For the businessman Paulo borrachinha, Wallid Ismail, there is no reason to regret the defeat against Marvin vettori last Saturday (23). In an exclusive interview with SUPER FIGHTS, the agent explained the reasons why the Brazilian had problems reaching the limit of the middleweight division (up to 83,9kg), praised the fight against the Italian and asked for a rematch between the two fighters.
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“It was a result that you can't argue with, the fight was very good. In my interpretation, there was no loser. Imagine, a light heavyweight fight had the fourth highest number of strikes in UFC history. In a fight like this, there is no loser. That's why I'm going to talk to you firsthand now, I already spoke to Borrachinha, I want the public to ask the UFC to repeat this fight, but now in the middleweight division. Now I'm going to tell you what happened, Borrachinha injured his biceps. But the fact that he was injured didn't interfere in the fight, the fight was right, the guys fought hard, the injury didn't interfere. But it interfered with weight loss. Because he (Borrachinha) had to stop for a week and when you're in the final stretch, having to stop for a week is complicated. He was unable to exercise. We are not making excuses, this did not interfere with performance, but it hindered the weight cut”.
Rematch with Vettori
“I'm already working on Vettori's fight with Borrachinha in the middleweight division, imagine how much this fight will sell? I've already started the campaign. Dana White loved this fight, everyone loved Borrachinha's performance, he put on a show. A lot of people say they won or lost, but I won't go into that. Because when two fighters fight with courage and determination, no one loses. It’s the kind of fight that has no loser.”
How is the Brazilian feeling after the defeat?
"Giant. He's feeling gigantic. I already talked to him. At one point he was a little upset with his performance because he thought he could have fought better, but I told him: 'You came out much bigger than you came in'. There are fighters who win and come out small, there are fighters who lose and come out huge. He lost the fight, but he came out huge, because even with that performance, a lot of people still think he didn't lose. That performance was a giant. What a fight, what a war.”
Reply to Dana White
“Man, I love Dana White. This is the answer for people to understand: Dana White, for me, is the smartest guy in the world in sports, the UFC is now worth more than 10 billion dollars because of him. So, this guy will see that Borrachinha and Vettori in the middleweight division will be the fight that everyone will want to see.”
Is there a less complicated category for Borrachinha?
“Man, I like Borrachinha at middleweight. He loses weight well (to fight there). The healthy Borrachinha loses weight like child's play. He doesn't even go to the sauna to lose weight. So, he forgets about it (about moving up to light heavyweight).”
Will two consecutive defeats shake the Brazilian?
'Borrachinha is a winner. Before the fight, it was the time I saw him more gigantic. I thought he was very calm before other fights, but not in this one. Borrachinha said to me: 'Now it's time for psychopathy, it's the warrior who is going to war, without fear of dying'. Imagine that, brother? So forget it... (he's) giant. And his performance was a giant. Nobody can say anything about Borrachinha. He even admitted that there are some technical parts that need to improve. I'll even say, he needs more agility in his hands. His shot was spectacular, but his hand wasn't so good. So let's get straight to the talk? The guy is a giant head.”
Did Borrachinha deserve the 'Performance of the Night' award?
“I still wanted the 'Performance' money. Until yesterday (Monday 24), I called Hunter (Campbell, one of the UFC executives) and told him he deserved it. But then he answered me: 'No, he didn't make weight'. They hit this key a lot. I always talk to the UFC and I replied: 'So think, think about whether he doesn't deserve it'. Even though he doesn't make his weight, he's like that indisciplined player who arrives at game time and scores five goals. That was the case now. Nobody has anything to say about his performance, people just have to applaud.”
The defeat to Vettori was the second consecutive one in Borrachinha's career. The first setback was in the middleweight belt dispute against Israel adesanya, in September 2020. The Brazilian now boasts a record of 13 positive results and two negative results in his professional career.
