Las Vegas — Middleweight Punahele Soriano had to deal with a neck injury, and the news that his wife was pregnant with their baby girl (due in June) in the build up to UFC Vegas 101.
Perhaps that’s why the Hawaiian was so upbeat in the aftermath. Following a knockout of Uros Medic, Soriano was in good spirits, though he told media outlets including Cageside Press backstage at the UFC Apex that he wouldn’t let the victory get him too far up in the clouds.
“First thought was, ‘I still got a job. Still got a job! Still got a job!’ I’m so happy,” Soriano (11-4) exclaimed. “The confidence raises any time you get a win, but I’ve learned that— I’m trying not to get too high on it. I’m not going to let the wins get me too high, not let the losses get me too low. And just go back to the drawing board and continue to get better, because I think that’s the main thing that happened in between this and the last fight, and I think it showed a little bit. Hopefully.”
As for the new addition to the family, that might complicate Soriano’s return.
“It’s hard to say. A high like this, you want to jump back in right away. But I think my wife over anything deserves a week of just me and her spending time together, maybe a little getaway,” he stated. “I spent so much time away from her in camp, while she had to be pregnant alone. Like a terrible father, just being a terrible father away from her eight to nine hours a day. But I’m ready to devote time back to her.”
The pregnancy did have an unexpected impact on the Medic fight. First, there was how much brighter it made Soriano’s life. “I was so excited, and every appointment, every ultrasound, every whatever that we go through, kind of opens up my eyes a little more like ‘oh it is real! Woah! Woah!’ Every news we get about the baby is so much better, and so much [brighter].”
Then, it had the effect of putting things in perspective. “It kind of made the fight a little less stressful. The magnitude of the fight wasn’t quite there. I knew I had my baby, I knew I had my wife. To me, my baby was just so much more important. Obviously I want to win, but the magnitude of it just went down a little bit.”
In the end, “I feel like I just wasn’t tied down to the results this time,” Soriano added. Backstage, he admitted that he’d envisioned getting hit with Medic’s uppercut. “A couple times I visualized that, I was like ‘oh I hope not.’ But I wasn’t being tied down to the results. I knew that regardless I had my wife, my dogs, my baby to go home to, and they’re going to love me regardless of the outcome.”
Watch the full UFC Vegas 101 post-fight press conference with Punahele Soriano above.
