New York, NY – UFC featherweight Jamall Emmers scored the first finish of his UFC career and it turned out to be very emotional for him at UFC 295 on Saturday night.
“I feel amazing,” Emmers told reporters including Cageside Press as he took a pause to think about his emotions.
“Took a long time to get here. Very long time. Had to sacrifice a decade away from my family. Get to fight in Madison Square Garden. Feel like I’m living a dream, you know?”
The dream to fight at MSG, to fight in the UFC, and to get his first UFC finish was great for Emmers. It did seem however that he was talking about something much deeper than UFC 295.
“Lucky to do it with people I respect and I love,” Emmers said pointing to his coaching staff. “I got love for so. That’s amazing too. I’m on cloud 9. I’m on cloud 9.”
The reality of what he pulled off at UFC 295, fighting at the mecca of sports, and doing it the way he did dawned on him.
“I’m a part of history. Like I’m making history. My name going to be in the record books. Wow,” he said.
“I remember telling people my dream and they laughed in my face. Got ridiculed because I wanted to do something different from what everybody else was doing. Growing up in Miami nobody did martial arts.”
The fight with Dennis Buzukja turned out to be a 49 second highlight reel knockout for Emmers which he credited to camp feeling ‘right’.
“When I started camp it just felt right. Everything was clicking early. I’m picking up on things a lot faster. Stuff’s just starting to connect a lot quicker,” Emmers said.
“All I had to do was press play when I got into the cage.”
Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Jamall Emmers above.
