Francis Marshall says fight with Dennis Buzukja was ‘do or die’ situation

well congratulations how are you feeling after that win I'm feeling really good feeling you know happy uh glad I got that win um I mean nothing I I didn't expect I came in here I wouldn't have taking the fight if I didn't think I was going to win what did you expect from that fight cuz I you know everybody goes in with a game plan or an idea of how they'd like to see the fight go how did it actually go in there for you compared to what you thought it would um it was kind of like almost the total opposite of what I thought I was going to go in there wrestle work for submissions take him down a couple times each round uh ride him out but uh obviously the the first round I went in there I took him down I controlled them uh got my whatever four minutes and 45 seconds control time kind of warm out a little bit and then in the second and third round we came out we were just throwing hands letting the punches go and you know eating some shots but nothing really hurt me or or surprised me and I was able to drop him in the second I thought I was going to capitalize on that and be able to walk out with the finish I think I got a little bit overz us really quick um so in the future try to stay away from that but overall I think it was pretty good what did you think of your opponent overall I thought he was tough I mean he ate some some good shots I was surprised he was able to recover from that that drop in the second round so so quickly but um I mean I I was able to take him down in the first round and and that's kind of where I expected I didn't think he was going to be uh ready for my grappling on top and and I thought I was going to be able to overwhelm him and I knew my cardio wasn't going to be an issue for uh this fight and I knew that was was going to kind of throw him off me coming in on 4 days notice and uh I think he thought it was going to be almost like a walk in the park can you talk to me a little bit about that call you got you know when did you get it what were you doing did you hesitate taking the fight any of that uh so Saturday night it was like about 10:00 uh I got a text from my manager and uh you know he he told me about it and I was like without hesitation really I think within like 10 or 20 minutes we I said yes to the fight I mean this was a a matchup I think I was looking at for a while I thought I was going to maybe fight him after he beat Connor back in in March cuz that's a common opponent for both of us but um after I said yes we really didn't hear anything back until Tuesday I signed the contract on Tuesday flew out Tuesday night and uh got to work today is this the first time you've taken a fight that short of notice yeah yeah first time did you did you like that over maybe going six weeks you know training and thinking about somebody and thinking about a fight and maybe overthinking overtraining versus taking something on short notice uh yeah yeah I did like it I think it was it was pretty I guess not more fun but uh it was pretty cool you know just training hard with the guys and and everything and just you know staying in shape and I knew this opportunity was going to come I didn't know it was going to be this week but I kind of knew I was most likely in a short noed spot so whenever that popped up I was going to be ready uh so I think it mentally it's not wearing on you for eight weeks thinking about the fight but um I mean I think it is definitely better to game plan for a guy and be able to you know worked that for 8 to 10 weeks or however long so but overall it was a good experience first one and you know going into the fight coming off of losses was there extra pressure or was there a little bit of relief knowing hey I've done them them a favor you know maybe if I you lose this fight or don't perform well they'll give me another shot or was there was it kind of a Do or Die situation in there it it was definitely a Do or Die situation in there um but I had the confidence I I knew if I lost this fight uh my UFC career right now was probably going to be over so I was going to have to fight back to get back in here but um with that pressure I knew I kind of uh honed it in was able to come in here and perform you know I train with the the best guys in the world at an American top team so they got me confident enough they got me ready enough for when a short notice opportunity would present itself or when a fight would present itself that I'd be you know against anyone in my spot in the division that I'll be ready for and what's next for you when would you like to fight again do you have an opponent in mind no opponent in mind I mean I would love to fight again before the end of the year I know UFC is going to Tampa in uh December so that's something that would be super exciting super fun I think get back in an arena back in front of the crowd uh so hopefully we can see what's going on with that thank Youk you Francis uh how important was it to kind of maintain your composure after you knocked them down because we see a lot right like somebody will knock a fight their opponent down they recover and then it kind of like plays a little mental game for them uh I think it it was important to keep the composure not not try to like beat myself up to think like uh you know I should have finished him there and like I blow my load and and now I'm I'm going to lose the rest of the second round and the third round because you know I just wore out trying to finish him there so it's just you know drop him try to finish him I knew I wasn't getting the Finish once he tied me up and and his back was against the fence I didn't have enough enough room to work elbows or punches really and and he did good he recovered quick he was able to get back up to his feet and uh kind of get a reset so I think just keeping the composure is very important instead just trying to jump on him and and you know Sprint to finish and the fight was close at times but were you surprised that it was a split decision I was I was very surprised I thought uh I thought at least I won 29-28 I mean I I controlled the whole first round five minutes of it second round I I dropped him in the beginning but I guess some of the judges forgot that um they kind of just scored the last minute of it which none of his shots really rocked me or wobbled me or anything so uh yeah I was I was definitely surprised by that and is there any sort of small frustration with that like all right now I got to go back and kind of in a way see where the judges might have been because you know a little bit closer maybe it goes the other way and I'm sure you would have been shocked if that would happened yeah I mean I guess um not frustration cuz you know you see bad calls all the time every week you see you know bad judgment so that's just something that's out of my control that you know maybe next time I have to do better at winning the rest of that round if you know knock him down you don't finish do a better job of of closing it out so ultimately that's that's on me of not keeping the pressure and closing that round out that they would give it to him um but I just think I still won that round thank you thank you than you thank you