UFC heavyweight Brendan Schaub is less than two weeks away from the biggest fight of his career at UFC 134. He will be taking on legend Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in Big Nog's home country, and believes that he can knock Nogueira out. He recently did an interview with Anton Gurevich of Lowkick.com where he addresses the fight, and the possibility of a title shot with a win. Here's what he thinks about Nogueira saying he's going to submit Schaub:
"That's part of the game. He's confident in his Jiu-Jitsu and he should be. He's one of the best in the world with Jiu-Jitsu, so in my opinion, there's no disrespect in anything he said. I'm very confident with my boxing, and he's confident in his grappling. So we'll see how it plays out and who's tougher."
On whether his main goal is to knock Nogueira out:
Yeah, obviously my best chance to knock him out. But at the same time too, I consider myself a Mixed Martial Artist. All my achievements as a fighter are not because I'm a good KO guy, but because I know how to put it all together. So like I said, it's going to be an MMA fight, and I'm ready for anything Nogueira will bring to the Octagon.
On a possible title shot with a win at UFC 134:
If I get a good "W" I think I'll be next in line for a title shot. Look, going out there to Brazil and beat Nogueira in his homeland is something that Cain, Frank Mir or Fedor never did. So yeah, I think that beating Nogueira in Brazil makes a pretty good argument for a title shot, not speaking about the fact that it's going to be my fifth consecutive victory.
And finally, his prediction for the fight:
I think Nogueira will have a tough time dealing with my speed. I'll knock him out in Round 2.
One other interesting point he makes is that he chose to fight Nogueira in Brazil. According to him, the UFC asked him to fight Nogueira in Denver (Schaub's hometown), but he'd rather take on Big Nog on his turf. That seems a little strange - why would the UFC ask Brendan Schuab to choose the location of the fight? You'd think Big Nog has a little more tenure.