Gokhan Saki (photo via GLORY)

By FCF Staff

Gokhan Saki largely made good on the hype that surrounded his UFC debut last weekend, but some have questioned the conditioning of the feared kickboxer.

Saki took on Henrique da Silva at UFC Fight Night 117 last Friday, which took place in Saitama, Japan. Early on, it looked like the vaunted striker was going to finish da Silva quickly, but the latter rebounded while Saki faded. Not long before the opening round concluded, however, Saki dropped da Silva with a left hook that prompted the ref’s intervention.

“The Rebel” was a guest on the latest “MMA Hour”, and while discussing the conditioning issues he incurred in the bout, Saki said this (quotes via MMA Fighting):

“My last fight with Glory was in 2014 with Tyrone Spong and then after that, one year later I had another fight, so in the last three and a half years I only fought one time,” Saki said.

“After my last fight – it was a kickboxing fight – I was always ready for three minutes. Now, it was five minutes. Like I said, I only started training this year in MMA conditioning and you cannot build it up in a couple of months.”

“After every fight you need to keep training to build up your muscle conditioning and your strength conditioning. If I had a kickboxing fight, maybe I would be tired because I didn’t train for this.”

Saki had competed once in MMA prior to UFC FN 117, as way back in 2004, he was defeated by James Zikic.