After third finish in a row, UFC Fight Night 95's Vicente Luque looking forward to ranked competition

BRASILIA, Brazil – After adding a third finish to his current UFC streak, Vicente Luque said he is ready to take bigger steps.

Continuing his tradition of sparing judges the trouble, Luque (10-5-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) landed a perfect right hand on Hector Urbina’s (17-10-1 MMA, 1-2 UFC) jaw to end their welterweight scrap exactly one minute after it began.

And, while Luque might’ve not expected the affair to end so fast, the finish was always a part of the plan.

“No I wasn’t (surprised); I expected it,” Luque said following his victory. “Maybe not so early in the round, but I expected the knockout. I work so much on my striking. I started in muay Thai and eventually kickboxing.

“I’m known for my submissions, but my striking has always been my strong point and I showed it tonight.”

The welterweight bout was part of the preliminary card of Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 95 event at Nilson Nelson Gymnasium in the Brazilian capital of Brasilia. It streamed on UFC Fight Pass ahead of the rest of the card on FS1.

Adding the first knockout to his UFC record was the perfect way to end a bout Luque had long been asking for.

Though born in New Jersey – where his father still lives – Luque moved to Brasilia at age six. The Brazilian capital remains where he conducts most of his fight camp.

“Right when I finished my last fight, I said ‘I want to fight in Brasilia,'” Luque said. “‘I want to be on that card no matter what, give me a fight, I’m ready.’ And I am ready. I’m ready to keep going.”

Luque, however. is not about to go calling out any names in the stacked welterweight division, but said he does feel prepared to at least start his ascent in the rankings.

“I don’t call out people specifically – I’m ready to fight anybody,” Luque said. “I fight whoever wants to fight me, whoever the UFC wants me to fight. But I’m definitely looking forward to fighting a top-15 (opponent). I want to get inside that mix of the top-15 guys and grow after that and go for the belt eventually.”

Of Luque’s 10 professional triumphs to date, only one came via decision. And, after bouncing back from his sole UFC loss with the three-fight winning streak, Luque credits instincts for his approach to fighting.

“Every fight since my first fight I’ve always gone in there to finish,” Luque said. “I never thought ‘I’m going to take this guy down and try to hold him up.’ If I take the guy down, I try to elbow and cut him, try to look for a submission. And that’s just my style.

“Nobody taught me that, I was just born with it. I want to finish fights. And I think people like that, obviously, so that’s what I look for, always.”

And his finishing style, he believes, might just be the thing to make him stand out in one of the UFC’s most talent-filled divisions.

“Finishing fights is what people want to see,” Luque said. “I just move forward, and try to put pressure and try to win fights in great ways. I think that kind of separates me a little bit from some of the guys.

“Most of all, it’s winning. You’ve got to win to get to the top and that’s what I want to do.”

For more on Luque’s thoughts on his knockout win and UFC future, check out the video above.

And for complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 95, check out the UFC Events section of the site.