Emily Whitmire’s first UFC win garnered headlines for one particular reason: her post-fight outburst, complete with profanities, directed at teammate Vinny Magalhaes. But “Spitfire” insists that hardly tells the story of her victory.

Whitmire recently spoke to MMAjunkie Radio, and while her post-fight frustration with Magalhaes proved most immediately interesting to the MMA world, the strawweight prospect said her UFC 226 performance will remain important to her for a very different reason.

Whitmire, a cast member on “The Ultimate Fighter 26,” lost her UFC debut to Gillian Robertson at The Ultimate Fighter 26 Finale this past December. After the loss, Whitmire naturally questioned what needed to change. Ultimately, she realized she simply needed to trust in her efforts.

The victory at UFC 226, she says, enforced that was the proper choice.

“I do think my fight with Gillian, I went out there, and I was performing, and I think I did just get caught up in something there,” Whitmire said. “That was kind of the fight where like, ‘This is a test.’

“I know that I put so much into that camp, and I felt so good mentally going in there, and so I think that was, like, kind of my test. Like, ‘OK, you’re at this point where you’re about to do really well, but we’re going to test you one more time and then see how that goes. So I just got right back in the gym right after that, and I just knew that that wasn’t like the end of the road for me, and I knew I had to get this win. Like, I wasn’t letting that go, especially on that card. I wanted to be on that card so bad. It just was my night. I knew it.”

To hear more from Whitmire, check out the video above.

For complete coverage of UFC 226, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

MMAjunkie Radio broadcasts Monday-Friday at 1 p.m. ET (10 a.m. PT) live from Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino’s Race & Sports Book. The show is hosted by “Gorgeous” George Garcia, Brian “Goze” Garcia and Dan Tom. For more information or to download past episodes, go to www.mmajunkie.com/radio.