This week, Journey Newson is busy cutting weight for his fight at CageSport 44 this Saturday at the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, Washington. Newson is currently 4-1 as a professional and is one of the fastest rising starts in the Pacific Northwest. His athleticism and strong submission skills have given him a base to grow from and it seems that he is blossoming more and more with each fight. His fight this Saturday will mark his fourth for the CageSport promotion and his first time as the co-main event. This fight is a huge opportunity for the young pro who will likely be setting himself up for some marquee matchups with the promotion.
“This fight definitely puts me in position to potentially headline cards [for CageSport],” Newson said. “I’m not looking for a title shot in my next fight or anything, but if I win [this Saturday]that’s my fourth win with the promotion so hopefully that seed is planted.”
Should Newson be victorious on Saturday his pool of future opponents will undoubtedly be filled with experienced veteran talent. He has been preparing for this and he believes that his past fights will have him ready for the matchups that are ahead.
“In my last fight my opponent had a seven-fight win streak coming into the fight, that’s really impressive. But you know, the confidence I have is there because I feel I am a little more technical than [my opponents]. The guys I have fought have almost always had more experience than me but me being so technical is always going to steamroll their experience, I believe.”
Fighters often take inspiration from a difficult loss in their career. For some the loss comes early on when they are still trying to find their footing in the sport for others it comes later when they maybe took an opponent too lightly. For Journey Newson, it seems to have come at just the right time. This past October, Newson faced another up and coming pro named Benito Lopez and suffered his first professional loss. He may have walked away with a blemish on his record but he found a flaw he didn’t see before and this was true motivation.
“I am still learning from that loss. I am a pretty stubborn fighter as many fighters are and I am pretty obsessed with figuring out what I did wrong in that fight…and a month later I was at his gym, I was at Team Alpha Male training with those guys trying to figure out what I did wrong. The fight I had after that was against an experienced guy but thanks to this loss I trained harder for that fight than any fight I had before it.”
Newson is reaching a point in his career where he understands that he needs to grow as a fighter and he is taking all the steps to make that happen. From spending time training with Team Alpha Male, working his striking with boxing coach Rudy Garza, or working on his strength and conditioning with his teammate and Bryan Nuro. An obsession over a loss has turned into motivation for future fight camps and that means Journey Newson is going to be even better prepared when he enters the cage this Saturday Night.
