Borrachinha will face Hendricks at UFC 217 (Photo: Reproduction/Facebook PauloBorrachinha)
Two months ago, Paulo borrachinha went to social media and challenged Vitor belfort, looking for the most relevant fight in his career. The confrontation with the 'Phenomenon' did not come, but the Brazilian was 'presented' with a fight against John hendricks, which will take place at UFC 217, November 4, in New York. When commenting on the choice of his next opponent, the fighter believes that the former welterweight champion could offer him more danger than his compatriot Belfort.
See too
“I like this fight. I think that John hendricks is a more difficult challenge (which Vitor belfort). He is a former champion, I believe it will be a great fight. I'll take him down. (…) I think he (Hendricks) is physically better than Vitor at the moment. He has good takedowns, he has good wrestling, so that makes him a more dangerous fighter,” he declared, in an interview with the 'MMA Fighting' website.
The challenge made to face Vitor belfort did not please some Brazilian fans very much, who saw the attitude of Paulo borrachinha as 'disrespectful'. The fighter from Minas Gerais, however, claims that he doesn't care about other people's opinions,
“I don't really care about the fans' opinions, good or bad. Fans are very biased, sometimes they like a fighter and will defend him for the rest of their lives no matter what, whether he is doing well or not. I don't consider people's opinions because many of them don't know how fights work. Many of them don't even know where Vitor is in the rankings right now. I saw people saying 'you're calling Vitor to fight, you should call (Yoel) Romero or (Michael) Bisping because they're in better shape now'. They don't know there is a ranking, so I don't care what they say. I do what I think is right and that’s it”, he concluded.
Paulo borrachinha he debuted in the UFC this year after a solid career on the national scene and a lackluster stint on TUF Brasil. In his first UFC fight, he knocked out Garreth McLellan in the first round of UFC Fortaleza, in March. Almost three months later, the Brazilian returned to the octagon, again at home, at UFC 212, in Rio de Janeiro. On that occasion, the middleweight beat Oluwale Bamgbose by knockout again, but in the second round. At 26 years old, he won 10 professional fights, nine by knockout and one by submission.
Comments