UFN 35’s Constantinos Philippou on ‘boring’ Carmont fight, split with Weidman

UFC middleweight Constantinos Philippou is headlining an event after a recent loss, so he hasn’t slipped too far down his division’s ladder.

“You keep winning, you have no problems,” a blunt Philippou told MMAjunkie Radio. “You lose, everyone has something to say.”

Despite a lackluster decision loss to fellow middleweight Francis Carmont at UFC 165, Philippou doesn’t hold on to the disappointment. He merely wants to erase it.

“I can’t have another boring fight like that,” the 34-year-old Cyprus native said. “I just want to get in and have an exciting fight so I can show everybody that that wasn’t me there last time.”

He doesn’t take many lessons from the Carmont loss, who snapped a five-fight winning streak that had Philippou entering title contention. He said it simply wasn’t his night and that he wasn’t able to stay on his feet, where he does his best work.

“It was a boring fight; he laid on top of me,” Philippou said. “My fault – not his fault. I wasn’t able to get him off of me.”

Still, he hopes his next opponent isn’t in the mood to wrestle when they face off.

“I want excitement,” Philippou said. “I’m going for (a) ‘Fight of the Night’ (bonus). No matter what the result will be. I want to win, but I want people to remember this fight.”

Philippou (12-3 MMA, 5-2 UFC) faces off with ex-Strikeforce champ Luke Rockhold (10-2 MMA, 0-1 UFC) in the main event of UFC Fight Night 35, which takes place Jan. 15 at Arena at Gwinnett Center in Duluth, Ga. The fight’s main card airs live on FOX Sports 1 following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass.

The bout promises to produce fireworks between the two strikers. Philippou, however, holds the edge in knockouts on paper, earning six to Rockhold’s two.

Although his recent fights have been standup affairs, Rockhold has six submission wins on his resume.

“Watching his fights, I see he likes to strike, and I’m hoping that will be his game plan,” Philippou said. “There’s no secret what I want to do.”

Philippou said he’s in a good place in his life after a move  from Queens, N.Y., to Long Island. While he left the gym of current UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman, he said the split wasn’t a negative one, or a move in advance of a possible fight.

“I just felt that I needed a change,” Philippou said. “I spoke to them and I explained to them how I felt. It wasn’t a training issue; it was personal issues that I had, and I needed to go to another place to find myself.”

Philippou purchased a house and said “life is good” as a UFC fighter working toward the title. Now, he just needs to fight his way back up that ladder.

“I know I’m ranked No. 10 and [Rockhold is] ranked No. 5 or 6, but everything changes every day,” Philippou said.

For the latest on UFC Fight Night 35, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.