Las Vegas, NV — “Those are the kind of fights that make you grow,” featherweight Gavin Tucker said following a unanimous decision win over Billy Quarantillo at UFC 256 on Saturday.
Ahead of the fight, Tucker (13-1) “went dark on social media,” presumably to avoid any distractions. So when asked backstage about the support the fans had shown for Quarantillo ahead of the fight, Tucker wasn’t even aware of it. “I don’t care about this stuff. It doesn’t matter who supports you, my team supports me,” he said ahead of the fight. “I worked my ass off. And I came in fit. And I came in ready. So all this thing about support on social media, stuff like this— I’m just happy I got the win. At the end of the day, it’s about who’s getting the win. So I’m happy I didn’t have to do that job. He built the fight for me. And I just had to do my do my usual business.”
Don’t expect to see Tucker back in the octagon any time soon. While he’s had just five fights since February 2017, “I’m good for every four months,” he stated Saturday. “So there’s going to be a little bit of a rest period.” When he heads home to Canada, Tucker will have to quarantine for two weeks, at the very least.
In terms of a name, he’s down for whatever comes, although Alex Cacares has been brought up to him so many times that the Halifax-based fighter has taken a shine to the idea.
“A lot of people brought up Alex Caceres to the point where I started bringing him up in in interviews, and I think that’d be a fun fight,” he stated. “He’s on a three fight win streak. He’s a southpaw, he’s tall, he moves a lot. So it’d be a different look for me to have to fight this guy. He’s got a good right hook. He has movement. He’s got a lot of experience, right? And I’m just getting my footing on experience.”
“I don’t mean this in a disrespectful way to Alex, I’m a fan,” continued Tucker. “I really think the guy’s a good human, too. So that would be fun. And there’s a long list of other guys as well. But that’s out of my hands.”
Watch the full UFC 256 post-fight press conference with Gavin Tucker above.
