Calvin Tankman On MLW Title Match Against Jacob Fatu: "There's A Lot More Pressure On him"
On today's episode of The Wrestling Inc. Daily, Calvin Tankman sat down with Wrestling Inc. Managing Editor Nick Hausman ahead of his MLW Title challenge against Jacob Fatu tonight at MLW Never Say Never. Tankman signed with MLW last summer and has quickly worked his way into an MLW World Heavyweight Championship opportunity.
"It's one of those things where before you get there, that's the idea. In the month that you have, you want to take over," Tankman noted. "But it's another thing to put the work in and actually be able to do that. So I'm really excited for the opportunity, and I'm ready to take full advantage of it."
Fatu was on yesterday's episode of The Wrestling Inc. Daily where he acknowledged the determination and preparation Tankman has done for their MLW World Heavyweight Title match. Tankman spoke more on the podcast on how he is preparing for the big super-heavyweight matchup.
"I'm working a lot more on my cardio and my speed. That's one of those things where speed kills being a bigger guy," Tankman pointed out. "People are expecting you to be strong, and when you're facing the World Heavyweight Champion, you already know he's going to be strong. So I got to surprise him with some things maybe he's not looking for."
Tonight's title match features not only two super-heavyweights, but both Fatu and Tankman are currently undefeated in MLW as well. Tankman discussed the high stakes of the match and whether or not it adds more pressure.
"I don't think it adds too much more pressure to me," Tankman admitted. "At the end of the day, he's had to carry that weight of being the champion and having the target on his back for so many days. Really, most of the pressure's on him because I'm new to this company. Yes, I'm undefeated. Yes, I've shown that I'm a threat, but he's set up against the best in the world for the past couple of years.
"So there's a certain expectation level for him. When I'm in the ring with him, they don't know what to expect from me. So I feel that puts more pressure on him. Not that I plan to but if I were to go out and lose, there's gonna be a lot of people that say, 'Well, he's the World Champ for a reason. That's what I expected.' He goes out and loses, that shocks the whole world.
"So there's a lot more pressure on him than there is for me. I know that I am confident in what I do. I'm confident if I can connect on the right thing, I can walk out World Champion. So really, I just got to keep myself composed and ready to take advantage of anything that I can."
You can find Tankman every Wednesday night as part of MLW Fusion. For more information on how to watch please visit www.MLW.com! You can find the video and audio from Tankman's interview below: