realkaps
11-08-2003, 09:36 PM
From Tatame....
There were rumors that Cro-Crop will fight against Fedor, but the Russian got injured and you´ve got scheduled to face the Croatian. What do you think about this?
That´s good, because he´s a guy who´s hot at the moment, he has been doing good fights and against good opponenst. I was waiting to fight with him last August, but he didn´t want to fight with me, I don´t know if that was due to him or due to his managers, so that match were not scheduled for August. I´d rather fight with him now because I could train more, I´ve got more rhythm for fighting. I´m leaner, with more rhythm and technique, I think I can win this match, I will bring him to ground and once there I believe I can take it.
And how´s your preparation?
I always train boxing, wrestling, I´ve been training with, well, I have 4 … sparring partners. It´s hard to find someone with his skills, but I´ve been asking and making my partners to hit me more with their left leg, since it´s his strongest kick. I make them also hit me with the right on top, lots of hitting, try to simulate a bit of his game when he falls down to the ground, I think that´s his weakest point and I will attack on this side as well.
You have been training boxe with Luis Cláudio, Acelino Popó´s brother. Tell us a bit about this training.
He´s a good guy, who came and helped me at the beginning of my training, he controls my whole training, and now at the end, Popó had to travel to fight with Casamayor and he coudn´t come here to stay with me, but I´ve been to Bahia 2 times last month and I trained real hard with him. He´s a good guy, he´s teaching the way to cut off the ring and how to fight against a striker like Cro Cop.
And if you beat Cro-Cop, will you fight against Fedor right after that?
That´s what I´m planning, him and Cro-Cop are two of the best fighters nowadays like I am, as well, and if it happens we will decide it next year about who owns the belt.
And in your opinion, who are the TOPS in this category?
I like Tim Sylvia since he´s a fighter who goes for it, who wants to tangle. I like Pedro Rizzo because he´s more technical and with more resources than Tim Sylvia and Frank Mir, who is a very refined ground Mir is not as good standing, I think that n the fighter has to do it all, the heavyweight has to be a banger until he reachs the ground.
What do you expect from Wanderlei Silva in the Grand Prix?
I´ve seen some of his matches and I think he´s a good stand up fighter and at this point I consider him better than the other three, I don´t know about his ground game, but standing he´s very good. He has all the tools to beat Yoshida and fight against Quinton Jackson or Chuck Liddell. They will be a bit tired, because that will be a very tough match, so, he has the right window of opportunity to become the winner. I think he´s the favorite, surely.
Murilo is going to fight against Dan Henderson. What do you expect from this match?
It will be a good match for Murilo to prove he has come to Pride in order to stay. Murilo is one of the most technical fighters in the category of middleweights, he´s a guy who knows how to punch, has good ideas about boxing. About his ground game, no comments, he´s a legend in Jiu-jitsu, he knows a lot. I was happy this year watching Murilo enter the Pride ring, because it´s not very usual to watch someone like him, a very technical fighter, on stage.
And what about your brother Rogério, he was going to fight in Korea, but they´ve postponed the event …
The event were postponed and he still has an arm a bit injured. He had a surgery on his elbow, he was recovering when he had to do another surgery, so he was on recovering, but they postponed the event, so I think he will fight next year. That´s good because he will have enough time to get completely recovered from the surgery. Last year he did 6 matches with his elbow injured, so he forced it a lot and I think that in certain way the athlete must try to spare himself, sometimes the managers use us way much, that´s good for us, we can´t deny, we´re fighting, it´s good for our ego, for our curriculum, but there´s a time we must be intelligent and think we gotta give it a break. See Fedor, he wasn´t feeling ok to fight, he got an injury to his finger and due to that, he postponed the match. I fought once with my back injured but I now know we must spare ourselves.
What´s the ideal number of matches in a year?
3 matches at most 4. You can´t play 4 tough matches in a year, at most 3 tough matches.
Your friend Pedro Rizzo will face Ricco Rodrigues on UFC 45 and you have already fought against the american. Do you have any tip you could give to Rizzo?
Ricco is a fighter who moves in the ring very well, runs, walks from side to side. Sometimes he pretends he´s going to accept your standup game, he stays exchanging punches for enough time in order to run over the opponent´s legs and throw him to the ground. I think that Pedro Rizzo must pay attention on his sprawls. Pedro Rizzo must work a lot on the fence, he knows all that, he´s conscious about it, he might have studied his tape. This match was announced since a time ago, and Pedro Rizzo went to Japan to give me some tips for my match against Ricco. I believe Rizzo will take the victory, and if he gets free in ring and plays well, he will won by knockout.
Now to finish, do you want to say something to your fans?
There are a lot of people who will get up early in order to be check on your match through the internet. I´ve been training, whoever gets up early to see the broadcast I say it´s gonna worth it, because I´ve been training very hard. I trained last Sunday and on this one too, I´ve been training from Sunday to Sunday, I´ve got a goal, and I think that my will, my will to win is returning. There are phases that the athlete is on top and forgets a bit about his training, without realizing you get lazy, and now I want to win, and I´m not lazy. I´ve been training tons and I´m focused with this goal of winning. The one who gets up early will see a very interesting match, I´m confident I can take this match and choke that guy out.
There were rumors that Cro-Crop will fight against Fedor, but the Russian got injured and you´ve got scheduled to face the Croatian. What do you think about this?
That´s good, because he´s a guy who´s hot at the moment, he has been doing good fights and against good opponenst. I was waiting to fight with him last August, but he didn´t want to fight with me, I don´t know if that was due to him or due to his managers, so that match were not scheduled for August. I´d rather fight with him now because I could train more, I´ve got more rhythm for fighting. I´m leaner, with more rhythm and technique, I think I can win this match, I will bring him to ground and once there I believe I can take it.
And how´s your preparation?
I always train boxing, wrestling, I´ve been training with, well, I have 4 … sparring partners. It´s hard to find someone with his skills, but I´ve been asking and making my partners to hit me more with their left leg, since it´s his strongest kick. I make them also hit me with the right on top, lots of hitting, try to simulate a bit of his game when he falls down to the ground, I think that´s his weakest point and I will attack on this side as well.
You have been training boxe with Luis Cláudio, Acelino Popó´s brother. Tell us a bit about this training.
He´s a good guy, who came and helped me at the beginning of my training, he controls my whole training, and now at the end, Popó had to travel to fight with Casamayor and he coudn´t come here to stay with me, but I´ve been to Bahia 2 times last month and I trained real hard with him. He´s a good guy, he´s teaching the way to cut off the ring and how to fight against a striker like Cro Cop.
And if you beat Cro-Cop, will you fight against Fedor right after that?
That´s what I´m planning, him and Cro-Cop are two of the best fighters nowadays like I am, as well, and if it happens we will decide it next year about who owns the belt.
And in your opinion, who are the TOPS in this category?
I like Tim Sylvia since he´s a fighter who goes for it, who wants to tangle. I like Pedro Rizzo because he´s more technical and with more resources than Tim Sylvia and Frank Mir, who is a very refined ground Mir is not as good standing, I think that n the fighter has to do it all, the heavyweight has to be a banger until he reachs the ground.
What do you expect from Wanderlei Silva in the Grand Prix?
I´ve seen some of his matches and I think he´s a good stand up fighter and at this point I consider him better than the other three, I don´t know about his ground game, but standing he´s very good. He has all the tools to beat Yoshida and fight against Quinton Jackson or Chuck Liddell. They will be a bit tired, because that will be a very tough match, so, he has the right window of opportunity to become the winner. I think he´s the favorite, surely.
Murilo is going to fight against Dan Henderson. What do you expect from this match?
It will be a good match for Murilo to prove he has come to Pride in order to stay. Murilo is one of the most technical fighters in the category of middleweights, he´s a guy who knows how to punch, has good ideas about boxing. About his ground game, no comments, he´s a legend in Jiu-jitsu, he knows a lot. I was happy this year watching Murilo enter the Pride ring, because it´s not very usual to watch someone like him, a very technical fighter, on stage.
And what about your brother Rogério, he was going to fight in Korea, but they´ve postponed the event …
The event were postponed and he still has an arm a bit injured. He had a surgery on his elbow, he was recovering when he had to do another surgery, so he was on recovering, but they postponed the event, so I think he will fight next year. That´s good because he will have enough time to get completely recovered from the surgery. Last year he did 6 matches with his elbow injured, so he forced it a lot and I think that in certain way the athlete must try to spare himself, sometimes the managers use us way much, that´s good for us, we can´t deny, we´re fighting, it´s good for our ego, for our curriculum, but there´s a time we must be intelligent and think we gotta give it a break. See Fedor, he wasn´t feeling ok to fight, he got an injury to his finger and due to that, he postponed the match. I fought once with my back injured but I now know we must spare ourselves.
What´s the ideal number of matches in a year?
3 matches at most 4. You can´t play 4 tough matches in a year, at most 3 tough matches.
Your friend Pedro Rizzo will face Ricco Rodrigues on UFC 45 and you have already fought against the american. Do you have any tip you could give to Rizzo?
Ricco is a fighter who moves in the ring very well, runs, walks from side to side. Sometimes he pretends he´s going to accept your standup game, he stays exchanging punches for enough time in order to run over the opponent´s legs and throw him to the ground. I think that Pedro Rizzo must pay attention on his sprawls. Pedro Rizzo must work a lot on the fence, he knows all that, he´s conscious about it, he might have studied his tape. This match was announced since a time ago, and Pedro Rizzo went to Japan to give me some tips for my match against Ricco. I believe Rizzo will take the victory, and if he gets free in ring and plays well, he will won by knockout.
Now to finish, do you want to say something to your fans?
There are a lot of people who will get up early in order to be check on your match through the internet. I´ve been training, whoever gets up early to see the broadcast I say it´s gonna worth it, because I´ve been training very hard. I trained last Sunday and on this one too, I´ve been training from Sunday to Sunday, I´ve got a goal, and I think that my will, my will to win is returning. There are phases that the athlete is on top and forgets a bit about his training, without realizing you get lazy, and now I want to win, and I´m not lazy. I´ve been training tons and I´m focused with this goal of winning. The one who gets up early will see a very interesting match, I´m confident I can take this match and choke that guy out.