Did winning this third Worlds feel any different to you, as you’ve been absent since 2007?
It felt the same. I felt that everyone’s just getting better and better, it’s getting harder and harder to make it here and try to become champion. I felt the pace was a bit different not because I had been away, but because I’d started training hard early, in preparing for the World Abu Dhabi Pro, in the Emirates. As I’d been a while without competing, I’d put on weight, so I made my goal to be in the 75kg category, and I managed to drop weight, without shedding water, by dieting properly.
Did you decide to stay out of the absolute for your lack of rhythm?
I always try to make it into the absolute, and this time was no different… But it’s not my option, Fabio and Romero are the ones who chose. In the end it was good for me to concentrate just on the weight group, it was the right choice. Sometimes folks don’t remember much, but every year I’ve won at weight, I also fought in the absolute. I never won a Worlds absolute, but I’ve always tried since I was a blue belt (laughs).
Were there any expectations you would fight someone from the newest generation, notably Kron? What did you think of his performance, you who’ve already trained with him before?
Truth is I didn’t see a single one of his matches, because I was concentrating for mine. I only pay attention to others’ matches when I know I am going to face one of them next. When they let me know, “look, you’re going to face one of those two guys,” then I stop and watc.
But I met up with him, and I just think Kron needs to make the most of the championship, I saw that he was very serious… I don’t know if he was jacked on adrenaline, but I think athletes need to make the most of the Worlds. This is where we come to have fun, it’s the day when we get to show the public how much we trained throughout the year. If training is fun too, this is the weekend when we get to make the most of it, to have fun with the gang and catch up with old friends.
Now are you going for your fourth at ADCC 2009? Has your life in MMA really come to an end for you?
It’s not over, but it’s postponed for an indeterminate period of time. But there are still a few months till the ADCC and I’m going to try and get there in the best shape possible. I’m not putting away the gi, like I always did. I haven’t put away the gi since the last Worlds, and I think I proved it in Long Beach. I had been away from competition, but no one knew I’d never stayed away from training.
