Jeff Molina Discusses Emotional Victory over Daniel Lacerda and Having His Father Cageside

In his second walkout under the Ultimate Fighting Championship banner, “El Jefe” (10-2, 2-0 UFC) added another victory to his record and did so emphatically, stopping Daniel Lacerda with punches 46 seconds into Round 2 of their bout at UFC Fight Night 196. The fact that his father was cageside made the victory even sweeter for the 24-year-old Glory MMA standout. Molina explained that his father is dealing with liver cancer and couldn’t be present for his Octagon debut at UFC 261. However, they had plenty to celebrate after this latest win, considering that the senior Molina’s health condition is slightly improving.

“He’s definitely better,” he said. “Not to get into too many details, but he’s still in pain a lot of the time, which is kind of a bummer and kind of sucks to see your dad in pain, but he’s better, and that’s what’s important. It was really, really cool to get to share this with him. He wanted to be at my debut pretty bad but obviously couldn’t because of medical reasons. For him, to be able to see his son compete in the UFC was really cool. He stressed that a lot in the last two days [in Las Vegas]. We got to hang out with my dad a little bit in Vegas and kind of do touristy things and eat some good food. It was really cool, man, it kind of meant the world to me. It’s awesome because my folks sacrificed so much for me in and out of this sport.”

Tudor Leonte started writing about mixed martial arts in 2013 for Italian media outlets. His journey with Sherdog began in 2018 and he now covers One Championship and countless European shows. You can follow him on Twitter @MrTudorLeonte.