LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Chris Gutierrez[/autotag] is not going to forget about [autotag]Javid Basharat[/autotag] that easily.
The two were supposed to fight this past Saturday in the co-main event of UFC on ESPN 61, but Basharat (14-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) suffered an injury and was forced to pull out from the fight just days away from its scheduled date. So instead, Gutierrez (21-5-2 MMA, 9-3-1 UFC) ended up fighting and defeating UFC newcomer Quang Le, who took the fight on short notice.
Now that the fight against Le is over, “El Guapo” wants to revisit the booking with Basharat.
“I have a jacked up foot right now, but I’d like to run it with Javid,” Gutierrez said at the UFC on ESPN 61 post-fight interview. “We were supposed to fight, and I know he got injured, so heal up quick, and let’s get back to running it.”
Gutierrez admits the last-minute change was not ideal, and it definitely threw him off a bit.
“I went through the motions of, ‘Damn, I was training for a completely different, specific fighter and then a completely different fighter steps up,'” Gutierrez said. “So yeah, you get nervous, but a part of you has to say, ‘This is who we are and this is what we do.’ I trust my training. I trust my coaches, and I trust what I’ve been training my mind and body to do. At some point you have to kind of turn your mind off and go off instincts.”
As far as the performance on Saturday, Gutierrez was happy to get his hand raised and get back in the win column, as he was coming off a loss to Song Yadong in December. However, he does think he could’ve been more clinical.
“I was looking for the definitive finish – knockout or submission,” Gutierrez said. “I didn’t get that done, but I still got the win, so I’d say a seven (out of 10).”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 61.