London, England — At UFC London this Saturday, Andre Fili will make his fifth UFC appearance on international soil as he takes on hometown fighter, Nathaniel Wood.
“Touchy” Fili’s last appearance came in September of last year where he got the nod against Bill Algeo. With that, the 33-year-old snapped a three fight streak where he was without victory. After his last fight, Fili displayed emotions as he opened up about losing a baby during his fight camp.
Fili opened up about how much he loves to compete in the Octagon and how he feels as though he’s getting better with every performance.
“I feel like a young hungry kid like I just love this s***. I think when you do what you love you can do it forever and I’ve said this a few times this week, Jim Miller looks the best he’s ever looked, Dustin Poirier looks the best he’s ever looked, Glover Teixiera just won a belt at 42. You guys might be stuck with me for another 10 years, I love this sport so I’m not going anywhere.” Fili said.
During his fight camp, Fili has seemingly been in a great headspace and he puts that down to learning to love himself. He said: “The biggest advancement for myself is just the personal growth obviously you get better at fighting, I’ve been doing this for 10 years I’m a more technical fighter everywhere but that’s not the biggest growth, the biggest growth for me has been my relationship with myself. When I first got in the UFC I pushed myself in a way that I think was important to get here, but it’s not sustainable. It’s not sustainable for a long healthy career, it’s not sustainable for a long and happy life.
“I pushed myself in a way where I never stopped to pat myself on the back or appreciate myself, my inner dialogue to myself was always harsh, I was never kind to myself, I hated myself at a certain point.
“I’ve grown in a way where I really love myself and even being able to say that in a room full of people at any other point in my life I’d have never been able to say that. That’s been a huge growth for me, it’s affected my life outside of fighting immensely, but it’s also immensely positively affected my life in fighting because as much as you need to push yourself and be hard on yourself and be disciplined and always demand more from yourself and have that little chip on your shoulder and be angry and do all those things that make you a great fighter, it’s also important to love yourself.”
Watch the full UFC London media day appearance from Andre Fili above.
