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Alexander Lööf talks first loss, ‘Fight Of The Year’ and his love for furious fight fans
Alexander Lööf. Photo via Cage Warriors (Twitter)
Friday’s intense and action-packed featherweight fight between Alexander Lööf and Luke Riley turned out to be one for the books.
Immediately dubbed “Cage Warriors Fight of the Year”, the back-and-forth war has been the talk of the town all over the MMA world during the past few days.
In an exclusive interview with Frontkick, the Swedish MMA fighter reflects on delivering a spectacular performance in his first-ever pro loss.
“Despite the results, I felt like I was the better fighter. I was sharper, stronger and more creative. It was just my gas tank,” Lööf sighs. “The lactic acid fucked me up. I hate excuses, but I know I could have won that fight. It pisses me off. The win slipped through my fingers.”
The featherweight fighter had a bit of a hard time leading up to the debut in Manchester. After a planned week of recovery during fight camp, he got ill and could not train properly for another two-three weeks leading up to the bout.
In the high paced fight he felt like he gassed earlier than expected.
“My mindset was that I’m fighting on enemy territory, it will be hard to win a decision, so I’m going to finish him,” Lööf explains. “So when I drop him in the second round I’m just giving everything I have, but it didn’t go all the way. In the third round I was exhausted, totally exhausted.”
“Before the fight I visualized that either I’m knocking him out early or it will be a back-and-forth war. And yeah, that’s what happened.”
Alexander Lööf made a name for himself
Walking into the cage in Manchester, the calm and collected Lööf was even less nervous than he usually is.
“I love supporter culture, and when the whole arena was against me I got so excited,” Lööf laughs. “When people screamed ‘fucking cunt, you gonna die’ I was just enjoying myself so much. But next time I will for sure have the crowd with me, 100 percent.”
“It sucks to lose, but it feels a bit easier when everyone likes the fight, I appreciate that. It’s cool that big international names like Paddy Pimblett and Molly McCann were super stoked about it. That’s fun!”
Photo via Cage Warriors (Twitter)
“Put my next opponent to death”
Even though the 25-year-old Swede just fought one hell of a violent fight, he’s almost ready to get back in training again.
“As soon as my right hand is good enough to go, I want a new fight and put my next opponent to death. I don’t give a shit where or against who I will fight next,” Lööf claims. “There will be many possibilities after this fight. I just want to get back. I don’t care about losing my flawless record. I’m hungrier than ever. ”
Read more: Alexander Lööf vows to be mean on enemy territory: “If I lose everyone hates me anyways”
