Isaac Dulgarian talks coming back from a loss, being biggest favorite in UFC history

yep Isaac what's up my man how you feeling I feel pretty good man pretty happy uh just happy to get a get a victory and you know be able to go home to my family now fight's been a couple minutes man how are you feeling physically I feel great man uh obviously got a little cut nothing crazy and uh you know I'm healthy so I feel good it was pure pure domination um what was the game plan was it just was exactly what you did take this take him down and just smash him uh yeah I mean I wanted to kind of take my time a little bit and show off my striking because I still haven't got to yet but you know um I feel like he was just an opponent that the UFC gave me and I just needed to get him out of there as quickly as possible so I kind of just uh found my Tak down and you know started putting damage and I realized there's no way he was getting up um he was trying but uh my grappling is another level he was saying he wrestle or he fought better D1 wrestlers than me I'm just he was lying blowing smoke out of his ass I'm one of the best wrestlers in the world matter of fact the UFC so um I think I prove that tonight to him I'm not sure if you saw during five week but the odds kept going and then you ended up being the biggest favorite in UFC history um was that ever in the back of your mind like I need to go out there and like smash this guy in the first round or like what if I you know like do I want to show off that I'm the biggest favor like was that like ever in your mind I mean those those thoughts come across your head sometimes you know um you know the fear of failure and the feel of you know being embarrassed or whatever but you know at the end of the day the people that make the odds they don't really know me or anything like that and you know it's a fight so anything can happen so you know I just really wanted to keep my mind clear and you know in that fight um in the middle of the second round right before I found the choke I just I thought of my daughter and uh I knew I needed to finish this fight you know so I can go home to her so that was that was literally it kind of just uh I'll alute me in my next question but how's Dad life it's amazing bro best thing that's ever happened to me um you know it keeps me keeps me grounded keeps me focused um and my daughter gets to come in the gym almost every day and watch me train and you know it's such a blessing for her to grow up around the people that are in the gym coach Mark Montoya coach Bizzy Yousef all my teammates you know she gets to grow up around those people and I hope that um anytime that I'm not there they're there to protect her as well I wanted to talk about your last fight man um obviously lost the fight but in many people's eyes you won that fight right so what were the emotions like after that fight you know losing The Undefeated record but knowing that you didn't like what was like how did you react to that yeah bro it's kind of awkward I'm not going to lie it's kind of awkward cuz you know um I come home and I I was told I lost but I didn't feel like I lost um it was just kind of like a weird thing that I never experienced you know I always thought that when I'd lose I just get get smoked out and the guy was would just be better than me and I think in my last fight I don't think that was the case I don't think he's better than me at all I think uh you know um there's maybe some foul play in that or something I don't know but you know uh he's a good fighter Christian's a great fighter so there's no hard feelings there I just I think everybody in the world if you watch that fight you know I won that fight fair and square how long did it take you to get over that fight about a week you know coach markk was telling me he's like you you won and um he everybody everybody that watched it knew I won media thought I won so um it was just uh and in my heart I thought I won so it was just um coming to terms with it and you know going home with half your paychecks never fun especially when it comes down to a couple people making a bad call now that you don't have that undefeated record like over your head like do you feel less pressure no man undefeated not undefeated it doesn't matter to me um you know like I said I just do this I don't I don't do this [ __ ] to be cool bro I don't do it for me I don't do it for anybody besides my family so um people can think what they think people can say what they say um I I just show up and try to do my job to the best of my ability and you know um I put my heart and my soul in this so that that's all I can really do and the the universe the gods whatever you want to call it will take care of the rest you finally got back to being a little bit more active you got got two fights this year are are you looking to squeeze one one more in this this year or are you looking to return early next year I think it's a possibility I think it just uh I think it just we'll be determined on who they give me what what names are being called out and um hopefully I can get a new contract too so that's my biggest thing is I want to get on my next contract so I can start actually making some decent money so that I can go out and and really invest in my training and and get a little bit extra um into that is there anybody in mind that that you would like to fight uh no not off the top of my head bro um I fight I'll fight anybody at 145 I was kind of considering going down to 135 um I think it's possible but like I said I got to get to my next contract so I can uh afford to get a really good nutritionist and stuff like that how in the how in the how in the hell can you make 135 I'm I I walk around pretty light bro I probably like normally like 160 bro like I don't cut weight to make 145 some of these 45s are huge huge they should be at 155 I don't know why people cut so much weight in this sport um I'm probably one of the smallest 45s in the division and one of the most feared so um yeah man I I think it's possible I just wish everybody would just fight their own damn weight and I wouldn't have to do that [ __ ] so new contract uh hopefully next fight out of the Apex or you you know yeah I hope this was my ticket out man I I dreamed since I was a little kid of fighting in front of a crowd and uh you know the Apex has been nothing but good to me uh there's a amazing people here amazing atmosphere but you know um when you're in the UFC you want to fight in front of the crowd and and get that full experience and uh that's just something I've dreamed of since I was a kid and I'm just excited to be able to do that and I heard they're closing the Apex down for a little bit so I'm hoping to uh hopefully get on a big card and finally that's one of your thoughts on the featherweight title fight that's coming up Max Holloway versus Elia what your thoughts on that fight man I think that's a super exciting fight bro I don't really know who's going to win it's hard to tell um I grew up watching Max he's so good and Ilie is amazing too my teammate Yousef fought him uh you see over there he's he's one of uh il's worst nightmares nowadays um so you know I think Max will win but I don't really care I don't really know I I'm just excited to watch it bro I'm so excited to see see what goes down congrats and enjoy your win thank you so much congrats on the wi man awesome performance just to touch back on what you were talking about what Alex with kind of we'll say weight bullying why do you think it's such a popular thing because guys will guys and girls will just kill themselves deplete it just ruin their bodies to have that Advantage but obviously it's not something that you can use for a long-term career if you fought like people are supposed to be near their weight class you could for sure look at Frankie Edgar he went from 55 to 45 to 35 was like in Reverse you know man I think a lot of people are just scared to fight people their size I think that's what it comes down to um in fighting there's I mean there's people trying to find ways to cheat every every chance they get you know and my biggest thing is the reason I don't cut a lot of weight is cuz I'm not scared you know I feel I feel fear but I'm not scared to fight someone just because they're bigger than me smaller than me I've been in fights with guys 200 lb in the street you know so uh I just don't I just don't know why everyone does it I understand cutting a few pounds here and there you know get to that next weight class but some of these guys you see them come in they look like zombies bro they they need to go up weight class it's just it's getting ridiculous yeah for sure man and thanks for putting it out there just being you know one of those guys about that life like catch that fake with anybody give me the smoke I don't care why is there so much emphasis on on staying undefeated is that like a branding thing is that like a technique guys don't want to protect that always what's going on with that I think people just want to keep their job man uh you you know you lose two fights you can be gone back to the regional scene making no money uh whatever so I think a lot of people just want to keep their job so do whatever it takes to win um whether that means cutting a lot of weight trying to cheat whatever it is um you see it happen all the time so right on my man and you touched on something super important uh even one of our Fighters today who came talking to a Jacqueline me mentioned that that loss in your career was like the best thing that could have happened you accepted the law moved forward but how was the support or or was it any kind of surprises like man people really came out to to let me know it's going to be okay oh bro I had so many damn messages like ridiculous amounts of messages 3,000 Plus messages people just like it bro it took me I sh you not probably until like two weeks ago to get through all my messages from last fight because so many people reached out all my Armenian fans so many people from Kansas City so many people all across the world reached out and we're like hey man I think you won that fight um you know just keep pushing keep don't give up on yourself you know we still believe in you um and all that so that's just a good feeling to know so many people watched it and you know regardless when or they they saw what I'm capable of and that's all I really want is people to see what I'm capable of and you know respect that that's super dope man and congrats on that support that's lovely yeah yeah um last for me walk me through that finish that second round I don't know why he did what he did you were going to get him to the Met regardless but just you just went to work and it looked like you know day one stuff right there yeah bro uh second round started I knew he was going to try to KNE me in the face he thought I was going to shoot and you know I kind of welcome that with open arms I know that's what people are going to try to do and uh he threw a knee at it didn't I didn't feel nothing bro I just heard the crowd go o and then next thing you know I had him up in the air I was like okay I'm going to take you for a ride and kind of just gave him a little toss got on top and continued to do my thing um I think he was really just focused on defending himself and trying to survive he wanted to go to the third and try to gas me wear me out and um I kind of noticed that early and so that's why I slowed the pace down in the second and just kind of uh held my top position stayed busy enough that we didn't get stood up and I knew eventually he wouldd make a mistake and I'd be able to capitalize on it awesome stuff Perfection congrats on the win my man yes sir thank you I've just got one for you um they say that after you you lose you you don't lose you learn but when you have a loss where you feel like you didn't really lose how do you learn what was your lesson man I just I learned that you know I have to be patient and calm and I can't go out there at the highest level and just and just empty the tank right away um so I I think I did a good job of this this fight you know um I still pushed a high Pace that's what I always want to do I always want to go out and and push as hard as I can but there's times to slow it down a little bit and that's what I did tonight um that and then just uh confidence thing I know I can go three rounds now I've went through it I went through being tired in the third round in a place where everybody would have quit most people would have quit in the third round in my last fight and I was exhausted I couldn't pick my arms up I came to the back I couldn't close my hands there I was just I was I was dying and um now I know I can do that there's no question in my mind I can do that for three rounds and um not feel like that and even when I am in a bad position I can still persevere and come out on top one last question yes sir I I see you got some stitches on going on uh they told me you're uh afraid more of needles than fighting yes sir that's fact what's up with that bro so I am uh petrified at needles most people don't know it I got all these tattoos um yeah they had to stitch me up in the back a little bit and I was uh I was kind of panicked more than I'm not going to lie I was kind of I was kind of freaking out I had to have my buddy yussi hold my hand well I got some stitches and uh yeah I've never I've never been a fan of needles man they just freak me out more than fighting more than anything else I'm [ __ ] petrified at needles so when you get your pre-fight Medicals and they have to take your blood is that the same oh yeah the very first time I did that as a professional actually uh I had to have one of my teammates come hold my hand and I about passed out in the chair so yeah it's not it's not my favorite thing in the world to go do um I'm pretty tough everywhere else but when you try to stick me with some needles I'm uh I'm probably the biggest baby you've ever met okay thank you thank you guys I did the exact same