“We were both on the same card last time, and we were backstage at the Ceremonial Weigh-ins, and I tapped his shoulder and was like, ‘Dude, I really like the way you fight! I think you’re a beast, yadda, yadda, yadda, having no clue we’d be fighting. I’m excited to get after it with him.
“I feel like when I fight the scary guys like this, it brings the best outta me,” he added. “I’ve been afraid of him all camp, and it’s just driven me to a new level.”
Soriano isn’t the only fighter who has those same reactions to the names that come across the table and will eventually stand on the other side of the Octagon, though most aren’t as willing to admit it as he is. Finding some way to make everyone seem genuinely scary feels like the ultimate cheat code, but for now, the 33-year-old is still trying to work on figuring that out and is thankful he doesn’t have to worry about it this time around.
“I’m still trying to figure that out,” he said when asked how to channel the anxiousness that comes with facing a fighter like Brahimaj, who carries a 100-percent finishing rate into Saturday’s contest. “Even when it came to my wrestling career in college, I either wrestled down or up to the level (of my competition). I don’t know why, but it would happen.