Yan Cabral wants to get back to his finishing ways at UFC Fight Night 40

Yan Cabral is a finisher, which is why his official UFC debut might have been a little bittersweet.

In October in his native Brazil, Cabral had to go to the judges for the first time. He got a unanimous decision win over David Mitchell to stay undefeated. But he’d never seen a third round, and he’d never faced someone whom he couldn’t either choke out or try to leave with their arms.

But now that he’s over the pressure of his first UFC fight, the 30-year-old Nova Uniao student is ready to return to tapping guys out. Cabral (11-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) wants that to start against Zak Cummings (16-3 MMA, 1-0 UFC) tonight at UFC Fight Night 40, which takes place at U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati. The Cabral-Cummings fight is part of the FOX Sports 2-broadcast preliminary card.

“When I’m well focused, it doesn’t matter who I face,” Cabral told MMAjunkie. “I’m going to do my job. I’ll be looking for yet another submission. I always try to finish my opponents before the final bell.”

Before he signed with the UFC to fight on Season 2 of “The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil,” Cabral was 10-0 with 10 submissions – six chokes and four armbars. On the show, Cabral was the second pick of coach Fabricio Werdum, and he won his first fight in the house – by submission, of course. But a broken hand shut him down for the rest of show, dashing his “TUF” dreams.

But despite that, the UFC saw his potential and brought him into the fold in the welterweight division, where he’ll try to keep making his name against Cummings.

“I watched three fights of his,” Cabral said. “I can tell from his fight record that he’s very tough, having faced many quality opponents. But I’m well trained.”

That training has taken place all over the world. Cabral lived in Spain for a time and also trained in France, where his Associacao Aranha training academy has locations. He also has schools in Asia and Abu Dhabi.

One day, he thinks he might even stop tapping guys and start shutting their lights out, instead. Maybe even tonight. He just won’t force it.

“My (first) KO victory will happen at the right time,” he said. “I’ve been training hard to make it happen. On the day of, I’ll be glad to show how much better my striking is, to both the fans and the UFC. I’m ready wherever the fight goes.”

A win on Saturday will have him making one change, though. After his win over Mitchell this past fall, Cabral was at an ATM machine to get money for coach Andre Pederneiras’ services. There, not far from Nova Uniao, he said he was robbed at gunpoint.

A suspect was apprehended, but not charged when Cabral was unsure it was the right man. Going forward, there won’t be anymore big withdrawals from cash machines for Cabral, who said he’ll do such transactions through bank transfers, instead.

But he likely won’t soon forget the feeling of being held up.

“At that moment, I simply felt powerless,” he said. “No one should struggle if they have a gun to their face. Money can be replaced by simply working more. But if the robber gets nervous, the gun can go off. Anytime there’s a gun involved, the best thing is just to hand over the money. We can always make more later.”

That’s what he’ll do tonight, and if things go the way he’s planning with a finish of one kind or another, there could be some extra bonus money in his future, as well.

For more on UFC Fight Night 40, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.