Cariaso (photo via UFC.com)

By FCF Staff

Chris Cariaso was confident he’d end the reign of flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson last September, but as his bout with Henry Cejudo approaches, the veteran admits he may not have been mentally prepared for the title fight.

Cariaso was tapped to fight Johnson at UFC 178, after recording three straight wins, but the noted striker was submitted by the champion in the second round. Recently Cariaso spoke to UFC.com about his UFC 185 bout with Cejudo, and while discussing his title shot loss, the 33 year-old stated:

“It was definitely an experience, that’s for sure,” Cariaso said. “It was something that didn’t even compare to my other fights. It was a huge thing and I think I kinda cracked under the pressure of that big event. It was a total whirlwind and, honestly, I think it almost took the fun out of it. I think I’ll be able to enjoy it when I do it again, because I’ll have a whole new respect for it. But being thrown in there for the first time, it was a whirlwind and pretty hard to handle.”

In Cejudo, Cariaso will take on one of the promotion’s top prospects, as the flyweight is a former Olympic Gold Medalist wrestler, who has gone 7-0 in MMA thus far. In the aforementioned interview, Cariaso credited Cejudo for being a “good athlete, but I’m a great athlete myself.”

UFC 185 will be hosted by the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.