Andre Fili sees nothing however incentives in his short-notice alternative towards Dan Ige.
Fili (23-10 MMA, 11-9 UFC) changed Lerone Murphy on about three weeks’ discover to tackle Ige (17-7 MMA, 9-6 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC Battle Evening 236 (ESPN+) co-main occasion on the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Fili is coming off a first-round TKO of Lucas Almeida this previous December at UFC 296 and is completely satisfied to kick off 2024 with a giant alternative towards high 15-ranked featherweight Ige.
“I’ve the utmost respect for him, and it wasn’t a combat I used to be searching,” Fili mentioned at Wednesday’s UFC Battle Evening 236 media day. “I wasn’t calling him out. They introduced the combat, and I took it. It’s time to receives a commission and it’s time to get a giant win.
“It’s time to get these huge alternatives rolling and preserve this momentum going. I’m extremely excited. It’s a fantastic opponent, it’s a fantastic card, it’s a fantastic every little thing, and I’m excited to be part of it.”
Fili, 33, nonetheless has aspirations of turning into UFC champion. He’ll look to string collectively a successful streak for the primary time since 2019.
“All these fights are an opportunity at growth, at progress, at testing your self, at difficult your self, at overcoming these challenges,” Fili mentioned. “That’s what excited me. Additionally, getting f*cking paid excited me. So operating up two checks back-to-back initially of the 12 months and nonetheless having time to combat two extra instances this 12 months, that actually excited me.
“It’s a fantastic matchup, however I’m simply so centered on myself it sort of doesn’t matter who it’s. My final combat, I used to be principally the primary combat on the cardboard, now I’m the co-main occasion. Who cares? A combat’s a combat, and I’m right here to win a bunch of cash, get a quantity subsequent to my identify, and most of all, simply make myself and the individuals round me proud.”
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