Wywiadzik z Vitorem po UFC 49z portugalskiego tłumaczył
ChuteBoxedAfter having his third fight against Randy Couture in the UFC, Vitor Belfort had no doubts: "I was cheated!" Belfort added that it was a headbutt from Randy that was the basis for the American's victory. Not only did the headbutt open a cut on the eyebrow of the brasilian, to Vitor, the un-intentional move was the deciding factor in forcing Vitor to change his tactics, destroying his original strategy.
In an exclusive interview with Tatame, Vitor comments on what happened before the fight at Big Bear, explaining the strategy that he had constructed to defeat Couture and claims that the direction of the UFC doesn't match the rules of the event.
TATAME: Vitor, how were you after the fight with Randy?
VITOR: I was very annoyed (disgusted). What happened there doesnt' exist. I took a headbutt to the head and it left me stupid. I recovered, but there was too much blood, even blood in my ear. On top of opening a cut on my eye, the headbutt completely ended my entire strategy.
TATAME: Why?
Vitor: My idea was to take advantage of the difference in age (Couture is 41 and Vitor 27). I wanted to make him tired in the first three rounds to let my game go later. It started very well with him trying to take me down and me defending. I was going to let him tire himself out within the rounds. In the second round, when i was going to start returning fire, i took a headbutt right in the beginning of the round. I was knocked silly, and it allowed randy to take me down and spend the rest of the fight hitting at the cut.
TATAME: You claim that the judge (Ref) should have stopped the fight right after the headbutt...
Vitor: But of course! I took a headbutt and the judge only called the doctor after a very long time. What's worse is when i was beginning to get back into my game, and make a fight, the doctor decided that I shouldn't be allowed to continue! This is absurd! If they wanted to stop the fight because of the cut, they should have made that decision in the second round. Not during the intermission between the third and the fourth, when I was beginning to fight back! It seemed that they didn't want me to win... After the judge told me that he didn't see that the cut was caused by the headbutt....but the jab (of randy's) couldn't possibly have done anything to me.
TATAME: One week before, in Pride, the fight between Minotauro and Fedor was stopped and ruled a No Contest because of an accidental headbutt, a headbutt that opened a cut on the eyebrow of the russian. Do you think that the UFC should have done the same?
Vitor: Of course! This is in the rules of the UFC that if a cut happens because of an involuntary headbutt, the fight should be declared a no contest. And that is what happened. The only difference is that Pride follows their own rules and the UFC doesn't.
TATAME: It seemed as though you were very defensive in that fight, walking backwards a lot, and not letting your hands go as you have in the past. Was it that you had too much respect for Couture?
Vitor: No....I had problems also in the last week of training at Big Bear. My ex-trainer in Muay Thai began to cause a series of problems and brought a lot of negative energy to the team. This made me very unmotivated. On top of this, during the fight, my corner was very messed up (bagunca is something like a "big fucking loud mess") Each one would say something different and I had trouble understanding anything at all. But when one errors, it's important to see the problems and correct them.
TATAME: And the future? There is talk of you saying you are coming back in december to fight Tito Ortiz? You don't want revenge against Randy?
Vitor: At this time, the UFC does not want to give me many options, but it makes sense that I want revenge against Randy. I talked with Randy soon after the fight and he told me that he would fight whoever UFC put in front of him. The other time, when he lost to me, they gave him a rematch immediately. I want to see now if he'll do the same for me. About Tito Ortiz, I would like to fight him. I don't like his "way" (jeito is "way", he's probably referring to how he acts).