Do kolacyjki przyjemne Q&A z Babalu :)

delly - 18 lis 2008, o 16:27
For all the high profile fights he has been in, Renato ‶Babalu” Sobral has never held a major MMA title in the United States. Sobral has a chance to end that streak as he is set to take on Bobby Southworth for Strikeforce light heavyweight championship in just a few days.

Throughout his career, Sobral has taken on many tough fighters including Chuck Liddell, Mauricio Rua, Dan Henderson, and Fedor Emelianenko. While Southworth does not have the name value of some of the above fighters, Southworth does have something Sobral wants – a title.

We recently had a chance to catch up with Sobral to talk about a variety of topics including the upcoming fight with Southworth, his thoughts on the current MMA landscape, and what is was like to fight Emelianenko.

Question: How is the preparation going for the fight with Bobby Southworth?

Renato Sobral: Everything is going great. I’ve been training hard with my training partners Josh Barnett and Justin Fortune. They’ve really helped me a lot.

Q: What do you think about the fight with Southworth?

RS: I am going to finish the fight. I am going to win the fight before the fifth round then I’m going to take the belt for me.

Q: What do you think about Bobby Southworth? Does anything concern you about him?

RS: He’s a well-rounded fighter. He’s pretty good everywhere, but I’m going to push the pace. I’m not going to give him a chance. I’m going to force him to make a mistake.

Q: What would it be like to hold a title belt? You’re a big name fighter regardless. Is the title very important to you?

RS: It’s very important. That’s one of the few organizations that is still standing outside of the UFC. They have a lot of good guys in Strikeforce. It’s run very well.

Q: You mentioned Strikeforce as one of the few organizations still standing. A lot of them have fallen recently and of course the big one is EliteXC. As a veteran of the sport, what do you think went wrong with them?

RS: I don’t know for sure. Maybe they ran the business the wrong way. People keep coming to me saying, ‶is MMA going down?” I don’t think so. It is still up. The game is definitely still on. Right now, in the American economy, everything is going bad – not just athletics.

Q: Do you have a preference as to which organization you fight with?

RS: I want to go wherever I can make the big fights. The organization has to be the major leagues. Sometimes if you lose a fight in the UFC, you don’t fight for years. That’s hard because you have to make the money.

Q: In the past you mentioned Tito Ortiz as your big fight. Is that still the case?

RS: I don’t know about him. He has a back problem, but I would still like to fight him. He’s one of the good guys to fight. He doesn’t have a UFC contract anymore so he’s a real possibility.

Q: You’ve fought at a few different weights and light heavyweight seems to be your preference. Are you locked in to that weight?

RS: I like to fight light heavyweight. I feel most comfortable. Middleweight would be hard for me, but I’d do it. I want to go where the best fights are. I’d fight heavyweight as well. I’ve fought guys that are 300 lbs.

Q: What’s it like fighting a guy who is 300 lbs?

RS: You have to be well prepared. You have to know you’re going to take a hard punch. It’s a challenge.

Q: One of the guys at heavyweight you were in there with a few years back was Fedor Emelianenko. How was that experience?

RS: That was very good. It was a long time ago. I’m a different fighter now, and Fedor is too. That was a good fight. He’s one of the most fun guys I’ve fought in my life. It was a great challenge.

Q: How is training with Josh Barnett? You guys have worked out together for a while now.

RS: He’s brought me back a lot. He taught me a lot of things in my mind that I lost. He thinks about hurting people – to make people look bad. He makes me work a lot in the gym.

gallimim - 18 lis 2008, o 17:49
od dawna babalu cwiczy z barnettem??

fajnie

co do walki z ortizem...

ja juz zapomnialem kto to ortiz, to chyba jakis dinozaur;)

ni e wiem jak sie bije southword ale jego rekord na sherdogu nie jest imponujacy, do tego jest stary

fightfear - 19 lis 2008, o 23:49
to ten z tuf'a pierwszego co z koszczekiem gnoili ryzego

Darmowy hosting zapewnia PRV.PL