January 15, 2024 8:30 pm ET
LAS VEGAS – Marcus McGhee beat Gaston Bolanos with a second-round TKO Saturday on the preliminary card at UFC Fight Night 234 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Take a look inside the fight with McGhee, who won for the fifth straight time and got his third post-fight bonus in three UFC fights.
McGhee on the fight’s key moment
Marcus McGhee
“A lot of folks wanted me to just go out there and grapple him. Grappling is coming along a lot, and when I get ready to start showing it off it’ll be nice. But I am a striker and I believe I could outstrike the best strikers in the world. I really believe that. But I’m not the guy that’s out there boasting about it, like, ‘No one’s got anything on me. I’m just the best.’ But I do believe it. I have a lot of faith in myself. We put a lot of work in. I have some great coaches that I work with, and I’m constantly evolving, so it was great to go out there and do exactly what I wanted to do: outstrike the striker.”
McGhee on being the ‘Maniac’
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – JANUARY 13: (R-L) Marcus McGhee punches Gaston Bolanos of Peru in a bantamweight fight during the UFC Fight Night event at UFC APEX on January 13, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
“I believe that since I do hold myself to the standard that I hold myself outside of the cage and the way I appreciate and respect everything that I’m doing when it comes to stepping in that cage, I’m willing to let it go in there. That’s the time I’m not going to be nice. I feel for my opponents. I feel for everybody in there. But that is my 15 minutes to be as violent as I can be. That’s where ‘The Maniac’ kind of pops out, because you can’t take that out into the rest of the (world). I can’t raise my daughters like that, raise my son like that. I can’t build community like that and give back to people and show people how to treat people like that. I hold myself to that standard outside of the cage. But when that door closes inside of the cage and I look across at my opponent, it’s me and him.
McGhee on what he wants next
Marcus McGhee
“It’s not that I’m against it, but I don’t think I’m ready for (ranked fighters) yet, to be honest. I’m a man of his word and I think I have to do my work. I’m not trying to skip over anybody. There’s a lot of killers in this division, a lot of undefeated guys that you see out here that deserve that over me. I’m here to do my job, my work. I said it before I got in the UFC: I’m willing to do the work that it takes to get up to that, and I believe that I will achieve that that goal – but in due time … When I get there, I want to stay there.”
To hear more from McGhee, check out the video of the full post-fight interview above.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 234.
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