StrikeForce and M-1 Global held a media workout for this weekends much anticipated fight between Fedor Emelianenko and top ten heavyweight Fabricio Werdum. The bout will also feature number one pound for pound female fighter Cris Cyborg as she defends her StrikeForce women’s world 145-pounds Championship against Jan Finney in the semi-main event.
Both Fedor and Cyborg were joined by Cung Le and Josh Thomson to round out the media workout. Below are quotes from the fighters.
Fedor:
“I am always interesting in performing against top 10 fighters and Werdum has been in the top 10 for a long time. He’s a good, very patient fighter who thinks a lot and I am very happy to be fighting him. Style-wise, this should be a very interesting fight.
“The talk about me entering politics are false rumors. As long as I am competing in MMA, there will be no politics for me.
“MMA is a beautiful kind of sport that combines various elements of martial arts. You need to be good in all of them. I am excited about having my wife with me for the first time for a fight of mine in the United States.’’
CRIS CYBORG
“I’m very anxious to get back in the cage and very excited about this fight. It is a great honor to be on the same card as Fedor. I’m looking forward to meeting him and seeing all the other fighters on this show.
“I know Jan Finney is coming to win this. I don’t have a specific plan but I’m ready for anything. I’ll see how the fight starts and then go from there. I expect a tough fight.
“It will be great having (husband and fellow STRIKEFORCE fighter) Evangelista in my corner again. He couldn’t be there last time. He is the one who trains me, who got me started in this sport, so I love it when he is in the corner.
“I’d much rather be the one fighting than having to watch him fight. All I can think of while I am watching him fight is, ‘I hope this ends very quickly.’ ’’
CUNG LE
“I dominated for two-and-a-half-rounds the first time against Scott. Before the last round, my corner told me to take it easy and not take any unnecessary chances. But rather than listen, I tried to close the show with a bang, but it backfired on me.
“Saturday is a new day and a new fight. It is not our last fight and it isn’t last year. I am amped for it.
“I learned a hard lesson from our first fight, but I am determined to move forward. I love to compete and I am very excited about this fight.’’
Josh Thomson
“I didn’t make any excuses after the last fight with Gilbert, but ring rust is real. I didn’t get it gone, and Gilbert looked very good but I know why I lost and that is because I didn’t listen to my corner.
“On Saturday, the plan will be, like always, to get off first and dictate the pace. The plan against Gilbert was not to make it a brawl but that is what happened,
“I feel I’ve learned from that fight so expect a different Josh Thomson on Saturday than the one you saw against Gilbert.
“This is going to be a tough fight against a tall guy. There are lots of big fights down the road for me but they will go away fast if I am not totally focused on Saturday.’’
