With the Armenian crowd behind him, Shahbazyan stayed patient, chipped away with calf kicks and nearly found the finish before turning his attention toward whatever the UFC has for him next.

“It’s amazing. The only place I wanted to fight in LA would have been the Crypto Arena, and you saw the turnout with Armenians, they’re always coming out to support and I’m just blessed,” Shahbazyan told reporters including Cageside Press at his post-fight scrum.

“But I think I put on a pretty good fight, a systematic fight for them, and almost got the finish in the end. I’ll be celebrating with them tonight.”

Shahbazyan expected Ferreira to come out firing, but instead found himself dealing with a much more patient and defensive approach. Looking back, he felt he could’ve let his hands go more early, but the calf kicks helped him chip away until Ferreira had to start taking more chances.

“I wanted him to come a little crazier in the beginning. I didn’t expect him to be so like defensive, but it worked out for the better I think,” he said.

“I should have thrown a little more hands in the beginning of the fight, but I was touching him up with the calf kicks, adding things up, and he was desperate in the third round. He wanted to come a little crazy, and then he also got that time off with the eye poke.”

“I don’t know if end of the year, probably early next year I’ll get something, just cuz I took two fights back to back this year,” said Shahbazyan.

“We’ll see what happens, but either way I like being active.”