One of the toughest guys in UFC witnessed the best fight of 2011 against Frankie Edgar it’s the lightweight Gray Maynard, who came to Rio de Janeiro exclusively to help the featherweight Jose Aldo. When he heard the Brazilian would fight Chad Mendes, Maynard offered himself to help Aldo at Wrestling and arrived on Wednesday (21st) at the Wonderful City, where he intends to stay for three weeks. The fighter trained with Jose Aldo and went through a hard to take the Brazilian down. “He knows how to defend the takedowns very well, I trained with him and it was hard for me to take him down. I can tell you he doesn’t need my help all that much, he’s pretty good at this”, guaranteed. Check below the exclusive interview with the fighter, who guaranteed Chad Mendes won’t be able to defeat the champion, Jose Aldo.
How did you end up here at Nova Uniao?
Me and Jose Aldo met few times at UFC’s backstage. But it was at UFC 136 I met him at the pre-fight press conference. I like the way he fights, and I have always admired him as a person and a fighter. He has always been nice to me and when I knew he’s fight Chad Mendes I offered him some help and he said he’d be grateful. Jose Aldo is a great guy and that’s how I end up here. I arrived yesterday and went straight to the Jiu-Jitsu classes and it was really good.
How was training with so many tough guys on the same mat?
Everybody’s helping me, this is a wonderful place and I want to help the champion a lot during these three weeks. The train is good around here, there are guys with completely different styles and you can tell how talented they are. It’s impressive how such a small room can fill so many great guys, there’re many tough guys from Amazonas, you can tell just by the look in their eyes they really love training and fighting. They are friendly and really are there to help you.
Could you tell how Jose Aldo’s takedown defenses are?
He knows how to defend the takedowns very well, I trained with him and it was hard for me to take him down. But actually I’ll stay for a short period of time, so he knows what he knows, he knows what he gotta do, but we’ve watched many of his fights and I can tell you he doesn’t need my help all that much, he’s pretty good at this. I’m just here to push him and help him with the little things and, if I’m able to, cooperate. I’ll try to tell him about my experience at college at Wrestling.
What are your thoughts about Aldo VS. Mendes? Do you believe Mendes has chances?
The way I see it, Chad Mendes is a great athlete, a very mature kid, but honestly I don’t believe he’s ready to fight Jose Aldo. I think it’s too soon, he needed to fight few more times, but well… I’m not the one to decide that, it’s just my opinion on the subject. Jose Aldo is a great champion, you can tell he feels comfortable at the cage and it seems he does what he wants to do in there. He’s an impressive guy a while now I’ll do whatever it is I can do to help him out. It’s a pleasure training with a guy that talented. I can only say “thank you, Jose Aldo”.
How did you end up here at Nova Uniao?
Me and Jose Aldo met few times at UFC’s backstage. But it was at UFC 136 I met him at the pre-fight press conference. I like the way he fights, and I have always admired him as a person and a fighter. He has always been nice to me and when I knew he’s fight Chad Mendes I offered him some help and he said he’d be grateful. Jose Aldo is a great guy and that’s how I end up here. I arrived yesterday and went straight to the Jiu-Jitsu classes and it was really good.
How was training with so many tough guys on the same mat?
Everybody’s helping me, this is a wonderful place and I want to help the champion a lot during these three weeks. The train is good around here, there are guys with completely different styles and you can tell how talented they are. It’s impressive how such a small room can fill so many great guys, there’re many tough guys from Amazonas, you can tell just by the look in their eyes they really love training and fighting. They are friendly and really are there to help you.
Could you tell how Jose Aldo’s takedown defenses are?
He knows how to defend the takedowns very well, I trained with him and it was hard for me to take him down. But actually I’ll stay for a short period of time, so he knows what he knows, he knows what he gotta do, but we’ve watched many of his fights and I can tell you he doesn’t need my help all that much, he’s pretty good at this. I’m just here to push him and help him with the little things and, if I’m able to, cooperate. I’ll try to tell him about my experience at college at Wrestling.
What are your thoughts about Aldo VS. Mendes? Do you believe Mendes has chances?
The way I see it, Chad Mendes is a great athlete, a very mature kid, but honestly I don’t believe he’s ready to fight Jose Aldo. I think it’s too soon, he needed to fight few more times, but well… I’m not the one to decide that, it’s just my opinion on the subject. Jose Aldo is a great champion, you can tell he feels comfortable at the cage and it seems he does what he wants to do in there. He’s an impressive guy a while now I’ll do whatever it is I can do to help him out. It’s a pleasure training with a guy that talented. I can only say “thank you, Jose Aldo”.