Jeremy Stephens has been in a tricky spot in his MMA career after getting released from the UFC about a year ago. He is now with the PFL where he's fighting at lightweight and looking to win the tournament.

It's fair to say the former UFC fighter has a chip on his shoulder and many thought he would be done in MMA. Jeremy Stephens has a lot riding on his big debut in the PFL.

“You’ve got to use that pain, use that hunger, use that people are writing you off,” Stephens said in a recent interview with MMAFighting. “You’ve got to have a chip on your shoulder in this sport. Piss off your ego and make you want to get back up and ride that horse again.

“I’m down, but I’m not out, and that’s why I just can’t wait to have that burst breakthrough performance. I feel like I haven’t fought my best fight yet and people are going to see something very exciting on April 20.”

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Jeremy Stephens has not won a fight since 2018 and is started to hear all of the talk about his recent run in MMA. He's heading into his PFL debut with a lot to prove and lots of hate towards his doubters.

“I don’t know, I just feel like if I’m looking in from the outside it’s like, ‘Man, he’s coming off some losses,’” Stephens said. “‘He’s coming off losses, he’s getting older,’ those types of thoughts. ‘What are they thinking?’ ‘Is he done? He’s moving over to the PFL.’ You’ve got to use those haters as your motivators. You’ve got to take all that shit, mustard it up and spit out gold. That’s what I want to do, I want to stuff it right in motherfuckers faces.

“I’m still here, I’m here to stay, I’m still devastating, I’m still very fast, ferocious, I’m in better shape. I’m probably a better version than I’ve ever been at this point in my life. I’m in the prime of my career and I get to come over and have a new experience. I can’t wait to go out there and run a motherfucker’s face over and be like, I did it.”