Jesse Taylor Thinks He Redeemed Himself With The Ultimate Fighter 25 Win

In an interview with MMA Junkie, Jesse Taylor (31-15 MMA, 1-1 UFC) spoke about his Ultimate Fighter 25 win over Dhiego Lima in the finals. He picked up the victory with a second round submission. Here are highlights:

On what the victory means: “Maybe they’ll make a movie about it one day. It’s not about the money. Don’t get me wrong – it’s going to change my life and my kids’ life. But it wasn’t really about the money. It was about the story. About redemption. That’s what it was about. I just wanted to show my kids, to be a good role model. Like, ‘Hey, you mess up in life, but you fix it, and you keep going.’ A lot of people mess up in life. I think I relate with people in that sense. I’m a pretty regular guy. Nothing too special about me. I just keep going.”

On his journey back to the UFC: “Who knows? If I’d won back then, I might have been in and out and done with the UFC. And I just kept grinding, and kept plugging away, and fighting anyone, anywhere, anytime. And I think in the end, it got me a lot better. It made a better fighter and person.”

On his strategy in the fight: “Well, I did the strategy of taking a punch to the head,” Taylor said jokingly. “And he came on me, and I created a scramble. So I guess the punch in the head worked because he just jumped on me, and that’s kind of what I wanted. I knew I could out scramble him, from training with him on the show. And they say it’s an old trick, but I’m a rear-naked-choke artist. I think my jiu-jitsu is a little underestimated. I’ve been submitted a lot, but I think that’s life. I learned slowly but surely from my mistakes. I knew what it takes to win, and I trust in my jiu-jitsu.”