighting warrior spirit is definitely from there for sure.

I lied I have another question for you since you said the bit about Star Wars. I am I'm a bit of a sci-fi nerd… Outside of MMA what do you do for fun? Are you a gamer? What do you do when you're not fighting?

It's it's sort of changed over the course of time. I was actually talking to one of my best mates about this. I remember back in the day, even in twenty twenty three, I used to like to go out a lot. Go out into town, go to like clubs

or go to bars. That used to be my thing. Now I kind of like a bit more of the quiet life. I like being out in nature. I literally I live in the woods so I like to go on walks. I like to go on little coffee walks. I ain't gonna lie to you: I’ve literally just before this interview been watching Harry Potter so…

Which one?

Deathly Hallows Part One. I'm about to be on part two as well. But yeah, to be honest, I just like to mentally get away from things and appreciate things. Even just me driving. I bought a BMW and I just like driving in my BMW, playing loud music, just getting into the zone. It’s nothing very extravagant that I like to do. I literally just like to do things that free my mind, free my spirit… I’m feeling grateful for

everything, because what a crazy life to live! The fact that I've been given so many blessings coming back from this injury and stuff like this and being back in the UFC and fighting in front of thousands of people you just you just go

out into life just thinking, “you know what? I'm blessed.” And once that caffeine hit goes in… oh my gosh these feelings just get amplified. So I love it

Well that sounds fantastic and it's a really great mindset/ Looking forward to seeing you fight! Folks should pay attention and if they can, get to Seattle, because we haven't been there in a long time. I remember being at the press conference when Dana gave Ronda her belt and she was like, “I don't wanna just get the belt I wanna earn it.” Nate Diaz was fighting Benson Henderson and it was great.

Modestus if you could make a prediction, how do you think you could finish this fight?

I feel that I'm going to finish the fight on the feet. I feel like I'll get a TKO. He's a very dangerous opponent with whole host of skills. But I feel like I'm going to put the pressure on him and I'm going to finish him. Whether that be in round one, two or three, I just know that I'm going to find it. I'm going to land my shots.

Looking forward to it. I'm working that card and

I’m really psyched about it.Thank you for taking the

time today to kick back with me. It's been really cool to get to know you.

Like I say, it's really good to get to know you as well.

I was almost a little bit starstruck when they said that I was supposed to do an interview with Karyn Bryant. I've seen your interviews before online. I just want to say thank you so much.I'm looking forward to get out there in Seattle also.

We'll see you out there with your purple saber.

Yeah, purple saber. I'll make sure I pack it in my travel bag.

Yeah, good luck getting it through customs!