Last time out, Mansur Abdul-Malik made a statement. Not only did he beat Dusko Todorovic in his debut, but did so with a vicious KO – earning a performance of the night bonus in the process. While most fighters would be beside themselves to have that kind of first fight, you won’t catch Abdul-Malik celebrating. Instead, he’s focused on the game and it never sleeps.
“I just I put it in my pocket and kept on moving forward because the real celebration, the real game is just the next fight,” said Abdul-Malik. “The real game is getting back in the camp. The real game is just getting back to that spot that I wanna be in mentally.”
The bonus-winning knockout came quick as well, which isn’t new for Abdul-Malik. He’s finished all of his professional opponents and all, expect one, in the first round. However, it’s not even on his radar as to whether this has been easy for him.
“My perception is not even on easy or difficult or any of that. It’s all relative to me, I swear.
It’s like, I’m not even thinking about what this is. I’m just enjoying it. I’m having so much fun,” he said. “I can’t even recognize the difficulty or the lack thereof with any of it. I’m just loving it so much, man. I’m just having so much fun every single day.”
And while some fighters might be prioritizing another first round victory or keeping their win streak in tact, the middleweight prospect has a different set of goals. He wants to show everybody out there that he’s not complacent.
“This is going to show the professionalism that I have. This is going to be my second fight inside of the UFC. And I’m really, really, really prioritizing my demeanor, how I’m going to go about things. I’ve been there. Debut is done. It’s over,” he said. “This is the next one. So I’m just going to show the improvement of my skills, the improvement of my character, the improvement of my demeanor, and the appreciation, most importantly, to God, the gratitude that I have for my team, for my family, and for my own efforts. I’m prepared.”
You can see all of those improvements as part of the UFC Seattle prelims. Mansur Abdul-Malik takes on Nick Klein on ESPN+ with that portion of the card beginning at 6pm EST.
You can hear the entire audio of this interview at 2:09.
