After a debut to forget, British heavyweight Mark Godbeer is out to prove a point this Saturday, March 4, at UFC 209.

The former BAMMA heavyweight world champion made his UFC bow back at UFC Fight Night 99 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. That evening, things went far from to plan for Godbeer, as he was defeated by Justin Ledet in the first round via submission.

Ready for Las Vegas and UFC 209

While some fighters would shy away from their misfortune, Godbeer did the opposite and faced up to his errors. Having made some fundamental changes to both his training and preparations, confidence is now fully restored in the man, and this weekend, he feels he's ready to finally make his mark.

"I feel great--I'm in good spirits, good mood and I'm just mentally prepared, physically prepared and I'm ready to go," Godbeer said, speaking exclusively to FloCombat. "They could've told me two weeks ago that I was ready to return you know--I'm ready."

Coming to terms with a bad debut

Having gotten all the frustration about the debut out of his system, Godbeer is now able to joke about the debut and poke at himself. While able to speak about it lightheartedly, the British heavyweight learned some valuable lessons from the experience and now feels a much better fighter for having gone through the loss.

"I still have nightmares about it," Godbeer said jokingly with a big smile on his face. "I learned--I thought I was mentally ready and I [had] fought on big shows [before]. I'm signed with the UFC now which is the biggest show in the world, but I was the BAMMA heavyweight world champion, I fought for Bellator before--I fought in front of thousands of people before.

"The crowd and stuff, that I thought I could deal with, but the whole UFC [experience] and everything that came with it, at the time, I didn't think the pressure would get to me, but it did. I'm not taking away anything from Justin [Ledet] because he fought a good fight and it was a slick submission. I made some stupid mistakes though and they were mistakes I wouldn't normally make and I paid for it--that's MMA. But, in my head I didn't lose--I learned a lot and I learned it the hard way and I've made all the right adjustments."

Joining the Scottish Hit Squad

Having being through the pain of the defeat, Godbeer quickly faced up to the fact changes were needed. After thinking it all through, the man from the southwest of England headed north to Coatbridge in Scotland where he linked up with the Scottish Hit Squad and head coach Brian Gallacher to set about making some big changes ahead of his second UFC fight.

"I lived right down in the deep south of England--I'm a country boy, you know?" Godbeer explained. "The main thing down south is, it's not a problem with the coaches, I've got good high-level coaches, but I just didn't have the sparring or the training partners to go with it.

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"I needed to make a move, make adjustments and I needed to be the nail--not just the hammer all the time. I needed people to put it on me and find out where my holes were. I had trained with Paul Craig and the Scottish Hit Squad before and it was great so I talked to [Brian] and it just so happened that Paul was on the same card so it all worked out. I spoke to my coaches back home and then made the move. These guys have found my holes and I've really worked on my holes."

Spitz or Duffee, it doesn't matter

Godbeer was set to face Todd Duffee this weekend, however an injury forced the American out of the fight just two weeks ago. While disappointed he won't be facing Duffee, Godbeer says he's ready to deal with UFC debutant Daniel Spitz, who has stepped up as a late replacement.

"I basically found a little bit of footage of him [Spitz] and his last few fights," Godbeer said. "I've studied them and I know what he's about, you know? We've had to make obvious adjustments because he's a lot taller, he's 6'7"' and he's pretty good in the clinch and likes to use his knees and his Thai stuff--it's more suited to my style anyway so my game plan is pretty much the same as it's always going to be.

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"People know my style--my style is my style and it's just about adapting my style for each opponent. I don't think it's much of a change from Duffee to him, you know? Their styles are a little different, but my style for each opponent is pretty much the same because I think I need to do the same to beat both fighters. I'm just going in there with a level head and do the business.

Nothing will stop Godbeer now

With all the right changes made and the fight camp of a lifetime in the bag, Godbeer now feels like he's ready to go out and show the UFC fans what he's all about. With a fierce look of determination in his eye, Godbeer said that it all starts Saturday night and that he's going to make people stand up and take notice of him.

"The key to this game is self-belief, and you've got to believe in yourself," Godbeer said. "If you've got one bit of doubt, then you've lost. My mindset now is that I'm not losing this fight--there is no way. Anywhere this fight goes, I've got the upper hand, and that's the mindset I'm taking into this fight.

"I'm going out there to shock everyone--I'm going to get a slick submission. That would get a few people talking, especially going from my debut to a slick submission. That would be awesome."