Minotauro warns: “Cigano is going to knock out Lesnar”

junior gypsy com Rodrigo Minotauro in the background

Rodrigo Minotauro He was out of action until the second half of 2011 due to knee and hip injuries. The black belt, however, did not hide his joy at choosing junior gypsy as one of the coaches on The Ultimate Fighter, the UFC reality show. Minotauro, who is a kind of godfather to Júnior, is proud of his pupil's achievement and believes that participating in the TV show will be important to popularize the Tupiniquim fighting style in North American territory.

“TUF will be important to showcase Brazilian MMA in America, showing how we train together and united. I showed this when I was a coach and Cigano will do the same thing”, stated Minotauro, in an interview with the North American website Bloody Elbow. The black belt confirms that he will visit the program's recordings, but trusts his training partner's teaching techniques.

“Anderson (Silva) and I are going to visit him, but Cigano is a guy who knows how to teach, showing his techniques that make him one of the best in the world,” he said. Asking about the fight between Júnior Cigano and Brock Lesnar, which will be the final of the reality show, Rodrigo made a point of stating that his pupil will knock out the former heavyweight champion.

“Analyzing the moon, Lesnar doesn't kick, so Cigano won't train much Muay Thai, like he trained for the fight against Cain (Velasquez). This is the type of fight where he will look for the knockout, in addition to training a lot in wrestling, guard positions, in case he falls on the bottom, although Lesnar's ground and pound is not as good as Cain's. But (Cigano) goes for the knockout,” he added.