PHOENIX – Light heavyweight Joachim Christensen said he was “surprised” his hands were slow against Bojan Mihajlovic at UFC Fight Night 103.
And yet, he told MMAjunkie backstage, “I knew that was a problem for me at the boxing academy.”
Slow or not, Christensen (14-4 MMA, 1-1 UFC) still did one of the best things a striker can do in a fight, which is avoid big punches. Mihajlovic (10-5 MMA, 0-2 UFC) winged some big ones at him in their FS1-televised prelim this past Sunday at Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, and he managed to mostly get out of the way.
“I knew that Bojan was coming forward with his overhand, and if that connected, I’d be looking up against the ceiling,” he said. “So I had to take my time, even though my corner was saying to pop that jab.”
Eventually, Christensen found his rhythm and managed to set up an uppercut that floored Mihajlovic for a third-round TKO, his first win in the octagon after a debut loss this past October against Luis Henrique da Silva.
In that performance Christensen landed a big knee, but couldn’t seal the deal. So, improvement.
“I was a little bit disappointed about my boxing, but hey, it’s small gloves,” he said. “So if you get caught, you’re out. Sometimes, it doesn’t go the way you want. So it’s back to training to get even better.”
For more from Christensen after his win over Mihajlovic, check out the video above.
And for complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 103, check out the UFC Events section of the site.
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