Jack Hermansson is eager to return to the Octagon at UFC Vegas 27 on May 22.
Hermansson is coming off a decision loss to Marvin Vettori, in a fight Hermansson was scheduled to face Darren Till and then Kevin Holland. Early on in the fight, the Swede broke his orbital which he says impacted him greatly in the fight.
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“The thing is, I felt pretty good going into that fight,” Hermansson said on Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com. “In the first round, usually, there are a few injuries in every fight like I broke my toe in this one, but when he connected with a punch he broke my orbital bone. It affected my vision, it was not that the eye was swollen, the eye moved in the eye socket and I had really weird vision for the whole fight. It was really hard to stay in the fight. The only thing I took from that fight was don’t get hit.”
After the fight, Hermansson took some time to heal his injuries and when he was ready to return, he said he had his eye on Edmen Shahbayzan. He knew the rising contender was also looking for a fight, and the UFC was quick to book the matchup.
“Right now, there are so many people who have already fought each other. It’s hard. I wasn’t surprised as I have spoken about this matchup before,” Hermansson said. “I kind of asked for the fight, because I wanted to fight and they said he was available and I said okay let’s go with Edmen.”
Against Shahbazyan, Hermansson knows his best path to victory is taking the scrap to the ground. In the 23-year-old’s last fight, he was taken down by Derek Brunson, which Hermansson says gives him confidence as he knows he can take him down and likely finish him there. However, the Swede won’t be afraid to strike with him.
“Yeah. Of course, I always want my fights to go to the ground. My opponents prepare for that, so I do need to fight in the standup as well,” Hermansson said. “I do have a plan for him. If I get a good opportunity, I will try and take him down. I’m prepared to fight him standing as well.
“I know I can, there is not a man in the world I can’t finish on the ground. So far, Jacare is the only person who has been able to survive my game,” Hermansson later added. “If I get people to the ground, it’s usually over and I expect it to be the same with Edmen.”
If Hermansson does get a stoppage win, he knows it would propel him into getting a top-five opponent and being a win away from a title shot.
“It puts me in the mix of getting a bigger fight. As I mentioned before, there are so many middleweights who have already fought. The first person to get a couple of wins together can get a title shot. Whittaker, Paulo Costa, someone like that,” Hermansson concluded.
Do you think Jack Hermansson will finish Edmen Shahbazyan at UFC Vegas 27?