One of the hottest flyweight prospects for the past couple of years, Phumi Nkuta improved to 10-0 on Friday at LFA 211. Now, he’s almost certainly knocking on the door of the UFC.
Whether it’s via the Contender Series or straight to the big show, Nkuta almost certainly has a future with the world’s largest mixed martial arts promotion. And to hear him tell it, his fight with Cody Davis at LFA 211 was already UFC-level anyway. Nor is he surprised at being 10-0 to start his career.
“If I’m going to do something, I’m doing it with my heart and soul into it. I didn’t come into this sport to just say I was a fighter, to just take an amateur fight or be a pro fighter,” he told Cageside Press following his win in Salamanca, New York, standing alongside teammate and UFC star Aljamain Sterling.
“I came here to be the best, and fortunately for me, I’ve gotten to be part of training camps for Merab [Dvalishvili], I’ve gotten to be [part of camps for] Henry Cejudo and Jimmie Rivera and this guy right here, Aljo, my brother. I’ve been in there with the best, why should I not be 10-0? No one else is doing what I’m doing, no one else is fighting who I’m fighting, training the way I’m training.”
“Cody Davis, shout out to him, he’s a good dude, but that fight could have been in the UFC,” added Nkuta. “That’s a UFC-level/caliber fighter right there. In a sport where a lot of people are padding their records, he didn’t do that, I didn’t do that, that was two dogs in there just scrapping with the best of them.”
Phumi Nkuta’s dreams don’t stop at the UFC, however. With the promotion now falling under parent company TKO Group alongside World Wrestling Entertainment, Nkuta is hoping to have a future in both professions.
“I got one life to live,” Nkuta exclaimed, going on to add “let’s do something nobody else has ever done before, in the history of athletics. Let’s be in the UFC, let’s be in WWE.”
Watch our full post-fight interview with LFA 211’s Phumi Nkuta above.
