Toquinho’s luggage got lost en route to Australia. Photo by Josh Hedges/courtesy of Zuffa LCC via Getty Images
The life of an MMA fighter certainly is no walk in the park. There’s travel, training, diet and what have you. Rousimar Palhares’ case is no different. But besides all that and the grueling flight to Australia, where he will be fighting Hector Lombard at UFC on FX 6, the middleweight also known as “Paul Harris” had further hardships to endure: his luggage, with all his training gear, was lost.
“Toquinho” said the bags contained his gear, supplements and other items essential to his preparations for his Dec. 15 fight. But despite the setback, the athlete didn’t let it get him down.
“A missing bag isn’t going to diminish my desire to achieve my goals. When you do what you love, it doesn’t matter if you lose something, so long as you seize the moment. That’s what’s most important to me. Losing a bag isn’t going to keep me from winning the fight,” Palhares said, speaking at a video shot in Australia.
Toquinho will square off with Lombard in main card action this Friday, and he guarantees he’ll be entering the octagon more prepared than ever.
“They’re going to see the true Rousimar Palhares this UFC. I’m as ready as I’ve ever been, and I want this win more than ever before. I’m doing what I love doing most in life, and I trained a lot to put on a great show for the crowd,” he said in a conversation with the crew from Brazil’s Combate television channel.
Check out the video shot in Australia where Palhares comments on the occurrence and sends his congratulations to his teammates Toninho Fúria and Pedro Nobre, who won the Bitetti Combat 13 MMA event.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAWoIG8F5Ls
UFC Sotiropoulos vs. Pearson
Gold Coast Convention, Queensland, Australia
December 14, 2012
- George Sotiropoulos vs. Ross Pearson
- Rousimar Toquinho vs. Hector Lombard
- Brad Scott vs. Robert Whitaker
- Norman Parke vs Colin Fletcher
- Yaotzin Meza vs. Chad Mendes
- Igor Pokrajac vs. Joey Beltran
- Mike Pierce vs. Seth Baczynski
- Ben Alloway vs Manny Rodriguez
- Brendan Loughnane vs. Mike Wilkinson
- Nick Penner vs. Eddie Mendez
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