The Brazilian Antonio Pezão next Saturday (10) faces the North American Daniel Cormier in one of the semi-finals of the Strikeforce heavyweight GP. Willing to win the tournament title, the Brazilian athlete, who in the previous phase surprised the favorite Fedor Emelianenko, confessed that he lost part of his motivation when alistair overeem left the dispute because he did not agree with the anticipation of the clashes.
“At first I was disappointed and even unwilling to fight in the tournament. But today I understand his attitude. If it were me, I would have done the same too”, said Pezão, at the press conference before the show. “But I love what I do, I love fighting. I will show the same desire as always, but the tournament has lost a little of its shine”, added the Brazilian.
Pezão also analyzed how the change in training went, as Overeem is known for his power in stand-up fighting and Cormier's specialty is takedowns.
“A lot has changed. I was going to fight with a striker and I wanted to put him down and play my game on top. Now Cormier comes in, who will probably want to put me down. But I trained a lot of jiu-jitsu because I'm going to fight at the ADCC at the end of September. On the ground it will be practically the same strategy”, said the Brazilian, who revealed his support for the other semifinal duel, where Russian Sergei Kharitonov faces Josh Barnett, Pezão's rival, who does not hide his desire to face the American in the grand final.
“I know it will be a difficult fight for both of them, but my fans will be for Josh (Barnett). I hope he passes”, concluded Pezão.
Check out the show's complete fight program below, which in addition to Antonio Pezão, will feature five more Brazilians in action: On the main card, Ronaldo Jacare will defend the middleweight belt against Luke Rockhold e Roger gracie face King mo Lawal. In the preliminary card, Rafael Feijão faces Yoel romero, Cyborg Evangelist will measure forces against Jordan Mein, Marcos Foot will face Mike Kyle and Amanda nunes will do the women's fight on the show against Alexis Davis
Main Card
Josh Barnett vs. Sergei Kharitonov – Heavyweight GP Semifinal
Daniel Cormier vs. Antonio “Pezão” Silva – Heavyweight GP semi-final
Ronaldo Jacare vs. Luke Rockhold – Fight valid for the middleweight belt
Roger gracie vs. Muhammad “King mo” Lawal
Maximo Blanco vs. Pat Healy
Preliminary Card
Mike Kyle vs. Marcos Rogerio “Pezão” from Lima
Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante vs. Yoel romero
Jordan Mein vs. Evangelist “Cyborg” Santos
Chris Mierzwiak vs. Dominique Steele
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