Exclusive: Andre Fili Addresses Team Alpha Male Changes, Talks Lobov Fight, Calls Out Doo Ho Choi
Andre Fili emerged victorious on October 21 over Conor McGregor training partner Artem Lobov in Poland, but don't look for him to jump at the idea of fighting in Gdansk agains.
When speaking to James Lynch of Fightful.com, Fili spoke of his dreadful travel ahead of the fight in Poland.
"The way the UFC booked my flight, they gave me a five hour layover for a 45 minute flight. Instead of my 15 hours of travel time, it was 20 hours of travel time. If you went there for tourism it's fine, but I had to diet, I had to cut weight. To do that off of 20 hours of traveling and 9 hours of time difference — I didn't sleep for shit," said Fili.
Fili won the fight, and drew the ire of UFC Lightweight Champion Conor McGregor in the process. Fili is breaking the trend and not calling out McGregor, and however has his sights set on another ranked opponent in Doo Ho Choi.
The featherweight addressed the news that Justin Buchholz is out as Team Alpha Male head coach, saying that media often blows up situations like that.
"They always (blow it up.) I wouldn't call it a restructuring. That's a bit of a stretch. We have the same guys that are helping us out that have always been. Everyone's stepped up to fill a position the last couple of years. You have Danny (Castillo), Urijah (Faber), (Justin) Buchholz as well. Chris Holdsworth, they stepped up as coaches," Fili said, before also mentioning that many fighters in the system are also stepping into coaching roles.
Also in the interview, Fili noted that he's not able to attend his training partner Cody Garbrandt's UFC Bantamweight title defense against former partner TJ Dillashaw, as he'll be helping local fighters who are competing the same night as UFC 217.
In the full interview, Andre Fili (17-5) talks about his unanimous decision victory over Artem Lobov (14-13-1) at UFC Fight Night 118 on Oct. 21. Andre also talks about when he wants to fight next, how he's helping out victims of Hurricane Maria and why he wants Doo Ho Choi next.
