Brady Hiestand plans to be “the first person to finish” Fernie Garcia at UFC Vegas 65: “It will be a good win on my résumé”

Brady Hiestand is vieweing his UFC Vegas 65 fight against Fernie Garcia as his official UFC debut.

Hiestand is coming off a split-decision loss to Ricky Turcios in August of 2021 in the TUF 29 finale. It was a very close fight and after the loss, Hiestand went under the knife for his knee as he was fighting through an ACL tear.

“This is going to be the longest layoff since I started fighting when I was 16,” Hiestand said on Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com. “But, I had an injury. I had a complete ACL tear and a partial meniscus tear, partial MCL tear. So, the recovery has gone well. It’ll be about a year and a month after my surgery, so not a bad timeframe. But, I was hoping to fight a little bit earlier.”

Once Hiestand was healthy, he was ready to get a fight booked and was offered Fernie Garcia at UFC Vegas 65. Although Hiestand was ready to fight anyone, he admits he didn’t know much about Garcia. But, after researching him, he is excited about the matchup.

“I wasn’t familiar with him at all up until I got the call as there are so many people at bantamweight,” Hiestand said. “Once I saw his name and I researched him, he’s a good fighter, he’s got good wrestling and good boxing so it will be a good win on my résumé.”

Although Brady Hiestand knows Fernie Garcia is a good boxer, he believes his wrestling and pace will be too much for him. He expects he will eventually break Garcia and earn a stoppage win in the second round.

“I want to be the first person to finish Fernie because of the pace I have,” Hiestand said. “I believe I’m in the best shape of my life and my body is holding up. So my goal is to finish him in the second round. Just go out there and put on a good performance. I feel like once I get in there and put the pace on him I think I can finish him.”

If Hiestand gets his hand raised, he believes it will prove all the hard work was worth it. However, he won’t get complacent, as instead, he is just focusing on remaining active and rattling off wins.

“I think it’s just going to be validation about the hard work I’ve put,” Hiestand said. “I already see it happening, I already see my hand getting raised… Then, I want to stay active. I’m young and I have a lot of energy and this is all I do. I’m just trying to rattle these fights off and climb that ladder and get to the title as quickly as possible.”

Do you think Brady Hiestand will beat Fernie Garcia at UFC Vegas 65?