Kevin Vallejos knew he was going to win, but didn’t think things would go so smoothly in his first UFC main event.
This past Saturday, Vallejos (18-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC) took on veteran contender Josh Emmett in the headliner of UFC Fight Night 269 at the Meta Apex in Las Vegas. It was a big test for Vallejos, and one he passed with flying colors, as the Argentine walked down and mauled Emmett to score an uber impressive TKO win.
“Obviously, this was part of the plan, but the whole time we saw the fight going to a third round, maybe fourth,” Vallejos told Hablemos MMA in Spanish. “We didn’t expect to end the fight this quickly. Honestly, it did exceed my expectations.”
Emmett is known for his toughness and durability. He’s fought and gone the distance with many heavy hitters, including former UFC featherweight champion and current lightweight title holder Ilia Topuria. However, despite Emmett’s respected durability, Vallejos was able to put him away with ease.
“After watching his fights against Murphy, Topuria and others, I realized that yeah, he’s somebody that can take a lot of shots and has the cardio to go all five rounds,” Vallejos said. “In my mind, this was going to be a long fight. Obviously, I wanted to knock him out, and that was a goal of mine. I also feel him changing his style played against him. The truth is that he didn’t propose anything. He was backing up all the time and gave me all the space in the world to work. The fight was easy for me. I don’t want to sound arrogant, but the fight was easy for me. He walked back and left me all the openings to attack. That surprised me. I don’t think he hit me hard. I didn’t feel it. I never felt any danger like, ‘Oh, he could knock me out.’ When I stepped in the cage, my thought was, ‘I can’t let him hit me because he’s got power,’ but when he hit me, I thought, ‘I can take this. It’s not bad.’ His power looked higher on TV. That gave me a lot of confidence, and that helped me generate pressure and take the fight.”
Vallejos, 24, is not the one to call out for fights. He does, however, expect to get some big-name opponents after making a statement against Emmett.
“Like I’ve said before, I want experience, but the UFC has other plans,” Vallejos said. “It looks like I have no option, but to keep climbing. Entering the top 10 or top 11, those are very tough fights that are coming. So really, any fights they give me is a good option. I don’t want to skip any steps or go up too high. I’m going to fight against whoever they give me. I mentiones Yair (Rodriguez) or (Aljamain) Sterling, but it could be anyone else. I have no problem.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Kevin Vallejos expected first UFC main event to be a tougher fight
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