Bellator 198: “Fedor vs. Mir” comes to Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill., this Saturday night (April 28, 2018), featuring the latest leg of the promotion’s Heavyweight Grand Prix tournament between former Pride FC champion, Fedor Emelianenko (36-5, 1 NC), against former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) champion, Frank Mir (18-11).
Earlier in the night, a Welterweight bout will showcase an undefeated member of the Gracie lineage step up for another fight. Neiman Gracie (7-0) got his start in World Series of Fighting (WSOF) before making the jump to Bellator MMA. Between both organizations he’s finished all but one of his fights by submission, including a textbook neck crank at Bellator 185 last year. Originally, Gracie was set to face Javier Torres (10-3) at that show in Uncasville in Oct. 2017, but a late injury forced Zak Bucia to replace Torres on short notice. Now that he’s healed up, The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) alum known as “Chunty Boy” will get a second chance to become the first fighter to end Gracie’s streak.
MMAmania.com recently spoke with Gracie about preparing a second time for the same fight, his expectations for Saturday at Allstate Arena, and how his last opponent didn’t live up to the hype.
“Yeah man, [Bucia] didn’t tell the truth last time when they changed the opponent, he didn’t attack me at all. Because it’s what I tell people, my gameplan is always the same and it’s no secret, you know? My gameplan is to take the fight down and try to finish the fight with jiu-jitsu, so I just kept my gameplan the same and thank God everything worked out.”
Bellator 198 is loaded with fighters who look to finish with jiu-jitsu. From Frank Mir’s famous submission of Brock Lesnar to John Salter squeezing the juice out of Brandon Halsey, the main card on Paramount Network has no shortage of men with memorable finishes.
“It’s gonna be great! It’s gonna be a great, great jiu-jitsu night. It makes me really happy because everyone is representing the art and it’s gonna be awesome.”
Looking up and down the card, though, Gracie has a clear favorite for who he likes the best.
“Frank Mir. He has a different jiu-jitsu game, but it’s very effective. To tell the truth, Frank Mir is a pretty powerful guy himself. Because when he got that kneebar (on Lesnar), I think that kneebar wasn’t even on the knee, you know? But, he finished because he’s such a powerful guy and that was pretty awesome.”
Mir didn’t feel too awesome after that fight, though — he described it as getting hit by a car you can see coming the whole way. Some of Gracie’s opponents may feel that way about him getting on their backs.
“Man, to tell the truth, I see that happening a lot, but what happened last time with Zak, I was really impressed with him (because) when I got his back he was so calm and he was defending so well. I was really impressed with him by doing that. The guy stayed calm the whole time. I think that’s what you get from having so many fights like he had, you know? I was impressed on how calm he was. Usually, when I get people’s backs, they tend to panic a little bit.”
Gracie might be accused by some of being one-dimensional in his approach, but his response would be that if you can’t beat him in that one dimension, that’s just too bad for you.
“I don’t think it’s my style to bang it out like that. But, if it happens, it happens. If I do good doing that, that’s fine for me, too. So whatever, but I prefer to win by submission for sure — it’s more clean.”
By his own admission, Gracie is looking for bigger challenges in his fights. He’s in search of opponents like a certain world champion who won’t be freaked out if they accept the bout.
“Oh yeah, man! If he keeps holding that belt one day we’re gonna meet for sure. I think it all depends on the way that I win the fights. If I make good finishes and fights that people like to see, I think if it keeps going the way that it’s going and I hope it does, maybe two fights no more than three, you know?”
As it turns out, Gracie has more than just “The Red King” on his mind. It’s a secret to everyone … for now.
“There’s someone that I want to fight. I’m gonna leave that (until) the end of my fight on Saturday. So if everything goes well, if I win this fight, I will let every one know who I want to fight next.”
Whatever he has in mind for the post-fight interview may only be known by the people who will be cornering him for the fight at Allstate Arena.
“So it’s gonna be my uncle Renzo (Gracie), my Muay Thai coach Jamie Crowder and my cousin Gregor Gracie.”
No surprise there — he’s bringing the “Who’s Who” of the Renzo Gracie Academy NYC crew. Fans can look forward to Neiman Gracie giving them another showcase of his style and technique this week … and to possibly seeing his great-uncle Royce Gracie in the crowd.
“Yeah, I hope so! I think he’s gonna be there. So if he’s there he’s coming for sure. Keeping the family together is always, is always good. Our family meetings is a little bit different, but {*chuckles*} it’s still good you know?”
That laugh said to me, “Don’t take the last piece of chicken at a Gracie picnic.” Hopefully, Torres knows that whether it’s a luncheon or a fight function, Gracie’s coming to get ya.’
Complete audio of our interview is embedded above, and complete coverage of “Fedor vs. Mir” resides here at MMAmania.com all week long.
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