UFC 209 winner Iuri Alcantara's issue against Luke Sanders? He wasn't nervous enough

LAS VEGAS – Other than his opponent, the only person that didn’t seem particularly excited after Iuri Alcantara’s crazy comeback win at Saturday’s UFC 209 was Alcantara himself.

After surviving Luke Sanders’ (11-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) onslaught in the first round – illegal knee included – to find, bloodied and battered, the redeeming kneebar in the second, Alcantara (35-7 MMA, 9-4 UFC) explained why he simply wasn’t that happy with what took place in the octagon.

“I usually don’t fight well when I’m not nervous,” Alcantara said backstage in his native Portuguese. “I wasn’t nervous (Saturday), and this happened. I fought poorly. I’m a little upset with myself because I didn’t show what I trained for, I didn’t use what I trained for.

“But thankfully I came out with this submission, something that I’ve practiced for years. I’m a jiu-jitsu black belt and whenever I’m in danger, I’m going after my jiu-jitsu and going to try to submit, always.”

The bantamweight bout was part of the preliminary card of Saturday’s UFC 209 event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. It aired on FS1 following additional prelims on UFC Fight Pass and ahead of a main card on pay-per-view.

That Alcantara knows his way on the ground is not exactly news. In fact, he’d recently shown off his finishing skills with the mind-boggling sequence that led to Brad Pickett tapping out to a triangle choke at last October’s UFC 204.

His ability to withstand punishment, however, also stood out on Saturday. Well, at least for everyone else. For Alcantara, it seems, getting through some rocky – and bloody – patches was simply another day at the office.

“We go through these situations in training, and at the gym, so I’m a little bit used to feel that pressure, to feel the taste of blood,” Alcantara said. “So when we get into the cage, we can endure it.”

Now riding back-to-back wins for the first time since 2014, Alcantara used his mic time to ask for a spot at Rio’s UFC 212 against better ranked opposition. Alcantara also said coming into the scrap he had two names in mind, but felt his performance hadn’t earned him the right to any specific callouts.

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

And for complete coverage UFC 209, check out the UFC Events section of the site.