Kevin Vallejos earned his biggest victory to date at UFC Vegas
114. | Getty/UFC
Kevin
Vallejos announced himself as a person of interest in the
featherweight division on Saturday night.
In his first headlining appearance, “El Chino” made short work of
veteran Josh Emmett,
dispatching his adversary with a barrage of strikes at the 3:33
mark of the opening stanza at
UFC Vegas 114 on Saturday night. Vallejos has won seven
straight professional outings — including four in the
UFC.
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While Vallejos declined to make a specific callout in the immediate
aftermath of his biggest win to date, he acknowledged that matchups
against the likes of Alexander
Volkanovski, Yair
Rodriguez, Brian
Ortega or Jean Silva
would be appealing during Saturday’s post-fight press
conference.
“Any of those four names are good. Obviously Volk being the
champion. I think a fight against Yair or Brian would be great. I
think those would be good fights,” Vallejos said.
Vallejos already has history with Silva. The Argentinian dropped a
unanimous decision to the Brazilian on
Dana White’s Contender Series in September 2023. Vallejos would
have to win three more fights — including a return date on the
Contender Series — before he earned a UFC deal. The rising star
says he is cheering Silva’s ascent in the featherweight
division.
“Everybody knows about the history with Jean Silva,”
Vallejos said. “It would be a great fight. I root for the guy. I
want him to get the title so I can have a rematch against him for
that belt. That’s what I would like. Of course, we’re here to
fight. We’re going to be crossing paths sooner or later. But if the
UFC wants me to face him before [then], that would be great.”
Vallejos admitted that he still has more work to do, which is part
of why he didn’t focus on making a callout.
“I wouldn’t say a name because I really want to improve, I want to
get better,” he said. “There are things that I want to work in
camp. Little by little I think I can give more than I even gave
tonight. I think I have much more to give and I want to make sure
that I’m prepared for that, so I will take on any challenges I’m
given.”
Building for the Future
Vallejos latest effort also earned him a $100,000 “Performance of
the Night” bonus. In a separate interview with the UFC, he revealed
his plans for that money.
“…I want to invest the money,” he said. “I want that money to grow,
but there’s one thing I want to do is build a gym in Mar del Plata,
Argentina.
“I want to do something, I want to get something that was never
done before, to actually have a full camp out there. I want to give
it a little grain of sand to this project, to having new
techniques, having new equipment, having new skills developed out
there and a little gift to Argentina so we can grow MMA down
there.”