Punahele Soriano | Fear Factor

It was also his first camp as a parent, and while he’s a doting father and lights up whenever you talks about his daughter, adjusting to having an infant that sleeps in bursts and has no regard for whatever else might be going on in your life also contributed to his not doing having the time or energy to do all the little things that had punctuated his previous camps at 170 pounds.

Though it wasn’t the performance he was hoping for or to the standard he holds himself to, it was a third consecutive win since changing divisions for the Dana White’s Contender Series grad and has become one that has already aged nicely, as Veretennikov posted a blistering win just a couple of weeks ago in his debut appearance of the year.

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As he talked about the different challenges his last camp presented, the Xtreme Couture representative expressed that he didn’t want to make excuses, but the reality is that fighting doesn’t happen in a vacuum, and what he framed as excuses were just the circumstances of life getting in the way of his latest work assignment.

“For sure. I love that,” he said of the re-direct, before taking a bigger picture view of his drop to welterweight, who has thus far yielded three straight wins. “I feel revitalized in my career, I feel like I’m getting better every day, and I feel fresher. I’m not achy —I don’t have my aches and pains from middleweight — and I have a new excitement about life.

“We were both on the same card last time, and we were backstage at the Ceremonial Weigh-ins, and I tapped his shoulder and was like, ‘Dude, I really like the way you fight! I think you’re a beast, yadda, yadda, yadda, having no clue we’d be fighting. I’m excited to get after it with him.

“I feel like when I fight the scary guys like this, it brings the best outta me,” he added. “I’ve been afraid of him all camp, and it’s just driven me to a new level.”

Soriano isn’t the only fighter who has those same reactions to the names that come across the table and will eventually stand on the other side of the Octagon, though most aren’t as willing to admit it as he is. Finding some way to make everyone seem genuinely scary feels like the ultimate cheat code, but for now, the 33-year-old is still trying to work on figuring that out and is thankful he doesn’t have to worry about it this time around.

“I’m still trying to figure that out,” he said when asked how to channel the anxiousness that comes with facing a fighter like Brahimaj, who carries a 100-percent finishing rate into Saturday’s contest. “Even when it came to my wrestling career in college, I either wrestled down or up to the level (of my competition). I don’t know why, but it would happen.

“I’m working on it, but for now, I’m lucky it’s a scary guy, so you’re probably gonna see the best me.”

Should that be how things play out on Saturday, halting Brahimaj’s winning streak and the relatively early start to his 2026 campaign would put Soriano in a good position to continue fighting forward in the division.

But it’s not a spot in the rankings or a specific name that serves as his chief motivation; it’s his family, and a desire to further secure their future that drives the joyous Las Vegas resident.

“I think it puts me in a pretty good place,” he said of a win this weekend. “I could see myself potentially being ranked, but it really doesn’t matter to me what position I’m in because I’m still fighting another human being next. As long as I’m getting paid, I’ll fight whoever, for whatever ranking.

“A big goal for our family has always been to buy a house, so I’m just trying to get in there, make my money,” Soriano added. “I feel like I’m getting better with every fight, so it’s a win-win situation: get better and make money, get better and make money.”