Interviews
André Dida
By Gabriel Cabral
"I prefer Gesias to win, because I wanna fight him on his best and not coming from a loss, I wanna fight him when he’s well"

 

After great fights at Hero’s at 2007, including a victory at lightweight GP’s semifinal over the Japanese star Caol Uno, the Brazilian André Dida has firmed his name on the international MMA circuit. Chosen to Dream’s 70kg category GP of the new Dream event, that’ll happen at March 15th at , the fighter of Universidade da Luta come as one of the favorites. In exclusive interview to TATAME’s site, Dida spoke about his expectations for the GP, who would he like to fightm analyzed Gesias Cavaltanti’s fight against Shinya Aoki, commented his training at UDL and his friend Mauricio Shogun’s fight, against Chuck Liddell at UFC. Check below the complete interview.

Who will you face the GP’s first lightweight stage?



I’m confirmed to fight, but I don’t have opponent defined yet. They’ll define it this week.



Who would you like to face?



I’d like to fight with the Norwich Joachim Hansen, a complete fighter with a good Jiu-Jitsu.



Do you wanna revenge against Gesias on the GP?



Actually, Gesias is on my plans, but it can be at GP or not, I wanna face him. I’m not demeriting anyone, but when I fought with him I was too tired after my fight with Caol Uno and I wanna face Gesias with 100%.



What do you expect for his fight against Aoki?



I want him to win. Actually, I want a fast victory, because Aoki only has one game, the ground work that actually is very good, but he only stays trying to take the fight to the ground. I prefer Gesias to win, because I wanna fight him on his best and not coming from a loss, I wanna fight him when he’s well.



How are your training at Universidade da Luta?

 

We’re training hard, training are great. On the morning I’m training hard the physical part with Alejo Morales and at the afternoon I do the Muay Thai with my brother, Mauricio Veio. We do the Jiu-Jitsu, and who are training me are the black belts Fernandinho and Marcelo.



How is Shoguns’ preparation to his fight against Liddell?



I think he is very focused. I know him since he was 15, 16 years old and never saw shogun so focused. He is so focused that he excites us. He’s running too much, he weights 100kg and runs with an 80kg’s velocity. If you ask who need to improve his game to the fight between him or Liddell, I believe it’s Liddell, because Shogun fought with harder opponents and has a more complete game that only needs few changes.



What’s your tip for the fight between BJ Penn and Sean Sherk for UFC belt?

 



I think BJ is more rough and has more heart, that thing of really wanting to win. I wanna him to win, because someone needs to beat BJ, and I believe it needs to be a Muay Thai fighter, to get him on the right moment because he’s too good.



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