Devin Cushing and Manuel Correa make bold claims ahead of renewing hostilities

Lightweights Devin Cushing and Manuel Correa aren’t household names, but like Sean Garcia and Amado Vargas who also appear at the Honda Center in Anaheim on Saturday (July 6), they bring a shared amateur history into their upcoming fight.

Their bout will kick off the pay-per-view portion of Saturday’s event headlined by Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal.

Initially overlooked, the fight gained attention due to heated exchanges at the press conference. The 27-year-old Cushing (13-0, 10 KOs), of Pensacola, Florida, aims to avenge—or as he put it, “revenge”—an amateur loss to Correa (13-1, 8 KOs), 33, of Miami, Florida. The two provided a history lesson during Wednesday’s press conference.

“I think he is still mad I whooped his ass in the amateurs,” said Correa confidently. “I guess they didn’t know that when they took the fight, they must have forgot.”

“You were handpicked,” Cushing shot back. “He’s got a grown man in front of him this time, not a 17-year-old. I get revenge for all my losses and Saturday night I’m spinning the block around.”

Cushing, who claimed an amateur record of 67-8, dismissed his loss to Correa as an outlier.

“The way he looks at me I just don’t like,” Cushing said. “He’s got a smart-ass look on his face. I’m going to knock that look right off his face on Saturday night.”

Correa responded by asserting that Cushing “won’t have any excuses this time when he knocks him out.”

“He’s going to do a lot of running and trying to jab to my hands,” Correa said, unimpressed by his opponent. “He’s got no power. I’m going to come forward, put the pressure, and make him fold in round four.”

In Cushing’s 13 professional fights, only four of his opponents had winning records, none undefeated. Correa, who was knocked out in two rounds by undefeated prospect Elnur Abduraimov in 2022, has fought only three opponents with winning records.

“He doesn’t have a chin and his last name is cushion, because those hands are cushion hands,” Correa taunted.

Cushing chose to cut his remarks short, saying, “That’s it,” as event emcee Brian Campbell noted that Cushing will let his actions speak in the ring.