UFC 269’s Dan Ige: “Wins Speak More Than Anything”

Las Vegas, NV — Hawaii’s Dan Ige is excited to have fans back at UFC 269, after having several bouts without spectators.

He’s also looking to learn from a loss to The Korean Zombie last time out, where he believes he simply tried to force things too much.

“I guess I was disappointed at the time, but looking at it now, it was a good thing for me to go through that and feel that,” Ige (15-4) stated during this week’s UFC 269 media day. “It was a crazy learning experience, going through my first fight camp being a new dad, trying to figure everything out, force motivation, do all this crazy stuff. I went into that fight, I forced a lot of things. I forced motivation using my son, I tried to force the knockout, I tried to go out there and make something happen, and it didn’t happen the way I wanted it to.”

“Going back and looking at it, there was a lot of takeaways, and I believe I’m an improved person, an improved fighter, and I’m in this to be better.”

Now, Ige is up against the returning Josh Emmett, who has been out of action the past year and a half.

“I’m expecting Josh to come in at his best. 18 months, that’s a long time off, but that’s a long time to get better as well,” noted Ige, who knows that despite Emmett’s injuries, his opponent will have been working on his game. “I expect him to be sharp, be fast, be at his best. He’s a hard hitter, so he’s going to go out there and make it a fun fight, as well as myself. I think it’s going to be a crazy entertaining fight for everyone.”

Ige’s main focus now is simply winning. “I think wins speak more than anything. When I was on a six-fight winning streak, I had all the heat and hype behind me. Then I took a loss, and it’s like ‘okay, you lost, who are you now?’ It doesn’t matter, anything you do after that.”

Watch the full UFC 269 media day scrum with Dan Ige above. The event takes place this Saturday, December 11 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, NV. More coverage can be found below.