Douglas Silva de Andrade wants to prove his worth inside the octagon, and that’s why he thanks UFC matchmakers for booking him against an opponent that will test him at UFC Vegas 58 on Saturday night.
Andrade is scheduled to face Said Nurmagomedov at UFC APEX. After knocking out Gaetano Pinellio, Andrade hopes to climb the ranks in the bantamweight section and reach the top.
Nurmagomedov, 4-1 under the UFC banner, enters the cage on a two-fight winning streak over Mark Striegl and Cody Stamann, stopping both opponents in under a minute. Andrade believes that a victory will prove to fans and promoters that he is part of the elite sport.
“It is good because there will not be any excuses.” Andrade said this in an interview to MMA Fighting. He submitted Sergey Morozov earlier in the year in a Fight of the Night. “I’ve showed this throughout my run in the UFC that I’m always fighting opponents with a good name, and there’s no excuses. It is a joy to fight good opponents.
Andrade entered the UFC in 2014 having an unbeaten professional record 22-0, but was defeated by Zubaira Tukhugov at featherweight. Since cutting down to 135 pounds, he has won six of nine, including decisions over Marlon Vera and Renan Barao. His losses include top-ranked opponents Petr Yan and Rob Font.
” People can’t claim I’m facing easy foes,” he stated. “Quite the opposite, really. They are bringing tough guys and I’m always fighting and representing. [Nurmagomedov] is another one I respect, and I thank him because we need an opponent to work, but it’s a fight. I’m ready for an action-packed brawl.”
Andrade said he’s going out to “brawl,” but added “it’s MMA, and we’ll feel it out.” In the end, he said, “we just want to leave with our hands raised.” Now training at the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas, the 37-year-old veteran explained how he deals with the pressure of being on a roll in such a young man’s game.
“It’s a pleasure to have this pressure over me. He said he was grateful. I’m grateful for all the good things that have happened to me and am able to continue moving forward. I’ve had serious issue in the past like may other athletes, injuries and surgeries and even stopping [fighting] at some point, but I came back. As long as God blesses .”
, we’ll keep pushing forward. We will continue to brawl.
“God willing, I’m complete this mission to be 3-0 in the past 10 months and then move on to the next one,” he continued. “Cutting weight is a battle on its own for me because I’m a heavy guy, but why not keep pushing it? My opponent and me leave [the cage] both healthy, so we can keep our journey in the sport .”
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