Provoked by the champion of Jungle Fight Quemuel Ottoni, the UFC's biggest standout Alex Poatán responded to his tormentor's accusations in an exclusive interview with SUPER FIGHTS. The middleweight division prospect (up to 83,9kg) denied that he had belittled his rival, gave his version of the case and accused the São Paulo fighter of being poorly advised. Check out what the executioner said Israel adesanya in kickboxing.
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“He said after his fight that I would have said he would never be more than a 'classic' fighter. Jungle Fight', I never said that. I have a print of a message that one day he wanted to promote himself and did it in the wrong way. Sometimes he wants to compare the way I did there, kind of promoting the fight with Adesanya, but let's look back… when I fought Quemuel, who was I? Nobody…it was my first fight (as an MMA professional). And when I fought Adesanya, we're talking about kickboxing, I fought him in kickboxing, the guy had over 70 fights and I had just over 20 fights and then I beat the guy. Wow, you can do something to promote it. Then he said that, lying, because I would never say that, that someone will be nothing more than a 'fighter' Jungle Fight', do you think I'm going to say that about people's dreams? I didn't say that... so he lied. He must be poorly advised, he has Wallid (Ismail) on his side. The guy takes the microphone and says that he (Quemuel) is going to fight me in the UFC. He doesn’t want to face me, he wants to fight in the UFC.”
Submission fight?
“If he wants, we can have a grappling fight, am I going to win? I don't know, but I've evolved a lot. If he wants to do a submission fight, I would do it. Of course, not for free, since Wallid is a promoter, he's a businessman... he does this little fight there. I'll do it, but it pays well. And the money from the scholarship, I will still donate to a charity, if he wants. And I think it's difficult for Wallid to get a good price, which Quemuel and I deserve... because we would put on a show there. That's it, in my view, they're doing it wrong, putting words in my mouth. Before that, when Quemuel wanted to promote himself, we exchanged messages…he would send me messages, I would respond. He thanked me very much for what I did with him, he was lost, without a team to train. I think he trained with his father, then his father stopped training, that's more or less what he told me, I don't know if he was lying or not. But that's what he said to me. What I'm going to say is unethical, but he looked like a child training with me. And that was two years ago, I didn't know if he had evolved or if I had regressed. I submitted him several times, I beat him. It's annoying to have to come here and say this, but what he's doing to promote himself, I don't agree with it. He's a great guy, I really root for him, but he's being advised by the wrong people. I know this, because I’ve lived in this environment for a while and I know what I’m talking about.”
Putting on 'warm cloths'
“No, no…he is a good person. I'm telling you because, before that, I talked to him directly. He's a cool guy, he's a guy who talks cool. Every time I fought, he would text me. One of the last times we talked, Jungle released the full video of our fight, he sent a message saying that we learned a lot from that fight and I replied yes. I've always treated him well, if it was someone else in my place, in the position I'm in, maybe I wouldn't even give a damn about him. And I responded to him with the greatest politeness. I may be a guy with 'not many smiles', but I'm a good person, I'm a guy who respects everyone. But I am absolutely sure that this is not his.”
About the fight against Quemuel Ottoni
"It's ridiculous. He wants to compare him, Adesanya, me…We have to put ourselves in our shoes. I was nobody when Quemuel beat me. I don't want to make an excuse, but, for those who follow my work, I was involved in kickboxing and decided to 'adventure'. And when I talked about jiu-jitsu training, which he said was a lie, in this case, it's his lie, because to this day I haven't had more than 10 training sessions in the kimono, I've already trained without the kimono, but you can see what I said jiu-jitsu…with kimono. I don't have more than 10 kimono workouts. And so, in the gym I was doing really well, submitting everyone, and I had the wrong strategy... I said: 'Man, I want to submit, knock people out, I'm used to it', so you can see that I went to try to finish now, I wore myself out a lot…I was already tired between the first and second rounds. I thought: 'I'm going to knock this guy out, to finish, I'm wearing myself out a lot'. When I tried to do what I do best, which is punching each other, I no longer had the strength. I couldn't close my hands, I didn't have the strength to close them. If I had done this from the beginning, I think the result would be different, but it's already over, I'm really rooting for Quemuel. I may be wrong, but I don't think he'll ever find me (fight again). There's room for everyone, I'm really rooting for him, I said it and I repeat: he's a great guy, he's a good guy, I'll show you the messages we exchanged before this attempt to promote ourselves in the wrong way, we had a very good relationship.”
About Alex Poatan
Hired by Ultimate in 2021, Alex Poatán achieved two resounding victories in the organization. In his debut, he knocked out the Greek Andreas Michailidis with a spectacular flying knee. In the second duel, against his compatriot Bruno Blindado, Poatan emerged victorious in the unanimous decision of the judges. The former Glory champion has a record of five victories and only one defeat, precisely against Quemuel, as a professional fighter.
