Las Vegas, NV – It doesn’t get much closer than a split-decision in MMA and UFC bantamweight Victor Henry earned one over Tony Gravely at UFC Las Vegas on Saturday.
“Tony Gravely is really tough. I thought with the first couple of kicks I landed to the stomach in the first round I thought ok this is going to be like a second round fight. Thought I was going to be able to take him out, but that dude is tough,” Henry told reporters including Cageside Press at his post-fight scrum.
“I wish him the best in fatherhood because I know he’s having a baby soon and I knew he had something to fight for. I had to really kick it into another gear in order to make sure I stay in his face and do my thing.”
Again that split-decision means the fight is very close so fighters are usually visibly nervous when the judges scores are being read.
“I’m never confident in others. It sucks to say, but my coach is right that you can never really trust that somebody is going to do the exact right thing all the time. The only way to guarantee the outcome is by taking it with your own hands. So when you leave it into somebody else’s play you get what you get,” Henry said.
Henry (23-6) was coming off a decision loss to Raphael Assuncao, but wasn’t really crediting the outcome for the pressure coming into this fight.
“There’s always pressure. Whether it’s coming off a big win and people expect me to go out there and do your thing or you come off a loss and people just think that you’re trash. There’s always pressure. Every fight is the biggest fight,” he said.
So coming off that last loss against Assuncao I had to do some recalibrating of my own and remind myself that all of us are mortal. Go out there and secure your dub.”
UFC Las Vegas took place in front of fans at The Theatre At Virgin Hotels which isn’t normal for cards in the fight capital of the world since the COVID pandemic. Most cards have been held at the UFC APEX, but this one was moved and fans were in attendance for the fights.
“The fans are always going to be the fans. They love you one second and then the next second they’re in your DM’s telling you how much of a trash human being you are. Whether because you like cars or you like your hair a certain way,” Henry said.
“After my last fight I got so much hate because of people thinking my…oh your hair is stupid or your nose is dumb or they lost their parlay. It is what it is.”
Henry does appreciate a good troll however and he has a favorite one.
“If it’s good enough then I’m probably going to use it. When I first joined the UFC somebody called me ‘Combat Kenny G’, and I thought that was great,” he said.
“Combat Kenny G, that was funny, and whoever said that you’re a genius. That was funny.”
Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Victor Henry above.
