Fabio Cherant (6-1) picked up his sixth professional victory at CES 61 beating Yu Ji (3-1) by unanimous decision and handing his opponent the first loss of his career in the process.
Cherant is always looking for a finish but he had to battle through some adversity in this fight as he suffered a minor injury early on that hampered his ability to throw his full arsenal in the fight.
“I hurt myself in the first round and I was trying to keep a good poker face and not look hurt,” Cherant said. “Man I was trying to throw everything at that guy and he just would not go down. I was really confused, I was questioning myself if I have no power. I was throwing a lot at that guy and he was not phased really. Towards the third round, he was on his skates a little bit and run. It was a crazy fight I had a lot of fun I got to show people I can throw punches and I don’t just pull guard and choke people out”.
It goes without saying that at this level a win is always what is most important and Cherant is happy he was able to secure a victory over such a tough opponent. That did not stop him from calling out the judges scorecards as he thought a (29-28) score didn’t make much sense.
“I am not satisfied but I am happy with the win, although I am still a little confused at the judges,” Cherant said.
One of the things Cherant’s detractors will say is that he missed weight for a second straight fight. Cherant previously missed weight against Erick Murray Jr. in his recent LFA victory, and the ‘Water Buffalo’ missed weight by 3 pounds for this fight against Yu Ji. Fabio said that he made a “Rookie Decision” and that it won’t happen again. Cherant explained in more detail that he was getting conflicting readings from two different scales he was weighing himself on prior to the fight.
“I made a dumb decision that’s it. If I just said (expletive) it, and kept on cutting weight and maybe I would have shown up under. When you are cutting weight the dumbest things can freak you out and stress you out and that’s what happened I got stressed out”.
Cherant has now won two fights in a row since his setback at Contender Series and the question everyone is asking is when he expects to get that call from the UFC. According to Fabio he already got the call after his LFA victory and unfortunately for him, it was too short of a notice.
“I got the call already and I couldn’t accept the call because I wasn’t sure I could make the weight and be able to perform in such a short time and I had to deny it. After the fact, I thought about it and I said I am an (expletive) idiot”.
Cherant went on to explain that if a short notice call from the biggest promotion in the world comes again, he is definitely going to take it. With back to back wins and a bright future, another call seems like it is inevitable. Keep your eyes out for the ‘Water Buffalo’ coming to an Octagon near you.
