It’s not everyday you see a MMA fighter return from a 12-year layoff.
Co-headlining AKA 58 in Bossier City this weekend is a 175-lb catchweight bout between Steve “The Average” Jones and Omar Zapata. They fight right before Micheal Murphy vs. Dey McIntosh at the Horseshoe Casino.
Jones, a 12-fight veteran at AKA, says it’s quite the challenge to fight someone like Zapata, who’s coming off back-to-back wins… from 12 years ago.
That’s right, the 7-4 Zapata hasn’t fought since 2014, making this co-main event fight all the more interesting.
Steve Jones on Omar Zapata not fighting since 2014
Back in 2014, Jones hadn’t even stepped into the cage yet.
Fighting out of Longview, Texas, by way of Honduras, Jones made his amateur debut in 2016 and turned pro the following year, beginning his MMA career with a solid 8-1 record and a AKA welterweight title to top it off in 2020.
Now, Jones will look for his eighth MMA win under the AKA banner.
“I kind of heard he hadn’t fought in a while,” the co-headliner said of his opponent Omar Zapata.
Jones continued: “I can’t speculate too much on that, he might have been training this whole time.”
“I think I saw his last fight. I would say I have nothing to go on because I can’t expect him to be the same fighter that I saw 12-13 years ago. He might not be the same guy. I mean, I have a glimpse as to maybe how he might perform or come out stylistically, but nothing for sure.
“I’d have to feel him out once we’re there and just adjust on the fly,” Jones added.
While he doesn’t have much fight tape to go on, Jones plans to download information and get a finish at AKA 58.
WATCH: Steve Jones scores epic KO at AKA 8
Steve “The Average” Jones explains how he got his nickname
Steve “The Average” Jones has one of the more unique nicknames in MMA.
It’s a play on words, sounding all too similar to ‘the average Joe’.
The fighter says that’s what ‘attracted’ him to the name, giving credit to a teammates for picking it out.
“One of my old training partners, Brent Moore gave me that name and it was just cause I had no fight name for the longest time,” Jones revealed.
“The tradition in the gym was somebody else gets to pick your name and you don’t pick your own name. For a couple of years, it was people throwing ideas out there and none of them really appealed to me. They were all of the cliches: “The Destroyer”, “The Assassin”, just that kind of stuff…”
Jones still remembers how he got his nickname. It was on a night he was mopping the mats at his gym.
“Brent, give me a name,” Jones recalls.
“He’s like, Steve “The Average” Jones, baby. I was like, [that’s the one].
“I thought it was catchy,” Jones said. “Different than your usual [nickname]. I liked the play on words.”
Watch Steve “The Average” Jones fight in the co-main event of AKA 58 this Saturday in Bossier City.