Drakkar Klose: U.S. fans really don’t back their fighters

Drakkar Klose is well-known by the European MMA fans base following him handing blue chip prospect Marc Diakiese his first loss in July. Yet, the MMA Lab proponent does not feel as though his win resonated in the U.S.

Undefeated Klose makes his third trip to the Octagon against David Teymur at UFC 218, but he doesn’t feel as if his status has been bolstered by his big win earlier this year.

“No, I guess I don’t,” Klose told MMAFighting.com when asked if he felt the Diakiese win had helped to raise his profile.

“Look at Conor, he has a whole country behind him. Then you have Diakiese, he’s got a really strong fan base in the UK. All the Brazilians really back their fighters too.

“I feel like it’s a little different over here. There are just so many fighters over here in the U.S., I guess they really don’t back them as much as other countries.”

Just nine fights into his professional career, Klose isn’t bothered by the lack of fanfare around his last victory.

“I really don’t want the fame. I just want to keep winning and to collect the money that comes along with those wins,” he said.

As far as Klose is concerned, U.S. fans can “flip-flop” quite quickly depending on how a fighter is performing. While he believes other fighters put on an act in the hopes of gaining more fans, Klose stays true to himself and let’s his performances do the talking.

“With the U.S. fans, you can do something one day and they love you. If you lose your next fight, they forget all about you. They flip flop a lot. I guess they’re not very loyal,” he said laughing.

“There are a lot of fighters putting on an act. Whatever I say is exactly how I feel. I’ve never been a fake person. I’ve always been real. You can talk to my coaches in elementary school, and they would say the same thing about me.

“Everyone is trying to be the next Conor, but for me you’ve got to be yourself. If they love you, they love you. If they don’t, it’s whatever.”

Although he has yet to gain notoriety through his first two outings with the UFC, Klose believes the Teymur contest could be his “breakthrough performance.”

“I do think that Diakiese is tougher than Teymur, but Teymur is a tough guy too. I’m still training the same way as I had been for my fight with Diakiese, I never take any opponent lightly,” Klose said.

“To be honest, I think that this could be my breakthrough performance. It feels like everything is coming together at the right time for this one.

“In my first fight, I was just getting my feet wet in the UFC. In my second fight I took out one of the hot prospects. Now I feel like I can just let it all go, be myself and come out victorious.

“I just want to take out every guy that they put in front of me. My goal is to have that belt around my waist one of these days. It’s all about achieving my goals.”

Klose claims he has no preference in terms of what way he wins the fight. According to the 29-year-old, keeping his win streak intact takes precedent over any method of victory.

“Knockouts are always nice. Submissions are great, but as long as I get my hand raised — that’s what’s important,” Klose said. “Really, that’s all the matters to me, keeping my undefeated streak going and leaving victorious.”