Adun
Sherdog.com: After defeating Takanori Gomi (Pictures), how was the response for you?
Marcus Aurelio: Man, you have no idea how happy I am. f***, I’m f***ing happy. You know. I’m feeling great because I said before the fight that I am going to do that, and I will do, and I did. So I trained hard for the fight. I did a lot of strategy. So, my teammates, they help me a lot. I put everything together, you know, and it worked. I beat the guy.
Sherdog.com: How long did you train for Gomi?
Aurelio: Four weeks. They told me about the fight four weeks before. I didn’t have enough time, but it was good. I used the time right and I did good.
Sherdog.com: As soon as you learned about the fight, what were the first steps you took?
Aurelio: I started to train. Right after I started to train and we got all his tapes of his fights and make a strategy. And I said, f***, I have four weeks. I gotta get in better shape, gotta improve physical condition and boxing, to keep my hands up and make me work good in the ring. The main point is I gotta put my jiu-jitsu better and better and better. I know I could submit this guy on the ground; his ground sucks. And that’s what I did. I did a lot of jiu-jitsu. Everyday I did a lot of jiu-jitsu drills, a lot of repetitions. That’s why I felt good on the ground, you know.
Sherdog.com: When you’re seeing the tapes of him and preparing for the fight, you’re game plan is to take him down and use your jiu-jitsu?
Aurelio: Yeah, that’s what I thought. I thought I know I can exchange punches but I know he has a better level of boxing. He knocked a lot of good guys out. But I knew, man, I can change. I can support that. I can give him good shots, too. I know my boxing is good too; I can hit hard, you know. So I’m not going to be like crazy, because he likes to knock you out and then you go crazy. And I said no, I’m going to wait him and he’s going to be pissed because he always waits for people to come and then he goes. And I said no, f*** that. I’m going to wait for him to come. If he comes to my distance I’m going to punch him, and I’m going to make him feel like “f***, he’s dangerous too." I had to make him feel like I’m dangerous too. If he comes in I’m going to punch hard, maybe I can knock him out if he gives me the chance. But if he gives me the chance I’m going to take him down and go to the ground because that’s my game.
Sherdog.com: You finished him with an arm-triangle choke. Did you see when you were preparing, like watching tape, that you could catch him with that choke?
Aurelio: Yeah. That was one of the opportunities that I saw. You know, like I said, his ground is not so good so he does a lot of mistakes. That was one of the mistakes. He always gives the kata-gatame.
Sherdog.com: Why do you think you were successful at finishing with that when others were not?
Aurelio: You know what I think the difference was: I was completely confident. I think he felt this in the beginning of the fight. When I gave him the takedown I thought he was done. I gave him a strong takedown and right away I started to pass, go to the half-guard and start to punch. He was breathing [heavy]. And I said he’s gonna have a hard time now. That fight made me strong. The strong takedown, the work on the ground — half-guard, punching, punching — and I saw he was moving wrong. He doesn’t know what to do. I said man, this was a good time for a submission. He gonna give me something, because I work on my submission a lot. I had a lot of submission to give to him.
Sherdog.com: I don’t know if you saw his comments after the fight, but he was asked what the reason for his loss was, and he said he didn’t train enough. Do you think that’s fair or is he making excuses?
Aurelio: He’s making excuses, man. How the No. 1 guy — he knows everyone is going after his head. How is he not going to train for this fight? If he did this, it’s a big mistake. Bad for him. I don’t think so. I don’t think so. You know what happened? I put him in a different world, you know what I mean. Different planet. So that’s why he felt like shit. Because every guy when he goes to the ring against Gomi he wants to have big balls and prove to the world he can beat Gomi by punch. Sometimes that’s stupid. I’m going to go there to prove how good I am in my game. Man if I need to go punch against everyone, I will do. I train to f***ing box everyday. Muay Thai. I know I have a [high] level too. But, you know, strike is a strike. Did you see Azeredo and Hansen? Azeredo was doing good. He got knocked out. Stupid. If he does a right game he can beat the guy. He can punch, do a nice strike and then take him down and punch him on the ground. Work the ground. But he wanted to do a big show. He wanted to show everyone “Hey, I’m f***ing tough. I have big balls." I prefer to go like that. I can show I can be tough too and submit guys on the ground like “Minotauro" does. Nobody can say “Minotauro" doesn’t have big balls. People sometimes think stupid. f***. Wanderlei has a big balls. Why? Just because he exchange punches? f***, I know he’s tough, but not because he exchanges punches. [It’s] because Wanderlei, if he needs to fight on the ground, he’ll go fight there too. That’s why I think Wanderlei has big balls, not just because he’s crazy and exchanges punches against everyone. f*** that. Everyone can do that. Everyone can be a crazy bitch: “OK man, I don’t care if he knocks me out." Man, I don’t care if he knocks me out when I’m doing what I have to do. OK. But if he knocks me out because I want to prove to everybody that I’m a f***ing bad boy and don’t go to the ground, I’m going to feel stupid.
Sherdog.com: A lot of people don’t know about the ZST Grand Prix that you won. Your success in that tournament and going to Japan and winning something like that, did that prepare you mentally to succeed against someone like Gomi?
Aurelio: Of course. Fighting in ZST helped me a lot because I did three fights in one night and had a bunch of tough guys there. That night I beat Imanari, Morkevicius, another tough guy, and in the end I beat Clementi. Another tough guy. So in the end of the night I had no injury. Like last time against Gomi, I had no injury. Was nice for me, ZST, because it gave me a better head, stronger mind to support some situations like me and Gomi. I had a lot of pressure. Ninety-point-nine percent were for Gomi to win, and zero-point-one percent for Marcus. And I said f*** that. f*** Gomi. f*** everybody. Man, I’m going to beat this motherf***er. I don't give a shit what people are talking. You know, I know how good I am. I know I’m tough. f*** that. And I started to be confident. Like that night in ZST I thought the same shit. “f***, I’m here in Japan. I have a bunch of tough guys to fight, but it’s a lot of money. I need this money. I need to help my family. I need this money." And I put this goal, “I don’t give a shit if someone knocks me out, breaks my face, I’m going to win." It made me strong.
Sherdog.com: Do you now feel you’re the No. 1 160-pound-and-under fighter in the world?
Aurelio: Yeah, I feel it. I really feel. He was No. 1 already. He proved that. He beat the shit out of everybody. I beat him, so now I know I’m ready to fight against everyone in PRIDE. I know this. My last two fights I didn’t do so good because … I had some problems before. My head was not so good my last two times when I fought against Nakao and [Nakamura]. But now everything is nice in my life. My head is good. So I know I have enough skills to beat everyone. I’m confident because I train a lot.
Sherdog.com: This was a non-title fight. Has PRIDE told you when you’d fight for a title?
Aurelio: No, they didn’t tell me yet. But I talked to them and told them I wanted a f***ing rematch. I want this belt. So tell me when. I’m excited for that.
Sherdog.com: You said that last time no one picked you to win. What’s it going to be like this time, either as the favorite against Gomi or will people look it as an even fight? Does that change the pressure at all for you?
Aurelio: Man, I think this time it will be minimum 50-50. Now, I don’t know. People in Brazil will say Marcus Aurelio will win, 70 for me and 30 for him. I think. But you know, I don’t like to hear this shit because sometimes you look for this and people say what they want to say. Sometimes I don’t like to go to the Internet and see this. Like last time I went to the Internet before the fight, everyone said Marcus is going to lose, he has no chance. I said f*** that, I don’t want to sit in front of the computer anymore. But people are going to say what they want to say. I hope everybody likes my fights and I hope people say I’m going to win. It’s going to be a good fight for me. Good energy.
Sherdog.com: Marcus, how old are you?
Aurelio: I’m 32.
Sherdog.com: So you’ve been doing this for a while now. Things are starting to pay off.
Aurelio: Yeah. You know, MMA, professionally, I’ve been doing just for four years. That’s why I think American Top Team is the best team because everything we made, we made in four years. Four years ago I started to do MMA and now I beat the No. 1. We’re working good here. We’re working hard here. So I’m feeling good for this.
Sherdog.com: You started when you were 28. How did you come about stepping into the ring for the first time?
Aurelio: I fought a lot of time jiu-jitsu, and jiu-jitsu doesn’t give you good money. I came here because Dan (Lambert) invited me to come. He said, “Hey, I’m going to open a gym. We’re going to start doing MMA. You have good skills on the ground. You have good wrestling. So you have to start doing MMA. What do you think?" I said, “I think this is awesome. I like this, I want to do it." He said, “Come here and you’re going to have big support. I’m going to start a team." And then I started. I moved to America and started.
Sherdog.com: I want to talk about your two losses. The first to Antonio McKee (Pictures). I think I was actually there for that fight. That was at Soboba Casino in California.
Aurelio: Yeah, I got f***ed in that fight. I didn’t fight good, but I didn’t lose that fight. That fight sucked, I know. But I didn’t lose. He didn’t win either. So he was in his hometown. Everybody was for him.
Sherdog.com: And against Dokonjonosuke Mishima (Pictures), that was a very competitive fight. The decision was a split decision. Do you feel that you won that fight, or did you deserve to lose?
Aurelio: No, I didn’t lose. Let me tell you why. I had a big problem at that time with PRIDE. When I went there we had a big problem because of the weight. His manager, he made a deal with my manager. They said the weight is going to be 73 kilos. I said, “OK, no problem. Just let me know the weight." When I got there the day of the weigh-in I made 72.9 and the guy said I was 2.9 kilos over. My manager started to talk with his manager and his manager said “No, the deal was 70." They started talking a lot of shit. I told my manager I had to go to the hotel. I gotta drink. I gotta eat. She said, “OK go to the hotel. I’m going to fix this … You can eat, no problem." They said no, I have to go back in one hour and drop one more kilo. I said OK, I will do. And I went to the gym again and dropped one more kilo and I made 72. And Mishima’s manager said, “No, no. You gotta do 70." I said, “f*** you man. I’m tired of this shit." I told [my manager] I’m going to the hotel. She said, “OK. Go there, I’ll fix this." I told her I’m going to eat and she’s got to fix this, it’s not my fault. I ate and drank. Then I was 76, 77 (kilos). Around 9 o’clock at night Liborio came to my room and said, “We have a big problem. Mishima said he won’t fight against you tomorrow because you didn’t make the weight. He’s out." And I started to cry. f*** that, I wanted to fight. It was the first time in PRIDE. I said I’ll do whatever he wants me to do. f*** man, please. Liborio said, “No man, for me you’re not going to fight." I started to cry again. I wanted to fight. I said I could drop the weight again. I got crazy. I started to drop the f***ing weight and they said OK. PRIDE brought the scale to the room next to mine like 9:30 at night. I started again. I was 77 kilos. I put everything — the plastic bags, the clothes — and started to run. f***, I made 70 kilos. I finished at 4 a.m. When I finished the f***ing weight, I said, “f***. I’m f***ed up. Like shit, man. I’m f***ing tired. After 4 o’clock I went to eat something and I slept like at 5 o’clock and I had to wake up at 9:30, 10 o’clock. When I woke up Liborio asked me how I’m feeling. I said, “Man, I’m feeling like I took a f***ing six-pack of Corona." I was angry with Mishima. I was like man, I’m going to kill this motherf***er. I lost my mind, lost my goal. “No, no, you cannot be angry. You gotta have your head right." f*** that man. If I see him in the street I’m going to drop a f***ing chair on his head. f*** man, he’s a motherf***er. I was angry bro. That’s why I think I lost that fight, because I gave him a head butt. I put the head in his belly and the referee, the f***ing referee gave me a yellow card. That’s why I lost that shit. But I think I did OK. I don’t give excuse. He was better at the moment of the fight. You know he doesn’t want to give me the rematch because he knows what’s going to happen.
Sherdog.com: People talk about Vitor Ribeiro as the best Brazilian jiu-jitsu lightweight in the world. Do you think you’re better than him?
Aurelio: He’s not the best lightweight. Why is he the best? Man, he’s not better than me in jiu-jitsu. Probably we are the same level, but he’s not better than me.
Sherdog.com: Would you fight him?
Aurelio: Yeah, of course. He’s my friend, but f*** that. People talk. I know he’s tough. “Shaolin" is a tough guy. But I know we are the same level on the ground. He is not that much better. He is not the best guy at this weight on the ground. He’s gonna do the same ground like me. And my skill in the guard is better than his skill. I do a better guard than him; I know this.
Sherdog.com: How important is it for you to prove your win over Gomi wasn’t a fluke?
Aurelio: That’s why I want a rematch. I want to prove again. A rematch is so important for me now, man. I can guarantee that belt for myself. And then I can prove everybody that it was not luck. Now, it’s going to be a big time for me. I’m going to train more and more and do whatever I need to do. I will prove this. I just couldn’t prove it yet. My last two fights before Gomi, that wasn’t so good. That was me in that time. But if you see me fight in ZST, I fought good and I got a lot of improvement since then. So I know, I know I can be where I am. I can hold this. I want to fight against Gomi again, prove that and then start to fight everyone. Every tough guy, I’m excited to fight them. I want to fight against Hansen. I want to fight against Sakurai. “Shaolin" … I can’t talk about him because he’s in another association. But, the guys from PRIDE, man I want to fight against all those guys.
Marcus Aurelio: Man, you have no idea how happy I am. f***, I’m f***ing happy. You know. I’m feeling great because I said before the fight that I am going to do that, and I will do, and I did. So I trained hard for the fight. I did a lot of strategy. So, my teammates, they help me a lot. I put everything together, you know, and it worked. I beat the guy.
Sherdog.com: How long did you train for Gomi?
Aurelio: Four weeks. They told me about the fight four weeks before. I didn’t have enough time, but it was good. I used the time right and I did good.
Sherdog.com: As soon as you learned about the fight, what were the first steps you took?
Aurelio: I started to train. Right after I started to train and we got all his tapes of his fights and make a strategy. And I said, f***, I have four weeks. I gotta get in better shape, gotta improve physical condition and boxing, to keep my hands up and make me work good in the ring. The main point is I gotta put my jiu-jitsu better and better and better. I know I could submit this guy on the ground; his ground sucks. And that’s what I did. I did a lot of jiu-jitsu. Everyday I did a lot of jiu-jitsu drills, a lot of repetitions. That’s why I felt good on the ground, you know.
Sherdog.com: When you’re seeing the tapes of him and preparing for the fight, you’re game plan is to take him down and use your jiu-jitsu?
Aurelio: Yeah, that’s what I thought. I thought I know I can exchange punches but I know he has a better level of boxing. He knocked a lot of good guys out. But I knew, man, I can change. I can support that. I can give him good shots, too. I know my boxing is good too; I can hit hard, you know. So I’m not going to be like crazy, because he likes to knock you out and then you go crazy. And I said no, I’m going to wait him and he’s going to be pissed because he always waits for people to come and then he goes. And I said no, f*** that. I’m going to wait for him to come. If he comes to my distance I’m going to punch him, and I’m going to make him feel like “f***, he’s dangerous too." I had to make him feel like I’m dangerous too. If he comes in I’m going to punch hard, maybe I can knock him out if he gives me the chance. But if he gives me the chance I’m going to take him down and go to the ground because that’s my game.
Sherdog.com: You finished him with an arm-triangle choke. Did you see when you were preparing, like watching tape, that you could catch him with that choke?
Aurelio: Yeah. That was one of the opportunities that I saw. You know, like I said, his ground is not so good so he does a lot of mistakes. That was one of the mistakes. He always gives the kata-gatame.
Sherdog.com: Why do you think you were successful at finishing with that when others were not?
Aurelio: You know what I think the difference was: I was completely confident. I think he felt this in the beginning of the fight. When I gave him the takedown I thought he was done. I gave him a strong takedown and right away I started to pass, go to the half-guard and start to punch. He was breathing [heavy]. And I said he’s gonna have a hard time now. That fight made me strong. The strong takedown, the work on the ground — half-guard, punching, punching — and I saw he was moving wrong. He doesn’t know what to do. I said man, this was a good time for a submission. He gonna give me something, because I work on my submission a lot. I had a lot of submission to give to him.
Sherdog.com: I don’t know if you saw his comments after the fight, but he was asked what the reason for his loss was, and he said he didn’t train enough. Do you think that’s fair or is he making excuses?
Aurelio: He’s making excuses, man. How the No. 1 guy — he knows everyone is going after his head. How is he not going to train for this fight? If he did this, it’s a big mistake. Bad for him. I don’t think so. I don’t think so. You know what happened? I put him in a different world, you know what I mean. Different planet. So that’s why he felt like shit. Because every guy when he goes to the ring against Gomi he wants to have big balls and prove to the world he can beat Gomi by punch. Sometimes that’s stupid. I’m going to go there to prove how good I am in my game. Man if I need to go punch against everyone, I will do. I train to f***ing box everyday. Muay Thai. I know I have a [high] level too. But, you know, strike is a strike. Did you see Azeredo and Hansen? Azeredo was doing good. He got knocked out. Stupid. If he does a right game he can beat the guy. He can punch, do a nice strike and then take him down and punch him on the ground. Work the ground. But he wanted to do a big show. He wanted to show everyone “Hey, I’m f***ing tough. I have big balls." I prefer to go like that. I can show I can be tough too and submit guys on the ground like “Minotauro" does. Nobody can say “Minotauro" doesn’t have big balls. People sometimes think stupid. f***. Wanderlei has a big balls. Why? Just because he exchange punches? f***, I know he’s tough, but not because he exchanges punches. [It’s] because Wanderlei, if he needs to fight on the ground, he’ll go fight there too. That’s why I think Wanderlei has big balls, not just because he’s crazy and exchanges punches against everyone. f*** that. Everyone can do that. Everyone can be a crazy bitch: “OK man, I don’t care if he knocks me out." Man, I don’t care if he knocks me out when I’m doing what I have to do. OK. But if he knocks me out because I want to prove to everybody that I’m a f***ing bad boy and don’t go to the ground, I’m going to feel stupid.
Sherdog.com: A lot of people don’t know about the ZST Grand Prix that you won. Your success in that tournament and going to Japan and winning something like that, did that prepare you mentally to succeed against someone like Gomi?
Aurelio: Of course. Fighting in ZST helped me a lot because I did three fights in one night and had a bunch of tough guys there. That night I beat Imanari, Morkevicius, another tough guy, and in the end I beat Clementi. Another tough guy. So in the end of the night I had no injury. Like last time against Gomi, I had no injury. Was nice for me, ZST, because it gave me a better head, stronger mind to support some situations like me and Gomi. I had a lot of pressure. Ninety-point-nine percent were for Gomi to win, and zero-point-one percent for Marcus. And I said f*** that. f*** Gomi. f*** everybody. Man, I’m going to beat this motherf***er. I don't give a shit what people are talking. You know, I know how good I am. I know I’m tough. f*** that. And I started to be confident. Like that night in ZST I thought the same shit. “f***, I’m here in Japan. I have a bunch of tough guys to fight, but it’s a lot of money. I need this money. I need to help my family. I need this money." And I put this goal, “I don’t give a shit if someone knocks me out, breaks my face, I’m going to win." It made me strong.
Sherdog.com: Do you now feel you’re the No. 1 160-pound-and-under fighter in the world?
Aurelio: Yeah, I feel it. I really feel. He was No. 1 already. He proved that. He beat the shit out of everybody. I beat him, so now I know I’m ready to fight against everyone in PRIDE. I know this. My last two fights I didn’t do so good because … I had some problems before. My head was not so good my last two times when I fought against Nakao and [Nakamura]. But now everything is nice in my life. My head is good. So I know I have enough skills to beat everyone. I’m confident because I train a lot.
Sherdog.com: This was a non-title fight. Has PRIDE told you when you’d fight for a title?
Aurelio: No, they didn’t tell me yet. But I talked to them and told them I wanted a f***ing rematch. I want this belt. So tell me when. I’m excited for that.
Sherdog.com: You said that last time no one picked you to win. What’s it going to be like this time, either as the favorite against Gomi or will people look it as an even fight? Does that change the pressure at all for you?
Aurelio: Man, I think this time it will be minimum 50-50. Now, I don’t know. People in Brazil will say Marcus Aurelio will win, 70 for me and 30 for him. I think. But you know, I don’t like to hear this shit because sometimes you look for this and people say what they want to say. Sometimes I don’t like to go to the Internet and see this. Like last time I went to the Internet before the fight, everyone said Marcus is going to lose, he has no chance. I said f*** that, I don’t want to sit in front of the computer anymore. But people are going to say what they want to say. I hope everybody likes my fights and I hope people say I’m going to win. It’s going to be a good fight for me. Good energy.
Sherdog.com: Marcus, how old are you?
Aurelio: I’m 32.
Sherdog.com: So you’ve been doing this for a while now. Things are starting to pay off.
Aurelio: Yeah. You know, MMA, professionally, I’ve been doing just for four years. That’s why I think American Top Team is the best team because everything we made, we made in four years. Four years ago I started to do MMA and now I beat the No. 1. We’re working good here. We’re working hard here. So I’m feeling good for this.
Sherdog.com: You started when you were 28. How did you come about stepping into the ring for the first time?
Aurelio: I fought a lot of time jiu-jitsu, and jiu-jitsu doesn’t give you good money. I came here because Dan (Lambert) invited me to come. He said, “Hey, I’m going to open a gym. We’re going to start doing MMA. You have good skills on the ground. You have good wrestling. So you have to start doing MMA. What do you think?" I said, “I think this is awesome. I like this, I want to do it." He said, “Come here and you’re going to have big support. I’m going to start a team." And then I started. I moved to America and started.
Sherdog.com: I want to talk about your two losses. The first to Antonio McKee (Pictures). I think I was actually there for that fight. That was at Soboba Casino in California.
Aurelio: Yeah, I got f***ed in that fight. I didn’t fight good, but I didn’t lose that fight. That fight sucked, I know. But I didn’t lose. He didn’t win either. So he was in his hometown. Everybody was for him.
Sherdog.com: And against Dokonjonosuke Mishima (Pictures), that was a very competitive fight. The decision was a split decision. Do you feel that you won that fight, or did you deserve to lose?
Aurelio: No, I didn’t lose. Let me tell you why. I had a big problem at that time with PRIDE. When I went there we had a big problem because of the weight. His manager, he made a deal with my manager. They said the weight is going to be 73 kilos. I said, “OK, no problem. Just let me know the weight." When I got there the day of the weigh-in I made 72.9 and the guy said I was 2.9 kilos over. My manager started to talk with his manager and his manager said “No, the deal was 70." They started talking a lot of shit. I told my manager I had to go to the hotel. I gotta drink. I gotta eat. She said, “OK go to the hotel. I’m going to fix this … You can eat, no problem." They said no, I have to go back in one hour and drop one more kilo. I said OK, I will do. And I went to the gym again and dropped one more kilo and I made 72. And Mishima’s manager said, “No, no. You gotta do 70." I said, “f*** you man. I’m tired of this shit." I told [my manager] I’m going to the hotel. She said, “OK. Go there, I’ll fix this." I told her I’m going to eat and she’s got to fix this, it’s not my fault. I ate and drank. Then I was 76, 77 (kilos). Around 9 o’clock at night Liborio came to my room and said, “We have a big problem. Mishima said he won’t fight against you tomorrow because you didn’t make the weight. He’s out." And I started to cry. f*** that, I wanted to fight. It was the first time in PRIDE. I said I’ll do whatever he wants me to do. f*** man, please. Liborio said, “No man, for me you’re not going to fight." I started to cry again. I wanted to fight. I said I could drop the weight again. I got crazy. I started to drop the f***ing weight and they said OK. PRIDE brought the scale to the room next to mine like 9:30 at night. I started again. I was 77 kilos. I put everything — the plastic bags, the clothes — and started to run. f***, I made 70 kilos. I finished at 4 a.m. When I finished the f***ing weight, I said, “f***. I’m f***ed up. Like shit, man. I’m f***ing tired. After 4 o’clock I went to eat something and I slept like at 5 o’clock and I had to wake up at 9:30, 10 o’clock. When I woke up Liborio asked me how I’m feeling. I said, “Man, I’m feeling like I took a f***ing six-pack of Corona." I was angry with Mishima. I was like man, I’m going to kill this motherf***er. I lost my mind, lost my goal. “No, no, you cannot be angry. You gotta have your head right." f*** that man. If I see him in the street I’m going to drop a f***ing chair on his head. f*** man, he’s a motherf***er. I was angry bro. That’s why I think I lost that fight, because I gave him a head butt. I put the head in his belly and the referee, the f***ing referee gave me a yellow card. That’s why I lost that shit. But I think I did OK. I don’t give excuse. He was better at the moment of the fight. You know he doesn’t want to give me the rematch because he knows what’s going to happen.
Sherdog.com: People talk about Vitor Ribeiro as the best Brazilian jiu-jitsu lightweight in the world. Do you think you’re better than him?
Aurelio: He’s not the best lightweight. Why is he the best? Man, he’s not better than me in jiu-jitsu. Probably we are the same level, but he’s not better than me.
Sherdog.com: Would you fight him?
Aurelio: Yeah, of course. He’s my friend, but f*** that. People talk. I know he’s tough. “Shaolin" is a tough guy. But I know we are the same level on the ground. He is not that much better. He is not the best guy at this weight on the ground. He’s gonna do the same ground like me. And my skill in the guard is better than his skill. I do a better guard than him; I know this.
Sherdog.com: How important is it for you to prove your win over Gomi wasn’t a fluke?
Aurelio: That’s why I want a rematch. I want to prove again. A rematch is so important for me now, man. I can guarantee that belt for myself. And then I can prove everybody that it was not luck. Now, it’s going to be a big time for me. I’m going to train more and more and do whatever I need to do. I will prove this. I just couldn’t prove it yet. My last two fights before Gomi, that wasn’t so good. That was me in that time. But if you see me fight in ZST, I fought good and I got a lot of improvement since then. So I know, I know I can be where I am. I can hold this. I want to fight against Gomi again, prove that and then start to fight everyone. Every tough guy, I’m excited to fight them. I want to fight against Hansen. I want to fight against Sakurai. “Shaolin" … I can’t talk about him because he’s in another association. But, the guys from PRIDE, man I want to fight against all those guys.
grappling jest moim berlem, parter moja korona
Krzysztof Piekarz
