Drew Dober delivered a vintage performance on Saturday night at UFC Vancouver, weathering adversity before rallying to stop Canadian contender Kyle Prepolec in the third round of their lightweight clash.
Dober’s performance was driven not only by a desire to get back in the win column, but also by a personal tragedy he endured during camp. He hinted at it during his post-fight interview with Daniel Cormier, then shared more details during the post-fight media scrum.
“Three losses definitely hurts, you know? I’ve never been in this period in my life. You get a lot of questions about retirement,” Dober told reporters including Cageside Press.
“In camp, unfortunately, I lost my child. We’ve been dealing with a lot and a lot of pressure. It just forced me to think about what I care about, why do I do this, and what’s been going wrong.”
Dober explained that the emotional weight he carried into past fights had impacted his mindset inside the cage. This time, he said the key was letting go of pressure and falling back in love with the moment.
“We had to get rid of all that expectation and taking myself too seriously. Now in this fight I got to just fight like it could be my last. So you just enjoy it. I had a great dance partner in Kyle, and man, I absolutely loved every moment I was in there,” he said.
In a fight marked by wild momentum swings and controversy, including a point deduction for a low blow, Dober dug deep and unleashed a furious finishing sequence that forced the referee’s intervention, securing a critical comeback victory on enemy soil.
“I hate that there was a low-blow involved. It was definitely not intentional. I took a little bit away from Kyle, away from the fight. I think the point deduction was a little extreme, but it definitely gave me the opportunity to choose how I want to win this fight. Or possibly a draw,” he said.
“The best I could do was fight to a draw. I made that commitment of like, no, that’s not how I fight. That’s not why people watch Drew Dober fight. People watch me fight because I’m the dog. I love collisions and chaos and I made that decision. After a three-fight losing streak, and then getting back to my original ways, is very relieving.”
Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Drew Dober above.
