Taylor Mills – “He was overconfident”

The return of Contenders brought the return of violence to the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre. But with it, brought two amateur fighters together who had a second chance to face one another after an unfortunate cancellation to their previously scheduled bout back in June.

Union Thai‘s Taylor Mills vs Kabashi MMA‘s Ali Farasati did not disappoint, and in my opinion, was one of the highlights of the undercard in the capital.

These warriors left it all on the cage, and proved that this bout was destined to happen. Mills was victorious in submissive fashion via Rear-Naked-Choke late in the second, and showed that his hunger to once again compete was strong.

I caught up with Tayler after his phenomenal victory at Contenders 33 to find out just what his explosive return to action meant to him.

Congratulations on that absolutely outstanding victory Taylor, how do you feel after your outstanding performance?

“I feel great, he was tough man. That was a good win for me, I wasn’t expecting a submission but there we go.”

You took control right from the get go out there. you could physically see the raw animosity, the want and need to once again back out there, especially after you cancelled bout back at Road to Contenders 5.

“He was overconfident, I had to show him. I had to show him I could go out there and fight his fight. He was standing there calling me on, hoping I would gas out, I’m too clever off my jab.”

With a successful submissive outing, unplagued by the medical that kept you and Ali from going to war back in June. Will you be looking to keep the momentum going and return as soon as you can?

“That was a big relief, I was more nervous for the medical than I was for the fight haha. But it all went perfect, my heart rate was on point. Yeah, whenever they’re back I’m injury free, I barely got touched. Little sore from kicking his head but that’s about it.”

Before you go for a well earned celebration with your team, is there anybody you’d like to give a shout-out to?

“Shout-out to Marcus my head coach, shout-out to Tony my boxing coach, shout-out to Simon my grappling coach and Lee for being here with me today. It means a lot to me, if it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t be here today.”