Luis Saldana predicts a Performance of the Night or Fight of the Night in his next fight.
Saldana (15-6) makes his second UFC appearance this weekend at UFC Vegas 34. In his UFC debut, he defeated Jordan Griffin via unanimous decision. The decision was a close one, with many members of the MMA media scoring the fight for Griffin. After the fight in his post-fight interview, Saldana said he had one of the worst weight cuts of his career and had suffered an adrenaline dump.
In an exclusive interview with Cageside Press, Saldana opened up a little bit more on his weight cut.
“I think I just didn’t drink enough water leading up to the weight cut. If you don’t drink enough water, there’s nothing to come out, and I had a really hard time the day of weigh-ins. Usually, I wake up on weight, but this time I woke up, and I still had a pound to go, so it was just a brutal morning for me trying to make the weight right before 7 a.m. After that, I got rehydrated with the [UFC] P.I.; they gave me the stuff I needed and felt awesome right away,” Saldana said.
The Dana White Contender Series alumni said he doesn’t know if the weight cut affected his performance or not. However, with his UFC debut out of his way and the lessons he learned from it, Saldana is ready for a redo and wants to put on a show. Luckily for him, he has an opponent that will be willing to throw hands with him. Well, that is what he hopes for, anyway.
Saldana faces Austin Lingo in the UFC Vegas 34 prelim headliner. He thinks it is an exciting match-up.
“He comes forward with pressure and punches, so that excites me that he is going to want to trade hands with me, and I won’t have to worry about the wrestling as much, but if he does bring the wrestling, I feel like I’ve been improving on that too,” Saldana said.
“It’s going to be an exciting fight, we’re both strikers, so hopefully, we go out there and put on a Performance of the Night or Fight of the Night and get that bonus. That’s what I’ve looking for.”
Watch the rest of the interview above, where Luis Saldana talks about having no nickname, his debut, training camp, his Contender Series appearance, and more.
