T. Leites (photo) lost to Bisping in Scotland. Photo: Josh Hedges/UFC
Thales leites made an in-depth analysis of his performance at UFC Scotland, last Saturday (18), and acknowledged having made mistakes that culminated in his defeat to Michael Bisping in the judges' decision.
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The Brazilian stated that his strategy was in fact to exchange with the English kickboxer, but he ended up realizing that some small flaws in his game prevented him from getting a knockout in the fight. “Bisping is used to fighting five rounds, he was smart, he played intelligently, he used time to his advantage. I knew the volume of play he would impose. I fought with my heart, forward, doing my best. My intention was to knock him out, so much so that when I hit him, I realized that he felt the blows, and so he stayed in the exchange. I thought he would fall at any moment, but unfortunately it didn't happen, it was close,” said the Brazilian fighter.
Leites also commented on what he should have done differently in the fight. “I made some mistakes, I should have used the clinch more to tire him out more. I will analyze with my technicians at Nova União what I can improve. I don't promise victory, because this is a sport that anyone can win. But what I can promise, always, is to fight with my heart and give my all to the fights,” he added.
With the result, Thales suffered his first defeat since returning to the UFC, interrupting a streak of five victories in the Octagon. Even so, the athlete hopes to fight again this year to end the season on a high note. “I want to have one more fight this year, to close 2015 on top. It's not an unusual effort to train and prepare for a fight, I like my job, I love what I do and even when I'm off, I usually train moderately. So I hope that by the end of the year I can have another fight scheduled, and I will be ready to resume the growing path towards the top of the category. This defeat won’t shake me, because I know there’s still a lot of good things in store for me”, he added.
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