Tyler Diamond Interview Ahead of PFL 4 Fight

Diamond made his PFL debut in April against fellow debutant Sung Bin Jo. Despite not competing in 2020, the California native took just a couple of minutes to manifest the many facets to his game. In the end, Diamond’s relentless pace wore out his opponent and earned him the decision victory. The experience confirmed that he is more than capable of gaining the upper hand wherever the fight ends up.

Tyler Diamond Interview

“Overall it was a great experience,” he said. “What I took away from it was that I was happy that I wasn’t in a set pattern or a set mindset as far as ‘Oh I have to knock him out’ or ‘Oh I have to take him down.’ I was completely content with just being free-flowing and allowing the fight to go wherever it took me. Yeah, I was pleased with my fight IQ in that fight and I made really good decisions. Yeah man, it felt great, it felt really good to get back in there after a long time too.”

The layout of the PFL 2021 season has forced Tyler Diamond and the other top-10 featherweights to make rapid turnarounds. Luckily, he’s a part of Team Alpha Male, who will ensure his readiness heading into PFL 4 on June 10th.

“Yeah, I pretty much rolled right back into training camp,” Diamond confirmed. “Like got done with that fight, took a week off, and then bam here we are back training my butt off again. I kind of had to with how the dates lined up. Having a fight in April and then the next one on June 10th, we’re fighting on a super quick turnaround, you know. About 90% of my training is in-house at Team Alpha Male, we have everything you need right in-house so I don’t really go outside the gym much.”

Diamond’s versatility inside the cage was on full display in his PFL debut, and it’s something he takes a lot of pride in. Over the years, the North Dakota State University wrestler has evolved into an incredibly well-rounded mixed martial artist.

“Oh it’s everything to me,” he began, “It’s 2021, it’s not the early 2000s anymore. You can’t have holes in your game. If you have holes in your game you’re not gonna go far anymore. MMA is too advanced, everyone is well-rounded to an extent now. I wrestled in college and as soon as I got out I actually doubled down on everything else so I could catch up. I can finally say that I’m at a point where I feel that other aspects of my game are as good as my wrestling. So I’m very happy about that.”

Tyler Diamond’s versatility is something that will undoubtedly aid him in his upcoming fight with Loughnane. Diamond believes it will be a great scrap, but ultimately he will get his hands raised and jump to the top of the featherweight standings.

“I think it’s a great matchup and it’s really intriguing stylistically,” he said. “We’re both well-round. He likes being on the feet where I don’t really care where the fight goes, necessarily. Like I don’t care if it’s on the ground the entire time, or standing, or a mix of both. He seems to fight the same way every single fight where I feel like I fight differently depending on who it is. He’s a tough opponent and really good, but I see the edge being that I’m just more of a dog. Like he fights hard, and he wants it, but I don’t know if he’ll actually want it more than me, to be honest.”

If you’ve never seen the 12-1 Tyler Diamond compete before, June 10th is as good a time as any to hop aboard the bandwagon. As far as what to expect when watching him fight, basically expect someone who’s going to leave it all out there.

“You can just expect a guy to have nothing left in the gas tank after he’s done fighting,” Diamond asserted. “A lot of guys when they finish a fight aren’t even breathing hard, like damn you could’ve pushed it a little harder. I’m the complete opposite, even when I’m in the best shape ever I feel like I wanna die when my fights end. I wanna use every ounce of energy I have in there. Basically, I’m seeing how hard I could push myself for 15 minutes.”

Still only 30-years-old, Tyler Diamond has big plans for the next couple of years. He’s in the Michael Chandler school of thought in that he’s in this sport for a good time, not a long time.

“I feel like I’m just entering my prime or maybe even still a little bit,” he stated. “I’ve been a late bloomer my whole life. I see just a super lucrative career with PFL, to be honest. With the money that’s there, I don’t see myself ever wanting to jump ship. They’re very professional, they treat us well, they pay us very good, and I’m in this sport to get paid not to be famous or anything weird like that. I think the most logical thing to do is stay where the money’s at, and that’s PFL right now.”

Tyler Diamond is now a proud father and he’s already begun theorizing what his post-fight career may consist of.

“Yeah so I own a meal prep business now and I just love the entrepreneur lifestyle,” he revealed. “I have some different business ideas that I wanna pursue so I’ll probably dive into that. I also have my real estate license so might dig into that. Might dig into construction a little bit, but I don’t know, the possibilities are pretty endless.”

Tyler Diamond vs Brendan Loughnane goes down June 10th in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The PFL featherweight division is stacked and Diamond may just prove to be the best of them all. As of now, it’s unclear whether or not fans will be in attendance, but regardless expect the place to be electric.

If you enjoyed this Tyler Diamond interview, check back for more exclusive fighter interviews from the Overtime Heroics MMA staff.

Follow me on Twitter and Instagram at @RyanTruland to see my latest work. Also, follow us on social media at @OTHeroicsMMA to stay tuned in with our content! Please visit our web page to keep up with everything MMA!

Featured image credit to Embed from Getty Images