Athletes
Anshul Jubli Is Proudly Flying The Flag For Indian MMA
Indian Lightweight Anshul Jubli Is Proud To Represent His Nation As He Targets His Second Win On MMA’s Biggest Stage.
Anshul Jubli may only be two fights into his UFC career, but he’s already experienced the highest of highs, and the lowest of lows.
The Indian lightweight had a debut to remember at the UFC APEX in February 2023, when he handed Jeka Saragih the first TKO loss of his career and banked a $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus for his efforts.
“It was one of the best nights of my life,” he said.
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“I got the UFC contract, which I've dreamed of for so long, and then got that contract, got the bonus, I met Dana White after the fight. So it was all surreal for me. But yeah, I’ve visualized it so many times. So it feels like a dream to me.”
But that dream turned into a nightmare eight months later when he suffered his first loss, as he was knocked out in the third round by a Mike Breeden who had weighed in 3.5 pounds over the limit for their bout at UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi.
Momentum-wise, it wasn’t so much a pumping of the brakes as a crashing into a wall. But Jubli said there were still positives to take from that bout, despite the nature of his defeat, though he admitted it took him a little time to get to that mindset.
“No regrets from that fight. I think that fight was important for me, so I take it as positively as possible,” he said.
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“Obviously, when you lose your first fight, it's hard to accept it, hard to deal with it. For a month, it haunted me.
“But after a month, I realized nobody cares (that I lost). It's just me overthinking it, so I just started training hard again, and here I am.”
That epiphany came when he returned home, and his interactions with his friends and family were no different for him than it would have been if he’d won, with Jublifalling into the same familiar conversations, with his career barely registering.
“When I went to my hometown, I met my parents and met my friends, and they were not talking about it,” he explained.
“They talked to me just like before, and, we were talking about the same things. With my friends, I’ve been talking about the same things we’ve been talking about for the last 15 years.
“So I was like, ‘OK, these guys are not gonna change. I’m fighting for these guys, so I won’t care (about the loss, either). I’ll keep my head down and keep working hard.’”
Now, after more than a year away dealing with injuries, Jubli is full of enthusiasm ahead of his return, and he’s clearly loving every minute of fight week in Sydney.
“I'm actually very excited. I love the fight week,” he said.
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“It's tough for the fighters, because you're cutting weight, you're not eating carbs. But yeah, (I love) this whole thing, all the fighters, this energy, everyone is here to fight, here to prove themselves and doing all these interviews, very confident people all around.”
Jubli will take on 7-1 Australian debutant Quillan Salkilld, a former champion in Australia’s Eternal MMA promotion who earned his spot in the UFC after a victory on Dana White’s Contender Series.
Jubli appreciates what Salkilld brings to the table, but said he has the edge where it matters.
“I think he's a good fighter. He's a good, complete fighter,” he said.
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“But I have more experience. I think my grappling is better. I have good hands. My hands, my boxing, is better, so I can dominate him in these areas where I'm good, and where he is good, I'll not let him do his things.”
While Jubli thinks he has the technical edge, he concedes that the crowd will be very much with his Australian opponent. But sometimes fighting on home soil can bring its own pressures, as Jubli noted.
“Every fighter is different. I thrive in these situations – big crowd, big people, big noise. So what happened for me is, I got very excited last time (at UFC 294). But I don't know whether or not it would be a problem for him. Whether he’ll deal with it (well) or not.
“I’m not thinking about that. I'm just thinking about this – I have a skill set. He has a skill set. I'm gonna go put pressure on him, impose my will and skills on him and win this fight.”
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But while Salkilld will have the crowd roaring for him, Jubli also knows he’ll have the exact opposite, and he admitted to taking some interesting steps to help prepare himself for the boo-birds on fight night.
“Yeah, I'm visualizing that too, with the headphones. every night, with crowd noise of people booing me! So I think I’m used to it,” he smiled.
“And I’ve always been an underdog. I’ve always taken on challenges. When I took the Road to UFC challenge, nobody took it in India, they offered everyone this tournament. But it's hard to win a tournament if you come from an Indian MMA background. It’s hard to win a tournament against Chinese, Japanese, Korean fighters.
“But I took the chance. I won the tournament. I'm in the UFC. So it's always a challenging fight for me, and I think it's the fifth or sixth time that I'm the underdog, but I'm going to prove them wrong.”
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Jubli is proud to fly the flag for India in the Octagon, and says he’ll represent the flag “with all I have,” but said that he doesn’t feel any extra pressure of being one of very few Indian athletes competing at the world level of combat sports.
“It doesn't feel like pressure at all,” he said.
“I won't say it motivates me, it just makes me happy. It makes me happy that I am representing this big of a country in the UFC.
“There's so many UFC fans in India and I carry the hope. I carry the belief. So I feel very, very happy.”
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Now, after experiencing both ends of the spectrum in his first two fights, Jubli says he’s ready to show his full arsenal as he looks to pick up his second UFC victory.
“You can expect 100 percent of Anshul Jubli, who will perform his best,” he stated.
“I will do everything that I can to win this fight, and I’m going to go there and dominate the fight.”
UFC 312: Du Plessis vs Strickland 2 took place live from Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney Olympic Park, New South Wales, Australia on February 8, 2024. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!