Mayura Dissanyake, the MMA fighter who made headlines recently for beating up three criminals during a robbery at a Fuel Depot gas station in Houston, Texas has ambitions of fighting in the world-famous UFC Octagon.
“I want to make it to the UFC,” Dissanyake said to celebrity-gossip website TMZ.com. “That is my dream. The whole reason I moved to the [United] States.”
Dissanyake, from Sri Lanka, has a professional MMA record of 2-1, with his last fight taking place in November of 2012, a fight he lost to Mohammed Shahid at Super Fight League 1 in India.
Dissanyake has become famous on the internet, as the video of him handling the trio of criminals at the Fuel Depot in Houston went viral, with millions of people — including Dana White — taking notice. White told TMZ he “loved” the footage and considers Dissanyake a hero.
Regarding the incident, Dissanyake explains that the policy at Fuel Depot, where the crime occured, is for the employees not to chase down thieves who are robbing the store, however he considered this a special set of circumstances that required a different reaction.
“The policy [at Fuel Depot] is, if someone steals something, I’m told to not chase after them,” Dissanyake explained. “But in this instance it wasn’t someone stealing something, it was my friend who was in trouble. I had to help.”
Dissanyake reportedly has his next MMA fight scheduled for August in Houston.
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