Matt Semelsberger on 16 second KO: “I had a hunch”
Interview with Matt Semelsberger above
Following a short-lived sophomore appearance against Jason Witt at UFC Fight Night 187, Matt “Semi The Jedi” Semelsberger moves to 2-0 inside of the Octagon.
The Maryland native, Semelsberger entered his second bout in the world’s elite promotion as quite the heavy underdog. Semelsberger, who self admittedly thrives when the pressure is on, pieced together a masterpiece against Witt in less than 20 seconds.
“That’s pretty much as sweet as it can get,” Semelsberger says laughing. “It was all reaction,” he remembers about the lightning-fast sequence. Witt threw a “naked” rear leg kick, leaving him open for a straight right down the middle from “Semi The Jedi.” Upon impact, the night was all but over.
“I had a hunch,” Semelsberger says about suspecting an early leg kick. “I’m like, ‘this guy is probably going to calf kick me, if I had to guess,” Semelsberger assumed. As the moment inched closer and he was inside his locker room preparing for his turn to make the walk, Semelsberger asked his cornerman, Matt Hicks, to throw leg kicks during the warm-up to “practice some counters,” Semelsberger remembers.
16 seconds into the fight and a single straight right was all it took for Matt “Semi The Jedi” Semelsberger to dispatch his opponent, Jason “The Vanilla Gorilla” Witt.
Now that the Maryland welterweight has had “time to decompress and process it all,” he says “I’m fired up, man! I’m ready to go. I’m ready to take what we got and put the pedal to the metal!”
As far as a return to the octagon, Semelsberger says, “the timeframe I think we kind of have is like June or July, maybe.” Continuing, “if I get thrown a name or thrown an offer and I like it then probably take it, man! I’ve never been really one to shy away from short-notice fights.”
Tune in above to hear from Matt “Semi The Jedi” Semelsberger as he joins MyMMANews following his one-punch KO over Jason Witt at UFC Fight Night 187.
