Tag: Diego Brandao

Filed under: UFC

Wednesday night’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter featured Diego Brandao’s featherweight fight with Steven Siler, and it didn’t last long. Brandao flew across the cage, attacked Siler and finished him off with a first-round TKO for one of the most impressive performances on this year’s show.

MMAFighting.com caught up with Brandao to talk about that fight, and specifically why he decided to go on the attack from the opening bell against Siler, rather than follow the game plan set forth by his coach, Michael Bisping.

The interview is below.

Michael David Smith: You came flying across the cage at the start of the fight. Why did you start so fast? Isn’t there a risk of being too reckless?
No. I just believed in myself. I’ve never been afraid of getting knocked out — I’m not too worried about that.

Your coach, Michael Bisping, said the game plan was not to do anything crazy. I guess you’re not afraid to do something crazy.
No, I think the plan is to fight. I’m going to f–king kick your head off. That’s my plan. I’m going to hit your face and knock your ass out.

But there is some strategy to MMA, right?
My strategy was that I thought he would shoot for a takedown at the beginning and I thought a flying knee would hit his face, so that’s why that was my strategy.

Bisping said your cardio isn’t good. Is that true, and is that why you wanted to finish the fight quickly?
No, I wouldn’t say so. I think the way he trained was different than what I’m used to with Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn and that might have worn me out and made him think I didn’t have cardio, plus I felt a lot of pressure about making weight. The UFC offered us all the food we wanted, which is crazy. When I was growing up in Brazil, I never had a lot of food in my house, and I just wasn’t used to being able to eat all I wanted. So it was a little weird for me to be in a house that had all that food. That’s the only reason making weight was a concern.

You talked a little bit on the show about your father telling you to take care of the family before he died. Is that what motivates you to make it in the UFC?
That’s why I’m fighting. When my dad passed away at first, I was fighting in the streets a lot and it was actually Ronaldo Jacare who told me I should be fighting in MMA and made me start training jiu jitsu. Jacare is a great friend, and he has trained me in Brazil and helped me a lot. I feel great and very happy that I won my first fight, and I’m especially happy because my dad, who passed away, would be very proud of me, and my mom is very proud of me. I fight to support my family.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: UFC

Michael Bisping made Diego Brandao the first pick among the featherweights on this season of The Ultimate Fighter, indicating that Bisping views Brandao as the most talented fighter of the bunch on this year’s cast.

In our weekly interview, Brandao said that’s pretty much how he viewed himself as well — he headed into The Ultimate Fighter house confident in his abilities, and after getting a look at the rest of this season’s cast, he thought he was among the best fighters on the show.

We talked with Brandao about his status as the first overall pick, how the training he got at the Ultimate Fighter gym compared to what he had before, and what he thought of the season’s first fight, between Bryan Carraway and Marcus Brimage.

The interview is below.

Michael David Smith: You were the first overall pick. How did that make you feel?
Diego Brandao: I feel great about it. I think it was because of my jiu jitsu, the coaches saw those skill I had, and in my first fight to get onto the show I showed that I was one of the strongest guys. I think at that time I felt more confident than the other guys. Getting picked first meant a lot and I felt great at the start of the show.

Getting picked first meant that Bisping thought you were the best of the featherweights. Is that also what you thought?
Yes, I always believe in myself. I always think to myself, I’m the best guy, no one is going to come to me and take my dream away. But when I saw those guys I did see there were a lot of other good guys there, too. I thought there were guys that would challenge me, but I was confident in myself.

Did the coaching you got at the start of the show differ from what you were accustomed to, training with Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn?
I learned a lot during but before I went down there I also felt like I knew a lot from my own camp. I wasn’t thinking, “Oh, my gosh, this is The Ultimate Fighter!” I was just thinking like I had already prepared myself.

In the first fight of the season, Bryan Carraway beat Marcus Brimage with a rear-naked choke in the second round. Did you have any thoughts about that, as Carraway was a potential opponent for you in a later round of the season?
I think Bryan is an aggressive guy who looked good, he has very good submissions and I think he has a jiu jitsu background like me. I enjoyed watching it and felt like it was a fun fight to watch.

(Editor’s Note: Check back every Thursday to get Brandao’s thoughts on the recent TUF episode).

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments