Following UFC Vegas 83, tune in to the Post-Fight Press Conference to hear the athletes take questions from the media.
well congratulations how are you feeling right now thank you Amy H I feel great yeah I feel really good I finally have calm down so I feel good when you say calm down what was the what were the emotions back there high high levels of Joy which is really cool I don’t remember the last time I felt that level of like pure like Joy um and it was nice it was nice it was overwhelming um and I let it pass through and now I feel back to calm what were those emotions connected to was it the fact that you beat Anthony Smith was it the fact that you beat Anthony Smith the way you did or was it just the win in general or something else I think it was more of the feeling of the amount of hard work hard hard hard work paying off again it was that on top of beating Anthony Smith a tough guy a guy who no matter what there was always a level of respect from my end the caliber fight you know the just I think everything but it all mostly comes down to just the hard work that I put in day in and day out and the way that it’s been for the past year now and it finally paid off again and it just made me extremely happy you mentioned respect on your end um do you feel like the respect is was given back to you or is that something maybe you just didn’t get a chance to you know I didn’t watch and I usually don’t watch interviews or any anything and even people who are close to me and my friends know I don’t do the he said she said type of thing but sometimes out of excitement they won’t tell me exactly what’s said but they’ll say like oh you know this guy doesn’t respect you or with things like that so I don’t know anything like personally but um from I guess the gossip it was just like you know I think that this guy doesn’t have the level of respect for you that he should you know that’s just kind of what I heard and I’m like okay it doesn’t matter to me because this guy is 37 and 18 and for me that gains my respect already so if I have to fight hard I fight hard but yeah I think after the fact it was it was great um I’m glad that we were able to really shake hands and he congratul ated me and I I think it was great so I think that now the respect is mutual um you know on that note when he lost to Johnny Walker a lot of people were thinking that he was about to retire people thought he did retire people thought he should retire um I know it’s never a place for anybody else to decide when a fighter should retire but what’s your opinion on on his longevity and the sport and how long he can last still now that you’ve been in the cage with him the guy can last forever I mean he can fight 10 more fights if he wants to I think that this could have been a much different fight for him had he had full Camp you know but he lived up to his name and took a fight against me on 10 days notice so it obviously doesn’t look good to get another loss but given the circumstances I mean not what do you expect back but like don’t be too surprised right so yeah give him a full Camp against someone else you know I think I think he’s still got fight in him you know I think he just probably maybe bring some new people in the corner you know like not I’m not talking about coaches but circle of influence you know some people around you that are going to encourage you and encourage him and and bring out the best in him because the skills there the experience is there he’s not old you know what I mean so like yeah I think the guy can keep fighting for sure was there anything about him that surprised you in there not necessarily you know I I expected that he’d be tough he said he was going to put the pressure um I’d say I was more surprised at I was I expected like more output I expected maybe more take down attempts more trying to get me against the cage and make it not dirty but like you know what I mean like kind of make it more of a rough fight so that was where the surprise was is that it didn’t really go I guess the way that I thought it was going to go but nothing nothing that he did was necessarily like surprising you called out Alex and I’m wondering how much of that call out was because he’s the man holding the belt and how much because it was Alex I think that him having the belly deserves a bill right the guy works hard uh middleweight champion former middleweight champion now light heavyweight champion I think that it’s a mixture of both but the reason why and I don’t ever call people out you guys I don’t think think you guys have any record of me ever calling anybody out but in my mind knowing that if I beat Anthony Smith that would get me into the top 10 and I know that the way that the rankings kind of work if I fought and I’m just 12 or I just know that like I have to be in the top 10 to even be worthy of fighting for a title now when I look at say I get number 10 say they say they put me at number 10 and not eight where Anthony was okay so from nine up in my opinion and I think in the fans opinion the the the most exciting fight would be me versus Pereira and you know that’s just what I I’ve seen from like comments things like that after Alex’s went I got flooded with like oh tag people tagging me and things and I’m like I think it makes sense to Dynamic Strikers powerful Strikers I don’t plan to shoot any takedowns I don’t think I’ve ever shot for a takedown in my career I don’t think that he’s necessarily going to shoot for any takedowns because the guy’s a warrior so then you have two explosive dynamic now me being in the top 10 it just you know in my mind it’s just like career it makes sense you know what I mean and I’m putting in the work every day and I’m prepared for anything you know I I’m not saying like this is what I want now give it to me now but I think that it would make sense and that’s kind of where I stand you know how long are you willing to wait for that fight if they said hey it’s going to be a year would you want to fight and potentially risk losing and lose that chance or would you be willing to sit for a year to fight him I’m not sitting for a year I need money I got to make money you know what I mean um but uh I don’t I don’t really know why I would have to sit for a year if they said six months or whatever like I’m ready whenever right if they said whenever okay if that’s the fight okay um if it’s something besides that fight then to be honest I Miss Thailand with my whole heart I haven’t been there in almost three years now so I’d like to take small vacation but not if there’s a title fight on the line you know what I mean so if it’s anything outside of that fight let’s let’s run it whenever but there’s also that other side of me where I’m like okay like it would be nice I’ve been training a full year non-stop it would be nice take a little break but I’m not hung up on that you know I’m I’m still focused I’m still you know I’m still on the highway so and last one for me would you ever have imagined you know when you were weighing in RFA in a sports bar you know with people eating their fish and chips that you would ever be here talking about your path to a UFC title I had very very high hopes and ambition back then I knew that when I was in the RFA I was doing it for a reason I wanted to get to the UFC I believed I was the best you know I think I was young and I was like yeah knockout I train with Anderson Silva you know like things like that so I’m like yeah I’m gonna be a UFC champion but I had no idea how hard it is and how much work and effort it takes every day to actually be able to um be worthy of sitting in a seat like this and on a win streak and things like that so I had a little bit of it like imagine imagined it but I didn’t fathom it at all like I wouldn’t I wasn’t even close to uh you know putting in the amount of work it takes to to get here thank you thank you hey K what up um I just wanted to ask you were late were more late kicks part of the the game plan because I noticed that you know you weren’t really kicking his legs a whole lot and he’s been his last few fights he’s been really susceptible is that word too L yeah yeah what was up with that um I don’t know what was up with it because one of the first things that I said to John Wood after I was like I should have kicked the legs more you know so I I knew that the opportunities would be there I practiced a lot of low kicks this Camp I practiced a lot of kicks in general this Camp that’s just a part of what I do um but things were just different when you’re standing in there with Anthony Smith you know um I didn’t necessarily want to take any crazy chances uh getting kicks checked hurts you know so it only takes one or two checks just like it only takes one or two leg kicks to actually start to feel the pain so uh yeah I think that every the way that I fought tonight was really so that I can just stay in control of just like the vision of like having my hand raised and not really taking any big damage that I know could have happened and the best way to do that tonight was with hands in movement and a little bit of kicks threading but not to over abuse the kick there was this narrative coming into this fight and I don’t know because you say you didn’t really read a lot whole stop a lot of stuff but there was a narrative that said that K can be inconsistent K doesn’t show up for for big fights now that you showed up for a big fight and you knocked out Anthony Smith does it feel nice to shut people up I don’t think people will ever shut up and I think after this fight there’s going to be people that still don’t believe and that still have bad things to say I’ve just come to acceptance with that there’s always going to be a large percentage of people that have just really opinions you know what I mean and it’s like the thing that sucks too and to be quite honest like obviously it’s about me so there can be a little bit of truth to it because there has been times in the past where I was Inc consistent and I didn’t show up for big fights so if I read things like that I’m like and that’s why I don’t read things like that you know I just like keep doing what I’m doing doing I cannot as much as I love the people I have to create a huge separation cuz I care about people too much and sometimes like opinions can really have like I can let them have too much effect on me you know so the way that I accept it is just like there’s always going to be opinions you know what I mean and there’s always going to be until the day that I’m done fighting there’s always going to be gigantic portion of MMA fans that just don’t believe in me or just don’t like me for whatever reason and I just have to be okay with that and I have to continue to do what I do for myself and for my loved ones and the ones that do support me and are cheering like cheering for me man I love them to death because they could so easily be on the other end so my dedicated fans and like my dedicated like supporters and people who have been following they’re the best man um I asked you a couple fights ago but you know I wanted you to kind of reflect you know 2020 you were thinking about maybe retirement it was in there it was in the it was in your thought process now fast forward you’re going to be in the top 10 on Tuesday like can you kind of like put into words like just the whole like kind of Full Circle right now yeah I mean kind of like I answered earlier with Amy like the same thing that I said a little bit about Smith I think that I had to make some changes in my personal Circle you know to be able to show me that nah dude you’re not done you know what I mean I think that environment has a lot to do with just decisions like that or if you don’t have self-belief or you feel like ah you know what this is something that I love but I want to hang it up I’d say like nine times out of the 10 like check your environment you know what I mean like check who’s around you check your influence you know where where is this coming from so I think around that time like I was kind of alone in Thailand training I loved Muay Thai and I think a part of that retirement came from I wasn’t able to compete in Muay Thai because of my UFC contract but I had the opportunity and I had the connections to be able to fight for a WBC belt at Roger Domer Stadium against the super heavyweight and I’m like this is amazing I just get to fight in a Thai stadium in the Thai Stadium forget the contract right now you know like that’s kind of it was like I was more drawn to like I get to go I get to be in the place that I love with my whole heart and train and fight in the sport in the martial art that changed my entire life so but I I didn’t have many people that were just like nah dude you’re not done with the UFC until I had phone calls with you know Lorenzo and John and they’re like come back you got a good shot at this I think I even saw like John and Abu Dhabi he’s like you should come back you know what I mean so um yeah I think it had to do with influence but I’m glad that I made the decision to come back to the States and and take this seriously you expained your uh call of Alex Pereira Al obviously you want to find him because it’s exciting for the championship but also is there like a little thing in your back of your head we like I’ve already knocked out one Glory uh heavyweight Or Glory Champion I can do it again I don’t think that that thought never crossed my mind like I’ve said right after I even mentioned the guy’s name it’s nothing but respect man really like it’s not a I don’t approach this in a sense of like I’m better and you no dude not at all you know what I mean like I know that he is just as skilled as everybody says and I’m at a point right now where if people watching me fight I want them to see the best version of me you know and the way to do that is to put me against another Striker to where then you can see what you know then you can see two guys strike you know what I mean so yeah I mean like it that’s it’s more about that you know I don’t think about necessarily like what I’ve done in the past and all this stuff I just think it’s like it would be really really really cool to fight the best in the division best in the world at light heavyweight in Las Vegas where I’m from and potentially win the belt in Las Vegas with the Las Vegas crowd and then be able to say like UFC has a local Champion like I you know that’s more of how my mind makes it versus and it just so happens at you know Alex Pera and the champion you know what I mean so it’s like it’s a mixture it’s nothing like directly personal it’s just circumstantial yeah congrats thank you over here given what you just said there about Las Vegas and what you said at the cage this is your home home of the UFC needs to be a champion from here given your connection to the city can you expand a bit more on what it would mean to you if you brought that light heavyweight championship in 2024 to the city of Las Vegas man so when I first decided I’ve spoken about it in my past and I don’t I haven’t really brought it up in a long time since the time I had a kind of a explosion meltdown in the cage or after um when I decided to start training mix martial arts 19 to 20 I made a decision to join a gym March 1st 2010 so 20 when I would have to drive to the gym 300 lbs still smoking cigarettes still depressed I would have to drive down the 15 and I’d always see the UFC billboard and as I started to get more familiar with um with MMA and UFC that’s something that I’ve seen so many times and that was something that I looked at the motivation whatever pay-per-view it’s right there off the 15 by the pal station so that was a part of my motivation to stay dedicated to MMA and to changing my life and to have something to even look forward to in this city this city at the time for me growing up as a youth there wasn’t a lot of opportunity there wasn’t anything going on here that gave us a reason to dream we didn’t know what to do you know like we didn’t we didn’t have colleges and we didn’t walk the streets and we didn’t have people who were like oh yeah this is a lawyer we didn’t have the things that a lot of other cities do have because Vegas is just a very different city people come here to gamble and things like that so being a young kid from here I I’d imagine that at the time that I was growing up it’s pretty hard to know what you want to do or what you want to be so I think that like and I’m very thankful for the UFC because when I saw that it gave me hope and so you know I would always tell myself like one day I’m going to be on that billboard and when I’m driving down I’m going to see myself there and then things started happening and I stayed towards that vision and then I got into the ultimate fighter and then I remember one of the challenges was right next to the billboard in the pal station and like the dunk tank and I’m just like okay I’m getting closer you know I’m like I’m getting closer to what I said I’m going to do one day I’m going to be on that billboard one day I’m going to be on that billboard so I think that like it would mean a lot man it would mean a lot because then that would mean that that that 20-year-old suicidal just depressed guy who needed something to look forward to I would see that and that kind of it hits a certain spot you know what I mean and I get to and I get to look back and and be like I did it you know I did it congratulations M dropped spe uh I already fight I already fought two guys Willer than me you know so I want to fight I I already told the everybody I want to fight Peter he post the emoji means the fight is was boring but his last fight was was boring too like so last fight 299 he he want uh I I heard about that he want fight uh in mark okay let’s fight in March we both don’t go back let’s F to face and let’s go let’s say who Bing is good who’s who has best boxing who is the best boxer in this Division and so is that is that the ideal uh date March in Miami for you sorry is that the ideal date you want against Peter Yan March in Miami yes I want to fight him in Miami 299 and obviously like they said in the cage uh this fight night was supposed to take place in China in your home um if the UFC does go back there in what position would you like to be come whenever they do go back to China would you like to be headlining maybe fighting for the belt or defending the Bel or or contending for the Bel or defending it of course I want to challenge the bout in the in China you know get the b in China is going to be very sad eight and uh in case the P Yan fight doesn’t come into fruition are there any other names ahead of you that you’d like to have a shot at H anyone in the top five I want a top five Fighters I don’t want to fight the outside of of top top 10 and last one for me after that complete performance you put on tonight what is the message for the rest of the [Music] division sorry nothing just uh I will not everybody out congratulations song um in the second round uh Chris was was grabbing inside of your glove uh and you were telling the referee but he didn’t notice um I guess was that um making you angry yeah so he he grabbed my my uh glove like this when like this when I couldn’t put my gloves out you know he try to Triangle me and uh the the rrey what’s his name heran heran was the my my my left side he grab my my race like the my right side you know he couldn’t say that I I told her and he grab my my race and uh didn’t he say it but I feel I feel I feel I don’t I feel angry you know I could put it all you know could you talk a little bit about your game plan like what was the game plan against someone like like Chris you said on me today you were just going to go in there and try and knock him out like was that really the game plan or when were you worried about his about his leg kicks uh yeah I I ready for his light kicks you know in the fight I want knock everybody out but you know this guy is going to the distance very well very good and uh I couldn’t find the distance and he he always use his F his kicks uh but my you told me you U um doing more MMA miss out you know and then I go to single like take him down and the other the third round four four fourth rounds I feel he very tired you know he’s a he he had a heavy breaths you know I know I I will finish him but he he holding me he keept holding me in the on the ground yeah were you was there a thought that maybe you were going to submit him in the fourth or fifth round or was it just you were stuck and just couldn’t pass his guard uh you know I’m not always been that situation I just want to hit him knock him out and use my elbow I’m try but next time I will do some more more uh Juju yeah congrats thank you after the fight it looked like your coaches and him were arguing was it about the gloves that they were arguing or what was being said to say that my coach talking about my my opponent about but uh they said uh he’s slow but my my opponent’s coach say too everybody heard that right you’re here I don’t know why because I win just that’s the reason why it also seemed like somebody in the crowd was um taunting Chris was that somebody from your team or your fans or what was do you know what was going on there did you hear that uh sorry sorry I speak Chinese okay so I don’t know him I don’t know them because my all my friends all my uh friends came here is Chinese are Chinese so I don’t know this guys thank you song to left real quick hi um you talked about fighting at the UFC 299 you got that title fight between Cheeto and sugar I’m just curious your thoughts on it who you got for that win uh I Peak uh Sean Shan is smart and the good forward good uh speed but I hope uh I hope I hope Cho can uh could win the fight and have a rematch with me GNA be very good yeah awesome thank you congrats on the way for for [Music] for for if if you uh if you end up getting that Peter fight and you win and and Cheeto wins against sha Elli do you want that Cheeto fight given just how visibly upset he was and you know how he’s kind of been complaining about that result of your first fight you know our first fight this guy you know he has he has been preparing for six months months no one uh no one fight with him kep in his opponent kept uh kept injury you know and uh you he told me the fight before two weeks I uh at that time the the co just started I I was in the my my my home you know for one month no training even no running you know so and I coach said I can do it so I took the fight but I don’t have a good conditioning but actually the the fact is I win the first two rounds you guys can look again you know yeah how do you think it would play around this time huh how do you think the fight would play this time around whatever what whatever stand up or on the ground I can beat him up you guys will stay I don’t have a confidence fight with me everybody knows I’m not the kid right now I’m 26 years old right now thank you congratulations thank you yeah uh lots of fans love the way you play and love the way as your human being actually lot of F from all over the world and you say uh maybe not your friend but there are fans coming to watch you play what you want to say to all the fans from all over the world you know to see the Chinese power you know Chinese player yeah just guess for have a good night good evening thank you guys I