Lucas Fernando hurt his hand in the first round at UFC Vegas 124, beat Billy Elekana anyway, and then used his post-fight media session to ask for Reinier de Ridder.
Fernando (15-3 MMA, 2-0 UFC) took a unanimous decision over Elekana (10-3 MMA, 3-2 UFC) on the main card Saturday at the Meta APEX in Las Vegas, according to MMA Junkie’s report, which Yahoo Sports also ran. He banked the first two rounds and then had to survive a late push from Elekana to close it out. UFC Español posted clips during the broadcast of Fernando’s power shots finding Elekana, and one of their captions said he was punishing Billy with another heavy blow.
The hand explains why none of those shots ended the night. Fernando told reporters he went in hunting a finish and felt something give on a punch in the opening round.
View post on X
“I really wanted and looked for the knockout. But in the first round, I threw a punch and felt something happen to my hand. I think it’s OK,” he said.
His answer was to lean on his kicks. He kept the punches coming, but he said he couldn’t load them up the way he wanted after that. Then he described the mindset that got him to the final bell, which is about as blunt as post-fight talk gets.
“You have to push the healthy side of things aside, tap into your wild side and just go into savage mode to keep throwing.”
The de Ridder ask
Fernando knows a decision doesn’t move the needle the way a knockout does. He said he thinks a finish would probably have earned him a bigger test right away, and that he’ll wait to see what Mick Maynard and Hunter Campbell decide. But he still put a name out there, and it’s an ambitious one.
“A fight I would really like to have is against Reinier de Ridder,” Fernando said. “He’s a tough opponent, but I didn’t come here to play around.”
He acknowledged that de Ridder sits well above him in the rankings and that he’s only two fights into his UFC run. Fernando called the Dutchman a grappler who can also strike, and he said he believes he can finish him with the right game plan. He also spoke about how long it took him to reach the UFC, and said he wants every performance to prove he belongs there.
Fernando didn’t give a timeline for a return, and he didn’t say whether the hand will need imaging.
Quick take
I like the nerve, and I like that he said it right after the win while his hand was still throbbing, before a matchmaker could talk him into something sensible. Still, 2-0 with a decision win while fighting with one good hand probably isn’t enough to get Reinier de Ridder to return a call. The more useful takeaway from Saturday is that Fernando adjusted in real time, switched to kicks when his right hand stopped cooperating, and held up against Elekana’s rally. That kind of fighter earns the next step up. My guess is that next step is a ranked name somewhere in the middle of the division, and if he flattens that guy, the de Ridder callout stops sounding like a joke. First, somebody needs to X-ray that hand.
