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What's the story?
Prior to his upcoming fight at UFC Fight Night 136, Ukrainian fighter Nikita Krylov recently spoke with MMA Junkie and revealed the actual reason behind his initial departure from the UFC in February of 2017.
In case you didn't know...
26-year-old Nikita Krylov was signed by the UFC and made his promotional debut on the 31st of August, 2013 at UFC 164 in a losing effort to Australian fighter Soa Palelei. Following his first loss in the Octagon, Krylov eventually marked his first UFC win in spectacular fashion when he scored a 25-second TKO victory over Walt Harris during UFC on Fox 7.
Prior to his departure from the UFC in February of 2017, Krylov scored two outstanding wins Francimar Barroso and Ed Herman at UFC Fight Night 87 and UFC 201 respectively. However, following a loss Misha Cirkunov at UFC 206, Krylov subsequently marked his departure from the UFC, saying that he had chosen not to re-sign his contract with the promotion.
The heart of the matter
While speaking with MMAJunkie, former FNG Light Heavyweight Champion Nikita Krylov claimed that the actual reason why he opted not to re-sign with the UFC in 2017 was due to contractual issues and due to a lesser amount of money being offered to the Ukrainian fighter in the first place.
“Maybe because of my loss, and maybe because I was overestimating myself. But I was living to come back, and I’m quite happy to be back now.”- Krylov told MMAJunkie.
In addition to it, Krylov also stated the reason why he left the UFC in the first place was to become more famous back in residence of Russia and now to eventually return to Moscow under the UFC banner is no less than a dream come true for Krylov.
“I left the UFC to become more famous in Russia, and right now is a dream coming back with an event in Moscow."- Krylov added ahead of his fight against Jan Blachowicz at UFC Fight Night 136.
What's next?
As aforementioned, Nikita Krylov will be stepping into the Octagon later today against Jan Blachowicz in an absolute mouth-watering clash as part of the UFC Fight Night 136 card.
