Las Vegas, NV – UFC lightweight Rafa Garcia wasn’t going to let something like being very undersized against Maheshate at UFC Vegas 66 stop him from taking the fight to his opponent and earning a very bloody decision victory on Saturday night.
Garcia (14-3) had to survive a very nasty cut he received during the fight in order to take it to Maheshate and win.
“I think I got like 10 stitches or something? 6? 15! I think (that’s the most stitches I’ve ever gotten). I haven’t really gotten stitches. Every time I got like a little cut they probably just glue it and that’s about it,” Garcia told Cageside Press among other media at his post-fight scrum.
After the cut Garcia looked like something out of a horror movie as he continued to press forward and pressure Maheshate while eating strikes on his way in. The blood was something that Garcia was concerned with, but for different reasons.
“With the ref and the judges you never know, you know? The way they judge it sometimes they see too much blood they’ll give them a round or they stop the fight or…you just never know. That made me keep pushing just trying to make a statement,” he said.
Garcia, listed at 5’7, went into the octagon not really expecting Maheshate to be as big as he turned out to be.
“I knew he was a great striker, and a great counter puncher. He was definitely very slick you know. All those feints and everything he did was just like, it was hard to counter, so I mean I went in there and hit the body a lot because…I mean he’s 6’2,” Garcia said with a smile.
“Or 6’1. I mean he almost…his head was almost going off the cage so I would hit the body a lot. Feel like that broke him a little bit and I got to my takedowns.”
The height, however, was a big surprise for Garcia.
“When I first saw him I saw that he was six foot. I was like ‘He’s not six foot.’ I could definitely feel like the way that he missed weight. First round when I was trying to take him down he did feel a little heavy,” said Garcia.
What’s the goal for 2023?
“Top 15. Be in the top 15. Be active,” he said.
“Get at least 3, pushing 4. 4 fights.”
Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Rafa Garcia above.
