UFC 312's Kody Steele explains value of teammates Khalil Rountree, Merab Dvalishvili

For much of his professional career, Kody Steele winged it and didn't train at a highly-functioning MMA gym.

So you can imagine the epiphanies he's had since he joined Syndicate MMA in Las Vegas. Training under coach John Wood on a daily basis, Steele (7-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) prepares for his promotional debut: UFC 312 on Feb. 8 vs. Rong Zhu (25-6 MMA, 1-3 UFC). The event streams on ESPN+ pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN2 and ESPN+.

But Wood isn't the only one handing out knowledge, Steele explained when he recently spoke with MMA Junkie Radio. Some of the best knowledge he's received in the room has been those who are actively leading by example in the UFC cage.

"There are a lot of guys," Steele said. "I talk to Khalil (Rountree) a lot. I have talks with him. I've had good chats with Merab (Dvalishvili). Those guys sometimes, I've been talking to them about my debut. I'm saying, 'How do you guys feel about this and that?' They just give me really good advice all the time, 'Just got out there and do your best. You work hard enough. Whatever's going to happen is going to happen. Just go out there and perform and do what you do.' They kind of talk me off the cliff more than anything and just give me really good advice. Any time I talk to those guys, I just feel a lot better because we're all fighters and we just deal with the same mental stresses, especially leading to a fight. But hearing them and talking to them, it always makes me feel a lot better."

Syndicate has long been a training facility staple in the "Fight Capital of the World" and shows no signs of stopping. Dvalishvili is fresh off a successful UFC 311 title defense against Umar Nurmagomedov and the vibes at the gym are high.

"It's a good momentum thing we've got going on over there," Steele said. "I think Merab going out there and putting on a great performance, it was motivating just to watch and see. Especially, because this camp, I watched him go through a lot of injuries and dealing with a lot of injuries. It was motivating to see that, for him to just go out there and just climb this mountain. Then also, it just being a big fight and seeing him in the practice room executing the drills and training that we do and seeing him hit it in the practice room and then bring it over to the octagon and fighting, it was really cool to see. At the end of the day, we're all different fighters and we're all different styles. I feel good being with Syndicate and having this game plan and having coach (John) Wood in my corner."

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This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC 312's Kody Steele explains value of teammates Khalil Rountree, Merab Dvalishvili