“Bing, bang, bosh,” was how Mario Pinto described his knockout of Austen Lane, standing in the Octagon after a successful UFC debut. It was a playful description, given he had nearly decapitated Lane with a blistering right hook, set up by a teasing left.
Still, that playfulness belied Pinto’s disappointment. One round earlier, in the opening frame, the Portuguese-Briton was dropped by Lane and had to scramble to his feet in a brief, desperate moment. “I was just like: ‘Let me feel what he has,’” the 27-year-old tells The Independent. “I’ve learnt that, at this level, you need to be first. I feel like by waiting, I gave him the confidence to attack. It was a hard lesson, but it was worth learning.
