Beltran admits he was battling octagon jitters and Rolles Gracie in Vegas

UFC heavyweight newcomer, Joey Beltran has admitted that it wasn’t only Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu ace, Rolles Gracie he was battling at UFC 109 this past weekend, saying he also had to contend with octagon jitters.

Speaking to MMAJunkie.com, Beltran said:

“I wasn't really fighting Rolles Gracie. I was fighting the event. I box way better than I did in that event. I had the jitters. (There's) no way he should have been able to hit me that cleanly. But it was like my feet were in concrete. It does affect you, the event and all the hype.”

“I was freaking out a bit backstage. I'm thinking to myself, 'What the hell is going on? I don't even have to do anything today.' But it's weird when you see all the fans and taste the crowd. I even had friends back home (who were watching the weigh-ins) saying I looked scared. It's just that (while) backstage, I felt like I was waiting forever.”

Beltran also spoke about the point in the fight when Gracie had his back and he was desperately trying to avoid the rear naked choke.

“After that (escape), my confidence went through the roof. I have a good sense of what's going on in my fights. I could see he was breathing hard and lunging forward with shots. I knew it was just a matter of time before he went down.”

“Right now, I'm just waiting for Joe Silva to tell me what he wants me to do. We'll go from there.”

Beltran received the call-up to the UFC after defeating recently cut Houston Alexander via second round TKO stoppage on January 16th. “The Mexicutioner” also holds a first round stoppage win over Sherman Pendergarst from his days with Bellator.

By Michael Pepper. (Follow me on Twitter)