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Thursday, Nov 27, 2014

UFC’s Dhiego Lima Weighs in on “Must Win” Victory Over Jorge Oliveira

Dhiego Lima (photo via UFC.com)

By Kelsey Mowatt

Dhiego Lima may have impressed during his run on the Nineteenth Season of “The Ultimate Fighter”, but the rising welterweight admits he felt a little uneasy, heading into his second, official UFC bout.

Lima took on Jorge Oliveira at UFC Fight Night 56 earlier this month, in what was his first fight, since he was stopped by Eddie Gordon in the TUF 19 Finals on July 6th. Although Lima scored three straight wins during the season to advance to the finale, officially, the 25 year-old’s UFC record stood at 0-1 as he approached his bout with Oliveira.

“For me, I felt like it was a must win,” Lima acknowledged on a recent episode of Full Contact Fighter Radio, when asked if he felt extra pressure as his November 8th fight approached. “Any time you lose two fights in a row in the UFC, it doesn’t look too good.”

“I felt great going in,” furthered Lima. “I didn’t feel any of that walking into the fight. When I started warming up I had one thing in mind and it was win. It really didn’t bother me. I felt so great. I was so well prepared. It didn’t bother me at all during the fight. Of course, coming in, I had it in the back of my mind, but it didn’t mess with my performance or anything like that. I just had it in my mind that I’m going to win this fight.”

Dhiego Lima (photo via Maximum Fighting Championship)

 

Win, is exactly what Lima did, as he worked his way to a unanimous decision win over Oliveira. Lima took a hard shot from Oliveira early on, but the welterweight recovered and went on to score a clear cut victory.

“He was man. He was really tough,” Lima said about Oliveira. “I was really happy with my performance, I was pretty much able to do anything I wanted with him. That one punch in the first round, it kind of hurt me a little bit, so I got a little hesitant afterwards, so I felt like I could have let my hands go a little bit more on the feet, more combos, but once you get hit like that you get hesitant, especially coming off a TKO loss.”

“That’s why I took it to the ground,” Lima added. “As soon as I grabbed him, I felt that I was much stronger than him, so I just kept the game plan. I’m like man, I’m going to take this guy down and control him on the ground. I wish I would have had the finish, but he was really tough.”

Oliveira’s toughness was furthered evidenced by the fact that he stepped up on short notice to replace the injured Pawel Pawlak. Not only that, but the noted striker moved up from lightweight to face Lima at 170.

“Yeah man that sucked,” said Lima, when asked about having to make the necessary adjustments the change in opponent required. “That really sucked. I was preparing for a tall guy who is good on the ground, more of a jiu-jitsu guy, and then we got switched to a short guy, which is like a kickboxing champion. So, it was a little mix up, but I was so ready, it didn’t matter who it was. I felt really good going in, had a great camp, and there was no way I wasn’t going to fight.”

UFC FN 56 was hosted by the Ginasio Municipal Tancredo Neves in Uberlandia, Brazil.

posted by FCF Staff @ 8:00 am
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