LAS VEGAS – Ethyn Ewing knew things wouldn’t turn out well for Rafael Estevam well before they traded punches.
Ewing (10-2 MMA, 2-0 UFC) thought he had the win in the bag Friday morning after watching Estevam (14-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) miss weight for their scheduled bantamweight bout at UFC Fight Night 272 at the Meta APEX. The weight miss marked Estevam’s third in just four fights in the UFC. However, the previous weight misses came with him trying to fight at flyweight.
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He had moved up a weight class – getting 10 extra pounds to not worry about – and yet, he missed weight again, coming in at a half-pound over the bantamweight limit.
“That’s a huge lack of discipline, a huge lack of preparation, and a lack of respect, to be honest, to the sport, to the weight class, and to me as an opponent,” Ewing told MMA Junkie and other reporters at the UFC Fight Night 272 post-fight press conference. “The guy fought at 125, so to miss weight at 135 is – I have no way to understand it, I’ll be totally honest.
“The only way that you could say it is that they chose not to make that weight. He said, ’10 o’clock, it came too fast. I had tried everything in my power,’ and it was a choice. Whatever that means, a lack of preparation, a lack of discipline. It was a choice, at the end of the day. He was broken. When I stood across from him, I could look into his eyes. I could see that he was not willing to do what was necessary, that he did not want to face me. And then I stood, and I looked away, and I looked at the camera, and then he sat there and tried to stare me down. I gave him a quick look and he turned. He wasn’t ready. And I think maybe there’s a possibility that he missed the weight so that he could feel stronger and bigger and think that he had some advantage. I don’t know. I’m not ripping into him on that. It’s just speculation. But he lost then. I knew he’d lose now. And it has all come to fruition.”
Ewing has built up a bit of hype in his short UFC career. He debuted on short notice last November, taking on highly touted prospect Malcolm Wellmaker, who was undefeated at the time. Ewing pulled off the upset, getting his hand raised at UFC 322 in Madison Square Garden. Saturday, again, Ewing took another undefeated record.
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Ewing welcomes these types of bouts and has no problem taking on the biggest prospects the promotion has to offer.
“I invite everybody,” Ewing said. “So, yes, please give me those guys. Give me those guys that, you know, people are going to say that ‘Ethan has no shot in the dark. Ethan has no chance. He’s going to get ragdolled. He’s going to get outwrestled. Ethan’s got no takedown defense.’ What now? You know, give me those undefeated guys. Give me Malcolm Wellmaker at MSG on 48 hours’ notice. Give me 14-0 undefeated Rafael Estevan. And I love it.
“There’s no escape from this. I’m now in the UFC. I’m now in the largest division, the biggest division, the one with the most notoriety. I have done all the other stuff, you know, picked here and there, done this or that, taken certain fights. Now I’m here to fight the top of the top. I believe I’m the best 135er there is, and so there’s not a single name that I would shy away from.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Ethyn Ewing: Rafael Estevam’s UFC Vegas 115 weight miss ‘was a choice’
