Julian Erosa couldn’t have thought of a better way to end his MMA career than he did at UFC Vegas 123.
Erosa was set for his retirement fight on Saturday when he took on Jeong Yeong Lee. The fan favorite ended his career with a first-round TKO win, which Erosa was thrilled about.
“If you had told me I was guaranteed a win, but it’s boring, I probably would’ve taken it,” Erosa said on Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com. “You want to go out with a win. But for me, it is so much more satisfying to win a fight like that and make it my last fight. I don’t think it could have gone any better. I like to have fights with some adversity, so I couldn’t have scripted it any better.”
Although Erosa got the win, he did nearly get knocked out just seconds into the bout. After the two touched gloves, Lee immediately threw a left hook, which surprised Erosa. He does think it’s on the fence of a cheap shot. But the blame falls on Erosa for not defending himself.
“I had no idea; I just touched gloves, and then we were going for it,” Erosa said. “I didn’t think about it until after the fight, when my corner told me he kind of cheap-shot me. It was kind of cheap. I had to watch the fight back; you do have to protect yourself at all times. He seemed jittery; I just didn’t think he would do that.
‘Have to protect myself’
“I have to protect myself at all times, so it’s my own fault. … He hit me with a left hook, and I was kind of leaning that way; it wasn’t a knockout connection, but it definitely wobbled me. It hurt, but not severely. … Out of 45 professional fights and 10 amateur fights, I think only twice did I hit someone with a right hand and they dropped. I knew it was over.”
Ultimately, Julian Erosa got the stoppage win, so it doesn’t matter. He’s also pleased with everything he did in his career and knows this retirement is for real.
“Right now, I’m on the high of the win, but after some weeks go by, I will be content with how everything turned out. … I have just done everything; I did Contender, Ultimate Fighter, in the UFC, in and out for 10 years. It’s been a long journey for me; there is a possibility I can win more fights, but I’ve proven myself. To go out on something like that means more than making some more money,” Erosa said.
Erosa now plans to move back to his home state of Washington and help run his family business. He also plans to pick up snowboarding and running in his free time, now that he won’t be training all the time.
This article appeared first on BJPENN.COM
