NEW YORK – Fatima Kline met the media Saturday after her win over Angela Hill at UFC 322.
Kline (9-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) outworked Hill (18-16 MMA, 13-16 UFC) for a unanimous decision on the prelims at Madison Square Garden. It was arguably the biggest win of her brief career, considering Hill has about three times as many fights just in the UFC alone as Kline has overall.
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“I’m always a finisher. I’m always looking for finishes, so I am a little disappointed in that,” Kline said at her post-fight news conference. “I’d love to go back and watch it. I think my performance was very dominant, all three rounds, but I expect more from myself.
“But I’m excited to be able to take this win in New York City and move forward, and I think fighting Angela the way I did is going to greatly prepare me for what’s ahead.”
Kline said her grappling background likely played a big factor in being able to grind out a win over a longtime fighter like Hill, who made her pro MMA debut when Kline was 14 years old – a fact that took her by surprise.
But her jiu-jitsu skills might have her punching above her weight, at least proverbially speaking when it comes to her experience level.
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“I feel like my jiu-jitsu career really prepared me for a moment like this,” Kline said. “I was 14 fighting people that were like 30, and sometimes I’d win, and sometimes I lost, but I’d always go back to the drawing board and reevaluate and see where I can get better.
“So I feel like the years leading up till now, always fighting women that were tougher than me, bigger than me, older than me, everywhere, I learned how to deal with that mentally, physically, emotionally. … My mentality going into this fight was I knew how durable she was going to be, and it wasn’t just putting her out. It was, ‘How can I drown her out?’ And that’s what I did.”
Check out Kline’s post-fight interview in the video above.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC 322: Fatima Kline content drowning Angela Hill instead of finish
