Cameron Saaiman: First MMA Loss Was ‘Tough Pill to Swallow’ | UFC on ESPN 53

UFC on ESPN 53’s Cameron Saaiman spoke to MMA Junkie and reporters at media day for his bantamweight bout vs. Payton Talbott on Saturday in Las Vegas.

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Hi guys hey Cameron how’s it going good good yeah aome so obviously last time we saw you you got had your first loss on your record uh what were some takeaways when you got to go back and watch the film and kind of just you know rewatch

It yeah it was it was a tough pill to swallow obviously after that fight you know I thought I really thought that I I did enough to to walk away with the win obviously the judges didn’t think that it was also quite heartbreaking uh I after the fight I went to both my

Coaches was like do you have round one and three like yeah I think we do and uh I actually went to bisbing at the time he was like sir we we have round one and three right and he said yeah yeah yeah I think so and uh the decision didn’t go my way

Afterwards had the time to focus on some medical issues we’ve had had a few had a big surgery sorted out some some stuff and uh after watch ing the fight I’m pretty proud of of what we accomplished not only in that fight but in the camp

Building up to that I’m 23 years old you know turning 24 only in December I want to be here for a very long time and in doing that I’m looking at the big bigger picture so after every fight we assess where we can get better and there’s obviously a lot of those key

Points and I think we in this 6 months we we sorted out a lot of stuff and and you’ll get to see that come fight night and so of course in fighting you know injuries is a part of it but when you get to kind of get one of those periods

You’re talking about how refreshing is it to get rid of some of these lingering things and almost start fresh in a way yeah it’s it’s massive you know I fought four times in 11 months that’s tough on anybody it doesn’t matter if you’re 22

Or 42 years old you know um it’s and I train with absolute killers at Team CIT so the pace is already already very high in training and now you have to sustain that year round it’s it’s tough so once you you know life throws these little nuggets to you where it’s like Signs

Take a break take a step back and I really got to spend some amazing time with friends and family have a a very good mental recharge and then the moment we started our camp once we had a name I was I was happy to be back in the gym

And so of course no one in sport Sports wants to lose especially in a fight but but is there some positives to take away cuz like you said you’re 23 so a loss it’s not the end of the world this is just the beginning of your career were

There some positives that you took away from this experience definitely I’m still undefeated at 135 so that’s that’s uh that’s that’s fun you know but um it it was in terms of that fight I’m I’m very happy at the pace we fought at I think we can improve on that I do do

Think that I got rocked honestly I got rocked quite badly in that fight and um I really had to fight through that so I know I can take a punch as well and you know coming up with my next opponent he he rates himself a striker he’s going to

Look to to out point he’s going to look to land a lot of shots I know for a fact that I will be able to handle that and we’ll be able to counter yeah so it’s interesting you say that because Payton was in here before you know he didn’t

Say anything disrespect respectful but he said hey this is going to be a good fight and he used that term deep water so what do you think when you hear that and what do you expect when you guys get into that third round if it gets there

And it does go into those deep Waters this is I think this is probably the most excited I’ve ever been for a fight ju not only because the moment we got this matchup we we jumped we were actually already in Camp for someone else and

Then we got the name and I watched his Dan and white Contender series I watched that live I watched his UFC debut as well back home in South Africa and I saw a lot of like social media hype about the guy and I was like man okay this

Will the moment I saw a post U on on Instagram I just had that feeling of like sooner or later we’re going to meet each other so um I’m glad it’s happening now and deep Waters is correct you know I think he is very well he’s very

Skilled I think he is a very good Striker he has very strong wrestling he’s very athletic and I do think it’s one of those contenders for fight of the nights and that’s also something I’m very appreciative of the the hardcore fans that really like fighting are are really putting this forward for their

Fight of the night and I do think that that can happen my job at the end of the day is going to be to show you how how many levels I’m above pton and I have all respect for him he is he is a really good fighter and hopefully we can leave

All of it in the UFC cage and so you know obviously back into the Apex do do you have any type of thoughts when it comes that you know wanting to get back into Arena or is it hey wherever I got to fight I’ll fight definitely wherever

Wherever they want me to fight I’ll fight um this is the sixth trip we’ve done to Vegas including the contender series I’m one in one in in the Apex so we need to fix that right now and so this feels absurd to ask for a

23y old but you know this is going to be your fifth fight in the UFC are you starting to feel more comfortable in the Octagon almost feel like a veteran yeah that’s a that’s a great question I do think that you every every single time win or lose like you do feel

More at home and in the cage whether there are 10,000 people there or just 3 400 it’s it’s a massive moment it means the world to me I I don’t do anything else fighting is is my life my my team my coaches my those guys are my family

So this means the world to me and you’ll see that that gratitude in in the cage and so last question for me you know the ultimate fighter is about to kick off when of your teammates Mark is going to be on there uh did you give him him any

Advice and the fans at home what can they expect when he steps in there for The Ultimate Fighter Mark yum doesn’t need any advice he is so ready he is one I’ve I’ve said this many many times I’ve said it he’s one of the best welterweights and middleweights in the

World He is unbelievable and under our head coach Moura I I have no doubt that he’ll have massive success not only in in the show but once he gets his UFC contract once he’s The Ultimate Fighter he’ll make a name for himself in his own right representing South Africa and team

CIT thank you for your time and good luck to thank you I’ve just got one for you you mentioned in your last fight there was some confusion about the scoring what would you think about open scoring know that’s been something people have talked about would that have

Affected your fight at all do you think definitely I think that’s massive you know in any sport in the world most sports in the world uh there’s a tally you can look up to a screen and see you either ahead or behind maybe that will affect guys being

Ahead maybe it will affect aggression um so you have to almost look at the flip of the coin but open scoring is something that I do think can at least be looked at and um yeah maybe have the guys vote but uh Fighters are not the smarter so let’s

Let let the smarter guys decide that thank you hey Cameron I just wanted to know um were you surprised when they offered you Payton because you know he’s a young young Prospect like yourself you just fought a young Prospect with with SE Rod so was the matchup kind of

Confusing to you or or do you think it makes sense it was it was quite confusing uh we had a name first um which we were also happy with I’m not going to disclose that now and then they jump to Payton so it was quite confusing I I

Really thought we were going to fight somewhere in my career I didn’t think it was going to happen now but you know Uncle sha if you want that sure let’s do it now do you I mean there seems to be a lot of hype on this guy you had a lot of

Hype as well do you are you buying into this like the hype train or do you think you do you see him just as another Contender series guy that has that attached to him I think he’s flashy he’s athletic I think he deserves the hype I think he deserves the recognition you

Know I think he had a very hard fought fight in the contender series and he met he really calmed some storms in the earlier rounds of his debut so I do think he deserves everything coming his way um and that just makes me more excited for this fight because I know

How hard I worked for this opportunity and we’ve we’ve been here before you know so may the best man win and we haven’t talked to you since DDP is the new middleweight champion I just wanted to know like the night of the fight when he got that title how excited were you

What were the emotions like yeah it was unbelievable able I unfortunately couldn’t be in Canada for his win it was it was absolutely insane I was actually at home watching it alone I didn’t want any fans or I I I just wanted to watch his fight without any Whispers shout

Screams and you know before they read the scorecards I I just kept yelling like we have a UFC champion like South Africa as a UFC champion so you know trickers is he’s been always been that guy he was always supposed to be the the front runner for South African MMA and

He was able to do that and that’s just the that’s just the surface of what we are capable of doing in in the UFC as team CIT we all saw the um a hero’s welcome he received in South Africa um I guess what’s the climate been like like

What’s the energy been like since he’s been home it’s been amazing you know we I we also have an amateur promotion back home in South Africa called versus uh where I also work with amateur athletes we do matchmaking for amateur fights and just hearing coaches call

Us Thanking us for what draus has done because of that their gyms are just filling up with new members so you know in terms of of talent we have so much talent we are a few years behind in terms of structure to really get the talent that that we need to really put

Guys forward in positions where they can be fighting for World titles but it’s been amazing uh the the sport of MMA is truly alive now in South Africa we’re getting more recognition and we’ve come a long way you know we we’re in a small basement gym and we were not a

Commercial gem at all and uh yeah it’s developed quite quickly seems like a no-brainer to take DDP to South Africa to defend what’s it going to take to get the UFC to play to go I think Uncle Dana just needs to buy his tickets to be

Honest um I do think in terms of infrastructure I think there’s no better country in Africa than South Africa and I’ve heard Whispers of doing it somewhere else like there’s no like we’ve done the FIFA World Cup we’ve done the Rugby World Cup our country is well

Equipped for the UFC to come there if they can just find a a the perfect venue will be able to free up our schedules for when when they come and finally for me you being the match you put your matchmaking hat on who should fight DDP next who should be his first title

Defense without a doubt dcus dupy should face Israel adna next um I think that’s the fight that everyone wants to see I think that’s the fight that draus wants the most we’ll wait and see what happens would you want to be on that card as well

That 100% without a doubt you know it’s it it is already a massive honor to represent your country over seas but there’s nothing like wearing those green shorts uh I just I’m getting Goosebump just visualizing it but being able to represent your country in your home country especially if the UFC hasn’t

Been there yet that’s a Monumental event that I would like to be a part of adiso just makes sense for dricus in that kind of event but who would you like you know is anyone on your in your radar who who would be a suitable opponent for a show

Like that who the guy on my radar at the moment is Pon T but after that we’ll be focusing on who’s next thank you yeah fair enough and uh you were saying about like the impact like you and triers have had with a talent coming through and people more participation rates in South

African MMA have you ever spoken to Dana White or anyone at the UFC about a pi in South Africa because there’s one in Shanghai he’s spoken about Nigeria but you know could there be an opportunity for that kind of growth as well we’ve we’ve never had that conversation not

Yet I I do believe that that’s something that will happen um quite soon in terms of talent athleticness I think hardworking people nothing beats South Africans so I do think that if they want to explore that option we we are there and we’ve already have the in CIT we

Already have proper structure so if there’s one gym you need to talk to to be able to really make it work it’s us best of luck this weekend thank you uh Cameron I just got one more uh Shan Ali obviously just had his first title defense Marlon Sho Vera did you watch

The fight and what’ you think of it if you did brilliant fight like like textbook he fought so well against against Vera and um it it just shows his maturity in the sport I think you know he came through the contender series just like I did and uh just to see him

Get better with every single fight and really fight a textbook championship fight it was very impressive I’ve always I had him beating Al Germain in in the main events and that’s one guy that I do think that’s could be Champion for a while and um yeah it’s going to be very interesting

To see what they do next in the bantamweight division it’s so it’s young it’s constantly shifting it’s there’s already so much talent that makes me very very excited