Alan Patrick Is Happy to Return to Brasilia at UFC Fight Night 95

Alan Patrick spoke with MMAjunkie about his fight with Stevie Ray at UFC Fight Night 95. Some highlights are below:

On fighting in Brasilia: “I am very happy to return to a place that’s part of me and my history. The biggest hardships I had in my life were in Brasilia. No opponent will give me the difficulties that place has given me. So I’m very happy to be back in a different situation. It will be memorable and very meaningful. They called me (and asked), ”Nuguette,” have you ever been to Nilson Nelson?’ Never. Never been in there. I lived in that city for 10 years, but I never set foot in there. Now I can step in there, in the biggest stage in the world, as a star of the show.”

On returning to the city he grew up in: “It’s very important to me, like closing a cycle. I won at life, and now I’m here to win again, and to show that nothing’s impossible. If you dream and work for it, nothing’s impossible. It would be perfect. Before, when I walked by, the car windows would go up. People would be startled. Women would hold on to their purses. Now, it will be the opposite. I’ll walk by, and people will open their purses, take off their phones, a bunch of flashes. It’s something very crazy that I never could’ve imagined.”

On Ray saying his easiest fights so far have been his UFC ones: “Maybe he caught some guys who have been with the promotion for a while, who’ve started to get a little complacent. I’m not. I’m hungry. I have a child to raise. I have bills to pay. I have all these family members waving, ‘Hi, I’m here.’ So I need to be productive. You can tell him he has a big problem ahead of him, one that really wants to win. The win in the UFC comes with a little extra (money). And everybody wants that. So I’m always looking for it. I want to get three stars. I’m not settling for just one.”

On his loss to Mairbek Taisumov: “To be honest, (the loss) wasn’t important; it was terrible. [laughs] But then you see that nothing lasts forever. I went over five years without the bitter taste of defeat, always working hard, always motivated. It’s no excuse, but there was a mistake in the refereeing – like what happened recently with (Fabricio) Werdum (at UFC 203). An athlete can’t ask for a break. If you ask for that, you automatically forfeit. If you look at it, I punched (Taisumov) in the eye, he took a step back, asked for a break, and told the referee I had poked his eye. How come? The ref is there to see exactly that. He’s the one who decides if it’s time to stop or restart. He went ahead of himself, had his medical break, had over five minutes in the corner, got some rest. He came back better on the second round because of that. But that’s in the past. On to the next one.”

On his motivation to fight: “My motivation is my family – my son, my wife, Luana. They’re what drives me. The things I never had, I’m motivated to give him. Now I take him to school, he’s wearing Nike Shox, Armani, a sideways cap, and I say, ‘Wow, that’s what I always wanted for myself. I didn’t have it, but now you do.’ That’s what motivates me to work and always come back. Regardless of results, I’m always looking to grow in my career, and this is my main fuel.”