Las Vegas, NV – After not fighting for nearly two whole years UFC featherweight Fernando Padilla finally made his promotional debut at UFC Vegas 72 on Saturday night, and walked away with the victory over Julian Erosa.
“I feel amazing. It’s indescribable how I feel right now. Just the whole situation how it is, it could be really bad, but it went the other way and I feel that I projected since I arrived in Vegas,” Padilla told reporters including Cageside Press at his post-fight scrum.
“I’m glad that it happened how it happened. It’s just amazing to be here.”
Padilla (15-4) put on a show with the finish of Erosa landing a flurry of accurate strikes to drop his opponent twice, and earn that finish he wanted in his first UFC bout.
“That combo that I threw that started the whole sequence all the way to the finish I knew that was going to land. I knew how it was going to land and I was just flowing with it. I didn’t even throw it hard. Landing, landing, landing,” he said.
“I showed my accuracy, I showed I’m a little bit more technical and I’m glad that it showed.”
The fight wasn’t without a bit of controversy as fans, and even the commentary booth, were confused about the finish. It seemed as though the fight was stopped prematurely by the referee. Erosa seemed to be trying to get back up, but the fight was waved off.
“I understand. I get it. I saw Julian standing up and talking to the referee right away. What I thought is that the first time he went down he did the shot on me. He was good, he was fine for a fact. When he (stood) up the second time…if it was just one punch and then I stopped I would understand that it was like ‘ok it’s a short call’,” Padilla said.
“I feel that the way that I was flowing, I was tagging him constantly, it wasn’t just one shot. It was constant, constant, constant, 1-2-3, so I feel that’s what the ref saw. That last time he went down I saw it myself. I saw his eyes rolling back and I think that’s what the referee saw.”
Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Fernando Padilla above.
