Almost three years have passed since Karim Henniene last competed inside the octagon, yet he is finally prepared to step into the spotlight for his eagerly awaited professional debut.
After a flawless run as an amateur fighter, Henniene (0-0) will transition to the professional level when he squares off against Alex Gluzman (0-0) in bantamweight competition at BTC 17 on Saturday evening.
The 27-year-old Henniene admitted he doesn't know much about what Gluzman will bring to the mat, but he's keeping his attention squarely on things within his own control.
"Not at all, I never knew who he was. The only thing I asked my sparring partner is do you know this guy? One of my friends told me yes, he saw him fighting before him and that's it. But no, I didn't know nothing about him before they offered me him," said Henniene in an interview with MMA Empire.
"For me, it's always focused on myself. It's about what I'm going to do, not what he's going to do. I can't control what he's going to do, but I can control what I'm going to do, so I'm really focusing on myself. My coach has watched some of it and that's it. He will guide me through it, but for my part, I'm just focusing on myself."
Throughout his entire amateur tenure, Henniene competed exclusively in the featherweight bracket, but he will now step down to bantamweight for his professional debut.
He noted that cutting down from featherweight was never a problem and is confident he's following the right approach to make the bantamweight reduction equally straightforward.
"I always knew I will fight at bantamweight because I never, never go over 155. The biggest I can get is 155. For all these couple of months I was walking around 150, 152 the bigger I got, so it was real easy," said Henniene.
"Obviously, before when I was competing at 145, I didn't have to check what I eat or anything. I was just doing two-hour sauna and that's it. I was ready to go at 145. For now, I just had to cut all the sugar for all my camp and that's it. I just have a little bit more strict nutrition but nothing hard."
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