Anthony Birchak Talks About His Exit From the UFC

In an interview with MMA Junkie, Anthony Birchak (13-3) spoke about his exit from the UFC. He will fight Tatsuya Kawajiri (35-11-2) at Rizin FF 5: Sakura. The event happens tomorrow at the Yokohama Arena in Yokohama, Japan. Here are highlights:

On why he signed with Rizin: “You just feel that sense of want and appreciation of a true warrior and fighter. That’s really what made my decision to sign with a Japanese organization.”

On fighting Kawajiri: “I 100-percent respect his career and everything he’s done in MMA. He’s a tremendous fighter, but the respect only goes so far. I refer to him as a legend, and he’s a great fighter, but I’ve got to start drawing the line between him being a bad man and me being a very, very bad man.”

On if he’d go back to the UFC: “I would never say I would never go back. It just has to be on the correct terms. But I think there’s a lot of growing pains going on in the UFC. I’m not badmouthing them; I think everyone’s confused. I don’t really think the direction they’re going right now is the direction I want to go. I’m going to let the dust settle and the new ownership settle before ever going back or even thinking about going back.”