Ikram Aliskerov met the media Saturday after his win over JunYong Park at UFC 321.
Aliskerov (17-2 MMA, 4-1 UFC) outworked Park (19-7 MMA, 9-4 UFC) for a unanimous decision win on the prelims at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.
Aliskerov now has back-to-back wins after a first-round knockout loss to ex-middleweight champ Robert Whittaker in a main event in June 2024. The only other loss in his career came to Khamzat Chimaev, who won the title in August.
Aliskerov said going 15 minutes with Park showed him he has the cardio to do some big things in the middleweight division.
“I watched this guy’s old fights – pressure, very big cardio. But I beat him, and now I feel I have very good cardio and I can fight a long time. But I showed everything I can do. Khabib (Nurmagomedov) said after the first round I got a second wind. But I saw I was fast, I have good wrestling, and he could do nothing.
“We had a plan just to win the fight. We weren’t focusing on a knockout or finish because it was a specific opponent. Now everyone sees I have good wrestling and good jiu-jitsu, also. But more, I have very good striking, and I showed it this fight.”
Check out Aliskerov’s post-fight interview in the video below.
