“He will try to finish me, I will try to finish him,” Salikhov said. “It’s not going to be three rounds. I will do everything to finish the fight.”
Before recording an impressive 18-2 professional mixed marital arts record, the “King of Kung Fu” was a dominant World Champion in Sanda, earning five gold medals between 2005 and 2015. Entering the UFC with that type of pedigree in one discipline typically forces opponents to avoid fighting you in that area.
UFC Long Island Main Event Preview
But Li isn’t one to scurry away from a challenge. Yet, he almost welcomes it. Smiling throughout most of his fights, even when taking damage, Li is a showman in the Octagon and can entice his opponents to enter battles with him and throw technique out the window. But come fight night, Salikhov will be the calmest man in the arena.
“I have not thought about this, but I think, yeah, he is going to do this stuff,” Salikhov said. “He will try to trick me maybe, make me little bit nervous, but I do not care about this. I am not nervous, I’m in good shape, I understand that I can beat him anywhere.
“I’m going to shine this fight. I’m going to do a lot of spinning stuff; it’s going to be beautiful.”
