ESPN MMA’s Brett Okamoto interview flyweight contender Amir Albazi about his split-decision victory against Kai Kara-France in …
what’s up guys Brett okamoto from ESPN joined by UFC FlyAway Amir al-bazi who picked up a big victory in his first ever UFC Main Event over the weekend um and if I stop right there Amir that sounds really good right I mean yeah you picked up a five five round win against a guy like high caught a France who was obviously very talented very seasoned Mark Fighter um but that’s not the full story right um it seems like a lot of people out there had some issue with the judge’s scorecard so I guess my first question to you man is just uh it’s a big win how have the last you know 48 Hours been in terms of the reactions that you’ve gotten and kind of how you’re processing it like it’s big but you know people are are not saying what you would hope that they’d be saying after it yeah of course uh first of all I like to always you know finish fights so I don’t have these issues you know my track record speaks for itself I always go out there and I try to get the finish so we won’t even have that this discussion right now but some fights are of course are tough we’re fighting on the highest level Kai is not just uh easy opponent he’s ranked number three for a reason so it went to the dark to the judges so it’s been I feel a bit like people discredit what I did in the cage a bit because of how how it went or this whole course or the judges so people still don’t like give me the credit that actually went up against one of the best tracks in the division and and stood my own you know does that kind of ruin it for you at all I mean are you as happy I’m still happy I still think I won won this fight so really doesn’t change anything much for me I still feel like I did a good job I I did what I wanted to do I had control from the beginning to an end and I feel good about it do you do you feel like if you compete in this sport at the highest level for long enough like it’s just going to be uh at some point I’m going to be involved in a controversial decision do you just kind of feel like that’s inevitable or had you ever thought about it before I think Mr I don’t think it was a controversial decision I think was a close fight for sure but it’s like you say it’s the highest level we are we are at right now so of course it’s going to be a close fights and decisions and this kind of stuff so I I expected on the way to have you watched it yeah I watched the fight you did would you is that normal do you usually watch it right right away not right away but this one I had to watch it right away were you watching it to see kind of how you did or were you watching it to see like man were these did these judges get it right or not like did you think you watched it because of the because of what people are saying about it or did you want to watch it for another reason no I wanted to watch a movie for myself it’s always when he’s in the fight you don’t really it goes so quick it’s so much emotions and so much adrenaline you don’t know like how did that round look how this round looked it’s always good to watch it again and go over it you know to see how actually the fight went from the camera’s perspective so it was good watching over again I still think I won one two three and I came into the fourth uh feeling like I had done enough I took three in the bag you know but yeah uh so we came to the judges and that’s about it I felt like the judges were with me on that one do you think that the sport is kind of as a whole like the people are mad about this decision or do you think it’s just one of those situations where the people who are mad about it are just being really loud about it like do you think a lot of do you think a lot of people do actually think you lost that fight or is it just the people who do think you did are very loud yeah I think they’re very loud a lot of people also looking at the commentary where the commentary said like that’s another part I didn’t like they were kind of like not giving me credit before I was doing and giving Kai too much credit for stuff that I don’t believe they’re saying that he defended my take down but let’s be really like the moment I tried to take you down I got you down I didn’t want to take you down I wanted to punch you in the face that’s actually what happened you know and you can see for many times if you go back and look at the fight many times I let go I let go of him of the cave it’s not like he got out of the cage now I’ll let you go to punch you in the face so I don’t see that as a takedown defense I see that as me trying to finish the fight I mean that’s interesting man because like I’ll be honest with you Amir like it’s uh uh that sounds I mean you you say that and then people are gonna be like well he’s lying you know he he tried to take what’s the fight yeah I I I’m not saying I didn’t try to take him down I tried to take him down and then when I try to take him down I got him down and but if you look closely at many of the stuff they talk about Kai that I actually defended my take down go look closely I’m letting go of the my grips on him against the cage and I punch him in the face and then he runs off so that’s if you want to call that a defense all right sure but I know what I was trying to do I’ll try to finish the fire and that’s why I’m trying to do in five rounds so I don’t want to keep him on their cage and he riding out the whole round there I wanted to actually put my hands on him so it wasn’t my fault I didn’t follow the game plan I thought like his punches didn’t hurt me and him with my functions so I wanted to just go in there get a finish if I I don’t want to waste the whole run against the cage basically what would you tell people who who disagree with you and and think that you lost and you’re like hey I felt like I did enough to win those three rounds what would you tell them like hey go back watch the first three rounds and see this see this see this this is why I won those first three rounds like what would you tell those people who right now disagree with you thank you a lot of things first of all I was I was pushing the fight so if Kai won that round he’s going back the whole round he’s not really doing anything it’s not first of all the stats are just ridiculous the things the thing with the stats is just ridiculous doesn’t make sense at all but how is Sky winning when he’s going back the whole round and I’m trying to hit him I’m trying to take him down I’m trying to punch him in the face so that’s that’s what I’m looking at oxygen control I have control and every time I punch them you see how he reacts all the hard damaging shots was coming from my side so I don’t see how people give that give that round to him you know like I didn’t get hit really hard I’m literally chasing him down the whole run so I don’t know if Kai came came to this fight trying to just run around for five rounds I don’t know the only time he stood this ground was the last 10 seconds of the fifth round and he’s telling me let’s go hey I’m thinking man I’ve been waiting this whole fight for you to tell me let’s go you know that’s what I’ve been trying to do yeah when I um you know I could ask any fighter this but it always seems to come up of course when it’s a very very close fight do you like the way that this this this sport is scored they do think it’s appropriate do you think it’s fair do you think do you feel confident going in that you know what judges are looking for and and that you you will have good judging like I to be honest uh this fight I didn’t try to go to the judges like every round I tried to finish the fight not One Moment In My Head was like ah let me win this round or let me ride out to our decision and get the win and I wanted to finish this fight so for the whole five rounds I tried to finish the fight so when this when it was time for the decision I’m like oh here we go I have no idea I still felt like I won I felt like I did enough to get the win but I’m like yeah here we go I don’t know what’s going to happen now literally you know so but I I think the judges did the right decisions then what round they gave it’s not my job to judge my job is to go into decade and smash people punch people in the face and choke them out so how how the scoring went I don’t know why people are looking at me and trying to stick on me it’s not my job my job is I signed a contract to fight another fighter in my weight class and that’s the only thing I can do yeah that’s what’s always really unfortunate about this man is that it was a competitive fight it was a five round fight it was against a guy again like I said in Kai who was very very good and you went to a full training camp for this fight and then you know you went out there and you fought very very hard for five rounds and it’s just like just because the fight was close and some people disagree with the decision it almost feels like it ruins it for both of you guys in a sense yeah I agree I agree because same thing like I’m I’m fighting above there oh someone over me right I’m fighting Kai Kai have had great fights against Brandon Moreno we have problem with the title he’s the one on one of the most dangerous practices in the division so it’s guy’s job to technically take me out right he said they’re gonna come in I’m Gonna Knock that mirror up but that’s not why we saw in the fight what I saw him running four five run it was running around so I’m thinking I’m here trying to put on a good performance I’m trying to show the fans but I felt like he was just running away and that’s why I broke from the clinch too I feel like okay and now I just want to punch punch your face in game plan went out of the window everything went out of the window I’m like okay let’s if you think you have a good right hand have a good I have a good right hand too so let’s do it and that’s what kind of my mentality in the fight um one thing you said that was interesting was uh you felt like you won the first three rounds so did you felt like like he won the last two the fourth I can you know I I slow down a bit because I felt like even the fifth I don’t it’s not clear it was super close it’s a super close run but if they want to give that that’s the rounds like I can give to him but the first three I definitely had those fronts that I they I like I don’t think they can argue that it was Thai France you know so then if the if they I won’t give even the I would give them like one round out of the five personally but I’m not a judge either I’m not I’m a fighter in the end of the day but I didn’t think he did enough like he was supposed to come in there and put me out put his hands on me and show what he’s number three and I just showed why I can stand with these guys he’s the you’re the best track in the division I can stand with you you know and I can’t take you down whenever I want is the fact is that I didn’t want to take him down but people saw us uh take down defense but I didn’t see him defend one thing now I took him down and stood back up and then I let go because I want to punch you I’m not gonna waste my energy to keep trying to take you down and the whole run goes like this and I don’t think it’s nice for the fans too the fast game for a show yeah yeah well the reason I asked you about uh the fourth and fifth rounds is because you know it’s obviously very very important and valuable for a fighter to go through five rounds before they get to like a title fight so you saying that you thought oh maybe those last two rounds were sort of the closest how did you feel in the fourth and fifth and like how much confidence or how much experience do you feel like you gained you know having gone through that that uh that experience now and you’re looking at potential okay definitely definitely now like I feel more I know how how I can like I found like he was pacing himself and I was just going you know so now I feel how it is but it’s like you say I didn’t know what what the feeling was I felt like I I felt like I came in the fourth winning the three and I kind of slowed down I stopped having the same Alpha you know that’s what I felt and then I picked it back up in the fifth but for him saying oh let’s go in the middle that doesn’t make him win around you know we’re both punching each other in the face so that’s how I see it he was still running around in the fifth so I it’s still really close I still don’t give those that run to him yeah last thing I’ll ask you about any of this judging controversy or non-controversy but however you look at it if you felt differently I believe you I believe what you’re saying but if you went back and watched that fight and you’re like uh I don’t know if I won this fight would you tell us or would you just say no I won this fight I would because the end of the day it’s a fight you know it is what it is everything have happened now you know the fight was like I would but when I re-watch the fight I really think I won that fight I really know I won that fight especially in the first three rounds like I can’t see how Kai could have won it how can if you moving on the back foot but you you tagging me all the time I get it some people have that style that they can fight on the back foot but he didn’t do anything on their back foot really nothing I was kicking him I was punching him I did the harder shots and every time everything he threw I was getting blocked so just because you throw a punch and I block it doesn’t mean that she gets caught to you and even the third round when I fell off the back and he got some Grand Theft Auto you cannot score that to him either that’s just uh very small small part of the round same thing as the fifth I think where he caught my kick and I just stood back up you can’t score that team that’s a takedown either because he didn’t really do a takedown so I don’t really know how people what people are are watching at home are looking at because I really want to know like why would Sky really things think we want I I want to know myself I want to know what did he think he did enough even after the fight you know in the interviews of the fight he so said himself that it was uh like like he felt he didn’t win but then with all this robbery thing why Israel at the sunny is posting and I think he kind of start believing in that he won but we both know even after the fight I shook his hand talked to him he’s a very nice humble guy you know but he know he lost that fight well it’s it’s a win on your record and you’ve been very clear about what you want you won a title fight in Abu Dhabi yes um have you I mean you’re at the PI right now right I mean you’re sitting right outside of the you’ll see headquarters have you have you had any have you had any conversation with any of them Mick you know whether it was Dana and do you think how confident are you that you’re gonna get what you want I spoke I spoke about with day 9 Hunter after the fight you know and if not me who else I’m defeated in the Flyway division it’s not me who else I have five straight wins you know in the Flyway Division and I’m the only one left you know I’m I’m still The Undefeated guy I was coming into this and I know I’m ready for that title and I showed that I can stand up with these guys if I had a great fight with uh Moreno standing up so now I feel like I can stand with these guys easily and if I just do my game plan I keep I’m gonna keep taking them out so I have to ask what did Dana and Hunter say when you told them that we talked you know they they sounded very open to Abu Dhabi too you know it sounded good but nothing written in stone for sure for sure um Moreno and pantosia that fights happening in July how do you see it uh how do you see it going what do you think are sort of the keys there and do you have a preference of which one you you would face not to be honest both a tough guys both are good guys you know both are are the best at what they do so I can’t take away anything from anyone and whoever I I’m gonna face I’m gonna be prepared so it doesn’t really matter if it’s pantojo or Moreno you say that they’re both the best at what they do which one of them is trickier which one would be a more difficult one to take out do you think me Emerald Bazi good answer they have to worry about me I’m not so worried about either of them you know I’ll specify them differently Morin is more a striker you know but he can do Jiu Jitsu to pantosia can strike but cannot does Jitsu very well so it’s gonna be a great matchup with either have you ever ever like crossed paths with Moreno I mean obviously you’re right there in Vegas and he’s lived in Vegas have you guys ever trained together been on any match together yeah yeah me and Morgan actually trained together so when I got to Vegas I really didn’t have any place to train and I just saw actually Moreno in the pi and I’m like hey let’s train you know and he sees a very cool guy you know the cool Mexican I love the whole crew of Mexicans you know so we trained uh we trained together before like how extensively would you say how much have you trained together I think it was a couple of weeks we changed a couple of weeks together before it’s I think before his uh title defense with figuredo the second one has been so many now I don’t remember which one yeah yeah yeah yeah uh was it enough that you kind of feel like you’re you have some sort of sense of how the fight would go and like you you really kind of know him or it’s just kind of it’s not to that level no no no I think every fight is different than every time a fighter steps in the cage is going to be different I never take stuff off training training is always training but when you step into the cage and actually fire is always different so I’m not really thinking about like uh and still it was two years ago he’s a different fighter I’m a different fighter right now so it’s gonna be like a completely new fight last thing for you Amir um so we’ll wait and see you know what happens with the championship fight and you never know like you just said he and Moreno and figuerado ended up fighting four times in a row because it was uh you know weird circumstances so you never know what’s going to happen in the sport right but yeah it seems like Abu Dhabi is very important to you do you kind of have it set in your mind that like regardless of what happens any circumstance like I need to fight in Abu Dhabi is it kind of like that or is it kind of just like hey I’m just answering a question like oh that’d be perfect or does that really mean something to you because it kind of seems like it does it means of course it means something to me I have a lot of people like that want to come to these fights but we’re in the states so it’s hard getting Visa it’s not getting you know coming into the fights now it’s in the Apex so I know I have a big fan base uh you know I have a great fan base I feel like the whole Middle East are staring for me uh behind me in all the fights and I love the fans from there too they’re always supporting out of they go out of their way to support so I feel if we put our fight in Abu Dhabi I know I can bring a huge crowd and a lot of people and I always get treated very well in Abu Dhabi it’s in like in every country the hospitality is great uh the fans are great the country is great so I can’t you know talk enough about it so I point five Talent twice and I love that I loved everything about it so it would just be great to be on that card again yep well we will wait and see man uh that that title fight is in July and I’m sure you know once that happens then we’ll have a much more clear idea of what’s going to happen with you but I appreciate you taking the time in congratulations on the Victory and uh we’ll see you around here in Vegas we’ll talk to you again soon thank you thank you for watching ESPN on YouTube for live streaming Sports and premium content subscribe to ESPN Plus