Modestas Bukauskas (16-6 MMA, 4-4 UFC) made good on his first time fighting in his home country in the UFC, submitting Marcin Prachnio with an arm triangle choke in the third round of their UFC 304 light heavyweight contest last Saturday.
The night featured a lot of firsts for “The Baltic Gladiator”: his first UFC takedowns, his first UFC submission, and, of course, his first UFC appearance in the United Kingdom.
Bukauskas had fought his previous four UFC fights in enemy territory: Khalil Rountree Jr. and Zac Pauga in the United States at the Apex; Tyson Pedro in Perth, Western Australia; and Vitor Petrino in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
So Bukauskas said it felt “spectacular” to be the hometown favorite for the first time in his UFC career when he fought at the Co-op Live in Manchester. Bukauskas was born in Lithuania but moved to London years ago.
“I can’t even put into words how amazing it felt to fight at home in front of a hometown crowd,” Bukauskas told MMASucka. “I think a big factor for me to connect with the crowd was to bring the British flag along with me to weigh-ins to highlight the fact I’ve been living here for a very long time. Although I’m Lithuanian born, I say all the time, bred in Britain. I’m from London. Even when I talked on the mic, I think people could hear where I’ve resided most of my life. To go out in front of where people are cheering for you, to go out in an arena where you feel like you’re home. Just outside the hotel and people are asking for photographs. Connecting with people. Just being in Manchester.”
Bukauskas said he had a very “tight-knit, group of amazing people” with him during fight week. His friends would get him anything he needed easily thanks to the familiar nature of Manchester, compared to the foreign lands Bukauskas had been fighting in over his last several UFC appearances.
“I really do like Manchester, it’s a great city,” he said. “I got home and it felt easy. You’re not in an unknown territory or an unknown land. It’s not like literal fog over the land and you can’t see anything. Here, I was very well aware of where I was and where everything was. It was great. It was definitely summed up and visualized since I got signed to the UFC, even the first time. So for it to finally happen shows that dreams do come true.”
Bukauskas had fought in the United Kingdom on the regional circuit several times before, but his first UFC appearance on home soil “hit completely different,” he said. He noted he got to fight in a brand new, massive arena. He said there were a lot of people in the crowd, even if it wasn’t yet packed out fully because his fight was on the early prelims portion of the pay-per-view card.
“Mate, fighting in a massive arena with loads of people screaming, a big cage. It’s what dreams are made of. I’d been so used to fighting at the Indigo. I went to watch the Cage Warriors show in London. Although the atmosphere was great, there’s nothing like being in the arena at the Co-op with everyone screaming. It was something completely different. It was crazy.”
Bukauskas said he has “mixed feelings” about his win over Prachnio.
“There are things I did good and there are things I didn’t do good. At the same time, I put on an entertaining fight for the fans, which was well-received. That means a lot to me; to make sure I put on entertaining fights and I was able to do that. Obviously, I feel good about that.”
Bukauskas and Prachnio each landed big shots during the fight.
Bukauskas said he had drilled wrestling a lot in his training in the lead up to the Prachnio fight, but the message from his coaches was, “If you see it, take it, but don’t force it.”
“They said, ‘Don’t force it, because if you’re winning the stand-up, what’s actually the point of going for the takedown when you don’t need to?’” Bukauskas said. “They just said to feel it as it comes. Obviously, in the fight, I just felt it. With it was presented to me, I just took it. Training with bigger guys helps to make those parts a lot easier.”
Bukauskas mounted Prachnio a couple of minutes into the third. Former UFC champions turned color commentators Daniel Cormier and Michael Bisping could be heard on ESPN commentary saying Bukauskas needed to switch to the other side of Prachnio to complete an arm triangle choke – seconds before Prachnio tapped. Bukauskas said it was “a little of both” his strength and technique that forced the tap, as he felt he had “a really good bite” on the attempt.
“Not only that, one of my coaches, Sebastian [Heil], he said, ‘Modestas, you don’t need to step to the other side.’ Not only could I hear Marcin gurgling, but so could he,” Bukauskas said, noting he could hear his corner during the submission attempt. “He said, ‘Modestas, if you don’t want to step over to the other side, you don’t have to. I think you’ve got it.’ That’s why I kept squeezing at that point, because as you saw, my foot was in position, ready to go. I was ready to step over. We didn’t want to create any scrambles if it was tight and it was in that position, I was good. Technically, you’re right. Textbook-wise, that would’ve been the correct thing to do. But at the time, judging by the situation, we figured, ‘You know what? We don’t need to step over to the other side because it was already tight.'”
Bukauskas said he knew his shoulder was on Prachnio’s throat. While it was Bukauskas’s first career arm triangle choke – his other two professional submissions came via rear naked choke – he gets the arm triangle “quite a lot” in training.
“Not necessarily from that particular position [Prachnio was in]. I was in position to be able to jump over to the other side if I needed to, but it was already very tight. I think Marcin at that point got overwhelmed on the floor, even though he did an amazing job with the stand-up. I think he got overwhelmed on the floor already, and I didn’t need to go over to the other side.”
Bukauskas said he called out Ovince St. Preux for a showdown this fall before he knew “OSP” was already booked to fight Ryan Spann in September.
“It would be great to fight a legend of the sport,” Bukauskas said of St. Preux. “He’s fought all the top guys in the sport, so I want to test myself against him. He also had a very good win against Kennedy Nzechukwu. I guess Kennedy Nzechukwu would be an interesting fight. Dominick Reyes is another interesting fight; very dangerous. There are a couple of guys in the division. I’ll take it fight by fight, bit by bit. Ultimately, we’re just trying to get toward the top. Whatever route that is, I’ll take it.”
Bukauskas said he hopes to fight by the end of October depending on how he recovers following his win over Prachnio.
“I’ll get back into training next week and see what my coaches say and how I feel.”
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