Niko Price's plan? Didn't include looking 'like a squirrel holding nuts in my cheeks' at UFC Fight Night 104

HOUSTON – Niko Price picked up his second stoppage win in as many trips to the octagon at Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 104 event, but he was anything but satisfied with his performance.

“I’m actually upset with myself, man,” Price told MMAjunkie after the fight. “I could have done that without taking any of the damage I did, so I’m not happy.”

Price (10-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) and fellow welterweight Alex Morono (13-4 MMA, 2-1 UFC) stood toe-to-toe in the featured UFC Fight Pass-streamed fight of UFC Fight Night 104, which took place at Toyota Center in Houston. The bout preceded additional prelims and a main card on FS1.

Houston’s own Morono drew first blood after scoring with powerful strikes that sent Price to the mat twice in the opening round. “The Hybrid” admitted his opponent’s awkward style gave him fits.

“It was my timing,” Price said. “I couldn’t get it. I was there. I had my movement. I had all that. But right when I got in there, I just couldn’t catch his timing because he’s a very awkward fighter. He bounces like three steps before he takes a step in, and I was just like, ‘When the (expletive) is he going to actually come in?’

“Then I started actually getting cautious, sitting back, and I waited to try to counterstrike, and I didn’t even pursue my game plan, which was hit the angles, kick to the body, come back with hands. I was throwing one strike at a time. I don’t even want to go through what I should have done. I should have knocked him out in the first round without taking these,” added Price, pointing to the bruises swelling around his eyes.

Fortunately for Price, his tenacity carried him forward in the second round. The two continued to trade in the pocket, with both throwing strikes with bad intentions. Then, with the final seconds of the frame ticking off, Price unleashed a vicious barrage of punches, including a huge right hand at the bell that sent Morono slumping to the canvas to end the fight via knockout.

A second punch seemed to come just after the bell, but Price said it didn’t even land, and the work was already done, anyway.

“I clipped him with something, and then right when he came to the side, I just threw that uppercut, and that’s what knocked him out, not the one after,” Price said. “The one after, I didn’t even hit him. I missed his head. But I don’t know. I’m not happy tonight.”

Price now owns two UFC wins in a span of just five weeks, but he’s not happy with this one. It counts, and his career record remains unblemished, but his face certainly wasn’t, and that’s indicative of a problem, as far as he’s concerned.

“Sometimes I get stuck in brawl mode, and I just get hit, get hit, get hit and forget my whole game plan,” Price said. “I want to hit you back, and it goes against everything my coaches go with. The whole thing is to go in there and look the same when I come out, and as you can see, I don’t look the same. I look like a squirrel holding nuts in my cheeks. It’s as simple as that.”

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

And for complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 104, check out the UFC Events section of the site.