Ricky Glenn appears to be at a crossroads in his mixed martial arts career.
The Marshalltown, Iowa native has suffered back-to-back losses for the first time in his professional career, losing by KO/TKO to Drew Dober and Christos Giagos in his last two UFC appearances. Those losses marked the first knockout losses in Glenn’s career, which began in 2006.
Glenn will be looking to claim his first win in three years when he takes on Kenan Song in the lightweight preliminaries at UFC 305 on Saturday night at RAC Arena in Perth, Australia.
“I’ve never been TKO’d or knocked out before, so it feels a little weird,” Glenn told UFC.com. “Damn, you can control everything you can control, but when it comes down to it, you’ve just got to let luck take its course and hope for the best.”
“Obviously, I did the best I could but it wasn’t enough and I lost my last few fights, so this time I’m just going to have fun and fight, not make too much of a game plan and just attack when I get the chance.”
UFC 305: du Plessis vs. Adesanya airs Saturday at 10pm ET on ESPN+. Order your copy now! Glenn, who turned 35 earlier this year, is well aware that combat sports has an expiration date. At this point, all he expects is to enjoy his time in the Octagon as much as possible.
“I’m getting older and I won’t be fighting much longer,” he said. “Definitely not for a title fight, definitely not for a top 10 finish. I want to go out there and have fun and hopefully win, but if not, that’s ok.”
“I’m like, ‘Well, damn,’ but I think you have to hold your head up high and be proud of the success you’ve had. Some people in this city, I’m from rural Iowa, are like, ‘Oh my gosh, you’re in UFC and you’ve had success, you should be proud.’ I’m proud, but damn, I had way higher expectations of myself.”
With that in mind, it may be easy for Glenn to let his guard down when he steps into the Octagon against Song on Saturday. UFC 305 will mark Glenn’s fifth promotional appearance at 155 pounds after beginning his career at featherweight.
“I think it’s going to be kind of liberating for me, not being tied down by a lot of expectations,” he said. “Obviously, it would be nice if I win, but if not, well, oh well. It is what it is, and I hate to say this, it sucks, but I’m confident. I feel a lot healthier in this weight class.” [155 pounds]I feel a lot sharper and, surprisingly, a little faster. I’ve put on weight, but I feel healthier and hopefully that will translate into my matches. [on
Saturday].”
