pinecone85
InsideFighting: Vitor, thank you for taking the time to talk with us.
Vitor Belfort: It’s no problem, man. How are you doing?
IF: I’m well. Thank you. How are you feeling? Talk to me about your mindset during your last week of serious training?
Belfort: I feel so good, man. I feel confident. I’ve sacrificed a lot for this fight. I’ve been here on the mountain for 2 months already, so I’m doing everything that I can to win this fight. My mind and my body are coming together right now. It’s perfect, man.
(Team Belfort in Big Bear)
IF: Vitor, when you are training, how different is it for you being in Big Bear rather than preparing back home in Brazil.
Belfort: This is the first time that I’ve ever had a real camp. I always trained at home. This is the first time that I’ve really trained in a very professional way by coming to a camp, taking your life away and focusing on nothing but the fight. That’s what I’m doing now. Hopefully, it will pay off.
IF: Does being in Big Bear help you focus? Or is it tough being away from your family?
Belfort: I’m definitely more focused than before. I’m here just training and nothing else. It’s tough being away from my family. But my training is going perfectly right now. I just can’t wait for the fight next Saturday!
IF: Your last fight with Couture ended suddenly with a cut after one grazing punch. Do you feel slighted by the fact that many people (and journalists) are calling the fight a fluke or saying that it should have been a no contest?
Belfort: I don’t care what people think. I get paid to do my job, and I try to do it well. When I fight, I try to do my best. I don’t worry about what other people have to say. I just try to do my job as best I can.
IF: On fight day, what’s it like for you? Are you very relaxed, very aggressive or very anxious?
Belfort: I get very excited because I want to fight. It’s just a matter of focus for me. I need to bring my mind together with my body and put my stuff together that I did in training and let it happen in the fight. But I mostly try to stay relaxed, very relaxed all day.
IF: What about when your music starts playing and it’s time to walk to the Octagon? Are you still relaxed or does your excitement level jump up?
Belfort: Yes, but I try to remain very calm and cold. I don’t want to get excited. Getting excited is good, but if you get too excited and you don’t put your mind together with your training, that can hurt you down the road during the fight. So I try to stay very calm and wait for my time to put my stuff together - just like in training, you know?
(2 months in the isolated mountains of Big Bear is enough to drive anyone
crazy - one of Team Belfort's light moments.)
IF: What’s it like working with Fabiano Iha for the first time?
Belfort: It’s good. Fabiano helped me with setting up the camp and bringing all my trainers together. My jiu-jitsu coach is Leonardo Vieira. My boxing coach is Marciais Destak. I have my Muay Thai coach, George. Now I have a wrestling coach, Paul Herrera. So my team is good, and we’ve got everything ready. We’re excited for this fight. You know, it doesn’t matter where I am training. One single bed in one single room or in a big mansion, that doesn’t matter to me. What is important is that is that everyone is together on my team - no egos, nobody thinking that they are better than anyone else. It is very important to me that everyone is equal. I’m very happy to have good people around me, including my doctors who take care of me. Everything is falling into place for me right now. It’s perfect, man.
IF: Speaking of the fight, after your last fight with Couture, you and Randy spoke briefly in the Octagon. It almost looked as if you were apologizing for something. What were you two talking about?
Belfort: I said that I was sorry because I didn’t want to cut him like I did. I was scared because maybe something had happed to his eye. It was a weird, weird cut. I’ve never seen anything like that. He took 8 stitches on the top and 5 stitches on the bottom of his eye, so it wasn’t a little cut. I was worried about his health. That was the most important thing to me at the time. I was worried about him, and wanted him to get healthy.
IF: Vitor, if you had to point to one thing that will be the key to you beating Randy Couture again, what would it be?
Belfort: The key is that I’m not going to get tired. He definitely cannot have the strategy to wear me out, because it is not going to happen. I’m ready for his game. He trains hard. He is a great, great professional fighter. I’m very glad that I am fighting him. He’s a very humble guy. He’s a gentleman. He’s a great fighter and a great sportsman. I’m very glad to be able to fight him. Our sport is growing. I’m excited. Everything is set up for him in this fight. I’m just going to wait for next Saturday, so I can put my stuff together. I’m just so excited to fight. I’m so ready right to fight!
(Belfort en route to a TKO victory over Silva - photo courtesy of Zuffa)
IF: Wanderlei Silva will reportedly be in the crowd watching your fight at UFC 49, and he…
Belfort: [Interrupting] I don’t care, man. I just don’t care who’s there. I just care about my fans, my family and my trainers. I don’t care if anybody else is there watching - that’s it. I’m going to do my job on Saturday, and nobody is going to stop me!
IF: Is Silva somebody you still want to fight after Randy?
Belfort: Yes. Definitely. I wanted to fight Wanderlei before Randy, but the company wouldn’t let me. If the UFC wants to put the fight together in the future, then it will be very good for the sport to bring both organizations together. That’s a goal that I want to reach, but I don’t want to talk about it or think about it. I’ve got Randy in front of me right now, and he’s all I’m thinking about. I’ve got to take care of business, and then I’ll take everything else in time. But I’m very relaxed right now, and ready to fight.
IF: The fans haven’t heard from you in quite some time. Is there any message that you want to send to them?
Belfort: I want to thank all of the fans for supporting my sport. Without the fans, we wouldn’t be here right now. We need them so much. Just like we need to train hard to fight, we need the fans, because if you don’t have any fans, we would not be able to fight. I’m very thankful for the fans, and appreciate what they do for the sport. I just hope that they can understand more about the sport, not just about the brawl where people beat on each other. I would like the fans to understand the technique. I would like for them to understand what happens when the fight goes to the ground - the wrestling and the jiu-jitsu. It seems like the Ultimate Fighting Championship fans are not like Japanese fans. It seems like the Ultimate Fighting fans just want to see someone get hurt. I want them to understand the sport more, understand the technique. That way, the sport can grow bigger, bigger and bigger. God bless the fans. Jesus can give them the peace of his heart - that’s what I would offer to the fans.
(A devout Christian, church is an escape for
Belfort and keeps his mind clear)
IF: Many of our readers are boxing fans. Why should they buy the pay-per-view and watch your fight?
Belfort: The boxing fans can be fans of us, too. Ultimate fighting is a competition and a sport. The same way they love the technique of boxing, they can be a fan of ultimate fighting. If they learn to understand the sport of mixed martial arts, they will be fans because it is a fighting game like boxing, but it is much harder. You’ve got to be very well prepared in mixed martial arts. In boxing, all you have to do is run, do your workouts and box. But in mixed martial arts, we have to do a bunch of different martial arts. If they learn to understand the sport, they will fall in love with it. They’ve got to support the right people. Fans have to be very smart, and support the sport the right way. The fans are so important to the sport.
IF: Vitor, I definitely appreciate it. Best of luck to you next Saturday night, and stay healthy.
Belfort: Okay, man. Thank you very much. God bless you.
Grappling
Krzysztof Piekarz
V1p3R
saib__
T_86
Jarząbek
ISENGRIM
