Las Vegas, NV – There wasn’t the devastating submission that we expected out of UFC middleweight Andre Muniz, but he went 15 minutes with Uriah Hall to earn the victory at UFC 276 on Saturday night.
“Tough fight, tough opponent. All I have to do is just thank God the UFC for giving me the opportunity to be in a fight like this on such an important week on my way to a title,” Muniz told Cageside Press among other media through a translator at his post-fight scrum.
Muniz (23-4) was expected to be the first man to submit Hall in the latter’s professional career. Hall turned out to be much tougher to submit than anybody expected, but Muniz wasn’t surprised.
“(Hall’s) a tough opponent. Obviously understand how tough he is. He studied my game and he was ready to game plan. When I get to this level I actually have to expect the competition to be tougher and tougher, and I have to evolve as an athlete to get that submission in the future,” Muniz said.
“I heard once that the first round is where you get technical. The second round is where you get into your conditioning. The third round is all heart. What I feel after these rounds is that I am better than yesterday. All I have to do is continue to improve upon this and to get better at it to become a better athlete,” said Muniz.
With plenty of middleweight action on the card, including the title on the line in the main event, Muniz’s performance brought a lot of support on social media for him to get into the title picture sooner than later.
“If Alex beats Strickland today then I have the second longest consecutive win streak in the division, and I do feel that obviously whatever happens there,” Muniz said of the title picture.
“I think that maximum two fights I should have this shot at the title.”
Watch the full UFC 276 post-fight press scrum with Andre Muniz above.
