Running on the hamster wheel? No thanks, Gavin Tucker says

LAS VEGAS – Gavin Tucker beat Justin Jaynes with a third-round submission Saturday on the preliminary card at UFC on ESPN+ 32 in Las Vegas.

Take a look inside the fight with Tucker, who was fighting for the first time in more than a year. He picked up his second straight third-round rear-naked choke finish.

Result: Gavin Tucker def. Justin Jaynes via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 3, 1:43
Updated records: Tucker (12-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC), Jaynes (16-5 MMA, 1-1 UFC)
Key stat: Despite being in trouble early, Tucker outstruck Jaynes 91-33.

Tucker on the fight’s key moment

“Getting tested is a part of this. I think that only accelerates me in the end. All the stuff you work through just shows I’m full of grit. I’m there until the fight is over. I wasn’t going anywhere through any of those things. I got tested on both ends and worked my way through it.”

Tucker on working through adversity

“He was throwing 150 percent on everything, so you had to be super careful with this guy and I got a little loose with my hands, as I have had a tendency to do in the past, and paid the price. When I came in the second, I said, ‘OK, no more looseness. Stay tight. Get back to this sharp kickboxing and get back on track.’ And that’s good. When you get tested like that and you can come back, it makes you confident in yourself. I got tested in both ends, fought through it, came back, got a big win, got a finish and showed my grit and my abilities a little bit more. I’m actually happy with everything that just happened. It was a good experience.”

Tucker on what he wants next

“I’d like to continue the momentum. I’ve tried to rush it, back-to-back fights in the past, and it turns into a bad thing for me because you end up breaking down. I would like to get three fights a year. I think that’s a reasonable amount. I tried to do four and five fights a year and I ended up missing a year because I just pushed myself back into the trench. So I’m going to make the attempt. I don’t want to jinx it. I’m healthy and I’m going to stay healthy. I feel completely fine to fight soon again, so I would like to get back on track as soon as possible without putting myself in a place where I’m going to fall into old habits and do the same things. You have to learn from these mistakes or else you are just running in the hamster wheel and I don’t want to do that.”

To hear more from Tucker, check out the video of the full post-fight interview above.