After getting back on track with his win at UFC 86, when he submitted Justin McCully, Gabriel Napao will be back in action this Saturday, November 15th. The Brazilian will face off against Josh Hendricks, who is coming off a five-fight winning streak and is debuting in the UFC. Portal das Lutas, GRACIEMAG.com partner site, had a chat with Napao, who spoke about the bout, sent his support for friend Paulao and announced he will be returning to competition Jiu-Jitsu. Check it out:
Portal das Lutas – How did you go about preparing and what are your expectations for this bout?
Gabriel Napao – Preparations were pretty much the same as always. We practice MMA and Jiu-Jitsu every day here at the Team Link gym in Ludlow, Massachusetts. I did a different type of physical conditioning routine and I’m feeling good for this fight.
PDL – What do you think about your adversary?
GN – He’s a wrestler with experience. I think he has 22 fights on his record and 18 wins and is debuting in the UFC.
PDL – The main event (Couture vs Lesnar), which happens to be in your weight category, will decide the opponent to face the eventual winner of the Minotauro vs Mir fight. Which of these fighters would be the toughest opponent for Minotauro?
GN – I think they are both are really tough and need to be paid attention to. However, regardless of who wins, I think Minotauro has what it takes to beat either of them.
PDL – What are your plans for after this fight? Any news?
GN – I have a trip scheduled for Brazil, where I’m going to do some seminar at our Team Link branches in Uberlandia and Sao Paulo. I’m also going to talk to some athletes to bring them over to train with us in Massachusetts, since I’m going to fight in the gi in 2009.
PDL – So we’ll see Napao back in competition Jiu-Jitsu in 2009?
GN – Yes! I have a superfight at NAGA in February and I plan to fight at the Jiu-Jitsu Pan and Worlds, if I can reconcile them with my UFC commitments.
Napão celebrates at 2006 JJ Worlds / Photo: Gustavo Aragão
PDL – On the last fight of Paulo Filho, who is your friend and who has trained at Team Link, what do you think happened?
GN – We all have problems the others don’t know about. I don’t know what Paulao’s problem was, but everyone could see he wasn’t good to fight. This sport has an unforgiving side, because if you lose once you go right down to the bottom. For having a personal problem he lost a fight and now there are some who don’t remember all his wins. We shouldn’t criticize the fact that he lost but support him for everything he has done and what he represents to our sport. Paulao will overcome all this and go back to the top, you can be sure of that.
PDL – How is Team Link going?
GN – We’re doing just fine. We have an MMA team and Jiu-Jitsu team. In MMA, we have 20 athletes fighting all the time. Now on November 29th we’ll have two guys in action at Foxwoods, the biggest casino in the United States. Karen Grigoryan (6w – 0l) and John Manley (5w – 0l). In Jiu-Jitsu, which is our foundations, we are growing a lot. At the end-of-the-year party, this December, there will be 72 promotions. It will be a really great end of the year for the team. In 2009 we intend to come to Brazil more to develop some partnerships with teams and athletes who are in contact with me and we’ll raise the number of Team Link gyms in other states around Brazil. Should anyone wish to contact Team link, the email is marcoalvanbjj@yahoo.com. That is the contact for my partner Marco who takes care of this part of the team.
