UFC flyweight Tim Elliott is nowhere near done fighting following his upset victory over Kai Asakura at UFC 319 on Saturday night.
Elliott (21-13-1) took the fight to Asakura as a fighter and not necessarily a martial artists. It’s something he’s spoken about before as the mindset he’s adopted when he competes.
“If I was trying to martial arts competition Kai he would have kicked my ass,” Elliott told Cageside Press at his post-fight scrum.
“He was martial artsing me and I was fighting. That’s the difference. That’s the only reason why I’m able to sustain. I’m not a martial artis. I’m a fighter at the end of the day and I said this in the early media. If it wasn’t in the UFC it would be in somebody’s backyard or I would just be the old dude at the gym fighting guys in the gym because that’s what I like to do.”
Coming off a 20-months layoff it was a relief for Elliott. Besides scratching the competitive itch it’s the way he supports his family.
“This is my favorite thing in the world to do. That 653 days that I was out was 653 sad days of me not being able to do what I love. Fighting dogs want to fight. Even if they’re hurt, even if they’re tired, even if they’re beat up. The worst thing for a fighting dog is not being able to fight,” Elliott said.
“A lot of people think that it’s cruel or unfair to see fighting dogs fight, but fighting dogs live and breathe to fight. That’s what I want to do. When I can’t fight I feel like my life is not complete.”
A lot of fighters say they want to leave the sport before the sport is done with them. The sport will have to get rid of Tim Elliott before he leaves it willingly.
“I don’t know what the f*ck I’m going to do when I retire because I’m just going to be a fighting dog with no fight left,” he said.
“I’m not going to retire gracefully from the UFC. They’re going to have to tell me, ‘You got to go, man.’ I’m going to be here until they make me go.”
Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Tim Elliott above.
