He’s a left-handed and he used to fight at middleweight division, I think it’ll be his first fight on this division, so I’ll have an advantage on that matter. He seemed to be a good striker, but not that good. He’s a Judo guy, and he has never fought a top guy. I’m not underestimating him, I’m preparing myself as if I had a title fight.
On what he learned from the Story loss:
I’ve learned a lot from my last fight, I’ll never let it go to the judges ever again. It took me a long time to start fighting, but I’ve learned what I had to learn, I’ve seen it all. Now I only have to trust my talent and on my team and go for it. I’ll try to knock him out or submit all opponents from now on. I’ll be aggressive again.
Finally, the question might have just lost something in the translation, but the bluntness of it made me laugh:
You don’t knockout since your bout against Matt Hughes. Why can’t you do it anymore?
I used to fight with nothing to lose. I had no worries whatsoever, I just fought to have fun, but when you reach a certain level you have to worry more, you start focusing on your future and forget about the present. But it’s all learning. I have really high expectations, I want to be one of the biggest champions and I have to go through all of this to learn and mature. I have no excuses, no I have to work hard and go for it.
He also discussed his place in the welterweight division, and what he thinks will happen in the Georges St. Pierre vs. Nick Diaz fight at UFC 137. You can check out the whole interview here.I used to fight with nothing to lose. I had no worries whatsoever, I just fought to have fun, but when you reach a certain level you have to worry more, you start focusing on your future and forget about the present. But it’s all learning. I have really high expectations, I want to be one of the biggest champions and I have to go through all of this to learn and mature. I have no excuses, no I have to work hard and go for it.