There was a time not long ago when Eddie Wineland was having some second thoughts about this whole fighting thing, even if he didn’t plan on having them.

At UFC Fight Night 40 against Johnny Eduardo in Cincinnati, Wineland became the victim of one of the biggest upsets in UFC history, at least as far as the betting odds are concerned, when the Brazilian knocked him out and handed him his second career broken jaw.

That broken jaw, along with the pending birth of his first child, gave Wineland some pause when considering whether or not to come back. He eventually did, but wasn’t himself in a tentative performance against Bryan Caraway in July 2015.

But 2016 brought the return of the Wineland of old. In front of his home fans in Chicago, he picked up a $50,000 performance bonus for a knockout of Frankie Saenz. And later that year, he knocked out Takeya Mizugaki.

On Saturday at UFC Fight Night 108, Wineland (23-11-1 MMA, 5-5 UFC) fights former flyweight title challenger and bantamweight “TUF 14” winner John Dodson (18-8 MMA, 7-3 UFC). Their fight is part of the FS1-broadcast main card at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville following prelims on FS2 and UFC Fight Pass.

These days, he’s fighting for his two sons.

“When I broke my jaw against Johnny Eduardo, I had a lot on my plate,” Wineland recently told MMAjunkie Radio. “My fiancee at the time was pregnant with our first, we were building a house, I was trying to build a pole barn – way too many irons in the fire. My head wasn’t in the game, so I paid the price for it. With the Caraway fight, mentally I was there. But subconsciously, I wasn’t ready to let my hands go or test my jaw.

“After my boys were born, it kind of re-lit that fire to prove to these kids that, ‘Your dad got knocked down. … You keep moving forward. You get up, you move forward, you mkae it happen. You do what you’ve got to do to get there.'”

Wineland said he knows he’ll have a tough test against Dodson. He’ll have four inches of height and three inches of reach on his side against the smaller former flyweight. But he’s not taking anything for granted.

Nearly six years ago, he fought the similarly sized Joseph Benavidez and drove back home to Northwest Indiana from Milwaukee on the wrong side of a sweep of the judges’ scorecards.

“I look at Dodson kind of like Benavidez,” Wineland said. “He’s small, but he’s very fast. The size isn’t to be overlooked, because he’s been fighting guys bigger than him his whole career. He went down to ’25 and fought guys that were his size and had very good success. He’s had good success at 135.”

The difference maker, Wineland hopes, will be his power. In 23 career wins, he’s only gone the distance four times. Of his 19 finishes, 14 are by knockout.

And he believes that’s what’s fated for Dodson, as well.

“I just think that as soon as I find a home for my right hand, or even my left hand, I think he’s going to realize he’s in for trouble,” he said. “He claims he’s never been knocked out, but neither had (Scott) Jorgensen when I fought him. Everybody I put my hands on, they all fall down. Whether they stay down or get back up, I’m going to knock them right back down. I think he brings a speed factor. He moves a lot, I move a lot – so it’s going to be a matter of who finds a home first.”

Check out the video above for more from Wineland ahead of his bout with Dodson at UFC Fight Night 108.

And for more on UFC Fight Night 108, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.

MMAjunkie Radio broadcasts Monday-Friday at 1 p.m. ET (10 a.m. PT) live from Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino’s Race & Sports Book. The show is hosted by “Gorgeous” George Garcia and producer Brian “Goze” Garcia. For more information or to download past episodes, go to www.mmajunkie.com/radio.