Interview: The man behind Junior dos Santos’ Boxing
Interview: The man behind Junior dos Santos’ Boxing
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Boxing coach of Junior dos Santos, the Brazilian Luiz Carlos Dorea couldn’t be more proud of his novice, who, on November 12th, knocked out Cain Velasquez to become the UFC heavyweight champion. On an exclusive interview after the bout, Dorea talked about the preparation for the duel and the brutal knockout in 64 seconds, among other subjects. Check it!
A five year career and a success. How was it for you?
It’s a big experience and joy for me as a coach. I’m in the sport for 32 years, when I started as an athlete. I became a champion as na athlete and coach, it all because of Rodrigo, nine years ago. I’m taking all the experience I have on Olympic Boxing and bringing it to MMA. He’s a prove o four work. He’s a young guy. Now he’s a Boxing expert, but he has never fought Boxing officially, inside the gym. We knew he were on the right track, we’re very happy. He deserves it. He was prepared to be a world champion. He fought many good athletes, he debuted against Werdum and I was really confident. He’s a very determinate athlete, he let many things go because of the sport, he’s a prodigy. Five years in MMA and he knows great Boxing and we did this adaptation from Boxing to MMA. He’s a living prove of this work of ours. I know about his talent, his will power. He’s come from a humble family, he’s used to overcome himself. He’s an example of the Brazilian people. I’m really glad.
Were you worried about how knee injury?
I was a lot worried. When I fought for the world title, I had injured my biceps and thanks’ to Doctor Walter Alencar, who was the one who took good care fo me, and he also had the support of people, like Fabio Costa, Angela. We did a great job in terms of psychology, He’s a great athlete when it comes to overcoming obstacles. We kept asking him and he said: “I can do it, I can overcome this”. So we believed him. He spent few days without putting his feet on the ground, but then on day five he was doing some sparring trainings at the gym and Junior is like that: on the locker room he felt it again, and I started pushing him and he was focused. I can only take this chance to thank all coaches, Ramon at Jiu-Jitsu, Andre Picoli at conditioning, Billy at Muay Thai, Iuri Carlton, all our sparring, like Mamute, who came here to help us. Rodrigo, Rogerio, Maldonado, Anderson, Lula, the entire Champion team... Let’s party, Bahia! Let’s party Brazil! It’s already carnival in Bahia. I’m very happy. I guess he’s a big deserver.
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And you don’t stop. Now there’s Rodrigo and Rogerio fighting... Are you going to help on their training camp?
It’s a big family, man. It’s a big family. Let’s celebrate now, because tomorrow I’m getting a plane to Salvador and I’ll focus now on Rodrigo and Rogerio. I’m really happy of the support of the press and of people’s supporting and caring messages on Twitter. I’m really happy and I’d like to thank the Brazilian people. He deserves to be the best of the world for what he does in and outside the octagon.
Congratulations to you, coach...
Thank you. On December 10th, Rodrigo, Rogerio, Lyoto will win, God blesses us.
