By Nov. 16, Ray Longo’s recovery from hip replacement surgery will be complete, and he’ll have his doctor’s blessing to do as he pleases.
Nonetheless, expect the 64-year-old to be as physically active as he’s been at a UFC event in some time a few days before the deadline.
“I’ll be walking up the stairs for the first time in four years, probably. So that’s good,” said Longo, the accomplished Long Island-based coach who will corner three of his fighters at UFC 295 on Saturday (10 p.m., ESPN+ pay-per-view) at Madison Square Garden. “I’m happy about that. It’s good to get back with the guys because I was in there but I was in pain.
“It was bad. It was actually bad,” Longo continued, reflecting on how he felt before the summer surgery. “It’s almost a miracle I got no pain and I’m walking around. I just want to make sure I don’t screw it up and make it worse. … I don’t want to go back to the hospital. I’m a baby.”
Even if Longo says he’s a “baby” (and he’s not), he coaches a team full of tough guys who respect him, plenty of whom are on the UFC roster.
And while the St. John’s alumnus — class of 1980 with a bachelor’s in accounting — is best known nationwide for guiding Long Island locals Matt Serra, Chris Weidman and Aljamain Sterling to UFC championships over the last 16 years, it’s his up-and-comers who will take to the octagon at the end of the week.
Matt Frevola, currently among the top 15 lightweight contenders in the UFC’s rankings, is the lone Serra-Longo Fight Team member competing on the main card, while teammates Nazim Sadykhov and Dennis Buzukja will compete earlier on the prelims.
Longo, born in Queens but otherwise a lifelong Long Islander, has cornered his crew at the Garden enough times for it to be old hat, but he’s pleased that big-time New York sports fan Frevola can remain unbeaten at the arena and thrilled for Sadykhov and Buzukja to go through the experience for the first time.
“I’m excited for the guys that never fought there before,” Longo says. “They’re young. Their parents get to see ‘em fight at the Garden, It’s a pretty big deal. Even Frevola, even though it’s his third time. To say you fought at Madison Square Garden is pretty big. They take that with them for the rest of their lives. It still is kind of like the pinnacle of combat sports.”
Huntington native Frevola (11-3-1, seven finishes) rides a three-fight win streak — all knockouts — into a matchup with all-action Benoit Saint-Denis (12-1, 12 finishes).
The knockout streak is new for the 33-year-old Frevola, and Longo has seen improvements to his “awareness” that set up the emphatic results.
“When I really went in there and took over for him, it was after the [Terrance] McKinney fight, and I just felt like he was just running in there swinging wild, like there was no gameplan,” Longo said, referring to Frevola’s most recent setback via seven-second KO loss in June 2021. “So we took him out. I made him go to the boxing class — and that class is all the pros, so you’re getting good work just forcing him to get the spatial relationship, the awareness of a guy throwing.
“… He sees things differently now, and he’s got the power, and he 100 percent has the balls. He’s gonna fight.”
Sadykhov (9-1, eight finishes), who arrived at Longo & Weidman MMA in Garden City after losing his pro debut, actually got the better of McKinney in his last outing, winning via rear-naked choke submission in July.
The native of Azerbaijan, who fights out of Brooklyn, competes for the third time in the UFC and first time in his hometown against Viacheslav Borshchev (7-3, six finishes).
Longo touted how Sadykhov can “blend everything together” as a real asset for the 29-year-old.
“He’s got great kicks, he’s got great boxing and he’s got really good takedowns, and he’s got good takedown defense,” Longo says, rattling off Sadykhov’s myriad strengths. “It’s the way he puts it together. Some guys are really good boxers, some guys have better kickers. He’s doing it all.”
Buzukja (11-3, five finishes) became the latest on the team to reach the UFC after a year of social media lobbying for late-notice opportunities following a “Dana White Contender Series” snub in victory.
His Aug. 5 debut, a loss via one-sided decision to Sean Woodson, came after a half-pound weight miss when the Staten Islander accepted the featherweight clash on four days’ notice.
“After the fight, I go to Aljo, ‘Do we even break down the fight or is it not worth it?’ ” says Longo of a conversation with former UFC bantamweight champion Sterling, given the expedited timeline leading up to the fight. “… It’s hard to really be critical because just to make the weight and make the walk is though enough. And I thought, for what he had and the guy in front of him, he had a really game effort if you go back and look at his moments in the fight.”
With a full fight camp to prepare both strategy and a less severe and rushed weight cut, 26-year-old Buzukja is scheduled to face Jamall Emmers (19-7, 10 finishes).
Buzukja, who proudly displays his Albanian heritage, has been close to some big fights as a frequent cornermen of Sterling during his championship run, and Longo sees that experience as potentially “a blessing and a curse” for a young fighter who is still developing.
But Buzukja’s striking game is all blessing, the way Longo tells it.
“I think stand-up wise, he’s as good as anybody even in the UFC,” Longo says. “The kid’s got a great chin. He’s got great boxing, great kicks, great takedown defense. He’s got decent jiu-jitsu. He’s in a good spot.”