Rafael Cavalcante wants to get back on track after his unsuccessful UFC debut.
“Feijao” made his UFC debut 13 months after testing positive following his 33-second submission victory over Mike Kyle at Strikeforce. He was dominating the action when Silva dropped him and finish with strikes at UFC on Fuel TV 10, last June in Fortaleza, Brazil.
“I’m training hard, doing great, and I’m ready for a great fight,” Calvacante told MMAFighting.com. “I’ve fought in June and I’m fighting again in November, and that’s great. I felt the lack of rhythm in my last fight and that was the problem. I’m back in shape, and I’ll do an exciting fight for the fans.
“I thought ring rust wouldn’t be an issue, but it was. I was dominating the fight until he hit a good punch in my liver and that was it. He basically didn’t hit me during the entire fight but needed that punch to hurt me, and I was out of the fight after that.”
Cavalcante, a former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion, returns to the Octagon on Nov. 9 against Igor Pokrajac at UFC Fight Night 32 in Goiania, Brazil, and he wants to get back to the win column with a knockout.
“Igor is a good striker but it’s not that type of guy with a one-punch knockout power,” he said. “It will be a great fight. I have a better striking game and a better ground game, and I believe in my stand up to get the knockout.”
With knockout wins over the likes of “King Mo” Lawal and Yoel Romero, “Feijao” wants to be in the top of the division by the next year.
“I know what I want and I know I can get there,” he said. “I’m working hard, focused to get among the best five fighters in my division. My routine is train, eat and sleep. Everything I do, I do thinking about getting at the top of the light heavyweight division.
“In the perfect world, this fight will end quickly and I won’t get hurt,” he continued. “I don’t care how, I just want to win. Everybody knows the way I fight. I’m not here just to win, I’m here to do my best all the time. I’m very aggressive and I’ll do an exciting fight.”