UFC NEWS – Quotes From Today’s UFC 142 Pre-Fight Press Conference Call
Today the UFC held their UFC 142: Aldo vs. Mendes” pre-fight conference call.
Jose Aldo, Chad Mendes, Vitor Belfort and Anthony Johnson where all on the line today fielding questions from members of the media who got the invite to participate.
UFC 142 is set to go down on Jan. 14 from Rio de Janeiro’s HSBC Arena. In the main event is a featherweight title fight between Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes.
Below are some of the more notable quotes from the conference:
Jose Aldo, UFC featherweight champion
“There’s more attention and it is a great pleasure to defend my title in my home country. It means everything for me to come back fighting in my country as a champion.
“This is where I started, just with dreams and hopes, and now I am back as a champion. It is a great feeling, but I will try to think about it after the fight. I still have to train hard and win this fight.
“I found a few things in his game I can exploit. I’ve trained very hard for this fight; I never underestimate any fighter and want to remain as champion.
Chad Mendes, No. 1 featherweight contender
“Going into the champion’s own backyard is exciting. There’s no doubt that he is the best fighter in this weight class. He has some things he is better at than others, but he’s got no ‘holes’ in his game. But I feel I am the same; I’ve sat down with Urijah Faber (coach and friend) and we have come up with a great plan.
“When Urijah fought him, we didn’t red-flag his leg kicks, but obviously we have prepared for that in this fight.
“Other fighters have stood there and let him take them apart; I think I will get in there and get my hands on him. No one else he’s fought has my level of wrestling, to where I will get him down and keep him down.
“The Aldo camp saying I am not ready for a title shot? They don’t know how good I am. They’ve never fought me or trained with me. I am very, very ready for this title shot. He has great takedown defense but my type of shot is a ‘blast-you-off-your-feet’ type of shot.
“He’s the one with the pressure. He’s the champ. He’s the headliner in his own town, while I am the up-and-comer, the underdog. There’s no pressure on me.
“It’s crazy to think that three and a half years ago I was in college, and this trip in MMA has really been a wild ride.
“I knew I would be good at this sport. But to get a title shot after 11 fights is just a dream. I get to travel all over the world. I know this is a short window in my life and I am loving every minute of it.”
Vitor Belfort, UFC middleweight
“I do believe UFC will surpass soccer as the No. 1 sport in Brazil. It has everything in place – the stars, the athletes – to become the biggest sport in the world. I think it will overtake every sport in the world. People deny that, but I think it is already happening. The Junior dos Santos fight in November had more Brazilian (TV viewers) than Brazil vs. Argentina (soccer match).
“I am so happy to be fighting on this card. I have the coaching with The Ultimate Fighter Brazil coming up (after this fight) but I am 100 percent focused on this fight with Anthony.
“I don’t look for God to help me with wins; I look for God in my daily life. I live my life for Jesus, I try to live by an example.”
Anthony “Rumble” Johnson
“It is an honor to fight in Brazil. I don’t mind fighting in anyone’s backyard, I am a fighter and the Octagon is the Octagon anywhere it is in the world.
“Fighting at this weight is a lot of fun for me. This is easy. I’m 215 pounds right now. I am looking forward to fighting as a middleweight and being a better athlete, a thousand times healthier than I was at 170 pounds.
“You are going to see a new, more dangerous “Rumble” at 185 pounds.”
Click here for the latest UFC 142 coverage provided by BJPENN.COM
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cant wait to see rumble fight
Yeah this is an exciting fight. Although I do really like both fighters i’m in Vitor’s corner for this one…
Rumble is go gety his ass whipped lol
Rumble is goin to get his ass whopped
Just watch for the knees on those shots Mendes! And don’t lay and gay your way to a title either.
Rumble you better keep circling and use a lot of kicks. Don’t stand in front of Vitor. Can’t decide who I want to win this one. Good luck to both.
i think johnson is gonna be alot better at 185lb…but i think vitor is just too much too soon. silva’s the only one who can hang with vitor in that division. the 185lb division is anderson silva and vitor belfort….than everyone else.
i think they souldve had vitor fight chael (number1 contender fight) on this card and had johnson fight munoz on the next. they definately shouldve made sonnen go through belfort to get a rematch with silva. but they didnt cause they knew either A. sonnen wouldnt take that fight or B. sonnen would get smashed by belfort thus killing the big money rematch. (that chael claims he doesnt want anymore)
I can’t wait for Chael to prove all of you haters wrong.
Can’t wait for Munoz to smash Chael for the 4th time.
@robby…he won’t… he claims he doesnt want to fight silva anymore…jumping up or down in weight class proves nothing. he’s run his mouth so much about how he’s the middleweight champ (he tapped…right?) and how he was gonna beat silva again (he tapped…right?) he’s even started in on other brazilian fighters, the people of brazil, and the country of brazil…which brings us to why he doesnt want the silva rematch. the rematch is puppose to happen in brazil…he doesnt want to go there…im not surprised he doesnt want to go there, the people there want to kill him (any brazilian people on this forum let me know if i am incorrect).
the bottum line is he’s NOT muhamed ali…he sounds more like a dickhead running his mouth than a guy selling a fight. his little video clips and personal appearances seem alot like a pro rasslin promo.
a little respect goes a long way…
oh and this just in…the wwe champion (cm punk) will be walking chael sonnen to the octogon…very fitting. lol
hopefully he (cm punk) doesnt distract the ref or give sonnen any foreign objects…lmao!! sonnen fits better in the wwe than cmpunk fits in the ufc…
I don’t wanna kill him I love Chael Sonnen
your not brazilian…if you were you would want to kill him. chael sonnen is a horrible person….and a weak ass lay and pray wrestler…not true mma fighter. also…he’s gay…which explains this whole wwe fag thing.
Dam……. those who are doubting chael are probabley the same people who thought Lesnar had a chance against Overeem. When Chael and Silva first fought I had my money on Silva and won big but let’s be real guys….munoz is not on the same level as Chael, I’m not a fan of Chael but he is a beast and once he fights Silva again he will be champ, promise! And of course he’s gonna **** Munoz. After they fight ill be back to say I told u so, which I should’ve done when I called Overeem vs. Lesnar on this sight. Its a no brainer, dont Over estimate Munoz, he has a lot of heart and I think hes an awsome fighter but he’s never faced Chael, nor anyone like him.
i never said munoz would beat sonnen…i said sonnen should be fighting belfort and munoz should be fighting johnson. belfort v sonnen as a number one contender fight makes alot more sense to me…
Chael has zero to do with this post.