Jack Shore “really happy” with his UFC 286 submission win over Makwan Amirkhani, eyes return at UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi

Jack Shore knew he had a ton of pressure on him heading into his fight at UFC 286.

Shore was moving up to featherweight after suffering his first career loss to Ricky Simon at bantamweight. After that loss and a knee injury, Shore decided the time was right to make the move to featherweight.

“I’ve always struggled to make bantamweight and as I was getting older it was getting harder. I’m also a lot bigger than my teammates that fight at bantamweight and they always walk around a lot lighter than I was,” Shore said to BJPENN.com. “We kind of made a decision after the scans in August. I had a knee injury anyway so we knew I had some time to make some necessary adjustments and increase my strength and conditioning program to get stronger, more explosive, and more athletic. I think back in August we made the decision to go up.”

With Shore coming off the loss and moving up, he knew his UFC 286 fight against Makwan Amirkhani was a must-win situation. As well, he was fighting back in the UK which only added to the pressure he had on himself.

“It was a lot of pressure. Coming off a loss and making a decision to move up after a loss it can either go really well like it did or it could have gone really bad,” Shore explained. “If I had gone up and lost, people would be looking at me like well what’s the next option? I had the pressure to get back into the win column, but also the pressure to come back and justify the move up.”

Even with Jack Shore dealing with a ton of pressure, he earned a second-round submission in a great performance at UFC 286.

Although Shore was on his back for the majority of the first round, he says he was never in danger and was just riding out the round. When the second round started, the plan was to be right in Amirkhani’s face and break him which is exactly what happened.

“I was really happy. It’s kind of how I thought it would, obviously I would have rather not spent the better part of the first round on my back,” Shore said. “But all in all, I felt really good, and everything I talked about in the build-up, in terms of going up in weight and being able to perform as well as I do in the gym, it factored in, in that second round. I just went on fire from the word go in that second round. Really happy with the performance, all in all, a couple of things to work on but can’t complain.”

Yet, with Shore getting the win and not taking much damage, he says he is hoping to return at UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi in October. His dad is still battling cancer, so he wants to be there with him for all his treatment. Then, he is having his son in July which will also keep him out for a bit, so he hopes to return in Abu Dhabi against whoever the UFC gives him.

“My dad is starting his radiotherapy this week and that’s like a month-long intense treatment. Obviously, he has to do scans and blood tests again to see what the next step is. My son is being born in July, we will see what happens,” Shore concluded. “I am going to fight again this year, I saw they announced Abu Dhabi in October, that would be ideal. I would have loved to get another one in before the birth of my boy but with my dad’s treatment, I don’t want to commit to anything just yet. It was very stressful.”

Who would you like to see Jack Shore fight next?