WICHITA, Kan. – With a big cut on his forehead sending blood down his face, Alex White had a fairly crucial thought run through his mind.
“At first, whenever it happened, I didn’t think it was that bad,” White told MMA Junkie. “But then blood was just going and going and I was like, ‘Oh, man, maybe I need to watch this and not get hit there anymore.'”
The cut White (13-5 MMA, 4-5 UFC) had came from a slicing elbow courtesy of Dan Moret (13-5 MMA, 0-2 UFC), who drilled him while they were on the canvas in their lightweight fight that opened UFC on ESPN+ 4. Replays showed Moret’s elbow acting pretty much like a knife, and the result was six stitches for White after the fight.
But the important thing for White was that he recovered from that first-round setback and went on to win a unanimous decision at INTRUST Bank Arena in Wichita, Kan. The event streamed on ESPN+.
White may have felt like his back was a little against the wall going into the fight with Moret. He had back-to-back losses, and three straight never is a good thing in the UFC. He also had dropped five of his past seven after a bonus-winning knockout in his promotional debut nearly five years ago.
So a win was crucial for the 30-year-old Missouri native, even if he tried to keep that out of his mind. But he did seem to give some of the blame for the gash on his his head to a slow start in the first round that allowed Moret to be in position for the elbow to begin with.
“I tried not to think too much about that – I felt like if I did, I’d hesitate too much,” White said. “To me, it seemed like I hadn’t been in there in a long time. I’ve trained in the ring with other fighters, so I don’t know. Maybe it was an adrenaline dump in the first round.”
Back on track now, though, after losses to now teammate James Krause and veteran Jim Miller in 2018, White said he’ll leave things up to the experts when it comes to whom he should fight next.
But he at least has an idea of where he’d like to be, which makes “International Fight Week” in July a potential target.
“I’d like to fight in Las Vegas. That’s always cool,” White said. “But as far as an opponent, I feel like I’m comfortable with (my manager) picking for me. He knows what he’s doing. He’s done this long enough.”
For more from White, including thoughts about one of his tattoos, check out the video above.
And for complete coverage of UFC on ESPN+ 4, check out the UFC Events section of the site.
