Wilson Reis: Why I lost control

Wilson Reis fought well at UFC on FOX 24 on Saturday night. Unfortunately, his opponent, UFC flyweight champ Demetrious Johnson, fights better than anyone in MMA. Maybe better than anyone in MMA ever.

After the loss, his first submission ever, he reflected on the fight with dignity.

At the end of the day, it was a huge opportunity for me, said Reis, as transcribed by Fernanda Prates and Ken Hathaway for MMAjunkie. I really want to thank Dana White, all the UFC, all the matchmakers for this opportunity and all the fans in Kansas City, all the fans in Brazil. They showed so much love. UFC Brazil. All the media, everybody, a lot of people gave me props. It’s tough to swallow. It’s a tough loss. But it is what it is. That’s not my first loss, and I have a lot of wins.

I’ve just got to take a couple of days off, get back to my coaches and get better for the next fight. But I’m just blessed to be in this position. The walkout to the main event was the most special moment of my life so far. It was an amazing night. Unfortunately I came out with the loss, but it is what it is. I’ll come back stronger the next fight.

Everything I expected, that’s what I saw tonight. He’s very game, very ready pretty much everywhere. I was pretty comfortable in the fight, I was little by little getting to my game plan. But he did really good in keeping the distance and keeping his hips and his head away from me.

I was trying to close the distance, but he did a good job keeping me away from him. All the props to him.

I come from Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and that [submission] hurts more than the knockout for me. It’s just – props to him. At the end of the day, I made a mistake, and he capitalized on it. I just have to move forward. Obviously, go back to the drawing board, watch my mistakes.

But he did a good job right before the armbar. The armbar wasn’t a surprise. It was very good. He was real fast doing it. But, before, he really hurt me a little bit on the elbows. That’s why I lost control of the fight.

He’s definitely the best fighter I ever fought. He’s the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world right now, and he deserves all that. He has a very well-rounded game. He looked pretty good everywhere. Not much I can say, so I can definitely say he’s the best guy I fought so far.

Amen.