Sal Everett showed up to Dana White’s Contender Series already working in the UFC building, and he left Tuesday night with a completely different job title.
Everett took care of Ozzy Martin at DWCS Week 9, earned himself a UFC contract, and now that he’s officially on the roster, he’s not looking to ease into anything. He wants to stay busy, keep collecting names and, eventually, fight damn near everybody at welterweight.
“Blessing. Blessed feeling right now. I’m just so grateful for everything that’s happened,” Everett told reporters including Cageside Press at his post-fight scrum.
“I was just reciprocating the love that I was receiving from everybody.”
Once the fight got going, Everett’s biggest priority was making sure the moment never became bigger than the fight itself. The more chaos there was inside the cage, the more comfortable he seemed to get, because at the end of the day, this is exactly what he loves doing.
“Focus on being calm in the chaos. I really do enjoy my job, I love fighting, so I was getting more and more comfortable as the fight went on,” he said.
For Everett, the moment wasn’t overwhelming. It was everything he’d been waiting for. From the second the fight became official, he wasn’t counting down the days to his UFC opportunity, he was making sure he enjoyed every second of finally living it.
“Fully locked-in. Dream come true. I was living the dream from the moment I got this fight announced,” he said.
“I was just living every second.”
Everett’s situation is a little different considering he already works around the UFC, and apparently he has zero interest in changing that arrangement. As for whether being a UFC employee and a UFC fighter creates any legal headaches, Everett basically said that’s somebody else’s problem.
“I want to stay in this building. I love it here, and I feel like don’t fix what’s not broken. We just continue to keep working,” said Everett.
“I thought so (that there were legal obstacles to being a UFC employee, and a UFC fighter). I guess that’s legal questions for all those guys upstairs. I’m just runner so what do I know. I’m here to work and I’m here to fight.”
Now that Everett has punched his ticket to the UFC, he’s not looking to sit around and admire the contract. He wants fights, he wants them often, and if it were up to him, he’d eventually work his way through damn near the entire welterweight division.
“I want to be very active. I’m here for a good time, and I’m a fan of the whole welterweight division,” he said.
“I want to build my resume by fighting everybody in the welterweight division.”
Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Sal Everett above.