LAS VEGAS \u2013 Austin Bashi met the media Saturday after his first-round submission win over John Yannis at UFC on ESPN 71.<\/p>\n
Yannis (9-4 MMA, 0-1 UFC) stepped in on short notice to take on the highly touted Bashi (14-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) and was a big underdog at the UFC Apex. Bashi showed why when he got his first UFC win with a standing rear-naked choke with about 90 seconds left in the opening round.<\/p>\n
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Bashi was supposed to fight Francis Marshall for his sophomore UFC outing until Marshall pulled out not long before the event. The 23-year-old Michigan-based featherweight said all he cared about was making sure he stayed on the card \u2013 and didn\u2019t care who the opponent was going to be.<\/p>\n
Bashi was a heavy favorite when he came through and earned a contract on DWCS this past September. He then was expected to make a splash in his official UFC debut when he took on Christian Rodriguez in January.<\/p>\n
But as a 3-1 favorite, Bashi dropped a decision for the first loss of his MMA career. He said that experience helped set him up for Saturday\u2019s win \u2013 and what he wants to happen going forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter that last fight, I saw who my true supporters were, and I saw who was sleeping on me \u2013 and there were a bunch of people sleeping on me,\u201d Bashi said at his post-fight news conference. \u201cThis was to prove something to myself \u2013 not really to the world, but to prove something to myself how hungry I am and how bad I really want it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Check out Bashi\u2019s post-fight news conference in the video above.<\/p>\n