Ryan Benoit Discusses His Close Split Decision Win at UFC 201

Ryan Benoit spoke backstage to reporters in a media scrum after his close split decision win at UFC 201 (via MMAjunkie). Benoit won a tough split decision over Fredy Serrano. Below are some highlights.

Benoit on his cardio for the fight: “This was the worst cardio I’ve ever had for a fight. But, I’ve got to say, this is the best mentally prepared I’ve ever been for a fight. I started training with some new guys, and we started going over some higher level ways of pursuing a fight. And it’s kind of put my mind in a zone it’s never been in. In spite of having no cardio, having that mindset, thinking about these things mentally and keeping going and reminding myself throughout the fight… It made a tremendous difference. My mind was telling me something different than my body was, for sure. When it’s short-notice like that, you only work on gameplan. That’s the only thing we worked on. There was nothing new to learn on eight days, or ten days. There was no cardio that was going to magically pop out of nowhere. It was purely tactical. I’m very proud of myself. We took on an Olympian and we did great with him, we tactically beat him.”

Benoit on hurting his shoulder during the fight: “I was trying to hit a couple of things and my shoulder just felt empty. I got back to the corner and I was like, ‘Dude, my shoulder’s out.’ And they’re kind of like, ‘Don’t think about it, just go.’ So my shoulder popped out somewhere in the second round (when he) picked me up and put me down. But it’s my mistake, I held on to the guillotine for too long. The rest of the second round, I was trying to bump on bottom, and I ended up kind of powering everything with my right side. When we stood back on the feet, I was thinking hard right hands, and I was trying to switch stances and trying to get creative. I let the legs go a little bit more, because my jab hand, I felt like my arm was completely missing and I was fighting with just one arm.”

Benoit on accidentally throwing a punch after the bell and having trouble hearing in his right ear: “I have trouble hearing out of my right ear. I’m half deaf on my right ear. It’s something that happened when I was a baby – I put a Q-tip through my ear when I was about six months old, so I ended up losing a bit of hearing. Plus, we were trying to be offensive the whole time. I know the time was starting to run short, and I saw that he was starting gassing and he was hurt toward the end of the round. I was thinking ‘Go, go, go, go.’ I thought I saw him running, so I went for another punch. My mistake. It wasn’t something I was planning on doing. I wasn’t intentionally throwing a cheap shot, it was something that kind of slipped.”