Yanal Ashmouz UFC Vegas 97 Post Fight Interview

well congratulations I see you have some chocolate so you must be feeling good now of course is that the first thing you go for after a fight chocolate it's always it's it's not about the chocolate but always food after the fight 100% so how are you feeling after that performance I feel good actually uh well I didn't get the chance to finish him but after one year of not fighting the performance I put in my opinion it was good and you know just continue and that's it what was the reason for the the the layoff uh I wanted to come back earlier I tried to but I don't know what the what's the reason but it didn't happen so I don't know what what was the hold up but it is like I tried to fight earlier like maybe February even may but it didn't happen it just dragged all to September and I don't know why but doesn't matter so I fought now all good next step is that the longest layoff you've had in your career so far uh no I think I had another one the one I fought in pfl and then after one year I fought in UFC exactly one year like the same date 18 March 18 March 2022 2023 so um just talk to me a little bit about the fight did you anticipate it going the full rounds or or what did you expect in there well I tried to finish every fight uh I mean I tried to go for a knockout but if it doesn't happen you know of course it's going to go to like for three rounds so doesn't matter I mean I try to enjoy and have fun and win the fight you know it is what it is it's all good was there any pressure come having coming off a loss plus you have that long layoff was there nervous more extra nervous energy or anything like that no uh I don't care about that actually but you know you wonder like how you going to be in Octan after like you have experience you lay off you know you just kind lose a little bit of that I'm not afraid of that but yes you know you have like something where maybe it's going to go this way you know something's going to interfere but of overall like all good I don't care about that too much what about your opponent what did you think of him I knew he was aggressive you know he has good punches he has power and everything uh but we will like we prepared very well for him so I wasn't afraid or nervous whatever you know I knew what I was doing like we had a plan and it worked and that's it and now coming off that onee layoff how soon do you want to get back in there well maybe three or four months I can come back I want to because it's my career you know time is running out so I want to fight more and more so do you have any opponent in mind or a location you'd like to fight at or I'm not that type of guy whatever they give me I'm going to fight I don't care thank you congrats on the win solid performance we usually get some little jams or some great stories from Fighters when they're away so long what were you able to do in the in that time besides I don't know rest recover reflect go crazy whatever it is work that's what I did honestly like I just keep training and working and wait for my opportunity to fight and that's it nothing crazy I did I mean I was working in the sun all day for what were you doing exactly construction working construction building sorry and it's very hard it's not like USA USA is woodwork you can call it there it's like construction for real like all day in the sun just concrete Metals everything that's what I do every day like and trained too that's awesome man so you stayed in shape regardless getting ready how soon were you supposed to get back you mentioned you wanted you didn't want it to be a year when were you supposed to come back yeah so I like the last fight I had is was 22 um July it was right so you know recovery was 3 months and I got permission from the doctor to come back after three months so I just had another three months just you know to prepare and everything so I wanted to come back February but it didn't happen and I'm a Muslim also so I fast in Ramadan it was a March I'm not going to fight in Ramadan because you cannot train so after that I wanted to come back in May that didn't happen either so the time they gave me was September today yes sir well welcome back what were you proud us of tonight regardless of the layoff that means nothing now because you gave was a great outing what was what were you happiest with in the 15 minutes that you gave us uh well it looks like never nothing changed like I even progressed the way I see it even with the layoff I see like progress you know so like you said doesn't matter I see it or not if I'm still good and making progress that's all it matters you know ideally would you want to turn around and finish this year with one more fight or not just 2025 so now it's September right until December how much we have 3 months I mean I'm not going to say no if I have the chance why not you know more money more fights more experience everything so uh if we'll have the chance yeah why not excellent congrats on the win well done tonight sir welcome back thank you so much thank you so much