Felipe Enomoto Reminds Zorobabel Moreira This is MMA, Not Jiu-Jitsu

Special to MMAWeekly.com by James Goyder

For the second time in a row, Felipe Enomoto will headline a One FC event in Asia, with this one also being available world wide for free via YouTube.

After his submission victory over Ole Laursen last time out, Enomoto will this time draw 6’3? Zorobabel Moreira as the headline fight for the upcoming show in Singpore.

MMAWeekly.com caught up with Enomoto just days away from his fight to get his thoughts on headlining another major show, his bout with Moreira, and One FC’s growth throughout Asia.

James Goyder: There are going to be 7,000 people at the Singapore Indoor Stadium and potentially hundreds of thousands watching on YouTube, how happy are you to be the main event of such a major show?

Felipe Enomoto: It’s cool to be the main event and it’s on YouTube so a lot of people will have access to watch it which is nice because all my family and friends and people all over the world will be able to see me fight.

JG: How do you think you will cope with Zoro’s height?

FE: My first Muay Thai fights were all against tall guys who were around his height, maybe it will be a problem, maybe it won’t. I will see on Saturday. Hopefully not, but he’s not the first tall guy I have fought.
Zoro’s only loss was a one punch knock out, do you think your best chance of winning is to catch him with something and hurt him?

It would be nice if I could do that but I’m not here to speculate, I am just coming to fight. I want to land punches and to do the striking and it would be good for everyone watching if I could get a knockout.

JG: Is it safe to assume you want to keep the fight standing, given that he is a BJJ world champion?

FE: Whatever, you know? He is not an MMA world champion, he is a BJJ world champion. I respect that and I also do Jiu-Jitsu so I know he must be very good to be a world champion but Jiu-Jitsu is not MMA. I will do whatever it takes to win, whether it is on the feet or on the ground. He can be proud of what he achieved in the sport of Jiu-Jitsu because it’s not easy to be a world champion but this is MMA and anything can happen.

JG: Did you get a chance to take a rest after your fight with Ole Laursen?

FE: I trained seven weeks for my fight with Ole Laursen and three weeks later I got asked to fight again but I was still training a little but during those three weeks just not 100%. It can be an advantage fighting twice in a row because you get used to being in the cage and the experience feels more familiar. Maybe when I get in the cage on Saturday I will just feel like ‘Hey I’m back’ because I was just here. It’s not the same when you have a long time between fights.

JG: You lost two fights before beating Ole Laursen was it a relief to win and did it give you a lot of confidence?

FE: Of course it gave me confidence because he is a good guy and a very strong opponent but for me the fight before against Gor Harutunian in Russia did not feel like a loss because it was a very good fight and a very close fight. For me that was a good experience and it was not like a loss to me I don’t want to talk about the decision but I did not feel like I lost that fight. When you lose a fight you normally feel bad about it but after this fight I did not have that feeling, I didn’t feel like a loser.

He (Gor Harutunian) is a very highly ranked in Europe and it was a hard fight, I don’t want to argue about the decision but I did not feel like I was a loser after that fight. I did not get destroyed or dominated, it was a hard fight, a good fight.

JG: You have been main event for back-to-back events, how much are you enjoying being part of One FC?

FE: It’s a very good opportunity and I like it a lot because ONE FC is one of a kind. The whole style of the promotion, how they do it, the rules… it is unique and it brings back some memories of Pride for a lot of people but One FC has its own flavor and I think it will be huge.

One FC: War of the Lions will be available for free on Saturday on the One FC channel on YouTube starting at 8am ET.