Las Vegas, NV – Even though the fight lasted about as long as his walkout did UFC bantamweight Tony Gravely knows he made an impression with his TKO win over Johnny Munoz at UFC Vegas 56 on Saturday.
“Happy to get a finish, that’s what I’ve been wanting, that’s what I’ve been working for. Just happy that everything’s come together,” Gravely told reporters in his post-fight scrum.
The fight lasted just over a minute leaving a lot of Gravely’s arsenal of weapons in storage, but what he showed was the ability to adapt to an opponent.
“I didn’t really land any of my kicks, the range was different, he was backing up a little. I kind of trapped him on the fence. I knew he would try to take me down. I knew he was going to shoot. I think I threw a 3-4, and he dipped right into it, that was it,” Gravely said.
With the takedown in mind the game plan for Gravely was to make sure he was ready to fight wherever the fight went.
“I know he’s a good grappler, but I’m also a good grappler. He may have better pure jiu jitsu, but my wrestling is kind of the equalizer. I knew that just being well-rounded, mixing it up, not rushing anything, staying patient, was going to be the key to victory,” said Gravely.
On social media many fight fans were quick to doubt Gravely, giving Munoz the edge in the bout, but ultimately fueling the eventual victor in the bout.
“I don’t understand what people are looking at. I may not be the best, most technical grappler, and people look at my past and I’ve been submitted a couple times. That was before I moved to American Top Team. That was before I got to train with high-level grapplers and high-level coaches every single day. That era is over. I really didn’t get to show any of the grappling, but I got the win. I wanted a knockout and that’s what I got,” Gravely said.
“So everybody that bet money on me I’m glad I made you some money. If you didn’t, jokes on you.”
In his post-fight interview with Paul Felder, Gravely expressed a want to fight four times in 2022.
“I have a couple of guys in mind. I’d like to fight some strikers to be honest. I want to test my striking against some strikers. Some good strikers are Chris Gutierrez, Jonathan Martinez, those are some good strikers. Some guys that have a good winning streak going, but whoever they want me to fight I’m willing to fight. I’m getting better every day,” Gravely said.
“The longer I go the more dangerous I’m going to get.”
Watch the full UFC Vegas 56 post-fight media scrum with Tony Gravely above.
