Pedro had family cheering him on in the stands inside Vivint Arena, noting that it was a “cool moment” to perform in front of them. Following the fight, he was able to sit back and enjoy the accomplishment, but then kept things moving forward for the next opponent.
“You can’t deny that you can’t hear „ooooh“ or the excitement when you get hit or when you hit someone,” Pedro said. “You try your best to try and lock in, but I feel like I don’t really appreciate how big of an event it is until afterwards, when you really notice all the crowd and appreciate it.”
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The 31-year-old was originally slated to face China’s Zhang Mingyang, but a late withdrawal left Pedro with a new opponent in Modestas Bukauskas, who had four fights in the UFC before going to Cage Warriors for two fights.
Even with a late opponent switch, Pedro still stays optimistic about the game plan. In fact, he embraces the little bit of unknown that comes with facing someone new.
“At this level, not much really changes; you can try and look at an opponent’s weaknesses,” Pedro said. “But you never know what version of themselves they’re going to bring in, so you still have to work out a lot inside the Octagon. The fundamentals stay the same. You can work on little things that you maybe saw in these fights, but most of it stays the same. I like that part of the game, being able to figure out the chess game inside there.”
