Boston, MA — It was only Saturday morning when UFC 292 bantamweight Mario Bautista learned that his big main card fight with ex-champ Cody Garbrandt was off.
Bautista (12-2) has been grinding to get to this point. He’s won four straight, with the last three coming via submission. The loss of the Garbrandt fight, his highest profile opponent to date, was a blow — one Bautista had to get over pretty quickly.
“Pretty bummed out at first, but I’ve got to get over it quick and put him in the rear-view and focus on what was ahead,” Bautista told media outlets including Cageside Press during Wednesday’s UFC 292 media day. “We were waiting for a new opponent, which I found out, I think it was Monday night before I took off. Same process though, we’re going to go out there and fight.”
Once “No Love” pulled out of the fight, Bautista’s mindset was essentially to take whatever fight he could get to stay on the Boston-based PPV card. Turns out, it was Da’Mon Blackshear who stepped up.
“Pretty much. The only thing I wanted was to remain on the main card if possible, to keep the eyes on me. It was going to be a great fight with Cody, so that’s all I was looking for. I just wanted to have some eyes on me, and have a great opponent. And Blackshear does have a little bit of shine from his past performance, so it worked out.”
As for Cody Garbrandt, with a win this weekend, Bautista appears ready to move past him.
“I think Cody’s in the rear-view,” he suggested. “A win over Blackshear puts me in the top 15, and that’s not where Cody’s at. And I’m looking to move forward.”
Blackshear, as Mario Bautista noted, does bring a certain shine with him to the fight. This past weekend, he became just the third fighter in UFC history to finish a fight with a Twister submission. Now, he’s tying the modern-era turnaround record, fighting just seven days later.
That Twister is something Bautista knows he has to look out for.
“It’s something you’ve got to work on, and I’ve been like having a refresher on it. And it’s something you’ve got to stop really early on, because if you’re already deep in it, it’s kind of hard to fight out of,” acknowledged Bautista. “Definitely going to be paying attention to that, because I don’t want to be number four.”
Watch the full UFC 292 media day appearance by Mario Bautista above.
