James Vick Is Hopeful For More Promotion After UFC 211 Win

James Vick spoke with MMAjunkie following his win over Marco Polo Reyes at UFC 211. Some highlights are below:

On the UFC promoting him: “I’ve been talking to a couple of people, and they’ve been telling me some things. So I’m optimistic that I’m going to get a good push and I’m going to get finally what I’ve been fighting for and deserve. I talked to the new PR lady and everything. We’re in good terms, and we’re making stuff work. They’ve been very respectful and very opening and listening. I’m actually flying out next weekend to the next fighters’ conference, so I should be setting some stuff up to talk to them then, and I’m optimistic.”

On his win: “It turned out perfect, because the main thing is I didn’t take any damage.”

On what’s next for him: “I said I want the winner of Kevin Lee and Michael Chiesa [at UFC Fight Night 122]. And assuming I feel healthy – I do feel healthy right now, you never know maybe after a couple of days, maybe I feel something coming up – (but) I feel healthy, and I’m going to keep my weight down, and if one of them get injured, I’ll jump in there, step in and fight one of them in a heartbeat. Next week, next month. If for some reason Kevin Lee or Chiesa don’t get injured or anything like that – I mean, I’m not wishing injury on anyone – but if they do get injured or something, I’ll gladly step in. If not, I’ll go ahead and chill for the summer and fight in the fall.”

On Chiesa and Lee having made headlines with their confrontation at a press conference: “It frustrates me because, to be honest with you – I can’t really talk about Chiesa because he beat me five years ago. He did beat me five years ago. But, at the same time, they have more losses in the UFC than I do. I’m 7-1, and they’re like 7-2 or something. They’re like 8-2. Their records aren’t much better than mine. And both of them only beat one ranked opponent. Kevin Lee just beat No. 12 ranked guy (Francisco Trinaldo, who’s since dropped out of the rankings). I believe that’s the first ranked guy that he’s beat. And these people keep acting like their careers are way ahead of mine and stuff, and it’s a joke.”