Tair Abdullaev: 'I simply had no right to lose in Azerbaijan'

"The fact that the fight took place in Azerbaijan played a huge role. I felt incredible concentration and a surge of strength because I simply had no right to lose in Azerbaijan."

As 1news.az correspondent reports, this was said by Azerbaijani fighter Tair Abdullaev, who became the winner of the first fight at the UFC Fight Night tournament held at the National Gymnastics Arena in Baku.

According to the fighter, he expected exactly such a fight: "I knew he would keep running because he could not stand in front of me and trade strikes. If he had decided to engage in an exchange, I would have finished him by the end of the first round."

Answering journalists' questions about the opponent constantly running away and trying to wear him out, T. Abdullaev replied:

"There was no special plan. My coach Ruslan and I knew that for most of the fight he would move and run away. We expected this and prepared accordingly."

Speaking about whom he would like to meet in the next fight, the fighter noted that he does not have a specific opponent in mind: "We do not choose opponents — we fight with whoever they put against us."

Recall that Tair Abdullaev defeated Brazilian fighter Rodrigo Nascimento.