Nearly a year ago, on the date of his upcoming Oktagon 81 fight, Jonas Magard stepped into the cage with UFC veteran Igor Severino in a fight that would put the winner in prime position to attack the title. After a back-and-forth affair, two of the three judges ruled the fight in favor of Severino. With a year to think about it and watch it back, Magard’s feelings about the fight are unchanged.
“I definitely thought I won and looking back I still think I won,” Magard explained. “But it was a close fight and I saw him, he did some damage. I’m sure I lost the third round, but I definitely won the first two rounds.”
Besides feeling like he had already done enough, Magard notes that he didn’t go into that fight 100%. Several things weighed heavily on him going into the fight and perhaps made him a little less effective in the later rounds.
“Going into that fight, I was dealing with a lot of things outside as well. I had a bad staph infection a week before the fight. So yeah, it definitely affected me in the third round,” he said. “I also had a bad weight cut, the worst weight cut I’ve ever had, but I still think I won that fight.”
Now that his former foe has been booked for the title shot in February, Magard has his eyes on him again. However, that focus doesn’t come from the shiny belt, but rather from revenge.
“I don’t really care about the title. I just want to go in there and hurt him. I definitely have a chip on my shoulder when it comes to this fight,” Magard said. “I know I’m better than him. I almost didn’t finish him there in the second round. It is what it is and it’s good with some new blood, but we all know who the real champion is here.”
Although he wants revenge, he first has to deal with his opponent: Elvis Silva. The Brazilian karate specialist has a very different look than Severino or any of Magar’s former opponents, but one he is more than prepared for.
“I see a lot of holes in his games, and he has a lot of rhythms and patterns that he does. I’ve watched his fight every day since the fight was announced, so I know what he’s going to come up with,” he said. “He has such a style that it will be very difficult for him to change because he is not a guy who has changed his style. He has some very, very bad habits when it comes to MMA. I don’t know if it works for karate or kickboxing or whatever, but in MMA he has some very, very bad habits. I’m just there to take advantage of that.”
You can watch Magard’s fight with Igor Severino as part of the main card of Oktagon 81. The fight card starts at 12:00 PM EST and airs on oktagon.tv.
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