Las Vegas – At UFC 324, rising middleweight Ateba Gautier earned his fourth win in four fights inside the octagon, though he threw many for a loop by going the distance.
Gautier (10-1) had gone the distance once before, on the wrong side of a split decision early in his career. The outcome against Andrej Pulayev on Saturday was very different, with all three judges scoring the preliminary card fight for Cameroon’s Gautier.
“I feel good. I feel really good,” he told the media, including Cageside Press, after the fight. “I think it’s a good fight, a good experience. When I fight, I usually go for one round. I don’t train for one round, but it [the finish] always happens in the first round.”
“Now I’m happy. I’ve proven to people – people keep saying that I don’t have the gas tank to drive 15 minutes. So now I’ve proven that I have to fill up to drive 15 minutes.”
In other words, Gautier seems to feel he has sent a message. “I’m happy to show them – shut up, man. I could go on for 15 minutes.”
As for him getting damaged during the fight, Ateba Gautier wasn’t worried about it. “Blood is blood. Just red water, that’s all.”
If he gets a fight in early 2026, Gautier could be in for a busy year. He admitted he would enjoy fighting in Paris, where many Cameroonians live.
“Yes, of course I want to fight at UFC Paris one day. There are a lot of people from Cameroon there. It would also be good to fight in front of people from my country. It would be cool.”
Asked for a call, meanwhile Gautier had a big one. A former title challenger known as ‘The Italian Dream’.
“I have a name, I have a name. I want to fight Marvin Vettori. I want to fight him. He’s a tough guy too, so let’s fight,” exclaimed Gautier, who believes his performance on Saturday shows he can handle the Italian well. “It would be fun, it would be fun to have this test where you fight a tough guy. Show him that I’m here, I’m here, it’s my time, no matter what. I just proved to you that he always goes three rounds now, he’s tough, hard to knock out. Now I’ve shown them that I can go three rounds too, so let’s go now.”
Watch the full UFC 324 post-fight press conference with Ateba Gautier above.
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