LAS VEGAS – Despite a big win over a tough opponent Saturday night, Cody Stamann left the cage far from satisfied.
Stamann (18-2 MMA, 4-1 UFC) took a unanimous decision from Alejandro Perez (21-7-1 MMA, 7-2-1 UFC) in a fight between a pair of bantamweight contenders at UFC 235, which took place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main card aired on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and UFC Fight Pass.
But afterward, Stamann said he wasn’t sure what he was doing in the cage.
“I just did not fight well tonight,” Stamann said backstage after the fight. “It was like I was staring at a mirror in there. I just didn’t pull the trigger, and that’s not what I’m trained to do. I’ve been training to be a killer.
“And really, honestly, leading up to this fight I was out to run through Alejandro Perez. He does hit hard, and it’s hard to explain the way he fights. He doesn’t really let you get away with anything.”
Stamann said normally after a win over an opponent like that, he’d be looking for a big callout. And he’ll still do that.
But he also said he needs to look back and the win and see just why he wasn’t pulling the trigger.
“This is probably the healthiest I’ve been after a fight and probably the most disappointed I’ve been after a win,” he said. “I’m better than that and I really wanted to come in here and talk a bunch of (expletive) and maybe call out Aljamain Sterling and maybe try to get that fight back, or try to fight a really, really tough top-10 guy, because I feel like that’s where I belong.”
For more Stamann, check out the video above.
And for complete coverage of UFC 235, check out the UFC Events section of the site.
