Heading into his fight with Caros Fodor at Strikeforce Challengers 16 this past June, welterweight James Terry had been on a roll, winning three fights in a row, but he couldn’t keep his momentum going.

As Terry told MMAWeekly.com, “I actually had thought I’d won that fight, but I knew it was very close, and we were in his home town, so unfortunately the cookie crumbled his way.”

While he’s not making excuses for how the fight turned out, Terry admits that he wasn’t quite prepared for how things would go that night against Fodor.

“I definitely think that Fodor pressured me and did some stuff that other guys didn’t do,” said Terry. “He was very unorthodox and is kind of anomaly, and the way he fought me was very weird, and it worked for him.

“If he would have sit there and tried to kickbox with me, things wouldn’t have gone well. He obviously couldn’t out-wrestle me or out-clinch me, because every time we clinched, I controlled it and got the takedowns. I think he had a very smart game plan, and unfortunate for me, things didn’t work out.”

Terry feels that if the two met again, things would go differently the second time around, but for now he’s focused on his Strikeforce on Friday against Magno Almeida at Strikeforce Challengers 19 at The Palms in Las Vegas.

“This fight is a great fight for me,” said Terry. “Magno likes to come forward too – he’s a really good jiu-jitsu guy – but he likes to stand and bang.”

Terry feels that while he may be overmatched in one area of the fight game, he excels in the others and it should give him the advantage Friday night.

“I’m not going to sit here and tell you my jiu-jitsu’s better than his, because it’s not, but my jiu-jitsu defense is good, because I train with the guys at AKA (American Kickboxing Academy), and there’s so many black belts there,” said Terry. “We’ve had a few black belts in and out at Cung (Le’s USH Academy), so I’ve definitely got some high-level grappling experience.

“I think I’ll be able to dictate the pace of the fight, because I’m head and shoulders above him in wrestling and striking. I’m a bad match-up for him. I have a lot of respect for him, but I’m really going to showcase my skills and go out there and dominate this fight.”

Having been demoted from main event in his last fight to the undercard for Strikeforce Challengers 19, Terry insists he’ll prove to Strikeforce’s new management that he deserves to be considered for a top spot next time out.

“I’m very disappointed that I got pushed from the main event to the prelims; especially with the caliber of fighter I’m fighting in Magno,” said Terry.

“I chalk it up to that Zuffa has just acquired Strikeforce and they’re not familiar with me. After a couple more fights – maybe even this fight – they’re going to understand that I need to be on the main card. I’m a high-level fighter and more talented than a lot of the guys on the main card.”

A firm believer that you learn more from a loss than you do from a victory, Terry is looking to prove himself on Friday night and make his way back up the rankings before 2011 ends.

“Everybody check me out on Sept. 23 at The Palms or on Showtime,” he closed out. “I’m going to light it up like I always do and try to knock somebody out. This is the time. This is my year.”

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