Former heavyweight champion of Pride and UFC, Rodrigo Minotauro will have the chance to revenge his bitter loss on his career. On the main event of UFC 119, the Brazilian faces Frank Mir, his tormentor in 2008, and he is ready for the duel. On an exclusive interview to TATAME, Minotauro talked about the rematch, compared his Jiu-Jitsu to the American’s, commented the duel his brother Rogério Minotouro will do against Ryan Bader, who was Minotauro’s pupil on The Untimate Fighter 8.

You will finally have this chance to revenge your loss to Frank Mir, something you always wanted. How is your motivation for this bout?

I’m motivated, training hard, I’m in a good conditioning… It’s an important fight in my career. It’s a bout I wanted for so long and I thank them (UFC) for giving me this chance to rematch him. I’m ready for this war.

Have you started your preparation for this fight?

I’m training hard, doing my preparation with André Galvão and the guys from the TC, I’ll go to Bahia to train my boxing and my Muay Thay too, and on the beginning of the other month I’ll go to Los Angeles, to train with Anderson Sivla and the guys there.

You have had some time to make some thought about the strategy to use against Frank Mir…

Of course we have our strategy, but let’s see what happens (laughs)...

Many fans, mainly after Fabrício Wedum’s win over Fedor Emelianenko and the win of Brock Lesnar over Shane Carwin, believed you should use more your Jiu-Jitsu, which has been your strong point during you whole career. What do you think about that?

That’s the game I like, in fact, but I’m not using it because I’m not finding the right opportunity, but when it goes to the ground I immediately feel more comfortable than standing… It’s a matter of opportunity, you can bring the guy to the ground. Werdum set the right strategy, a very good one, his triangle fit, and Shane Carwin show he is not much mature when it comes to the ground. When you’re standing, it’s like a stampede, his hands come from everywhere.

Frank Mir also has a good ground game. How do you compare your Jiu-Jitsu to his?

I think Frank Mir is a good submitter, a fight on the ground between us would be a beautiful thing to watch, but I believe I have a more sharp ground game. I move more than him and I believe on my conditioning. He has a tight game, but I believe my game is tighter, that’s why I believe my submission game is a little better.

Your brother will fight on the same night against Ryan Bader. What do you hope for this bout?

A great fight, man… Coincidently it’ll be against a guy who trained with me for three or four months during UFC’s reality show, he’s an explosive guy, good, he improved his standing game, but I’m excited about Rogério, he’s very focused, training hard… He knows it’s his chance to get closer to the belt. It’s a good fight, I enjoy fighting against him, it’s a bigger adrenalin… There’ll be two great fight on the same night and that’s what makes me so focused. One helps the other. This week we’ll train together, our bang game… It’s very exciting for me, we’ll remind of our Pride time, when we fought together a lot.

Will Ryan Bader be dangerous on this bout?

He has a strong right-handed punch, he’s explosive, has a good rhythm, but Rogério has a better conditioning. Ryan is a good wrestler… His ground and pound is not that efficient, so on that area he’s not that dangerous to Rogério, but he has that wrestler spin, but Rogério is better than him on the bang and is a good counter attacker. He does good takedowns, but on the ground Rogério is best.

How does it feel in your nerves, when you don’t know if you watch your brother’s bout or you do that last minute warm up for your fight?

I’ll fight twice on the same night. I like it, his fight gives me a lot of adrenalin, I get there very focused, it turns my adrenalin on… We’re a team, having me and my brother fighting on the same day already makes me feel on the mood for fight, so it’s interesting.