“If they come to me with a fight and it’s not the title, it better have a lot of money. Right now, I want one thing, and that’s the title. I want to be a champion. I want to be the champ. I’m going to be the champ.”
“When you’re this close, you’ve just got to keep going. Once the timing’s right, there’s nothing anyone can do to stop it. This is God’s plan.”
“I would love to fight with ‘Pitbull’ back home, in my home country of Azerbaijan. That would be cool. As I said, since ‘Pitbull’ is the one who wanted to have a rematch with me, I want to fight him. Of course, after every training camp, you improve your technique, you get better. I just think it’s going to be a more exciting fight.”
“We have a good friendship with Usman. We respect him as a fighter, but he’s not in my plans to fight anytime soon. My plan is to fight with ‘Pitbull.’ I saw in one of his interviews that he wants the rematch, so let’s do it.”
“When I wrapped my hands around his neck and I locked the choke, I knew there was no way he was going to get out of it. When he tapped, I was very happy.”
“Honestly, I haven’t watched [Patricky Pitbull’s] fights that much, but if they offer me this fight, I’m gonna watch every single one of them. I’m gonna make a strategy, me and my team. I heard there will be an event in October. If they offer me this fight in October, I would love to take it and go. As far as how it’s going to go, I’m just going to go out there and be myself, as always.”
Marcelo Golm (10-3) defeated #8-Davion Franklin (5-1) via submission (rear-naked choke) at 4:36 of round three
#5-Veta Arteaga (7-4) defeated #7-Vanessa Porto (23-10) via submission (guillotine choke) at 3:47 of round two
#9-Gadzhi Rabadanov (18-4-1) defeated Bobby King (12-5) via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Akhmed Magomedov (9-0) defeated Kevin Boehm (9-5) via submission (rear-naked choke) at 1:16 of round one
Roman Faraldo (8-0) defeated Luis Iniguez (5-2) via KO (punch) at 3:42 of round one
Jaylon Bates (6-0) defeated Mark Coates (10-8) via split decision (30-27, 28-29, 29-28)
Archie Colgan (5-0) defeated Bryan Nuro (8-5) via TKO (punches) at 1:50 of round three