“It’s been a crazy ride so far; an absolutely f****** wild ride with lots of highs and lows,” laughed Vannata, who takes on Marcos Mariano on the preliminary portion of Saturday’s UFC 234 fight card. “I don’t think you can start on a bigger high than going at it with the No. 2 guy in the world and then next fight, getting the Knockout of the Year; that was a crazy, crazy high.
“Now I’m going on four fights in a row where it’s two losses and two draws and it’s like, ‘What the ****?’”
Vannata’s four-fight stretch without a victory might be the most entertaining and unconventional run of its kind in UFC history.
In each of his 2017 appearances — a loss to David Teymur and a draw with Bobby Green — he earned Fight of the Night honors, adding to his reputation as an action fighter. Last year, the pattern repeated itself as he fell short against Drakkar Klose and then went toe-to-toe with Matt Frevola in another thoroughly enjoyable scrap that ended in a tie.
“With the Bobby fight, during the fight, I thought I lost, so when they raised both our hands, I was like, ‘Alright; it’s better than a loss,’” admitted Vannata. “When I fought Matt, I was confident I won that fight, so when they said it was a draw, I was like, ‘Again? Are you f****** kidding me?’
“I take the good with the bad, take it all as it comes and, for the most part, I’ve enjoyed the ride so far,” he added. “I’m looking to get back into the win column and keep this thing going, but yeah, it has been a very weird UFC career so far.”
