Las Vegas – There was no doubt in the mind of Pole Jakub Wiklacz that Muin had tapped Gafurov at the end of their UFC Vegas 113 “bantamweight fight.”
Bantamweight it really wasn’t after Gafurov lost five pounds. And on top of that controversy, the former ONE Championship fighter appeared to use a late guillotine at the end of the third round, but then denied it.
Wiklacz (18-3-2) didn’t believe it. “I felt the tap, but first I grabbed this gilly and I thought, maybe it won’t be a submission, but I’ll try,” he told Cageside Press after the fight at the Meta Apex on Saturday. “Then I heard he was breathing heavily.” In his head, Wiklacz said to himself, “I got it, I got it. I have to keep doing it.”
Wiklacz felt the tap and the referee stopped the fight, although this was initially due to time running out. “He says ‘it was the time, it was the time’ and [I’m] like ‘f*ck no, it wasn’t time, it was a tapout. Just watch it again! Watch it again!’ And then I’m waiting for a replay, and I see him tap out and I went fucking crazy.
Wiklacz and Gafurov paid their respects to each other after the fight, but Wiklacz was sure to tell him he had tapped out. Gafurov suggested waiting. The replay ultimately showed that Wiklacz had won the entry with one second on the clock.
At 2-0 in the UFC now, with wins over Gafurov and former Bellator star Patchy Mix, Wiklacz hopes to fight more in America, or bring the UFC to Poland. However, America is where he thinks he can grow his fan base.
“I want to win, but I know I have such a style that they will love me,” he noted.
The 29-year-old former KSW champion also revealed that there was no question of refusing the fight, despite Gafurov coming in heavy.
“No. Maybe I’ll think about it in another period of my career. But in the UFC I want to show myself that I don’t just want to stay here, win a fight, lose a fight, win a fight, lose a fight. I just want to get to the top. That’s why I was like, ‘Okay.’”
When UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby told him Gafurov wouldn’t be making weight, he consulted with his team, but it didn’t take long for him to accept.
“It’s even better to win with an opponent who hasn’t dropped out and who is still fresh,” Wiklacz suggested. “At first I felt like he didn’t respect me, but now I like him. I have nothing to do with him, I just want to show that I belong here, and I want to get a ranked opponent.”
Watch the full UFC Vegas 113 post-fight press conference with Jakub Wiklacz above.
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