CHICAGO – Chris De La Rocha was able to finish Rashad Coulter and secure his first UFC win, but it took dealing with some adversity both in the UFC 225 clash and in the months that came before it.

“He caught me good in the first round, and there was a little bit of – the anxiety kind of set in,” De La Rocha told reporters, including MMAjunkie, backstage at United Center in Chicago. “My arms got heavy really fast. I guess that’s what you call ring rust. But I’ve been training really hard. I’ve been trying to get back into shape after rupturing my bicep tendon.

“I was just coming back, trying to get as strong as I could – and as well-conditioned as I could, but you can’t simulate real-fight in practice.”

De La Rocha said he suffered the bicep injury about 18 or 24 months ago as he was preparing to come back. The heavyweight was sparring, threw a left hook, and then pop – and it “rolled up like a window shade.” His arm stiffened up after a few months, and De La Rocha eventually went to the UFC Performance Institute to rehab.

Despite the setbacks, De La Rocha (5-2 MMA, 1-2 UFC) was able to do what he had to en route to a second-round TKO win over Coulter (8-4 MMA, 0-3 UFC). And while the heavyweight brawl didn’t make for a particularly picturesque sight, it made for a crowd-pleasing one on Saturday’s FS1-televised preliminary card.

And you have De La Rocha’s “Mexican style” to thank for that.

“My mom and my wife hate it, but that’s my boxing coach, Rudy. He goes, ‘You’re a Mexican, man. All we know is going forward,” De La Rocha said.  “I guess it’s who I am.”

It appears De La Rocha wasn’t exactly offended when his opponent’s corners pointed out that a knockout would be unlikely given the fact he was a “big old Mexican with a big old head” (via Twitter):

“That’s it,” De La Rocha said with a smile. “That’s what my coach and I talked about. I’m a Mexican with a big head. Growing up, my uncles used to call me ‘Fat Head.’ I’ve got a cinder block on top of my shoulders. My grandfather, he was a football player – on my mom’s side – and he played for USC and stuff. We’re just a hard-headed family.”

It was a weight off his shoulders, but curiously enough, De La Rocha’s first UFC win may end up being his last MMA bout. At 39, the fighter has his own gym and is currently attending school to become an EMT and firefighter, and he soon might be gearing his focus exclusively to those.

“I know my window is kind of on the end,” De La Rocha said. “For me, I never even had the goal of making it to the UFC. Hey, I’ve been here, now I won, and that makes it even better.”

De La Rocha isn’t prepared to say yes or not to a possible retirement right now, since his future also depends on what happens outside the cage, but he said Saturday’s bout “could be” the last time we’ve seen him in there.

And while the fact it ended well makes it easier for him to say goodbye, it doesn’t mean that it won’t be hard.

“It’s definitely tough, because it’s kind of in my blood,” De La Rocha said. “Competition is in my blood. I love competing. Actually, I love training more than I do competing, to be honest. I love the grind of the training, that mental battle.”

For complete coverage of UFC 225, check out the UFC Events section of the site.