It’s probably not the most ideal of promotional debuts for Sean Soriano. After all, the call was only made when Hacran Dias, the original opponent for Tatsuya Kawajiri, had to withdraw from proceedings due to injury.
But the 24-year-old is planning to make the most out of this huge opportunity. Not many fighters will get guys with over 40 fights as opponents for their promotional debuts, however, that’s the scenario Soriano finds himself in right now, and he’s relishing the chance of cropping up a victory in the underdog’s spot.
Sean Soriano confident, unfazed by Tatsuya Kawajiri’s experience
“I’m honoured to be facing a guy like Kawajiri. He started fighting when I was in high school, and since I started my career, I’ve seen Kawajiri fight a couple of my teammates too,” Soriano told MMASucka.com. “Everybody is talking about experience – I’ve been training two years already with the Blackzilians and other big camps. I’ve been training with top guys my whole career so now I’m getting my chance to show my skills. I’m more worried about what I’m going to do him than what he’s going to do to me.”
The American’s record is unblemished – a perfect 8-0, with six stoppages. His fight style is thought to be slick too, with an all-round MMA game that compliments perfectly with his wrestling roots.
And while his opponent continues to flourish under the limelight due to the legacy he has set in the Japanese MMA scene, Soriano believes his competitiveness is something he’s hoping to give Kawajiri to ponder about on fight night. He has his sights set firmly on upsetting the odds against his Japanese counterpart, but the 24-year-old is already looking beyond Saturday’s fight yard where he hopes to accomplish big things in the UFC.
“I’m a competitive guy and I wrestled in college needing that competitive edge. I like fighting. I just wanted to do it and now I’m here in the UFC,” he said.
“I want the belt man. I’m not here just to be the mediocre fighter. I want the whole thing. I want the whole experience and I want that strap around my waist. I know it’s going to take time and I’m just going to take it fight by fight, starting on Saturday.”
Soriano trains out of the famed Blackzilians fight camp that’s home to numerous veterans and champions, most notably Vitor Belfort, Rashad Evans, Eddie Alvarez and Danilo Villefort among many others. And with Alvarez owning a victory over Kawajiri back in DREAM 5 in 2008, the 24-year-old admitted he had been seeking advice from the Bellator MMA vet in preparation for this tilt.
He also acknowledges that fans will be rooting against him in since he’s in Kawajiri’s back yard in Asia, but he promised he’ll still put on a show for the masses regardless.
“The training with the Blackzilians has been going great. Now that I’ve seen how my teammates have been fighting, hopefully I can keep the run going. We’ve been working a lot on my wrestling, cage work – he’s a strong guy and he likes to grapple a lot,” Soriano explained.” Just working on the basics man, getting advice from Alvarez too – you know, everything. I’m ready wherever the fight goes. Stand-up, ground, wherever.”
“I’m going to give fifteen minutes of everything I’ve got. I’m ready to put on a show. I didn’t come all the way to Singapore just to sit down. I’m here to fight and Kawajiri’s going to know he’s in a fight.”
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UFC Fight Night 34 takes place at the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre in Singapore. The event will only be available on the all-new “UFC Fight Pass” network, which will stream proceedings LIVE starting with prelims at 6 a.m. ET, and the main card at 9 a.m. ET.
Visit UFC.TV/FightPass to start your subscription today.
Here’s the full fight card:
MAIN CARD
- Tarec Saffiedine vs. Hyun Gyu Lim
- Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Sean Soriano
- Luiz Dutra Jr. vs. Kiichi Kunimoto
- Kyung Ho Kang vs. Shunichi Shimizu
PRELIMS
- Will Chope vs. Max Holloway
- Katsunori Kikuno vs. Quinn Mulhern
- David Galera vs. Royston Wee
- Tae Hyun Bang vs. Mairbek Taisumov
- Dustin Kimura vs. Jon delos Reyes
- Russell Doane vs. Leandro Issa
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