DWCS 3: Jamal Pogues secures UFC contract, apologizes for post-fight profanity
On Tuesday night, Jamal Pogues earned a UFC contract, gave an emotional post-fight interview, and called out a former training partner.
On week 9 of the 2019 Dana White Contender Series, Jamal Pogues walked out of the UFC APEX a winner on the scorecards but a loser in the bid for a UFC contract. Now, nearly three years since his last DWCS fight, Pogues can finally stake his claim as a UFC fighter.
On Tuesday night, Pogues defeated Paulo Renato Jr. via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28) on the DWCS week 3 card. Despite enduring a barrage of leg kicks, Pogues continued to march forward, using a solid jab and impressive cardio to pull ahead of Renato Jr. late in the fight.
Although Pogues secured the contract, it was his profanity-laced post-fight interview with Laura Sanko that seemed to grab the attention of viewers. The profanity was so blatant that Pogues was even talked to backstage about his choice of words.
“That man right there, John Wood…John Wood was like ‘Hey, Man.’ And Heidi…Heidi came up to me and Heidi was like ‘Listen, can you stop, you know, using the cuss words? Because it’s kind of hard to understand,” he laughed. “And then, as soon as I was getting ready to talk to them after I got the contract, they was like ‘Hey, less language’, and I was alright, my bad.”
Pogues did indeed express regret at his choice of words, ultimately chalking it up to emotional circumstances surrounding the fight.
“That’s my fault to everyone that’s gonna watch this,” said Pogues. “I was so emotional…There was a lot that had to come out.”
Jamal Pogues was apologetic about cussing during his post-fight interview with Laura Sanko
If anyone deserves to let out some raw emotion, it’s Pogues. Aside from a nearly two-year layoff from fighting, Pogues revealed in his post-fight interview that his mother is currently battling stage 3 cancer.
“I just took it a day at a time….I just had good people around me, just constantly giving me love and support, and that just kind of made it easier for me.” said Pogues. “Honestly, today I was at the hotel room and I literally cried so much because everything was finally coming out. I was just so happy and proud of myself for what I overcame to get back here.”
dark. Next. DWCS 3: Dana White says Donald Trump’s FBI raid was ‘madness’ (Video)