After having suffered the second loss of his career to Mackens Semerzier, at WEC 43, Wagnney Fabiano dropped weight to start from scratch in the bantamweight category of the event. On January 10 in California, he overcame Clint Godfrey via unanimous decision. In the following chat with GRACIEMAG.com, the Nova União black belt speaks of possible challenges down the road, against such beasts as Brian Bowles and Miguel Torres, his difficulty in losing weight and, of course, the upcoming challenge of his teammate José Aldo against Urijah Faber. Check it out:
This new category will bring some new challenges, like against undefeated champion Brian Bowles and former champion Miguel Torres. What do you expect as a bantamweight?
There’s a really good group there, Miguel Torres and Brian, who you mentioned, and a load of super-tough guys, who are no joke. But it’s the ones at the top who need to know who’s coming in. They should be worried about me, not me about them. For now, I’m just another tough guy in the division, who came out of nowhere. I don’t have the name they do yet among bantamweights but, for sure, I’m likely giving them something to think about. It’s all about training, doing my homework just right for my next fight. I don’t care who they put me against; I’ll fight them.
On the same night you faced Clint Godfrey, Urijah Faber won and will have a shot at the featherweight belt, against Jose Aldo Junior. What do you make of that matchup?
I always said Faber is a tough guy who fights with flare, but does everything just right. He beat Raphael Assunção, who’s a really tough guy, and couldn’t do anything to Faber. He has strong positions, like the guillotine. You have to be careful with him, but I think when he faces Junior he won’t match up well. You know why? Because he knows against Junior he won’t be able to mess around. If he plays around, he’ll get knocked out. He’ll have to depart from his game and, thus, he’ll get dropped. He’ll have to try and take Aldo down. If he dares stand with him, Junior will tear his head off. So, I’m Jose Aldo all the way.
What was it like losing so much weight to fight?
It really was a bit of a sacrifice. I had to do a stricter diet and not play around with this question of weight, which is rough. I was a bit worried because last time I was 135 pounds I think I was a teenager. But it went well. I had a balanced diet and all was good. I was going to fight either way, that’s the easy part. I was worried about the weight. Now this is my division.
Will you try and cut back more now, really keep below the weight you were at naturally?
For sure. To make bantamweight now I’ll have to keep myself a bit lighter. I always was light. I was 71kg and would cut to 66. Next to other people, that’s nothing. There are folks who drop 15kg. It really is a bit harder now, but I intend keep a strict diet and maintain my weight at around 67 or 68 kg. I’ll have to control myself.
