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Many of you are probably more familiar with Maximum Fighting Championship welterweight title holder Douglas “The Phenom” Lima than you are with his younger brother, Dhiego Lima (5-0). Well here’s your chance to learn a bit more about the undefeated American Top Team fighter from Atlanta, Georgia.
Dhiego, who recently received his purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu from master Junior Assunção at Ascension MMA, has fought twice in the past six months on the same card as his championship brother, earning wins at MFC 27 and MFC 29. Unfortunately for his fans, both fights failed to make the HDNet broadcast.
Luckily, HDNet posted Dhiego’s MFC 29 win on Youtube, a third round submission win over opponent Josh Taveirne, which we’ve posted above.
MFC 29 went down on April 8, in Windsor, Ontario, Canada and was the first nationally televised MMA event in the Province since the sport was legalized. Ontario is set to host the largest event in North America at the end of this month with UFC 129 in Toronto, with 55,000 fans expected to be in attendance.
The MMA News had a chance to speak with Dhiego recently about his recent win, the trip to Windsor, his brothers first title defense, and much more.
What were you expecting from your fight with Josh Taveirne and did it happen like you expected? Did he surprise you in any way?
– Man everything in training happened, he didn’t surprise me one bit. It comes from studying your opponent a lot. I knew exactly what he was going to do and I had the perfect game plan. I knew he was going to keep trying to take me down, so I used my distance to not let him even close to me.
A third round submission is unlikely in the sport, what did you think going into the third round and how did the submission come about?
– Yea I wanted to submit him earlier, but that tough SOB wouldn’t tap, hehe. Going in to the 3rd round all I was thinking was to finish the fight. I knew I was winning the fight, but in somebody’s back yard you never know the judging. Well I kept working for it, and when I caught him with the big elbow it opened him up so I capitalized.
What did you think of your brother’s first title defense?
– Man ever since they announced he was fighting Terry (Martin)) I knew Douglas was going to knock him out. What impressed me was how quick it was, but I know how long he has been waiting to fight a striker and show his skills on the feet. Everybody hes been fighting lately wants to grab him and take him down, but trust me his stand up is even better than his ground (game). Now he showed he is a real champion by defending the title and he is going to be a champion for a while!
MFC 29 was the first televised event in the province of Ontario since the government legalized the sport. What was the crowd like in Windsor? How did they treat you during your stay?
-Right before I went in the cage I took a look to see how many people was there, and my eyes started tearing. I couldn’t believe I was fighting on an event like that. I actually fought a home town guy so I didn’t get cheered much, but you could see the passion in the crowd it was amazing. They treated us very, very good everywhere you went. There was people trying to take pictures, getting autographs, it was the best experience of my life. That’s what I’ve been waiting for my whole career!
When do you expect the MFC to come calling again? if you will fight again have they talked about you fighting on television?
– At the press conference after the fight Mark (Pavlich, MFC owner) said “Well now we know that Dhiego Lima will never be on the undercard again,” so that made me really happy knowing that hes going to put me on television now. Well my manager and Marck are working something out, but I can guarantee that the MFC will be my home for a while.
You were scheduled to fight for another promotion between the MFC fights correct? What happened to that fight? Do you have any other fights lined up?
– I was suppose to fight at Wild Bills in Georgia a few months ago, but my opponent backed out the week of the fight, so that was a bummer. Then I was ready so my manager found some short notice fights and they all backed out too, so I was pretty frustrated and wanted to fight. I don’t have anything lined up right now, just waiting to see whats next.
What sort of future do you see for yourself in the sport of mma?
-I want to be a champion when I’m 24 or 25. I plan on retiring at an early age to enjoy time with my kids. Right now I’m still young so I’m not going to rush anything, I’m going to take my time not take any short notice fights, have great training camps for my fights, and become a champion. I want to go down as the best welterweight in the world.
It’s possible that if both of you keep winning, the UFC or Strikeforce may come calling. With so much focus on Douglas its likely he’d be the one to get the first call. If he leaves and vacated the MFC title, would you be willing to fight for that belt?
-Definitely, my brother and I would be honored if I got to fight for that title one day. Now that he’s defended the belt, and is on a 6 fight win streak, a lot of the other big promotions are probably looking at him. Nobody knows what is going to happen in the future, but if the title is vacated in the MFC, I will be coming for it hard!, and my brother will tell you the same thing.
Do you have any favorite fighters to watch? Do you copy anyone’s style of fighting?
-My favorite no question is Nick Diaz, man the guy always comes in to put on a show. I’ve never seen him in a boring fight. I think he has a lot of haters out there, but really man the guy always does his job. People don’t understand that that is his style, he’s never going to change that’s who he is. Man he’s badass. People need to get over and stop talking shit about him. I don’t really copy anyone’s style but I watch a lot of guys and just try to use a little from each one and make my own style.
Do you have any sponsors, coaches, etc. you’d like to mention?
– I would to give a big shout out to Full Tilt Poker, and Clinch Gear! Thanks Suckerpunch Ent. for making everything happen for me, and of course all my trainers and training partners. I would like to give a big thanks to my big brother man, if it wasn’t for him none of this would be happening to me. Eh noizzz!!