Jorge Santiago still wants to face Belfort

By Guilherme Cruz

Photo DSE courtesy

The cancellation of the third edition of Affliction has left six Brazilians, and one of them was Jorge Santiago. Scaled to face Vitor Belfort, the champion of the Sengoku chatted with TATAME and said that he was excited to return to the United States, but that will have to postpone. "I was disappointed with the cancellation, because I was training in full gas", regrets the athlete of the American Top Team, who was training a lot to face the ex-champion of the UFC and Cage Rage.

"The preparation for this fight was excellent, I was very excited. I know it wouldn’t be an easy fight, and that is why I dedicated my maximum in my trainings", he said, recalling the moment he received the news of the cancellation of the fight. "When I received the news, on Friday morning, it was as if someone throws a bucket of cold water... I remember I was training when the phone rang. I stopped the training at the same time, I couldn’t believe it. I was training like a madman, I almost reached the overtraining, a month before the fight, because of the much that I wanted to train... In the end I didn’t even want to train, I only wanted to fight".

Overcome the sadness, the fighter is already thinking about the next appointments. "It’s in the hands of God. If it wasn’t now, who knows in the future this fight can happen", he said, still thinking in a fight against Belfort. In conversation with TATAME, Conan Silveira, Jorge’s coach at the ATT, said that has suggested that Amaury Bitetti married this fight at Bitetti Combat 4, which happens in September, in Rio de Janeiro. "I was prepared to fight with Vitor, without a shadow of doubt. Conan suggested that the Amaury make this fight and we are waiting the answer... If this happens, it will be great", cheer up.

THE RETURN TO JAPAN

If the fight in the United States didn’t happen, the middleweight waits for the next opponent at Sengoku, to put his belt at stake. "I’ll make my first defense of title, but my opponent wasn’t announced yet. We are waiting the result of the fight between Kazuhiro Nakamura and Kazuo Misaki", says the champion, who already has beaten these fighters in his last two fights in Japan. "This fight will give the winner the right to fight me", he explains.

If your next appointment in Japan is sent, the possible return to the United States seems even more unlikely. "With the end of the Affliction, it was more difficult my return to fight in the U.S. for now, because the other American events that were interested in my contract would require exclusivity, something I can’t because I still have contract with Sengoku", revealed Santiago, who saw his name grow again since he got nine consecutive victories since he left the UFC, in 2006.