“I am still on the hunt for championship gold and for that reason I consider this fight very important,” said the 31-year-old American fighter in a video posted on his Youtube channel. “Winning it puts me straight into the lead of the title race – that’s why I took this fight.”
“On the one hand, I feel that I have ten more years left, that I am still young, and at the same time I understand that this is not entirely true. In this sport, time is very limited – I have a certain window that one day will close. I want to get the most out of my career and not be wondering, twenty years later, ‘What if…'”
Recall that the welterweight fight between Shavkat Rakhmonov and Kelvin Gastelum will be the second most important event of the UFC tournament, which will be held on September 16 in Las Vegas.