Clay Collard isn't surprised he's going to go up against Professional Fighters League 2022 lightweight king Olivier Aubin-Mercier Friday at the 2023 PFL Championships.
Coming off a dominant unanimous decision victory against Shane Burgos in August at 2023 PFL 9, Collard (24-10) is set to meet Mercier (20-5) for the lightweight strap inside the Smart Cage on Nov. 24 at The Anthem in Washington D.C.
Mercier, on the other hand, is currently undefeated in the promotion and will enter the bout with Collard on the heels of back-to-back finishes against Bruno Miranda and Anthony Romero.
Considering the hectic schedule fighters deal with when competing in a playoff setting, Collard was asked by Sherdog.com if he's had enough time to come up with a game plan for the reigning lightweight champion.
“So, I mean, we're definitely going to cater a little bit towards OAM's fighting style. We're going to work on different things for different individual fighters. So, I've had my eyes on Mercier since the beginning of the season. I kind of predicted that it was going to be me and him in the finals. So, I've been working on how to beat him and making game plans on how to beat him since the start of this year. So, yeah, we got a game plan; we got our tricks, we're going to work hard and we're going to be ready.”
Tudor Leonte contributed to this item.
More must-reads: