LAS VEGAS — Nikolas Motta admits he didn’t go for broke against Joseph Lowry, but vows to show more killer instinct moving forward.
Motta (12-3) battered Lowry for three rounds for a definitive decision win at Dana White’s Contender Series 35 at the UFC Apex, but Dana White was a little hesitant before eventually handing him a UFC contract.
Motta had Lowry badly hurt on multiple occasions, but failed to pull the trigger and end the fight which irked White a little. But “The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil 4” cast member explains that too much was on the line and he didn’t want to get over-zealous and cost himself the fight.
“He said he thought I had him when he was kinda like dizzy, but you guys gotta understand I wasn’t fighting an easy fight,” Motta told reporters, including MMA Junkie, at the post-fight press conference. “That guy is 9-1, he was a former CFFC champion and he was in the top of the rankings, most of his finishes were via knockout. He’s a (expletive) tough dude, Irish guy from Philly, very tough, hard worker, like they say, blue collar.
“It’s like, many times you think you have the guy and if you go too much, you can get caught. That’s why I couldn’t go so hard and open the space to lose because it was the opportunity of my life, I couldn’t lose. But now, because I have a contract with the UFC, I can go to war.”