Steve Garcia ready for a break - unless he gets the call for UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden

LAS VEGAS – Steve Garcia is not looking to get in the cage anytime soon.

After competing twice in 2024, with his most recent bout being at Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 242, Garcia (17-5 MMA, 6-2 UFC) wants to take off the remaining of the year and come back strong in 2025. However, there is one event in particular that could entice him to fight again this year, which is the UFC’s expected November pay-per-view event in Madison Square Garden in New York City.

“Right now, I’m kind of leaning toward a no,” Garcia told reporters at the UFC Fight Night 242 press conference. “The only one I’d probably consider would be MSG.

“I’d love to fight there, but I’m sure they’ll go there again. So if it doesn’t happen this time, I’m sure I can make my way to another card hopefully that’s over there. But right now, I don’t have any plans to do something anytime soon.”

Garcia got an impressive TKO win over veteran Kyle Nelson (16-6-1 MMA, 4-5-1 UFC) on the main card of Saturday’s UFC event at the Apex. Although it was a quick job, the training camp for the fight was not – which is why he’s looking to take some time off.

“Mentally, I just needed some rest,” Garcia said. “I put myself through the grinder, especially in training camp. I tried to go above and beyond, and I almost try to torture myself in a sense outside. Just going to classes and stuff, it’s never enough. So it’s all the extra stuff, and it definitely catches up to you. You can’t do that for very long.

“I was trying to pick and choose what I was trying to do and there were a couple of times when Greg (Jackson) was kind of like, ‘Oh, you need to relax. You don’t need to go as hard today.’ We were deliberately more fine-tuned, and it was kind of nice change of pace as far as that goes because I normally just go balls to the wall every single class. There’s a couple of moments I talked to Greg, and he was like, ‘You don’t need to grapple these last couple of rounds that hard.’ It’s just pushing through that barrier so you can come out on top and with the victory. I came here to kill. I don’t come out here to pitter-patter. That’s not me – you guys know already. I come here violently.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 242.