Swanson had a lot riding on his bout with Brian Ortega this past weekend in UFC Fresno. It was the last fight on his contract, and a win would have left him much closer to an elusive title shot. Instead, Ortega managed to finish him with a brutal guillotine choke in the second round.
While speaking to reporters at the event’s post-fight press conference, Swanson said Ortega’s finishing ability is pretty scary.
“I felt like I was going to die,” Swanson said at the post-fight news conference(Via MMA Fighting).
Swanson entered the headliner on a four-fight winning streak at 145 pounds and was looking to earn a title shot. Swanson said he was landing big body shots, big leg kicks. Everything I wanted to execute I was doing. I felt great, and I messed up the bout at the last moment.
“It was awesome as far as feeling my flow out there and being a little more calm and picking my shots,” Swanson said. “I felt like I was picking him apart.”
“It was getting tight and then loosening up, getting tight and then loosening up,” Swanson said. “He was making adjustments, I was fighting it. I was doing all the things I needed to do to create space. Luckily the bell rang, but I felt like I was going to get out. We know once I started touching him up he was going to get desperate and start to go for stuff, and he’s big and long, and it was tricky,” Swanson said.
Swanson didn’t want to talk about his future plans, but he did know one thing: This fight was one that got away.
That was one of my best performances,” Swanson said, “until getting caught.”
