Ryan Spann explains how he claimed payback, bragging rights with win at UFC Fight Night 187

LAS VEGAS – Ryan Spann rebounded from his first defeat in nine fights by finishing Misha Cirkunov, and revealed that his victory carried an element of payback from his 2020 defeat to Johnny Walker.

Span bounced back into the win column with a clinical first-round finish of fellow contender Cirkunov in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night 187 at the UFC Apex. The big Texan had previously seen his eight-fight winning streak come to an end against Johnny Walker, but he rebounded with a smart performance as he dropped Cirkunov, then allowed him back up before dropping him again and finishing him on the ground for an impressive first-round TKO victory.

Speaking to the media, including MMA Junkie, backstage after his win, a smiling Spann explained how his win over Cirkunov helped exorcise some of the demons from his defeat to Walker at UFC Fight Night 178.

“This was a little sweet moment, because (Cirkunov) cornered Johnny (for) my fight with Johnny, so I like to think I got a little one back,” he said. “But it is what it is. We’re taking down whatever’s in front of us.”

Spann revealed that the finish came quicker than he and his team had expected ahead of the fight, and in doing so he claimed bragging rights over his Fortis MMA teammate Kennedy Nzechukwu, who picked up a second-round knockout of debutant Carlos Ulbert at UFC 259 last week.

“I had to go ahead and finish him,” he said. “The first time I didn’t have the right angle. Then the second time, when he went down, I knew he was ready to go. We wanted the second (round), to be honest. But we’ll take what we can get. We knew he’d been out for a minute. We knew he’d have a lot of nervous energy and all that, and we’ll just let him come to us and take him out in the second. But at the same time, I still wanted to beat him faster than Kennedy (Nzechukwu, his teammate) won his fight, and I got that done!”

After sealing victory, Spann was overcome with emotion as he dropped to his knees and was hugged by his corner team. “Superman” revealed that his outpouring of emotion was due to issues he had faced in the lead-up to the fight.

When asked about his reaction, he explained, “We made it. It was one of them. I think I explained it before as that relief of getting your hand raised, that it’s finally over. We had to go through a lot to get to that, that I didn’t even speak on. Me and my family, we went through a lot to get to this, to that moment.”

When asked if it was anything he was happy to reveal to the assembled media, Spann replied, “Absolutely not.”

However, the 29-year-old from Beaumont, Texas was much happier to talk about what could be next for him, as he doubled down on his post-fight comments calling for the winner of a notable upcoming light heavyweight clash.

“Honestly, I don’t necessarily know the landscape of the division,” he admitted. “I heard about a fight that’s ahead of me. … Anthony Smith and Jimmy Crute. We’ll probably take a look at the winner of that.”

But, while he’s happy to take a little time to recover and, as he explained, get a back tattoo finished, he said he’s ready to move his way up the division after exorcising at least some of the demons from his defeat to Walker in September 2020.

“(I’ll) Keep doing what I’m doing – not what I was doing for the Johnny one, but what I was doing for this one. We’ll keep doing that!” he grinned.