Las Vegas, NV – Confidence is not in short supply for UFC light heavyweight Anton Turkalj and he will let you know, but first he takes on Vitor Petrino at UFC Las Vegas on Saturday night.
Turkalj (8-1) has not fought since Sept. 2022 where he took a loss against Jailton Almeida at UFC 279. He returns after a good time off to take on Petrino in Las Vegas, but it’s not the timeline he would have preffered.
“I wanted to get back sooner, but this time we didn’t want short notice fight or rush into something. We wanted a proper camp and that’s what we did and now we’re here. If I could choose I would be here sooner, but my coaches…we do get proper camp, but not the short notice,” Turkalj told reporters on Wednesday.
“I actually prefer the short notice because then (I) don’t have to do the camp,” Turkalj said with a smile.
Apparently the coach and the fighter are at odds as to how long of a notice he should take for a fight.
“He’s just calling me lazy that I don’t want to work out, and I just want the short notice, the short cuts. That’s his thing he always says to me,” he said.
Standing in front of him this time around will be Petrino who makes his UFC debut coming off KO win at Dana White’s Contender Series last September.
“I saw him and I thought it’s going to be a good matchup for me. So easy money,” said Turkalj.
Turkalj mentioned that he doesn’t think Petrino has the conditioning to last three rounds in the octagon with him.
“He’s like a muscular guy. Good looking, but it doesn’t matter how good you look. This is MMA,” he said.
Turkalj agreed that Petrino got to the UFC based on his looks.
“Hundred percent. He’s almost, almost, handsome as me,” said Turkalj.
Watch the entire media day scrum with Anton Turkalj above. He takes on Vitor Pretino at UFC Las Vegas on Saturday night.
