The former UFC Heavyweight contender who is making his Octagon return after being out of the UFC the past 15 months, spoke to Tatame.com about his UFC 142 fight vs. Ednaldo Oliveira:
“Since they’ve announced the first UFC Rio I wanted to be a part of it. I was born and raised five minutes from the arena at Barra da Tijuca. My friends, training partners and family members have always asked me, but I wasn’t in the UFC anymore. I fought in October and won Reality Fighting’s heavyweight belt, at Mohegan Cassino. My manager, Marco Alvan, called me and asked if I’d like to be at UFC Rio and I said ‘sure’. He said I was in and I only needed to sign the contract. I was really glad to be coming back home, which is the UFC.
Lula (Oliveira) is a great fighter, but my greatest motivation is my family, my students and being returning to the UFC, an event that has always supported me. Lula hasn’t a 13-0 record (13 wins and no losses) by chance. This study thing I left for my team to do. I’ll set a good game plan for this fight. I’ll also try to knock him out, so let’s see what happens.”
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