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TEMECULA, Calif. – Saad Awad knows what he’s in for on Friday night, but truthfully, he’s thankful for the brawl that lays ahead.

“Stylistically, I’m happy for it, but at the end of the day, when it’s all said and done, I know we’re both going to be beat up,” Awad told MMA Junkie. “Even if I get an early knockout, I know the dude is going to hit me. I’ve just got to catch him. I’ve got to catch him fast, and if I don’t, I know we’re both in for a long night.”

Awad (23-10 MMA, 11-7 BMMA) faces fellow slugger Brandon Girtz (15-8 MMA, 7-6 BMMA) in the headlining bout of Friday’s Bellator 219, which takes place Friday at Pechanga Resort Casino in Temecula, Calif. The main card airs on Paramount and streams on DAZN following prelims on MMA Junkie.

It’s Awad’s first appearance since a frustrating October loss to Benson Henderson, when the former UFC champ outgrappled “Assassin” over the course of three rounds. Awad admits he didn’t perform up to his capabilities that night and says his emotions certainly got the better of him.

“What went wrong was I lost the fight, but at the same time, I think my frustration (expletive) me,” Awad said. “I really do. This game, it’s a huge mental game. People don’t realize how much of a mental game this fighting thing is, and when you go out there, you don’t realize that when you get smacked up, you want to smack people back. If you let your emotions get involved, a lot of stuff goes out the window.

“You cannot be an emotional fighter, and I feel like I let the emotions get the best of me.”

Henderson was warned for grabbing the cage during the clash, and Awad said the tactics added to his frustration level since he didn’t understand until he watched the fight back why he was struggling to get back to his feet. But he believes the lessons he learned in that contest will prevent him from ever suffering that fate again.

“I fought one of the best guys in the world, and I learned from it,” Awad said. “I’m not going to fight anybody with his credentials that are going to do something like that, that’s going to be able to get me to that point again. I’m not going to let those emotions get to me like that.”

Awad said he immediately petitioned Bellator for another booking, and while they stalled briefly, once he heard the organization was returning to Temecula, he knew a spot on the card was certain.

“They told me a couple months ago that they were coming out to Pechanga, and every time I fight at Pechanga, which is my hometown, we usually sell it out,” Awad said. “So as soon as they told me they were coming here in March, I said, ‘That’s it. I’m getting ready now.’ Sure enough, they ended up putting me on the card, and now we’re here.”

There was one surprise left in store, with Awad vs. Girtz eventually being elevated to the night’s main event when Lorenz Larkin withdrew from a planned headliner with Andrey Koreshkov. For Awad, it simply made an already ideal scenario even better.

“It felt really good,” Awad said. “I got put up in the main event, and you get a little bit more attention for that. It’s in my hometown, so everybody that’s been supporting me gets to come out, and now they get to cheer for the main event – they’re not just here for another fight.

I was co-main event a few times, but now they’re not just cheering for another guy on the card. They’re going to come cheer for the main event, so it’s not only for me. It makes me feel good that people that are supporting me this whole time get to see my hard work come into play, and they’ve supported me just as long as I’ve been fighting, so it feels good all the way around.”

How it will feel on Friday remains to be seen. While Awad is confident he’s the better fighter, he also respects Girtz and is aware that he’s not going down without a fight.

Of course, that’s exactly what Awad plans to bring.

“I know we’re both going to be pretty beat up, but stylistically, I think it’s a great fight for me,” Awad said. “I think my size is going to play a difference. I think I have a lot of tools that I haven’t used a lot, but I’m going to go out there and start using them and get this win.”

To hear more from Awad, check out the video above.

For more on Bellator 219, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.