“I have respect for Tybura because he is a very good warrior. But when the cage door is closed, I have to do everything to win, and he has to be ready for that.”
“It’s just my next fight to get closer to the Top 10. I think on Saturday I’ll show that I’m ready to compete with [those] guys.”
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Without looking past his current opponent, Romanov eyes future matchups with Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Tai Tuivasa. For someone who, after just five fights in his UFC career, is confident he can compete with the toughest guys in the division, you might think there’s arrogance to go from pair with that. However, “King Kong” is quite humble in his preparation, respecting his opponents throughout the fight preparation.
Referring to himself as a lazy dinosaur on UFC 278 Embedded: Episode 2, it can be misleading that someone could be so dominant and have such belief that they could be one of the best fighters in the world. But that confidence stems from how hard he works in training to get the results he knows he deserves.
“Outside the Octagon, when we’re face to face, I stay calm, I smile, but in the Octagon they sense it’s another person,” Romanov said. “In the Octagon, I come to win and I’m ready to do anything for it.”
