Tagir Ulanbekov insists his fighting spirit is different from anyone Alexander Pantoja has ever faced.
Ulanbekov suffered his first professional loss to Clayton Carpenter with a unanimous decision victory in the opening bout of Saturday’s UFC 311 card. Ulanbekov, who is likely to break into the top 10 of the UFC rankings with his victory over Carpenter, called for a title shot against Pantoja in the post-fight interview. Pantoja has dominated nearly every weight division in the flyweight division during his championship reign. Ulanbekov belongs to a long line of extraordinary athletes trained in the mountains of Dagestan by Khabib Nurmagomedov’s father, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov. Ulambekov believes that Abdulmanap’s guidance gave them a spirit that set them apart from others. And according to the 33-year-old, it is this mentality that gives him the edge over Pantoja.
“I have nothing. All I have is the heart of a champion, and I will win with fighting spirit,” Ulanbekov said in the post-fight press conference. “He might have fought guys like me, he might have seen everything. I might not be better than him in some departments. What you don’t have is a fighting spirit. You can’t learn a fighting spirit. This is the kind of training that our legendary coach Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov gave us. He made us tough and had to work and train in conditions where people wouldn’t even stay there overnight. A certain spirit is second to none. So I will come there and win the championship with just fighting spirit.”
Ulambekov is 5-1 in the UFC and was coming off back-to-back submission wins before dropping a decision to Carpenter. Pantoja, on the other hand, is on a seven-fight winning streak, including four titles.
