This is one of those fights where the underdog is against all odds; On Saturday night Chris Camozzi will walk into Brazil and home country of one of the greatest Brazilian Jiu Jitsu artists ever and not to mention a former Strikeforce champion. Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza has improved his stand up over the last few years and to many Chris Camozzi doesn’t even have a puncher’s chance. But, he does have one thing so many people don’t have when facing someone with the status of Jacare — that’s a strong mindset going into the fight.
Camozzi is a dude who just likes to fight. He hid his broken jaw from the TUF production crew while he was on TUF: Liddell vs. Ortiz, and he’s stepped up on occasion after occasion. This dude is basically born to fight. Someone coming right at him may be the only way to beat Jacare… Unless you’re Luke Rockhold or Mousasi with a perfect upkick.
But still, the point stands. Camozzi may be the underdog but he has just as much a chance as anyone outside an elite few at 185 to defeat Jacare. Most of it comes from his brain. This is what he had to say to Knockout Radio about his fight at UFC on FX 8.
“Obviously the last change they gave me was a step up on the card to the co-main event, so of course I can’t complain about that. I’m getting the opportunity to fight a legend in Jacare, which I’m really excited about,”
“I’ve always been all about fighting guys that I’ve seen on TV or that I’ve followed throughout the sport, match-ups that excite me, and this is one of them,” “They just gave me a big opportunity that I’ve been asking for, so it didn’t matter who it was, I would have said yes,”
“The game plan stays quite a bit the same. There’s a few changes as far as some of the things he does that I think I can capitalize on, but other than that everything has stayed a lot the same. I’m more focused on what I’m going to do rather than what he’s going to do or what I think he’s going to do,” he said.
“Every fight I go into I always plan on striking. I would say it is important to keep it off the mat, but I’m not going to have that in my head where I’m panicking or anything,” he said. “Defensively, I feel pretty comfortable. Obviously, we all know, no matter how much jiu-jitsu I do, I’m not going to be better than him at jiu-jitsu, but this is MMA, so there’s a lot more variables in there. I feel I’ll be comfortable anywhere it goes, but again I have my game plan and I’m sure he has his.”
