And while fighting in front of fans is an exciting thing for many fighters, Padilla learned he has to turn the volume down when competing inside an arena when there’s constantly noise. When the blood started to trickle down his face after getting hurt by Herbert, the 30-year-old didn’t freeze up or freak out. Instead, he remained relaxed and calm, and it allowed him to work better.
Saturday, Padilla makes the walk to the Octagon for the fourth time in his UFC career to face Brazil’s Ismael Bonfim, whose brother is headlining Saturday’s card inside UFC APEX. Bonfim comes into the matchup with two wins and two defeats in the UFC. Those losses came against Benoît Saint Denis and Nazim Sadkyhov. But for Padilla, he isn’t worrying about Bonfim’s career up to this point.
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“You can’t really take away, all you can do is say I see little bits of holes here and there,” Padilla said. “For me, I decide how I beat my opponent more on their strengths and their weaknesses, if that makes sense. I need to see what’s the limit to your skill. For me, just based off all the fights, I’ve watched of Bonfim, his skills have stayed consistently the same. For me, there’s been no real evolution of what I’m looking at. I’ve known I’ve gotten sharper. You guys haven’t seen me in seven months, so this whole seven months has been my training arc the entire time. I can do anything, and I will do anything by any means.”
It may be seven months since Padilla’s last fight, but he believes the work he’s put in during that time will shine brightly on Saturday night. And while he believes Bonfim may have an advantage in boxing, Padilla’s confident he’s favored in all other areas of mixed martial arts.