Ex-Bellator champ Yaroslav Amosov ready to go big after UFC 328

Ex-Bellator champ Yaroslav Amosov ready to go big after UFC 328

NEWARK, N.J. – Yaroslav Amosov met the media Saturday after his win over Joel Alvarez at UFC 328.

Amosov (30-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) submitted Alvarez (23-4 MMA, 8-3 UFC) with a slick arm-triangle choke in the second round of their welterweight fight to close out the prelims at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.

Amosov, a former Bellator champion, now is a quick 2-0 in the UFC after he arrived this past December for a submission of longtime divisional gatekeeper Neil Magny. The Ukrainian was unbeaten until he was upset by Jason Jackson at Bellator 301, the last event the company held. But his bounce-back has him wanting a quick rise in his new promotional home.

He also has realized in a hurry that being a Bellator champion was great – but it doesn't carry the same cache as being in the UFC.

"After my first fight (in the UFC) I felt this – I felt many people started following me," Amosov said at his post-fight news conference. "When you’re a UFC fighter, it’s a little bit different. I talked with many guys who maybe were champions in different organizations, and it doesn’t matter if you were a super champion or defended your belt a couple times. If you’re not a UFC fighter, people don’t respect you the same way. Of course, they respect you – but not like (if you were in the) UFC. You can talk with somebody and they can be a super champion, but people ask, 'Oh, this is not UFC?' … If you’re not a UFC fighter, it’s not the same for people. But if you are a UFC fighter, people react differently.

Maybe now somebody asks me in a shop or the mall, 'Are you a UFC fighter?' and I can say yes, I’m a UFC fighter, and people ask for pictures with me. It doesn’t matter who I am. Maybe I’m a UFC fighter with 10 losses and zero wins, but I’m a UFC fighter and people think that’s different. It’s not really different, but you have this title: 'UFC fighter.'"

Now Amosov wants the kind of name that will get him closer still to the type of conversation that could be had about him being a champion in a second major promotion.

"My first fight was (Magny), not from the top 15," he said. "Second guy, (Alvarez), also not from the top 15. But now I was ranked 14, and I hope I move a little bit up (after UFC 328). Maybe now my name is a little bit different."

At UFC 328, he got to see Sean Brady's dominant win over Joaquin Buckley a few fights after his, and he already had designs on the winner before he knew who it would be.

"I want to fight the guy who wins. I think that makes sense. I need something to talk about for a fight and I think this makes sense because it’s the same card, same day."