William Gomis says no chance he was tapping to Francis Marshall's chokes: 'I prefer to die'

LAS VEGAS – William Gomis’s determination to leave victorious in his return to the octagon was high, to say the least.

The UFC featherweight defeated Francis Marshall by split decision at Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 222 preliminary card at the UFC Apex. That result was put in jeopardy in the final seconds of the fight, as Marshall (7-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) attempted two chokes on Gomis (12-2 MMA, 2-0 UFC) that appeared very tight.

Gomis was able to escape from both, but he says they came close to putting him out.

“My God, the first thing I thought was, ‘I’m dying,'” Gomis told reporters at the UFC Fight Night 222 post-fight press conference. “I can’t give up. That’s my mentality. I prefer to die. I told myself, ‘Let’s go. Let’s go.'”

Gomis doesn’t think the fight went exactly as planned, but he is happy with the end result, which put him on a 10-fight winning streak.

“Good performance, it was an easy win,” Gomis said. “I had a good plan with my coach, and the plan didn’t work in the third round. The third round was very hard, but it worked.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 222.