Outside Source
After injuring his arm and losing his belt to Joshua Van, Alexandre Pantoja became one of the most interested men watching the co-main event of UFC 328. Not surprisingly, the Brazilian and his coach “Parrumpa” da Matta watched the event from the front row. Da Matta spoke with Sherdog about the future of his athlete, the successes of a newly minted champion and a whether being a backup fighter is a good idea.
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“I particularly wanted Van to win because I really wanted this rematch,” explained to Sherdog.
In the opinion of the American Top Team coach, Van vs. Tatsuro Taira provided excellent material for study.
“We were able to see a lot in these almost five rounds,” the coach analyzed. “Both exposed themselves a lot, showing both strengths and weaknesses. I liked what I saw.”
Waiting in the wings, Pantoja is already fully recovered and is now just waiting for the UFC to schedule the rematch.
“His arm is already 100%, but he still wouldn’t be 100% to fight next week, for example. We need some time to do a championship camp, and I believe that fight will happen around August or September. Now it depends more on the UFC and Joshua Van than on Pantoja,” he stated.
Flowers for Strickland
Speaking about the main event of UFC 328 between Khamzat Chimaev and Sean Strickland for the middleweight title, the ATT coach criticized those who are taking away the merits of the new champion. If the coach had one major favor that contributed to Chimaev losing, it would be his massive weight cut reportedly over 40 pounds.
“People are practically saying that Chimaev lost because of the weight cut. Hold on,” da Matta exclaimed. “What about Strickland? There was a guy there who made Chimaev tired and, in my opinion, won that fight in the last two minutes of a 25-minute war. So, Strickland deserves all the credit.”
“Parrumpa” recounted that former Bellator MMA champion Johnny Eblen had been training with Strickland. Based on those sessions, the coach believed that Chimaev would have difficulty keeping Strickland down for long. That proved to be true.
“In my opinion, Eblen is among the top 10 middleweights in the world and trains here at ATT. He said he trained with Strickland and that it was very difficult to keep him on the ground. I confess that I even thought Chimaev would win, but because of these reports from Eblen, I knew it would be a very close fight,” da Matta continued.
‘Being a substitute sucks’
The coach weighed in on the upcoming event at the White House on June 14. There are only seven matches on the billing, and the difficulty of finding a replacement on this notice that can pass security to go through that building. Arman Tsarukyan volunteered to be ready to step in should something happen in the Ilia Topuria–Justin Gaethje main attraction, including reaching championship weight.
“He’s already training. He’s in Los Angeles now helping his partner, David. I haven’t actually talked to him about it yet. I perfectly understand that he has to accept it to get back on good terms with the company, but I personally like a camp for a specific athlete. Being a substitute sucks. You can fight two fighters, you have to make weight, you don’t even get the show money purse. But at this moment I understand that he needs to do it and because he’s always training, it’s still a very good opportunity for him,” Da Matta concluded.
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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