Coming off a loss in his previous bout, featherweight Andre Fili was pleased with his unanimous decision victory over Artem Lobov at UFC Fight Night 118 on Saturday, even if he wasn’t fully satisfied with his performance in the bout.
“I am happy with the win,” Fili told MMAWeekly.com. “There are things I would have liked to have improved on my performance. We’ll go back to the gym and improve my skills for the next fight.
“I would have liked to have gotten the finish, but (Lobov is) very tough. He’s got a good chin and was able to bounce back.”
Fili feels that traveling all the way to Gdansk, Poland, from California could have played a part in his inability to finish the fight.
“I had a really hard travel time to get to the fight, and the time difference is about nine hours, so I had trouble adjusting to that and I definitely felt that in the third round,” said Fili. “You can try to plan ahead (for the travel), but there’s only so much you can do. You kind of have to roll with the punches.
“There’s always going to be things you don’t like about the fight, but I’m happy with the win.”
While Fili is not opposed to fighting again before the end of 2017, he’s more eyeing a return to the Octagon a few weeks into the New Year.
“I would like to fight at the very beginning of 2018, maybe in February,” Fili said. “I’m open to fight before the end of the year as long as it’s close to home, but I would like to fight again at the beginning of February.
“I’m focusing on my mentality and found a love again for fighting. I think that contributed to the success of this (Lobov) fight and will help with racking these wins up.”
