Steve Swanson: Flyweight prospect of Called Out MMASteve Swanson may only be 3 wins into his MMA career, but this past Sunday at Called Out MMA II, the Riverside County native showed that a work in progress is just that: progressive. After a dominating performance in the first two rounds, he faded a bit to close out the fight but walked away the victor against Thomas Casarez at Ontario, California's Citizens Business Bank Arena.

Sibling to WEC veteran Cub Swanson, and a style that mirrors his completely, Steve got a little but of a later start to his own MMA career but seems to be no less of a force in the immediate future. His bout with Casarez resembled that of a 6 fight veteran rather than the 3 to his credit. I caught up with him after the fight to get his thoughts on his opponent and his future prospects in the flyweight division.

Congratulations on the victory over Thomas Casarez. Any thoughts about your performance?

I actually thought I could've done a little bit better. I think I was kind of winded, I think everybody could tell that but I pulled through with the win and that's all that matters.

Yeah it looks like you started really strong in the first two rounds and then kind of faded in the third, was that due to basically running out of gas?

Well, no actually I broke my hand in the second [round], my thumb, and I told my brother at the end of the second, 'look, I think I broke my hand or thumb' and he said, “well just try to dance around and throw kicks.' I was already kind of tired anyways and it ended up being a rough third round for me.

How did your injured thumb affect you?

I definitely felt it. You can feel that pain when you barely move it sometimes so I wanted to throw a lot of kicks and keep moving a lot more than throwing because I definitely felt it in the third.

It looks like your eye got a little messed up, how is that doing? Is it healing okay?

Yeah I got my first FULL black eye [laughs]. It didn't shut but its definitely a full circle! It's healing fine though.

Cub Swanson is your brother and he was basically your main corner guy, what was some of the other advice he gave you between rounds?

The first two rounds were a lot better, like you said. He was telling me to mix it up, throw more combinations, and just try to look alive. My corner really helped me out a lot.

The first time we spoke, you mentioned that you were working a lot on your takedown defense because he was a jiu jitsu guy. Your takedown defense looked great, you stuffed a bunch of his attempts, but if the fight ended up making it to the ground more often, how comfortable are you there?

I train with some really good guys at my camp. I don't have any problems with the ground but I heard he was really, really good on the ground so we didn't want to chance it. I did work a lot on my takedown defense and it ended up working out really well throughout the whole fight.

You're 3-0 right now, what are your immediate plans for the future as far as fighting?

Well, I was hoping to get something like really soon but obviously that's not going to happen with the broken thumb but I definitely want to just heal up and get started really quick here because last time it took six months before I got another fight and I felt some ring rust so I just want to get going right off the bat.

Are you looking at returning to Called Out?

Yeah I'd love to fight for them again. It was a great show and they aren't far from where I'm from so I wouldn't mind doing that again.

You trained over at Jackson's [Submission Fighting] for this fight, do you plan to be a regular over there?

Yeah the people out there have been really supportive and really cool so I would love to keep going out there when I have fights coming up.

Cub and yourself are fighting out of Tru MMA, is that your gym, the one that you guys own?

Yeah that's the one where, we actually relocated this week. We're moving out to Indio [California] closer to where our boxing gym is at so that will be good for us.

Do you plan to stay at 125 or do you have any plans to move up to bantamweight?

You know I believe that my weight is 125 even though I had a hard time getting there this time because it was a short notice fight but for the future but I'm going to be down in weight, making it so that it's not so difficult and I'll be in better shape for the fight, cardiowise.

WEC and Bellator are both doing a flyweight division moving forward, if either of them offered you a contract, would you go there?

In a heartbeat, definitely. That's why I'm doing this in the first place, I want to make it to the big shows. I've got a lot of work to do with some of the things in my game but I feel like I'm going to be there at some point in my career.

Anybody you'd like to thank? Sponsors, etc?

I appreciate the love and support from MMA Recap and also from Called Out so I just want to say thanks to them and you guys, so thanks. I also wanted to thank my school, Tru MMA, Ink Sanity Tattoos, Full Steam Ahead, and Magnolia Auto Insurance.

Any other thoughts before we go?

I just want to say that my opponent did a great job and I did not expect him to be that tough. Hats off to him and his camp also.

Bookmark/Search this post with:

  |    |    |