Asu Almabayev met the media Saturday after his win over Alex Perez at UFC Fight Night 265.
Almabayev (23-3 MMA, 6-1 UFC) submitted Perez (25-10 MMA, 7-6 UFC) with a slick guillotine choke in the third round of their flyweight on the prelims at ABHA Arena in Doha, Qatar. It was his first finish in more than two years.
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“Every fight, I have a lot of mistakes. I’m not a perfect fighter, but I always do my best to get the win,” Almabayev told UFC.com after the fight. “I didn’t feel any pressure. I was confident in myself, but I was kind of surprised. I have the experience of more than 20 fights, and no one has wrestled me like that.”
Now, with back-to-back wins, and the latest coming against a top-10 flyweight opponent, Almabayev said he’d be ready to fill in at the UFC 323 co-main event title fight when champion Alexandre Pantoja puts the belt on the line against Joshua Van.
“Every win is important – we treat each win as the most important one,” Almabayev said. “If you take one loss, it puts you way back (in the rankings). Dec. 6, if someone gets injured, just call me. I’ll be ready to replace anyone.”
Check out Almabayev’s post-fight interview in the video below.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Asu Almabayev would take late-notice UFC 323 flyweight title fight
