Seven seconds was all the time Todd Duffee needed to sell a legion of fans and insiders tickets aboard his hype train. And although Duffee admits that he's received too much attention (ex. he's on the cover of the current Muscle & Fitness magazine), he believes he stacks up with the best.
"I've been overhyped but I'm not overrated by any means," Duffee said on the latest edition of MMAFighting.com's The MMA Hour. "The guys I train with. The people I'm around ... If I'm overrated, they are too.I know that I train with some of the best there is and I compete with some of the best. I've been around the game a little. I've seen what the MMA world has to offer. So I think I have a pretty good idea of where I'm at."
Ever since the 24-year-old's "official" fastest knockout in UFC history at UFC 102 last August, Duffee (6-0) -- with only one UFC fight under his belt -- is already being discussed as the future of the UFC heavyweight division. The knockout might have put Duffee on the map, but he hopes it'll eventually only be another bullet point on his resume.
"I definitely don't want it to be my claim to fame," Duffee said. "I definitely want to come out and make a better statement than that."
Duffee, formerly affiliated with the American Top Team, has moved to Vegas and bounces around a number of gyms to acquire the amount of different looks he needs for training. Along with Mike Whitehead, Duffee considers his other main training partner former UFC light heavyweight champion and former cop Forrest Griffin.
This Saturday, Duffee will face a current cop, in Mike Russow at UFC 114 in Las Vegas. Duffee believes the pace and conditioning will be his strength in the fight, but don't expect another seven second knockout -- or any knockout.
"I think it's either going to be a three-round fight or it's going to end up in a TKO stoppage," he said. "I don't expect to knock him out, I'm not delusional. I think his style is warranted to avoid a KO at all cost. I'm looking at an all-around fight."
If he emerges victorious Saturday, Duffee would like to fight at least once more this year and he'll prefer a path of continual challenges.
"I always want to be an underdog going into a fight, no question," said Duffee, who will be cornered Saturday by Whitehead and ATT friend Micah Miller. "It's just more exciting. Your training camps are so long and there is so much room for injury in your career, so sure you want to try to fight the best opponents you can fight always."
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