Mairon Santos Doesn’t Want to Rush But Has Sights on Top of Division | UFC on ESPN 62

we just saw you a couple days ago at the media day you were happy loving life smiling I don't think much has changed well done sir thank you thank you yeah I'm still happy and smiling it feels great thank you I know you just talked to you know some some another Legend who um has done it been there you know as an example and that was awesome that you you tuned into that that The Ultimate Fighter winner can potentially One Day become a champion but on your path can this have gone any better than a first round knockout which was absolutely Brutal by the way yeah it was the second round butor um I I wasn't like I was visualizing that but at the same time when happened I was like this can't be real the way that it was like him like going face first I was like this can't be real that's why I kept punching him because I didn't believe it so right now I'm kind of I'm still thinking that's a dream but at the same time I'm trying to think okay this is it you are the ultimate fighter and one day you can be a champion so yeah that's what I'm thinking right now and yeah it's a dream come true awesome man and you're sorry about that I got the the round incorrect I apologize walk me through that opening because that was just a picture perfect shot I honestly thought he was already out but you did what you're supposed to you did your job until the referee pulls you but how did you see that punch were able to connect and then get those follow-up strikes so to be honest I wasn't like trying to set up the left hook I was just like I said in previous interviews I was I'm going to be me I'm going to just flow just just let my strikes go and let's see and I'm training a lot all these things so one of those things that I'm training could happen and the left hook came and I'm so happy when I hit him I didn't believe it first of all because I'm not used to knock people out like that and I didn't know that I have this power so that's why I kept punching him because it was Unreal to me when the referee came stopped the fight I was like bro this can't be real so yeah their game plan was being me not being the F in the fence and knock him out absolutely um awesome performance you got the Finish but was there anything that your opponent brought to at the table that surprised you you're like okay I got to make these adjustments talk to my corner give some instructions so the only thing that surprised me that it was that he was trying to strike for me longer than I expected I thought he would he would be like uh touch glove and go straight for a take down put me again the cage but he was trying to strike with me and that surprised me but yeah we saw what happened you're in Vegas hopefully you get to spend a couple days and enjoy and celebrate what's the celebration like what's the plans or what do you do I mean you accomplish one of your biggest goals how do you celebrate that in Las Vegas um to be honest I live here uh it's been 3 years that I'm living here and my celebration will be be with my wife be with my family my friends and I'm not going to go back to Brazil yet to celebrate but yeah I'm going to eat a lot 3 months without eating hamburger pizza it's bro so sad and now I'm going to eat so yeah my celebration will be like that just stay home uh call my mom enjoy the moments and go back to training that's awesome man now don't put on too much weight because you know people are going to want to see you real quick how soon do you want to get back in here maybe one before the year ends um yes I want to come back before December because my wife's pregnant and our baby is on the way to February so I want to do one more fight before that and yeah I'll try to not gain a lot of weight but today I'm already 170 without forcing it I was just hydrating eating good food and yeah I'm a heavy guy for feather weights but uh I have power so yeah that's it awesome well congrats on the win welcome to the UFC and good luck with everything with the baby thank you thank you congrats on the win Maron I know you just won The Ultimate Fighter but you obviously went out there said you're going to be future champion of the UFC so how quickly do you want to see yourself amongst the ranks of the top 15 in the world so like I said before I don't want to rush things when I have to be in the top 15 it will happen naturally I don't want to force it I know I have a long way to go so I I I just want to fight before the end of the year and then fight again fight again and yeah top 15 top 10 top five but without rushing anything and I know a lot of guys when they prepare for fights obviously they watch film of their opponent from afar but you're not only good to do that but you actually in the house with your opponent you were on the same team training with them so I guess how was that approach like compared to other fights you have prepared with for yeah it was some something new because we trained together so I knew that he was going to try to put me against the cage and do some take downs from like double under and things like that so I was prepared for that I didn't watch a lot of his fights because I did that in the past and like focus a lot on in my opponent didn't help me so my focus on this fight was just be you just try to be creative let everything go and knock him out so that was my focus I was training for that and I was able to do it obviously you're out here in Vegas extreme Couture one of the best gyms in the world you got coach Nick s work with a bunch of killers what's the biggest difference you've noticed in your game as a MMA fighter since you came over here to extreme Couture so for the first time I I know what it's like train like a professional in Brazil I was doing sparing Monday to Friday and Saturday and Sunday I was doing hard sping every day and here uh I know I learned how to train and I learn how to be professional so train at extreme with Coach Eric is great because uh every day is a lesson and I'm still learning how to be professional and yeah every time you see me in the cage you see a better version of me and I know you mentioned there your your weight but obviously given what happened on the show with your weight Cuts you see a future maybe where you go up to 55 and uh change your career to that point or you kind of try to want to stay at 145 for as long as you can so my goal is to stay at 45 um I know that I'm heavy but right now I will finally be able to like live like a professional MMA fighter like because I was for this fight I was working and training at the same time and it's not easy uh to keep the diet like that because you know you are you are not training full-time so it's hard and now I will have support I will be able to invest in my career more I will be able to learn about my body how to manage my weight so I think I'm going to stay at 45 forever but we never know maybe like I don't know 10 years I'm still young maybe I'll go up to 55 but my plan is stay 45 forever for sure and I'm not sure if you have a specific name you want for your debut or maybe just someone down the line there's a fight like a like a Dan oreta rematch I know you fought him on LFA a couple years back is that something you'd like to get back because I know he he goes up between 135 and 45 um no I I don't want to fight uh him again that was a lesson and it's a in the past uh I learned that I can't stay I can't fight at 35 is too much for me and 45 is already a lot for me so 35 No and then uh he taught me a lesson today like we are not like super close friends but we are friends uh sometimes we text each other I ask him uh how it's like to be the ultimate fighter because he was The Ultimate Fighter and he gave me good tips so yeah Dan's a great guy and I take my loss against him just like a lesson last one for me I think your performance might be deserving of a of a bonus tonight so I mean if you win the bonus what would you do if I win my bonus I'm going to save it because my wife's pregnant so I'm I have to save it for the baby and I'm going to yeah I'm going to just I don't know I never thought that far so yeah but my plan right now is to focus on my baby and my career and yeah let's see how do you think winning this The Ultimate Fighter will change your life I think like my Life Starts Now I think that's the moment like everything that I live right now has a point and now it's a different story so yeah my Life Starts Now and and finally I I will be able to train like I want I will be able to live like an athlete should live so yeah my Life Starts Now yeah that's it I was just wondering too um Dana wasn't here to present you guys the award was that disappointing at all that that he wasn't able to be here for the finale um no to be honest I didn't think about that but after this KO I know that he'll know who I am so yeah who are some of your training training Partners this Camp huh who are some of your training training Partners this Camp um well a lot of guys from extreme but Nicholas M he helped me a lot uh we were training like literally every day together and he was asking what does your opponent do that I can do the same things like that so he was my main partner for this gamp you kind of already said you know training at extreme Couture for the first time you feel like a professional athlete so having Nicholas and having all all your teammates really um you know boost you up and having a head coach like Eric nixi like do you see your future it's a bright future you would say yes yes I know that I have a bright future uh coach Eric he's great he has good Vision extreme culture we have like Killers champ Champions guys with a lot of fights a lot of experience so being part of this team working with Eric uh working with guys like Nicholas with fights in the UFC it's great and I know that working with them H will be a good future for me that's it thank you guys