After being overlooked by many against Alton Meeks at Week 1 of the third season of Dana White’s Contender Series, Yorgan De Castro had a fire lit under him.
Las Vegas, NV — It’s not often you come across a leg kick finish in MMA. At heavyweight, it’s even more rare. And on the Contender Series? Unheard of. Yorgan De Castro checked all those boxes on Tuesday, however, at the season three premiere of Dana White’s Contender Series. Not surprisingly, doing so earned him a UFC contract.
Speaking to media outlets including Cageside Press following the show, de Castro (5-0) admitted that he was feeling the pressure heading into the fight. “There was a lot of pressure. Yesterday I read an article that said that I was going to get finished in under one minute. That was firing me up, I was really upset. It was getting on my nerves.”
“I came to prove everybody wrong,” he added.
De Castro was not surprised at all with opponent Alton Meeks’ approach to the fight. “I knew what he was going to do. His game plan was to take me down, finish. That’s the only way to beat me. I was ready for that.” Weeks of drilling takedown defense allowed the heavyweight to fight off the highly-ranked greco-roman wrestler’s attempts at getting the fight to the mat.
From there, “I’m not the biggest dude, but I knew that if I kept it standing, I would finish him.” Finish he did, with leg kicks no less. Which will make his eventual UFC debut highly anticipated.
Watch the full post-fight press scrum with Yorgan De Castro above!
