Micheal Gillmore sees second chance at UFC on ESPN 30 as must-win situation

LAS VEGAS – Micheal Gillmore sees UFC on ESPN 30 as potentially his last chance to compete in the UFC.

After quitting his job to be on Season 29 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” Gillmore (6-3 MMA, 0-0 UFC) got the call as an alternate, but was quickly submitted in his fight against Gilbert Urbina.

Although his journey was cut short, he was rewarded for his persistence and will get another shot in the octagon when he takes on Andre Petroski (5-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) on Saturday. Gillmore knows he absolutely needs to make the most of the opportunity.

“I’m never comfortable things are just going to work out,” Gillmore told reporters, including MMA Junkie, at Wednesday’s media day at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. “I really put in the work and effort to hopefully make those things into fruition. I’m going to go in there obviously to win. Coming into ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ and fighting so quick and just not getting the results I wanted, I don’t think I can afford to have a performance like that again and the UFC keep me around.

“That’s not their brand, so there is a little bit of pressure there to go out and perform. But it’s something that was eating at me already because I didn’t get to in the first place. Everything coming in – I will take the 10 days’ notice vs. two days’ notice. You have a little bit more time to process the feelings, the adrenaline, the excitement, all the things that come with it, and kind of ease into fight week having dealt with all of those initial emotions, where I didn’t really get that opportunity coming into the house.”

To see the full interview with Gillmore, check out the video above.