Cody
Durden changed his nickname shortly before submitting Matt
Schnell on four days’ notice.
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Schnell was originally scheduled to face Alessandro
Costa in a flyweight matchup at UFC
Fight Night 242 on Saturday at the Apex in Las Vegas. However,
an injured Costa was replaced by Durden and the bout was moved to
bantamweight.
After getting rocked in an early exchange, Durden went toe-to-toe
in wild slugfests throughout the first round before submitting
Schnell with a ninja choke 29 seconds into the second stanza.
Durden revealed that he didn’t have much preparation for the fight
after having a few extra drinks the previous weekend. Durden spent
the whole Monday lazing around, sparred on Tuesday and asked for
the short-notice fight, which was granted.
“I didn’t have much preparation,” Durden said during a post-fight media scrum. “I had a few drinks on Sunday,
probably more than I should. I laid in bed all day Monday, went
back to the gym, sparred five rounds on Tuesday. And I shoot my
shot on Twitter and I don’t know what the f—k I’m doing here but
I’m here.”
Elaborating on his new nickname, “Custom Made” explains that he
likes a variety of things like hunting, fishing and has a diverse
taste in music.
“‘Custom Made’ – I’m a little crazy,” he said. “I like country
music, I like rap music. I like to deer hunt, I like to go fishing,
I’m custom made. I like to do a little bit of everything, listen to
all type of music. Yeah, just custom made.”
Asked about a potential return timeline, Durden joked about
fighting at UFC
306 at The Sphere in Las Vegas next weekend if a replacement is
needed.
“Didn’t somebody drop out of the Sphere [UFC 306] next weekend? I’m
just playing,” Durden said. “I’m good. I think I’m gonna have some
fun tonight. But if they call me and offer me a new contract, I
might show up.”