“I had lost my brother shortly before the fight” - Sodiq Yusuff speaks on the trauma surrounding his UFC debut

Sodiq Yusuff introduced himself in spectacular fashion to the UFC with a ‘Performance of the night’ debut on December 2, 2018. 

The Nigerian defeated Suman Mokhtarian via technical knockout in Adelaide, Australia to register his first UFC win at the first attempt and take his MMA record to 8-1.

However, one of the finest moments of Yusuff’s professional career was preceded by a dark time in his personal life, the untimely passing of his brother.

Yusuff spoke exclusively with Pulse Sports on the emotional nature of that fight and his journey to the UFC in the first place.

“My UFC debut was very bittersweet because I had lost my brother shortly before the fight. I wanted to fight with a lot of emotion and that was what was really on my mind,” Super Sodiq said.

Sodiq Yusuff beat his opponent, Mokhtarian who was undefeated at the time by TKO at 2:14 of Round 1 and was awarded Performance of the Night at UFC Fight Night 142: Dos Santos vs. Tuivasa.

“After the fight, I just broke down crying backstage. I had tried to bottle it all up so I wouldn't feel anything during the fight but after that was over, I just started crying. So yeah that is really the only memory I have from my debut going through all of that,” the Nigerian said reliving the sad memory.

“My brother had passed around two weeks before the fight, but my parents didn't tell me until the week of the fight because they said they didn't want to distract me from the fight. That was a very very rough time for me,” Yusuff revealed to Pulse Sports.

Despite the pain surrounding his debut, Sodiq Yusuff’s path to the UFC is one he recants with excitement, making it to the highest level (UFC) less than two years after his professional MMA debut.

“Each state has their local shows so for the UFC to pick you up, you have to be a champion at your local shows or a really exciting prospect.”

“For me, I was winning in my local shows so they invited me to a show called ‘Dana white contender series’. They find the best local people in the area and they have them fight each other and if you do really well they will give you a contract.” 

“I had the best fight in the show’s history. If you go and watch me vs Mike Davis it is still the best fight in the contender series history.”

Less than six months after beating Mike Davis by unanimous decision and catching the attention of Dana White, Yusuff went on to make his UFC debut.

He is now keen on mentoring the next generation, “Coming up, I tell all the local fighters, hey I started at the same place where you are starting so you have to treat the local shows like it’s the UFC already.”