Paulão with team in hotel room. Photo: Carlos Ozório.
One of the most attention-grabbing fighters on the card for this Saturday’s Bitetti Combat 8 in São Paulo is Paulão Filho. Coming off a loss, the former WEC champion and one of Brazil’s bigger MMA stars is already in São Paulo, where he will shed the final kilo before weighing in, this Friday night. Paulão is all set to get back on top.
“I feel great. Actually, I always feel great. I know what may happen and I’ve learned a lot from my losses. One thing I’ve always had is confidence, that’s why I’ve always agreed to fight anybody, regardless of whether I was in good shape or not. I was always down to fight anybody,” he says.
“To fight, to be in the ring, I just can’t stop doing that. The problem is that I really did get demotivated, not from fighting, but from training hard every day to be in shape. That’s happened to a lot of fighters. I’ve also had problems, which folks already know. But I’m fine, ready for this fight,” he adds.
Paulão will face Japan’s Yuki Sassaki, a seasoned fighter with experience in major international events. The fight was supposed to have happened back at BC 6.
“Sassaki talked smack about me in the ring the last time he was here, when we didn’t end up fighting. He played his rold. Sassaki, regardless of the results, is a seasoned fighter who has even fought in the UFC. I can only thank him for coming here to face me. It’s an important fight. Imagine what it will be like for him in Japan if he beats me here in Brazil. It will be really important to him and that makes it a greater challenge for me,” says Paulão, who reminisces about the good old days back when he used to fight in the Land of the Rising Sun.
I won all the fights I was in in Japan. They may say I didn’t fight the best or whatever, but I won them all. I really miss it there,” he says in closing.
Furthermore, Bitetti Combat is a tribute the hundred-year anniversary of Corinthians soccer club. Don’t miss the opportunity to watch it for the friendly price of R$ 20 or R$ 60 for VIP seating.
Here are the ticket retail locations in São Paulo:
Parque São Jorge
R. São Jorge, 777 – Pq. São Jorge – Fone (11) 2095-3000
Shopping Morumbi
Piso Térreo – Fone: (11) 5181-5194
Shopping Vila Olímpia
1º Piso – Lj. 206 – Fone: (11) 3045-2937
Itaim
Rua João Cachoeira, 549 – Itaim – Fone: (11) 5181-4373
Galeria Ouro Fino
1º Piso – Lj. 11 – Rua Augusta, 2690 – Jd. America – Fone: (11) 3062-3266
Centro
Rua Marconi, 58 – Centro – (11) 3257-0694
Check out the card:
Bitetti combat 8 “100 anos do Corinthians”
Dia 4 de dezembro de 2010
São Paulo, Brazil
93 Kg – Glover Teixeira x Daniel Tabera (Spain)
90 kg – Paulo Filho x Yuki Sassaki (Japan)
80 kg – Thiago Gonçalves “Jambo” x Eiji Ishikaua (Japan)
70 k – Cristiano Marcello x Guido Caneti (Argentina)
77 kg – Eduardo Santos x Toninho Fúria
77 Kg – Viscardi Andrade x Flávio Alvaro
84 Kg – Mario Soldado x Jordan Smith (USA)
84 kg – Mateus Serafian x Thomas Saldiva
73 Kg – Marcelo Nigue x Luciano Izzy (Argentina)