“I felt so much pressure.”
Punahele Soriano (@puna185)
contemplated retirement before making his welterweight debut,
getting his first win since July 2022 and feels like he has new
life in a new division.#UFCLouisville
Results, Interviews & More ➡️: https://t.co/gAKitEJGRT— UFC News (@UFCNews)
June 9, 2024
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Punahele
Soriano had a lot on his mind going into his UFC
on ESPN 57 clash against Miguel
Baeza on Saturday.
Coming off consecutive stoppage losses and 1-4 in his last five
bouts overall, Soriano was admittedly feeling the pressure ahead of
his welterweight debut. However, “Story Time” grew confident as he
entered fight week, which translated quite well into his
performance at UFC Louisville. Soriano bounced back in a strong
manner, barely falling short of getting the finish in a dominant
unanimous decision win over Baeza. The Hawaiian also set records
for the most significant ground strikes landed in a single UFC
fight (136), the highest total strike differential in a three-round
UFC fight (+309) and the largest significant strike differential
(+137) in a single UFC bout at welterweight.
“It’s crazy. The whole camp, I felt so much pressure. Just every
day contemplating whether I could still do this, whether if this is
for me, if I can deal with it,” Soriano said in a backstage
interview with the UFC. “And fight week, for whatever reason, I was
ultimately confident, supremely confident, no added pressure and I
believed in myself… I thought I was Khabib. I thought I had a big
afro on my head. I wasn’t sure if I was gonna come out speaking
Dagestan or whatever they speak. I wasn’t sure who I was
anymore.”
Soriano was also contemplating retirement going into UFC Louisville
and credits Micah Schnurstein, the mental health coach at the UFC
Performance Institute, for helping him battle those thoughts.
“I have said this a few times, but I was contemplating retirement
on the backstage and thanks to my man Micah at the PI, I just let
go of that balloon and tried to focus onto something I cared
about,” Soriano said. “I was thinking about my wife, my dogs,
anything that I love, ultimately reminding myself that I love this
sport and love what I do.”