Las Vegas, NV – UFC bantamweight Cameron Saaiman notched another victory to remain undefeated at UFC 285 where he defeated Mana Martinez, but it did not come without some controversy.
Saaiman (8-0) committed three fouls against Martinez with two low blows, and an eye poke. The second low blow resulted in Saaiman being docked a point.
“A massive part of it is pushing the pace quite a lot. It’s very quick in there he was level changing quite a lot. I think one of those groin kicks he milked a little bit to be honest, but I apologize for that being the case. I’ll be evidently working on that and focusing on not making that mistake again,” Saaiman told reporters including Cageside Press at his post-fight scrum.
“I know I said that the last time.”
Fouls aside Saaiman’s performance was a good one, but he still sees things he needs to work on for his next fight.
“A massive part I’m taking home with me is just slowing down the pace a little bit. Fighting aggressively is a massive tool of mine, but at the end of the day if you can’t do that calculated it can cost you the fight,” he said.
After the eye poke a doctor checked Martinez’s eye and the fighter kept trying to blink it clear. A couple of minutes later Martinez was ready to fight again.
“My honest opinion those kicks were high, but that was to the leg. We trained that quite a lot in this camp. It was a massive part of our game plan. I think I showed that in the fight as well. We landed a lot of those kicks, and you get two groin strikes for every pound you missed weight,” Saaiman said.
Saaiman explained that he wants to get another fight schedule mid-2023, but with teammate Dricus Du Plessis possibly up for a #1 contender fight next it’s to be seen when he will be booked again.
“I would like to get back in there June, July, and really make a statement once again.”
Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Cameron Saaiman above.
