Table of Contents
Fight of the Night:
Robert Whittaker vs. Kelvin Gastelum
Performances of the Night:
Tony Gravely
Gerald Meerschaert
Robert Whittaker defeated Kelvin Gastelum via unanimous decision
Robert Whittaker:
It was a very good start against Kelvin and I think it set the pace for a lot of my later entries and setups. I was very happy with it.
He’s tough. Every time I landed a shot, I was landing hard shots and good shots, and he just kept going forward. He was so resilient in there. I’ve got to take my hat off to him.
The end, getting my arm raised, that was the most memorable part of the fight for sure. It was a hard fight. It was hard-fought and hard-won.
My mentality is different. My reasons for why I fight and how I fight is different. My approach to fight week, the camp and training and the fight itself is all different. I’m a different beast than I was. I’m enjoying myself a lot more. I think that’s a big thing because a happy Rob is a dangerous one.
I enjoy everything about it. I’m enjoying my career, I’m very happy with the UFC and the way they support me.
It was always a goal to fight for that gold because it was just one of the things… I take it one fight at a time. I never look into the future because it’s so uncertain when you have a dangerous opponent like [Darren] Till, [Jared] Cannonier, Gastelum in front of you. How can I try to plan things with [Israel] Adesanya when I have those killers in front of me?
The next fight for me is for the title. That’s the fight I’ve earned.
Andrei Arlovski defeated Chase Sherman via unanimous decision
Andrei Arlovski:
I want to thank again Dana White, the UFC and the matchmakers for the opportunity to step in the octagon tonight on short notice, because what happened on February 20 bummed me out and I’m really happy for this opportunity. I didn’t perform maybe like people wanted to, like the UFC wanted to, but at least I got the victory and the next time it’s going to be better.
It feels awesome. I didn’t do my game plan, because Chase was pretty aggressive and tough in the first round. He caught me with a couple of right hand jabs and then what I was supposed to do in the first round, I didn’t do actually in all the three rounds, but a victory is a victory.
I just want to get back home because I miss my family, my wife, my mom, my beautiful kids and they are waiting for me. I’m going to spend some time with my family now.
Jacob Malkoun defeated Abdul Razak Alhassan via unanimous decision
Jacob Malkoun:
I just thought that I had to ignore the outside influences. (…) I just believed in myself, went in, just did me, didn’t try to do anything different and it worked.
My coach during the whole week just installed in my head that I had to implement the best way to win, the easiest way to win. The easiest way to victory is the smartest way to victory. Obviously, I’m a fighter, I want to punch heads if that makes sense. I don’t want to go and take people down, but I had to do it. He is very dangerous, Abdul has been knocking people out, I just had to go in and do the best way to win.
If you think I’m a wrestler, the next time I fight, I want to box. I’m not like you can come and say, “this guy just wrestles”. No, I don’t wrestle, just, sure, I am a well-rounded fighter. My coach, the first thing he said to me when I went in, I was happy and he was like, “that’s 40% of you”, so I have a lot of work to do. I’m going to keep going forward. He’s going to build – not my confidence, just my experience level. I don’t have that much experience. That’s pretty much it.
It’s been in my head. I’ve got my coaches come from Australia, quarantining two weeks by themselves, I just had to do it for them. More than for myself to be honest. I had to prove to them that they are putting all their work in for the right reasons. They are not getting big financial gains out of me at the moment, so I’m just pushing to prove them right for all the hard work they put in me and I appreciate that from the bottom of my heart.
Rob Whittaker and I train together, we are always on top of each other, not best of friends all the time in training. We’re always seeing each other, butting heads, but I owe him a lot also, because he’s brought me along for part of his fights and I’ve learned a lot of experience just from being around him, so thank him also.
Just expect the guys that are going to come out later on in the line. I’m not here for fans, I’m not here for anything. I’m just here to fight, win, build my own brand and just prove to myself that I belong here with all the rest of them.
Tracy Cortez defeated Justine Kish via split decision
Tracy Cortez:
I was very confident in there, I was very comfortable in there. I have a great team behind me and the way this fight camp went was just perfect, I have no complaints. I’m really happy with my performance tonight.
I was able to stand up when I wanted and I took it to ground whenever I wanted as well, so I’m happy with that.
I have no quit in me. I got heart and if you knock me down, I’m going to get back up. I’m not one to stay down.
I can’t be broken, I’m going to keep coming back and you’re going to have to kill me in there to stop me.
I knew she was going to be a tough opponent. We knew she is not one to back down from a punch or back down from a fight. We knew it was going to be a good, tough fight.
I do want to fight a couple more times this year, I want to be very active. Of course, all with being healthy, fight camps going well and my coaching… Hopefully, by the end of the year, if everything is done right, I’d like to be ranked in the top 5. (…) I do think I’m about a few fights away from being at least top 15. I don’t see why I wouldn’t be. Give me three or four more fights, I’ll be top 5, baby!
Luis Pena defeated Alexander Munoz via split decision
Luis Pena:
I feel great. That first round I was kind of using it to get rid of those 10-month layoff jitters and then, as the fight picked up, I started to feel myself, started to feel my rhythm, my groove. If you give me a little bit more time to truly get accustomed to it, you’ll see the Violent Bob Ross every time.
I’m ready to go. I’m ready to make that run. Alex is a tough opponent. He came out there, he hung in with everything, his wrestling was really solid. He is a super strong guy, it was tough to get him off me, but I think as I’m growing – I’m still a young dude – doing the strength training and getting stronger, it’s going to be harder and harder for guys to do that to me.
I’m not going to lie, I think I broke my hand in the second round and I still was out there swinging. I was still giving it my all and I think I did it. I think I did what I came here to do. I think I gave him everything I could.
You let Violent Bob Ross get in that flow state, you let Violent Bob Ross start feeling the joy of fighting, I’m telling you, that’s the most dangerous VBR you’re going to see in there, baby!
I feel like if I hadn’t broken my hand in the second round, I would have finished him, because I threw another cross in the third and I was like, “I can’t throw that again”.
I had to make that adjustment, but I still wanted to let him think that it was coming, so I was trying to feint it, I threw the elbows over the top. I actually cut him, I think, on the top of the head with the elbow coming in after I broke my hand.
It’s everywhere. I think just my overall comfortability in the cage. I was smiling in there. I was having a good time just everywhere. I’m hoping though to get back in the lab here, rest up, heal up, and just start improving even more. That’s all I really want to do, it’s keep improving, keep growing and keep getting fun fights like that. (…) I just want to keep this momentum rocking and start looking to make a real run towards the top 15, top 10 and eventually the title.
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