Salt Lake City, UT – UFC flyweight Victor Altamirano made a massive statement when he finished Daniel da Silva as the opening bout of UFC 278 on Saturday night.
Needless to say he made an impression and kicked the card off with a bang.
“I gave myself the responsibility to give a good welcome to Salt Lake. I know it being the first UFC (PPV) I wanted to make sure that it opened well. That it opened great, that it opened with excitement,” Altamirano told Cageside Press among other media at his post-fight scrum.
“Even though no one told me to do it I told myself ‘You know what, this has to be a good fight.’ We have to make sure that Salt Lake City looks forward to the next UFC event. I hope that my contemporaries follow this.”
As Altamirano said that, bantamweights Aoriqileng and Jay Perrin were having an all out war in the octagon as the fights played in the media room.
“As we can see it seems like they’re doing it.”
That sounds like music to Dana White’s ears. Following the event White announced that Altamirano had won one of the performance bonuses.
This was the first fight in front of a large audience for Altamirano who fought twice at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas.
“I like them both (APEX and live audience shows). I like the intimacy that I share with my opponent when it’s at close quarters and I can hear their corners. I can hear them breathing. You know it’s a little more intimate. It’s a little more intense in a different way,” he said.
“But with a crowd here. You know the crowd just pressures you forward pushes you to just give it all. Any little movement they like they let you know that they like it and that’s really cool.”
What’s next for the show starter?
“I’ll fight soon whenever you guys (UFC) find a good card. As you can see I love making shows (exciting) so whenever you guys want a show to be exciting plug me in there with whoever you think I can do it,” Altamirano said.
He did add a little bit more to it.
“I’ll call out the champ. I’ll call out the champ every time because if that’s not what I’m doing, then what am I doing here?”
Watch the rest of Victor Altamirano’s UFC 278 post-fight scrum above.
