Punahele Soriano delivered one of his most composed performances to date at UFC 320, earning a decisive victory over Nikolay Veretennikov on Saturday night to extend his win streak to three.
Soriano (12-4) was candid about the mixed emotions that followed. While his performance marked a step back in the right direction, the Hawaiian middleweight admitted that the victory didn’t bring the relief he expected.
“Physically I feel good. All glory to God. I’m healthy, I got the win,” Soriano told reporters including Cageside Press at his post-fight scrum.
“Emotionally I’ve been sad. Disappointed whole time. Seeing Edmen (Shahbazyan) win is like the only thing that made me super happy. That was really cool.”
Soriano reflected on the emotional weight he’s carried throughout his recent struggles. Despite picking up the win, he wasn’t satisfied with his performance inside the octagon. The middleweight standout admitted that the fight didn’t reflect the aggressive, crowd-pleasing style he’s known for.
“I’m embarrassed of all the people that had to watch me fight like that. That’s not the way I fight. I normally go out there and bang and like, I don’t know, cool performances,” he said.
“Maybe the pressure got to me or something.”
Soriano kept a sense of humor about his performance and joked about what he wanted to say was next for him.
“I was going to be like, ‘I’m getting worried that I’m next to the title fight!’ as like a joke. There’s no way I can say that. Not even as a goof,” Soriano said laughing.
“I just got to try and find a way to make myself happy tonight, and enjoy the win.”
With rumors of a potential event in Hawaii, the thought of missing that opportunity was never far from his mind.
“That was kind of part of the pressure too,” he laughed.
“I was like man I don’t want to get knocked out and cut before the UFC goes to Hawaii!”
Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Punahele Soriano above.
