“Very happy with the win. Everything that I went through in July…I went through a lot. Working a lot to become a better fighter and to put new things into my fight game,” Ferreira told reporters including Cageside Press through a translator at his post-fight scrum.

Ferreira suffered a TKO loss at the hands of Nursulton Ruziboev last July.

“I learned a lot from that fight. It was an opportunity to become a better fighter. I’m the person that I expect the most out of myself. I put a lot of weight on myself and this was a weight that was lifted off my back,” he said.

With the his start to 2024 being a positive one Ferreira looked ahead to what he’d like to do next.

“Everything has “why” everything has a reason. This fight was supposed to happen before, and he’s already run away from me once at the end of the year. He didn’t fight me, but at the end of the day I have a brother, I have a training partner and a friend in Bruno Silva,” said Ferreira.

“He (Hawes) welcome him into his home. So we would like to welcome him into our home. So Shara Bullet (Sharabutdin Magomedov) we want to face him in Brazil.”

Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Brunno Ferreira above.

The post Brunno Ferreira Wants To Face Shara Bullet In Brazil appeared first on Cageside Press.

“He’s lost in some certain ways so whatever way the water flows easiest,” Bautista told reporters including Cageside Press about how the fight with Font would go.

“I would say around springtime. The way I planned it out is top 15, top 10, and top 5 at the end of the year.”

The possibility of Font not being available is a very real issue, and it’s something Bautista hasn’t given too much thought.

“I haven’t really looked at anyone. Nothing that would make sense. I think everyone else is kind of booked so that’s why I figured Font,” he said.

Bautista (14-2) is on a 6-fight win streak. With Font on a two-fight losing streak it wouldn’t be a bad fight for him to accept.

The fight with Simon turned out to be one of the more entertaining ones on the card with both men going back and forth. It’s something that may have been wasted at the UFC APEX.

“It would have been fun. I’m pretty sure the crowd would have went crazy after watching that fight,” Bautista said.

“It is what it is you know. Next one…maybe it will be.”

Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Mario Bautista above.

The post Mario Bautista Explains Call Out Of Rob Font appeared first on Cageside Press.

“I’m not talking to him because (he made me mad) in the second round. You see the guy try kicking my mouthpiece. I respect him, but that time no respect no more. My movement is my movement. My salsa, merenge, everything. I’ll be there for Salsa Boy,” Cortes-Acosta told reporters including Cageside Press at his post-fight scrum.

“My respect for the guy every time, but I win tonight.”

There we some antics Cortes-Acosta pulled including dancing in front of Arlovski, and talking some trash. At one point his mouthpiece fell out and Arlovski attempted to kick it in frustration.

After beating a former champion Cortes-Acosta took aim at the current UFC heavyweight champion.

“Yes I have a fighter in mind. Jon Jones. One of the fighters that has been known for his movement, for everything. Maybe we’ll see Salsa Boy grow little by little and learn how to move like Jon Jones,” he said.

As for what’s next Cortes-Acosta hopes to get a fight on UFC Mexico City on Feb 24. Headlined by Brandon Moreno and Brandon Royval it’s Mexico since 2019.

“I want to fight in Mexico City. I love Mexico. My family is Mexican-Dominican. Mexican fans want me, I want to be there,” he said.

Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Waldo Costes-Acosta above.

* Some translation done by Cageside Press.

The post Waldo Cortes-Acosta Wants On UFC Mexico City Card appeared first on Cageside Press.

“Very tough. He’s like a tough person right? Like my hands hurt from hitting him. He took some shots I didn’t think that he was going to be able to take. Kudos to him for sure,” McGhee told reporters including Cageside Press at his post-fight scrum on Saturday.

“Super tough, super durable, super impressed by him.”

Going into the fight many believed that Bolanos’s kickboxing skills would be too much for McGhee to handle. McGhee seemed to turn that into motivation to out-strike the striker.

“It was definitely still a tough fight, but yes. I don’t blame them, but a lot of folks wanted me to just go out there and grapple him. My grappling’s coming along a lot and when I get ready to start showing it off it’ll be nice,” McGhee said.

“But I am a striker and I believe I can out-strike the best strikers in the world. I really believe that. I have a lot of faith in myself, we put a lot of work in, I have some great coaches that I work with. And I’m constantly evolving. It was great to go out there and do exactly what I wanted to do. Out-strike the striker.”

Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Marcus McGhee above.

The post Marcus McGhee Aimed To “Out-Strike The Striker” appeared first on Cageside Press.

“For me every fight is life and death. It doesn’t matter if it’s end of the year, beginning of the year, every fight is the next most important fight. The last 12 weeks of my life I dedicated to this fight non-stop,” Basharat told reporters including Cageside Press at his post-fight scrum.

“I think it kind of showed today in the fight. I put a crazy pace in there and I was ready for every single puzzle that Lapilus put in front of me.”

With Basharat remaining undefeated, and on a 3-fight UFC win streak, the bantamweight is looking for a step up in competition next.

“I don’t have an idea of who I want to fight next. Let it be a step up, but regardless it doesn’t matter who it is. I’m constantly improving so much I’m never worried about who it’s going to be next,” Basharat said.

“I’m just worried about improving myself when I get there. When it will be, let’s see you know, I’m always ready. I’m always training hard, always in shape, so whoever it is they can all get it.”

Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Farid Basharat above.

The post Farid Basharat Looking For Step Up In Competition Next appeared first on Cageside Press.

“It wasn’t a prediction. We trained this. We trained a lot of things and we knew what was going to happen. We knew how he was going to walk, we know how he was going to approach how he wasn’t going to touch gloves or anything like that,” Silva told reporters including Cageside Press through a translator at his post-fight scrum.

“Nothing is a coincidence. We trained everything.”

With the sort of detail he trained with nothing really surprised the Brazilian in the cage.

“Nothing. We knew everything. We knew everything. Everything that we predicted happened. He couldn’t even bring himself to look into my eyes we even knew that,” he said.

Silva put on a show for the entire time he was at the APEX. Even his walkout drew interest as he chose to walk slow, seemed to take it all in, almost like he was the main character of a movie.

It drew a lot of interest from fans on social media.

“I’m going to apologize for not knowing how to answer this. I’ve said this before. It’s another person. It’s someone else. I’ve given a name to my alter-ego that’s why ‘Lord Assassin” came about,” Silva said.

“It’s another person.”

Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Jean Silva above.

The post Jean Silva Went Into Extreme Detail For Wilson appeared first on Cageside Press.

“I don’t know if it was personal but I saw when he got signed he said something that when he has an opponent his whole life (revolves) around the guy. He’s trying to take as many years as possible off the guy life, and I was like ‘damn!’. Why man? Everyone has family,” Motta told reporters including Cageside Press at his post-fight scrum.

“I’m a very exciting fight, I want to entertain people, I want to put in a nice performance. I want to put in wars and knock people out, but at the same time I don’t want to hurt nobody.”

Motta also saw some things that Nolan said on social media that may have added some more motivation.

“Also I saw that he said on social media that (our fight) is ‘going to be a highlight reel finish and I promise you guys how violent I am’. I had to wear that shirt again that says, ‘I am comfortable with violence’. That’s a shirt that my friend Vinc Pichel likes to wear and I copied him. That crazy guy,” Motta said as he revealed the phrase printed on his shirt.

Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Nikolas Motta above.

The post Nikolas Motta Had Added Motivation From Nolan Trash Talk appeared first on Cageside Press.

“About four years ago I had a really bad weight cut and a really bad performance,” Wilson admits. “At that point I was coming off of back to back losses in LFA and I was unsure [about moving forward].”

However, rather than packing it up for good and giving up on his goal, he decided to make one more effort to kick start his career. He headed out to Simpsonville, South Carolina for a chance to train with a former UFC title contender. The work with the new coach instantly sparked a change in the now UFC featherweight.

“I moved out to Upstate Karate and started training under Coach Ray Thompson and training alongside Wonderboy [Stephen Thompson],” he said. “Coach T quickly realized you’re better fighter than you let yourself believe. He started really instilling that confidence.”

Once Wonderboy’s dad could see the difference in the mindset, he asked Wilson to trust him with essentially starting his career again from the ground up. While someone his age might typically shy away from such a challenge – Wilson embraced it.

“We’re going to restart your career at 30-years old,” he recalls being told by Coach Thompson. “I said ‘okay, let’s do it. I’ll be your number two guy’. So we grinded away for the last four years and finally got that call.”

Now having gotten his first full training camp for a UFC fight under his belt, Wilson is ready to prove to the world that those changes make him dangerous. He’ll face Jean Silva as part of the UFC Vegas 84 prelims this Saturday on ESPN+ to do just that.

You can hear the entire audio of this interview at 45:33.

The post UFC Vegas 84’s Westin Wilson Credits Coach, Mindset Change for Growth appeared first on Cageside Press.

When Denys Bondar dropped off of the first card of the year, the UFC called Felipe Bunes and his management team with the name Joshua Van. Not only was the Brazilian happy to stay on the card, but was glad to get a chance to throw down with someone he already feels connected to.

“He’s a very opportunistic guy. He’s always ready. He was going to fight on the Contender Series, but signed with the UFC to replace me against Zhalgas [Zhumagulov],” Bunes said through an interpretor. “It seems like this was meant to be.”

When watching the style of Van, Bunes enjoyed what he saw. On one hand, he bring a fight at all times and is exciting to watch. On the other hand, he saw enough issues with his game that he felt like he could exploit.

“He likes to move forward and pressure. He seems strong and aggressive,” he said. “But I see a lot of flaws in his game, especially in his grappling. He doesn’t seem to have much of a grappling game.”

But even though he sees weaknesses on the ground, and he himself is a Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt, that doesn’t mean that he sees the finish coming with a submission. In fact, Bunes sees his UFC debut going a bit differently and didn’t hesitate to share the big prediction.

“I see myself finishing him by either KO or submission,” Bunes states. “But judging by the way that he fought his last fight – I see myself catching him with a knee.”

Bunes will look to bring that prediction to fruition when he steps into the cage this weekend at UFC Vegas 84. His fight with Joshua Van will take place on the preliminary portion of the card, which starts at 4pm EST on ESPN+.

The post UFC Vegas 84’s Felipe Bunes Predicts Big Finish appeared first on Cageside Press.

If you’ve been following the fight game for a significant amount of time, you’ve undoubtedly heard the name Jim Miller. The 40-year old made his UFC debut all the way back at UFC 89 in London in 2008. However, while you might be able to conjure the nicknames of fighters that have been around far less time – you may have trouble coming up with his moniker.

It’s “A-10”.

It hadn’t always been that. In fact, the 54-fight veteran only added somewhat recently. While fight names have all kinds of purposes, his has a very simple one.

“I’ve haven’t done a very good job of it, but branding [was the purpose]. It’s probably been said plenty of times about me, but my name is Jim Miller. It’s not catchy,” Miller explained. “It’s kind of one of those things where we were like ‘hey, let’s figure something out.”

But as they were figuring things out, “A-10” wasn’t the first out of the gate. His brother, former UFC fighter Dan Miller, had a nickname that inspired him to perhaps try something from the animal kingdom.

“My brother Dan, we always called him the Beefalo because he’s just big and doesn’t know his own size,” he said. “If he’s the Beefalo, I’m a warthog. I’m short, smelly, hairy, and ugly, but not to be fucked with.”

At the end of the day, Miller wasn’t sure that he was ready to become “The Warthog”. Instead, he decided to take some inspiration from his childhood.

“Do I really want to be a warthog? So I always loved the A-10. Growing up, I had a poster of it on my wall,” Miller said. “They’re pretty badass and I kind of think it’s a good example for me. I’m not the most nimble fighter out there, but I can take a beating.”

After settling on that, he has intended to go forth with the branding efforts. However, there has been one major obstacle to getting that gear out there.

“I don’t have it out yet, but I have all this apparel stuff that I was gonna do,” he said with a laugh. “Training and fighting just gets in the way.”

Perhaps after his UFC Vegas 84 bout he’ll be able to use a little time to get it going. In the meantime, his sights are set on his co-main event slot with Gabriel Benitez this Saturday. The card will air on ESPN+ starting at 4pm EST.

The post UFC Vegas 84’s Jim Miller on the Origin of “A-10” Nickname appeared first on Cageside Press.