Newark — In just his third fight with the UFC, undefeated middleweight prospect Baisangur Susurkaev faces Djorden Santos, though it’s not the name he was looking for necessarily.
Susurkaev (11-0) has the UFC promotional machine behind him, getting a lot of attention after making his debut just days after winning a contract on the Contender Series last year. It’s why he was scheduled for a media day session at UFC 328, despite fighting early on the prelims.
“Honestly I have this 50-50 feeling that they’re not working that hard to push me forward just yet,” said Susurkaev, who feels most of the attention stems from that quick debut.
As for Santos, it’s not the sort of opponent the Russian star was hoping for. He’s previously called out the likes of Bo Nickal, for example. “[Santos] is not famous,” acknowledged Susurkaev. “He’s a good fighter, maybe better than Bo Nickal. I still want big names, someone famous. Now I don’t have interest after this fight to fight with Bo Nickal. I think he’s scared of me. I want to fight Roman Dolidze, Marvin Vettori. Top 15, top 20, I’m ready. And I hope they will give me [that], after this fight. I hope.”
Susurkaev, who has already updated his social media to show his record as 12-0 in advance of his twelfth fight, believes he can crack the top 15 after UFC 328. A fight with Dolidze seems to have his eye in particular. “I saw Dolidze’s 14 number, I beat him, I will be 14. Next fight, we can also fight Fluffy [Anthony Hernandez] or someone like this.”
Another middleweight up-and-comer on the UFC 328 card is Ateba Gautier. It’s a fight Baisangur Susurkaev feels would go his way with ease.
“I think it’s easy money for me. He has only hands. You don’t need to laugh, brother, I’m serious,” he stated. “Like these guys who have only punches, only one round. After one round, you can see in his last fight, after one round he’s a very bad opponent. He showed us second and third round, very bad. He was tired. He did nothing and was very tired. It’s not about me. If he gets tired, I’ll kill him. It’s easy money for me I think.”
While he’s willing to fight Gautier, Susurkaev noted “he’s not a big name. Not 15 or 20. If they want to give me a fight with him, no problem.”
Susurkaev has only been to a decision once, and is now looking at the potential of a $100,000 post-fight bonus, the UFC having doubled the bonus amount this year. That, he admitted, is added motivation for get the job done early.
“Of course, 100K is big motivation. I had before, motivation to finish my opponent. Now it’s more than before, and I will try every second. Every moment, I’m looking for a finish.”
Watch the full UFC 328 media day appearance by Baisangur Susurkaev above.
