LAS VEGAS – Christos Giagos can breathe a little easier now that he’s back on the win column.
The UFC lightweight snapped a two-fight losing skid on Saturday night when he put the lights out on veteran Ricky Glenn on the preliminary card of UFC Fight Night 222 at the UFC Apex. Giagos (20-10 MMA, 6-6 UFC) knocked out Glenn (22-7-2 MMA, 4-4-1 UFC) 95 seconds into the first round of their contest.
Giagos feels the finish kept him from getting cut from the promotion.
“Absolutely, absolutely,” Goagos said when asked if his job was on the line. “I’ve been cut by the UFC one time before, and I didn’t even lose two in a row. I’ve never lost three fights. I’ve only lost two fights in a row one other time in my life, and this was my second time being in that position. I was going to hope, that if for some reason I lost this fight, I was hoping they let me fight out my contract, but I knew I was in danger.
“I got finished two times in the first round. Very top guys, top competitors, but still. Yeah, I was like, ‘I’m not losing three in a row.’ I was going to go out fighting on my sword. I was going to be in his face. He better finish me too if he wanted to finish, because I was coming after him.”
In his two previous outings, Giagos was stopped by ranked contenders Arman Tsarukyan and Thiago Moises. The last time he had his hand raised in the octagon was back in May 2021 when he defeated Sean Soriano. This win had been a long time in the making.
“A little bit.” Giagos said when asked if he had almost forgotten the feeling of victory. “I was just thinking about that backstage. I was like, ‘Man, I forgot what it feels like to win a little bit.’
“It was my first win training out of Florida. It took me a little while to adapt. It was crazy because when I first went there, I was just trying to survive practice. This is the first camp where I was trying to win every round in practice, take control of the situation, and I feel like I did that.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 222.
