LAS VEGAS – Darrius Flowers is looking to rule the UFC lightweight division.
Flowers (12-5-1), whose past few fights came at middleweight, competed in a welterweight bout Tuesday at Dana White’s Contender Series 51 against Amiran Gogoladze.
He finished Gogoladze in just over a minute when he picked him up and slammed him, causing an injury to his shoulder that stopped the fight. Flowers sees multiple weight classes in his future but is confident he can be champion at 155 pounds after earning a UFC contract.
“I see my future at honestly both welterweight and lightweight,” Flowers told reporters, including MMA Junkie. “Honestly, I’m gonna take lightweight a little bit more serious and chase the title, because I feel like I can be a champion here within the next few years or a couple of years, if it even takes that long. We got to get through the first contract and all that crap first, but I feel like I can be a lightweight world champion for sure like Khabib style.”
Flowers’ win came quick and it came due to an injury. Although it was the slam that led to Gogoladze’s injury, Flowers says it irks him that there will be some doubters due to the nature of the fight-ending sequence.
“The only thing that kind of bothers me is like the naysayers,” Flowers said. “I really didn’t get to show my work, how hard I’ve been working. But I looked good, I went out and did what I said I was gonna do, so I’m happy I got the contract. Nothing really else matters. I got the contract. Haters are gonna still be haters. There’s still gonna be some guys that don’t believe, even when I fry some guys in the UFC. You know, when I start frying these guys on the skillet.”
