Mario Bautista hopes a big opportunity comes after falling short against Umar Nurmagomedov.
Bautista (16-3 MMA, 10-3 UFC) dropped Nurmagomedov (19-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) in Round 1 of their bantamweight matchup at UFC 321 last month, but was ultimately outgrappled in a unanimous decision loss.
The setback snapped Bautista’s eight-fight winning streak, but the MMA Lab fighter revealed that the UFC was pleased with him taking on the challenge, and plan on rewarding him.
“I’m not sure. I haven’t really thought about it yet – still trying to digest this one,” Bautista told Tim Welch on what’s next. “I don’t know, it was pretty cool, when we were leaving, you know they kick you out the back after you’re done, pretty much. Hunter (Campbell) came running out.
“He was just like, ‘Hey, I just want to say thanks for doing this, great effort,’ this and that. ‘We’re going to get you something fun for next time, we’ll work something out.’ I was like, ‘Oh, hell yeah.’ There’s a few people. Figgy’s (Deiveson Figueiredo) out there, (Marlon) ‘Chito’ (Vera), and we can do that (Cory) Sandhagen rematch, too. Those are things I’ve seen online.”
Bautista’s run included wins over former UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo, former Bellator champion Patchy Mix, and Ricky Simon.
