London, England — Flyweight Jafel Filho was unquestionably rocked in his UFC London card opener with Daniel Barez.
“I did feel his punches and his kicks, and I felt the ref might go in there and intervene,” Filho admitted following the fight, which saw him mount a comeback and secure the submission win in the opening round.
“There was one punch that landed near my eye, that everything went kind of dark. Thankfully it came back,” added Filho, who was thankful to be able to remain in the fight.
For Filho (15-3), the fight marked his first win inside the UFC octagon, and came in the very same venue in which he dropped his debut against Muhammad Mokaev.
“This fight was very important to me. I made my debut here in March, in London. And I lost by a submission, so this was really to show that I’m here, I’ve arrived. So this was very important, I’m very happy.”
London is starting to feel like home after back-to-back fights at the o2 Arena, in fact.
“I was very happy to be able to come back here, and I can say that London is like a [second] home to me right now,” said Filho. “Hopefully in the future I get to fight here again.”
Filho had expected to be in action a week ago. That date was pushed back when Juancamilo Ronderos dropped out of the bout, replaced by Barez. Which, in turn, necessitated a chance in game plans.
“It was a different game pan. My former opponent was left handed, this opponent is right handed. So it was a different approach to it, but like I said we’re from team Nova Uniao, and we’re ready to get beat up and stand back up again, and get beat up again and get back up again.”
Watch the full UFC London post-fight press conference with Jafel Filho above.
