Bantamweight Brad Pickett admitted he fought away from his gameplan when he was halted by a vicious Thomas Almeida flying knee at UFC 189.
The Englishman grabbed two knockdowns in a thrilling first round but was later decked by Almeida’s virtuoso knee.
“I’m a little bit disappointed because I veered away from my gameplan and the whole idea was to take him down and beat him up on the ground,” said Pickett, 36.
“I’m a much better wrestler than him but I love to fight and I was doing so well on the feet that I thought I could knock him out. I thought, nothing’s going wrong so I’ll keep it standing and give the crowd what they want.
“He threw a knee out of nowhere and it caught me and that’s it. That’s the nature of the sport and that’s why it’s the most exciting sport in the world. Looking back I’m happy with my performance and I won that first round clearly.”
With that win Almeida moves to 19-0 with 15 knockouts, a statistic that shows unusual knockout power for the 135lbs weight class.
Pickett believes that the Chute Boxe man, with his diversity of striking and willingness to take punches, can go far in the bantamweight division.
“He’s a very intelligent fighter and a very clever striker. I remember ducking a spinning elbow and then during his next attempt he threw it from a different angle. He gets hit a lot but that’s what makes him an exciting fighter.
“He took some big shots from me and he could have crumbled but he took it and came back. He’s really tough.”
By Alistair Hendrie
