Jordan Mein: 'Knowing that I pushed my hardest' better than just winning at UFC on FOX 26

WINNIPEG – Going into the octagon on a three-fight skid can feel like a do-or-die situation for most fighters.

But it appears Jordan Mein (30-12 MMA, 4-4 UFC), who was facing just that as he walked into his UFC on FOX 26 bout with Erick Silva (19-9 MMA, 7-8 UFC), isn’t most fighters.

Sure, Mein said, getting his hand raised for the first time in more than three years felt great. And that’s certainly what the welterweight wished had happened in his past three outings.

But does it mean he felt added pressure to make it happen?

“No, I didn’t,” Mein said after the preliminary card bout, which streamed on UFC Fight Pass from Bell MTS Place in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. “Because I just hold it to myself. And I know I have to push it to myself, to know that I had a good fight. And I can sleep well at night knowing that I was a warrior, and that’s all that matters to me.

“What felt even better (than winning) was knowing that I pushed my hardest, and I left it all on the line in there. And gave it my all. That’s what feels the best. Whether I have my hand raised or not, it’s whether or not I’m going out there and fighting with all my heart.”

Whether it was his primary concern or not, fact is that Mein got the nod over Silva. And, as the 30-26, 30-27 and 30-27 scorecards show, it was quite dominant. The gameplan for the habitually aggressive Silva, Mein explained, was simple: causing him to react and flinch in the face of constant, top-to-bottom pressure.

“When they’re feeling like they’re missing, and they can’t touch you and then you’re hitting them – it messes with their head, messes with their mind,” Mein said. “And makes them second-guess coming in on you. That’s what I did.”

But, mostly, bouncing back after the consecutive losses to Thiago Alves, Emil Meek and Belal Muhammad took bringing back a key ingredient that he believes had been lacking.

“I just didn’t have as much aggression as I have in the past,” Mein said. “I made sure that wasn’t the case tonight. I put it all together with some aggression and got the job done.”

To hear more from Mein, check out the video above.

And for complete coverage of UFC on FOX 26, check out the UFC Events section of the site.