Costello Van Steenis has had Johnny Eblen has been on his radar for a while and after scoring a sub-one minute knockout in his official PFL debut late-last year, the former is hungry to claim the crown from the latter. Appearing on an episode of Bowks Talking Bouts, Costello Van Steenis covered several subjects ahead of his middleweight title bid against reigning champion Johnny Eblen at PFL Africa 1 on July 19th.

When asked about his thoughts on many seeing Eblen as the best middleweight in the sport today and if a win over the champ cements him as the top 185 pounder in MMA, at the 6:16 mark, Van Steenis said,

“I believe Johnny Eblen is one of the best middleweight fighters in the world. He definitely is one of the best fighters in the world, he’s 16-0… People are underestimating me. Yes, I have lost three times. I have lost three times. Like you said before, I’ve lost against Jake Bostwick… I was really young at that moment. I had just started my professional career, fought a guy that was ten professional fights unbeaten.”

“So yeah, I was like twenty two years old and I was like yeah, let’s fight this guy. Just accepting everything but I made some stupid mistakes. If I didn’t make stupid mistakes, I would probably be unbeaten as well. But yeah, back to my answer, I am one of the most dangerous middleweight fighters in the world and Johnny Eblen is one of the best middleweight fighters in the world. We’re gonna make a hell of a show and he’s gonna have a bad night on the nineteenth of July by the best middleweight fighter in the world, that’s me.”

Costello Van Steenis if he feels galvanized in the underdog role heading into pFL africa 1

When the PFL Africa 1 title challenger mentioned feeling overlooked, a follow up question was asked about if that gave Van Steenis a certain chip on his shoulder or if it emboldens him. When responding to that follow up, Van Steenis stated,

“No, I like it. I like it. I like proving people wrong. I mean since I started this professional MMA journey, people were like oh mate, you should have a second job. You should have a second idea, you should have a plan B. Like oh f**k that. I’m not having a plan B. I’ve only got one plan, that’s plan A. I’m gonna be a professional fighter, I’m gonna get my money out of it, I’m going to be the best fighter in the world, and look at me now.”

“I’m here fighting against Johnny Eblen for the PFL middleweight title in one of the biggest leagues in the world. So I’ve proved people wrong my whole life and people are underestimating me. Johnny Eblen is probably underestimating me as well and we’re all going to see on the nineteenth of July that everybody made a big mistake. People that are underestimating me are making a big mistake and they’re all going to be woah ok, Costello Van Steenis is the real deal.”