Minotouro (photo) will face Johnson at UFC on FOX 12. Photo: Nick Laham/Zuffa LLC
Rogério Minotouro see your next fight, against Anthony Johnson, at UFC on FOX 12, as an opportunity to realize your intentions within Ultimate. The Brazilian, who has been out of action for over a year due to injury, believes that a victory over the American will bring him close to challenging for the light heavyweight belt.
Despite the long period of inactivity, Minotouro comes from two victories in the UFC, over Tito Ortiz e Rashad evans. The results left him in top 10 of the weight ranking, but the period without fighting caused the UFC to remove him from the list months later. Against Johnson, currently fifth in the rankings, Minotouro hopes to return to the front of the division. “This fight is a big challenge for me to get where I want to go, which is a title fight. She comes at a great time. It's a fight of either go or split. Either he's there in the title fight, or he's after the top five. This fight will probably put me among the top four in the 93kg ranking”, analyzed the fighter, in an interview with the “Combate” channel website.
At 38 years old, the veteran athlete is not thinking about retirement, despite the recent physical problems he has experienced. “I'm feeling good training. As long as I'm feeling good and competing well, at high performance... For now I'm feeling good. I put up an excellent fight against Rashad evans. I have done sparring for this fight better than I did for the last one, people have commented. I had plenty of time to bring in the right people to train takedown defense with me. This is not the time to think about stopping. This will only happen when I start not training well”, he explained.
Even though Johnson is considered favorite by many, Minotouro believes he has all the conditions to surprise and come away with victory. “He is coming off a good fight [when he defeated Phil Davis at UFC 172, in April] and a great streak of victories, which is why people are putting all their chips on him. I think it's normal. I've been through this, including in my last fight, of coming in as an underdog and surprising. My goal is to try to surprise,” he said.
the fight between Rogério Minotouro e Anthony Johnson will be the co-main event of UFC on FOX 12, which will take place next Saturday, July 26, in the city of San Jose, California, United States. In the biggest attraction of the night, Robbie Lawler faces Matt Brown for a shot at the welterweight belt.
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