Abdul-Malik Reflects On First Loss After UFC Seattle Stoppage

Mansur Abdul-Malik stopped chasing perfection after his first professional loss.

The middleweight prospect dropped a third-round stoppage to Yousri Belgaroui at UFC Seattle earlier this year, ending his unbeaten run with a brutal finish. Abdul-Malik told reporters at UFC 330 media day that his mindset in the cage cost him more than any training flaw, according to MMA Mania.

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Abdul-Malik On Why He Changed Nothing After Loss

Abdul-Malik said his first instinct was to overhaul everything after the defeat. Then he took stock of his lifestyle and realised he had little to fix outside the gym. "Maybe early on after the fight happened, of course, the mental perspective makes you want to change everything—change your lifestyle, change your habits," he said. "But then I look at my lifestyle and habits, and I'm like, 'What is there really to change?' I don't party, I don't drink, I don't go out and I don't have many friends, so it's like, what is there to change?"

Instead of reinventing his camp, the 28-year-old Las Vegas fighter wants to rediscover the aggressive style that made him one of the division's most intriguing prospects. "I was going out there trying to be way too perfect, and there are a lot of flaws in trying to be perfect," he said. Abdul-Malik added that his goal is to fight with a smile and be more playful in the cage, rather than the overly serious approach he took against Belgaroui.

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Abdul-Malik meets Dustin Stoltzfus on the UFC 330 main card Saturday at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia. He carries a 3-1-1 record inside the Octagon with three finishes and owns a 100 percent career finishing rate across seven professional wins, all by knockout.

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• MMA Mania — UFC 330’s Mansur Abdul-Malik reflects on first professional loss – ‘I was trying to be perfect’