Las Vegas, NV — Some fighters are just waiting for their big break to say goodbye to 9-5 day jobs. Not Christian Aguilera. Finally arriving in the UFC on Saturday at UFC on ESPN 10, after flirting with last week’s UFC 250 card, Aguilera (14-6) won big — but isn’t turning in notice at his other job. Sorry. Make that jobs. Plural.
“I got like three other jobs. I’ve lived an extensive life,” he told media outlets including Cageside Press backstage on Saturday. That includes working for a consulting firm, handyman work, and teaching at gyms. And there’s no plan to turn in his resignation at any of those gigs. He might focus on fighting a bit more, but “I like to stay busy, so we’ll see. I like my jobs.”
Picking up a big TKO win over Anthony Ivy “still feels like a dream,” he admitted. “We’ll see what happens when I wake up tomorrow.”
As for nerves during fight week, Aguilera was in a bit of a unique situation. He was originally planning on fighting on the Contender Series this summer. That was then switched over to a full-blown UFC debut.
“My coaches were really good about talking me down,” he said Saturday. “At the beginning of the week, I was a little nervous. I thought we were going to make this walk last week. So it was a little more of a condensed time frame. I didn’t have this long camp going into it. But my coaches reassured me, ‘we’re good. We did this before, we’ve done this before.’ So just another walk, just another fight. Not too much on the jitters.”
Now, Aguilera will focus on working his way up the ladder. “Like anyone, the dream’s always the finish line, getting to the top of the mountain. So we’ll just keep climbing til we get there.”
With the win in his octagon debut at UFC on ESPN 10, Aguilera secured his 11th KO/TKO finish.
