UFC 304’s Oban Elliott felt ‘fanboyish’ in February debut: ‘I forgot how much I actually belonged there’

Oban Elliott admits the moment got to him in his UFC debut this past February.

Despite leaving with a unanimous decision win over Val Woodburn, the Contender Series alum lost sight of all the hard work he endured to earn his spot on the UFC roster, and instead almost felt like he didn’t deserve to be there. Fighting in the promotion was a dream come true for him, but Elliott realized a few weeks after his debut that he just wasn’t himself in the cage that night.

“I felt like last time I was very fanboyish about the whole thing,” Elliott said on The MMA Hour. “I feel like I owe a bit of an apology because I’m a bit annoyed at myself, by it all. The whole occasion, I felt like I forgot how much I actually belonged there.

“I was enjoying myself after the last one. It was cool. It was like, ‘What a first week of work that was!’ But as it’s unfolded, I realized [that] of course I’m excited by it, but I’m not going to be some little fan. I’m a world-class fighter fighting in the UFC. I deserve to be here. I guess everybody goes through it quietly, but I went through it. Now my head’s in the perfect place.”

While he definitely got caught up in all the lights and hoopla that surrounds a UFC event, Elliot also recognizes he had a lot riding on his debut as well.

After winning a majority decision over Kaik Brito on Contender Series, Elliott wasn’t even sure he’d get offered a UFC contract. That was echoed in a post-fight conversation he shared with UFC CEO Dana White after he got word that he would be joining the UFC roster.

“Contender Series, the way that fight went and Dana [White] was like, ‘Oh, I’m on the fence for this one,’” Elliott recounted. “He told me when he signed me, ‘Be careful what you wish for, kid.’ I always kind of thought about that.

“The main challenge was dealing with the occasion. That was kind of the whole challenge behind it. I went out on my debut, flew across to the Honda Center, I fought on a pay-per-view like that, and just about everything I ever dreamed of happening happened all in the space of a couple of days before I got the result.”

The good news is Elliott feels he got all of the nervous energy out in his UFC debut and he expects a much better showing against Preston Parsons at UFC 304 on Saturday.

“I feel like the pressure’s off me,” Elliott said. “The pressure’s finally off me. Even like I’m talking to you now, like, the pressure’s off me. I’m talking to you as if we’re at the pub having a chat. All of it. The chains are off.”

The timing for UFC 304 worked out perfectly as well as Elliott was dealing with some small injuries that kept him sidelined after his fight in February.

With the UFC landing in England for a pay-per-view card, the 26-year-old Welsh fighter desperately wanted to compete at the event but he wasn’t sure he’d be healed in time.

Thankfully, he was cleared to return, and a few days later, Elliot got the call he wanted.

“It was an honor,” Elliott said. “It was very cool. I won’t go into detail, but after the last fight, I had a couple of bumps and bruises and I didn’t actually get cleared to fight until later on. I was going back and forth. The UFC looks after you when it comes to your health, 100 percent. But obviously it’s all good, I had the clearance and it was like three days later they put me on the card.

“I was thinking I was maybe not going to get on this card because I wasn’t eligible for being matched. But literally the Friday I said I was all good, I needed it off a doctor basically, and by the Wednesday, I had a fight come through. That is an honor.”