Youssef Zalal made quick work of Josh Emmett with an armbar submission at UFC 320 but before he celebrated his win or made a callout for his next fight, he first decided to use his time on the microphone to apologize for a past performance.
Prior to his win over Emmett in October, Zalal defeated veteran featherweight Calvin Kattar by unanimous decision in February but it definitely wasn’t his most impressive showing. In fact, Zalal faded late in the fight and while there was no doubt in his victory, he just didn’t make a great impression for somebody trying to get bigger and bigger opportunities in the UFC.
It turns out, owning that lackluster moment played a huge part in Zalal turning to UFC CEO Dana White and the matchmakers sitting cage side to address that fight just after submitting Emmett in less than two minutes.
“I’m still learning,” Zalal told MMA Fighting. “I’m still learning in this sport. In a way, I’m young but in a way I’m very vet in this game. You’re like the 20th person [to say] ‘You don’t need to do that,’ Youssef.’ That was kind of the thing. You can’t make everybody happy and stuff like that. It was just a moment for me, it was the biggest fight of my life, it was the biggest arena I’d ever been in. I think the most crowd I’ve ever been in.
“So for me, that’s what I felt in a way. Looking at it now, obviously, I don’t need to [apologize for my performance]. Even my team, my coaches and all that, [David] Onama was hyped, he was like ‘where are the boos at now?’ I was like it’s OK! I don’t need to get riled up! It’s all good. It is what it is. It’s a learning experience.”
While it’s not that uncommon for a fighter to detail how injuries, a bad weight cut or even personal problems have led to bad performances, Zalal didn’t want to fall back on excuses in response to a less than stellar third round against Kattar.
That played a part in Zalal’s decision to address the fight head on before turning his attention towards the future.
“I have no problem going out there and saying it,” Zalal said. “Because why not? Why do I need to hide anything? There’s nothing to hide.
“The third round, just everything hit me. The nerves, the top 10, oh my god this is a big moment, this and that. Use the experience during fight camp, you start feeling the pressure and all that. I learned so much from that. That’s not me in the third round. I took that Kattar fight and took it from that experience and go from there. It’s the best thing that ever happened to me and I’m glad that it happened on a win. That’s the most important thing. Again, same with this, I’m happy it’s happening with a win, not on a loss.”
Putting that Kattar fight behind him now, the win over Emmett has Zalal firmly cemented in the UFC’s top 10 rankings at featherweight and he’s anxious for his next assignment.
During his post-fight interview, Zalal called for a matchup against Lerone Murphy despite constant rumors that he’s potentially going to get the next title shot against reigning champion Alexander Volkanovski.
While Zalal is ultimately open to any higher ranked opponent, he’s still holding out hope for the Murphy fight considering the UFC hasn’t actually announced that he’s getting Volkanovski.
“Lerone fought, had the best performance of his lifetime [against Aaron Pico] and Volk posted ‘see you in December,’ they’ve got a fight, awesome,” Zalal said. “Then Diego [Lopes] goes in and beats Jean Silva, which is a big win. That changes everything. Then I saw an interview with [Volkanovski] in Perth saying ‘well, I don’t have an actual opponent yet.’ How is this not a done deal yet?
“I was like hey, I know Lerone is ready to fight, I’m ready to fight. We could fight in December if he doesn’t get a title shot. If he does, that’s a different story but if he doesn’t, I’d love to get that fight.”
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