48 hours ago, Raphael Assuncão had expectations of being in the driver’s seat of earning a title shot against T.J. Dillashaw. Assuncão has not relinquished those visions, but rather added another trilogy bout to them after losing to Marlon Moraes in the main event of UFC Fortaleza via first round submission (Transcription via MMA Fighting):
“We’re gonna have a third fight,” Assuncão said of he and Moraes at the UFC Fortaleza Post-Fight Press Conference. “Just like I’m gonna fight T.J. again one day, I think. Just like I said, I haven’t had much luck in rematches against those guys. But it’s funny that both rematches that I took — I lost tonight, there’s no excuses, I was well trained, but it was in a phase where even the media would ask me why I accepted the fight. It wasn’t a fight for the moment, but I’m a warrior. I consider myself a professional — I have to fight.”
Raphael Assuncão won the first fight against both Moraes and Dillashaw, only to lose the rematches. Assuncão attributes both losses to a case of bad timing:
“But both rematches I had maybe were not at the right moment. When I fought T.J. at UFC 200, I had recently had surgery. So, we’ll keep moving forward.
“It was bad for me tonight. Most of my trainers and my family members didn’t want me to accept this fight. Maybe they were right, they had their reasoning being a risky fight. And he beat me, he’s a dangerous guy. I consider myself a warrior and I think that any challenge, I’ll be ready for it. But looking back now, I could also see it from that other side and really [waiting] for that [title] fight. But we’ll keep moving forward.”
Do you believe Raphael Assuncão shouldn’t have accepted the fight against Marlon Moraes at UFC Fortaleza?
