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“I watched Jon Jones beat Shogun [Mauricio Rua] in 2011 on a Sunday morning when I was at school and now I’m fighting on his card!”
At 13 years old, Oban Elliott’s goals became clear to him after watching UFC 128.
Little did ‘The Welsh Gangster’ know, 13 years later he would be preparing to fight at Madison Square Garden on the same night as one of his idols in the sport.
Now 26, the Welshman can barely hide his excitement at fighting on the same card as a man that UFC president Dana White called “the greatest of all time”.
“I’m going to be backstage at the weigh-ins with him,” said Elliott.
“I’m fighting on the Jon Jones card. Do you know how mad that is?”
UFC 309 will be headlined by Jon Jones against Stipe Miocic for the UFC heavyweight world title.
The bout could be Jones’ last fight, though he has suggested he would be open to a legacy bout with Alex Pereira too.
By comparison, Elliott is in the relative infancy of his UFC career – but the Merthyr Tydfil native is no less ambitious nor confident.
“I feel proud of myself [to be fighting in New York] but I’m also not surprised, it’s my first year in the UFC and we are going to go all the way.”
Following his unanimous-decision win over Preston Parsons in Manchester in July, Elliott made it clear he wanted to be on the UFC 309 card: “If you’ve put me on UFC 298 [pay per view card] in the Honda Centre and UFC 304 on the biggest UK card in history, why not chuck me on the Jon Jones card as well?”
Elliott got his wish and he is preparing to cap off his debut year against Bassil Hafez.
In doing so, Elliott becomes the first Welshman to fight on three UFC pay per view cards.
“Thirty minutes of fighting in 2024 [two bouts of three rounds of five minutes], what that has done for my 26 years of life so far.
“It’s kind of capped off my life up to this moment.
“Thirty minutes of hard work under the lights, it is so surreal and I’m just grateful for it every day.”
Hafez however, will pose arguably Elliott’s toughest test to date inside the cage.
Hafez suffered a split decision loss to fourth ranked welterweight Jack Della Maddalena in July 2023.
“In one of the judge’s eyes he won the fight,” said Elliott.
“So the fact he’s been in there with Jack is impressive, fair play, but we’ll see what he’s like in there with me.”
Oban’s father Paul was a huge influence on him, and his decision to take up combat sports.
He would put boxing gloves on Oban and his brother, as they tried their hand at boxing, taekwondo, judo and kickboxing.
However, Paul took his own life when Oban was just seven years old.
Oban has a tattoo in memory of him as he looks to bring him on his journey.
“To get the fight in MSG, I just like to think back to all those hard times I went through,” said Elliott.
“Where I am now, nobody can take my body of work away from me.
“I never wanted to go to New York until I fought there, Madison Square Garden in particular, because of how famous it is.
“All those silly people who doubted me, they’ll have to watch me fight in the world’s most famous arena, living my dream, living my best life.”
