Questions and Answers.......................... Episode 01

-- Coming into the show, you were flying under the radar with most MMA
fans. Can you give our audience more background on who you are? How
long have you been fighting? What made you want to get involved in
MMA? Where do you train and who do you train with? Where you are
originally from?

I fight out of Brooklyn New York with Team Insight. We are small MMA
camp that really hasn't hit the main scene. My coaches are Ralph
Mitchel and Clarence "Cee" Everett. I also train Jiu-Jitsu under
Alexandre "Soca" Freitas. Some other team Tnsight fighters you have to
watch out for are Nardu Debrah, Dave Branch, and John Beneduce. I've
been training under Ralph Mitchel since the age of 9 years old. He
started me off with traditional arts, Muay Thai kickboxing, Judo, JKD,
Filipino Arnis, and basic street self defense. After watching my
training partners compete in mixed martial art fights I thought I can
do it also. And after winning my first fight, I was hooked! I am born
and raised in Brooklyn New York and I still live here.

-- Duarte had a lot of hype going into the show. Do you feel that when
the matchup was made that maybe that the matchmakers underestimated
you? Did you ever get a sense that people felt Duarte was favored
going into that fight?

I had a really good sense that people favored Durate before the fight.
Even Nogueira himself admitted to me that he thought Durate was going
to kick my butt. Ever since I fainted everyone there thought I was a
punk. When people found out I was fighting Durate they almost look at
me with pity. I just absorbed it all and wanted to prove myself.

- Can you talk more about why you do not like watching other fights
before yours? Is it because you're trying to remain calm? Do you get
too anxious watching fights before you're set to go on? Do you like
fighting last on a fight card or would you prefer to go first?

I don't like watching other fights before mine because it distacts me
from what I really there to do. If I were to watch someone else fight
I can get so involved that I might lose sight that I'm to perform in
just a few minutes. I like to stay backstage and focus. It's a lot of
pressure fighting last. Everyone sort of waited for that fight to
happened. I guess you can say I close the show well.

-- At any point in the qualifying round, did you feel a preference

towards which coach you wanted to end up with?

The assistant coach Daniel Valverde cornered me well during my
fight. He sort of reached out to me backstage as well. I could hear
him and Delgado encouraging me while in the cage. I guess you
can say I was leaning toward the red team that day.

-- What was the last week like for you? You went from being a fighter
making his way up the ranks on the regional scene to a guy featured on
a reality TV show watched by millions of people? Did you get
recognized a lot in public last week? Are you getting a lot of media
attention?

New York is so big. I take the train all the time and not one person
recognizes me. MMA and the UFC aren't that popular in New York as it
is in Vegas and the west Coast. The only attention I get is through
the internet or at the gyms and dojos I train at. I had a great
premiere party where over 200 of my friends came. That was some great
attention. It was a blast!

-- Jose Agallar had some controversial comments last week, comparing
himself to Hitler and other conquering leaders. Did you interact with
him at all? What were your impressions of him?

I never knew Jose was that crazy. He seemed like a cool guy when I
spoke with him. He even gave me some good fight advice against Durate.
I rolled with the guy to warm up. I never knew he had views like
that. I am really surprised about what he said on his interview. A lot
of my friends and family disliked the kid.

-- What were your thoughts about Jason Guida? Is it his fault for not
coming in prepared or do you think the commission over-reacted by not
letting him cut one more pound?

I think it's totally his fault and he knows it too. You have months
and months of preparation knowing you're going to be on tv. From the
looks of his build he could have easily lost 10 to 15 pounds of fat 2
months before getting on thereby making the weight cut much easier. I
lost close to 20 pounds trying to get on the show. People say I
looked like Skeletor on tv!

Training through injuries

The most difficult thing I believe is training through an injury. It is so important to train without getting any injuries and when you get one. How to train with it. Any ideas?