After submitting a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt in his UFC debut, Marvin Vettori doesn’t seem that worried about his second octagon outing.
Set to face world-class grappler Antonio Carlos Junior (6-2 MMA, 3-2 UFC) at Friday’s UFC 207, Vettori (11-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC) says he has been facing “grapplers that have gone into striking” for his past three or four fights. And, when it comes to MMA, the jiu-jitsu brown belt is confident he can hold his own.
“I’m not scared of his ground,” Vettori told MMAjunkie Radio. “If I was doing a jiu-jitsu match I’d probably lose, but MMA is different. MMA is completely different. A lot of times, jiu-jitsu guys have a game. And they rely a lot on jiu-jitsu with a gi, especially. And most of the time in MMA you’ve got to throw that game away because it’s completely different.
“For sure, he’s been doing MMA for a while now, but even before – the first few fights he had, he couldn’t apply his jiu-jitsu too much. He was taking the back but couldn’t choke the guy, he was gassing out.”
Since winning “The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil” Season 3’s heavyweight crown, Junior has had an up-and-down UFC run that started with a loss to Patrick Cummins at light heavyweight and is now sitting at a submission win over Brazilian countryman Leonardo Guimaraes.
Vettori comes off a victorious debut over Alberto Uda at UFC 202 that added up to a six-fight streak overall. Still making his name in the octagon, the 22-year-old is happy that he gets to face a somewhat famous name in a “TUF” winner – who he acknowledges has been getting better with each fight.
But, settling mostly for the word “good” as a descriptive adjective for his competitor, Vettori has no doubts as to who is the better man going into the match.
“He’s good but I think, myself, I’m way better than him,” Vettori said. “People always think I underrate my opponents. I don’t, I study them a lot.”
The middleweight scrap will be featured on UFC 207’s FS1-televised preliminary portion. 2016’s final UFC event takes place Friday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass.
As for how the bout is going to come to an end, Vettori doesn’t seem to be all that certain. While he supposes this could very well be his 11th first-round finish (in 12 overall wins), he’s also OK with punishing the Brazilian middleweight until the final buzzer.
“First-round knockout or second-round TKO – second or third,” Vettori assessed. “Or a decision, too. But I’m going to beat him a lot.”
However the scrap plays out, Vettori expects to have some hometown support during it. In his five-thousand population village, he says his family has organized a watch party at a bar that should be expecting about 400 guests looking to cheer him on through a big screen set up outside.
That is, at least, until the UFC finally makes its way to his homeland. Then Vettori, who is now heading to his second numbered card in two octagon appearances, would not even mind being featured in a non-pay-per-view card.
“If (a smaller card) happens, I hope it’s in Italy,” Vettori said. “I’ll be pretty happy about that.
“To be honest, there are good thing and bad things about big and small shows too. Small shows, I’d probably want to be up in the card, but I’m not paying too much attention to that. I’m just focused on my fight and want to do well in my fight.”
For more on UFC 207, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.
MMAjunkie Radio broadcasts Monday-Friday at 1 p.m. ET (10 a.m. PT) live from Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino’s Race & Sports Book. The show, available on SiriusXM Ch. 93, is hosted by “Gorgeous” George Garcia and producer Brian “Goze” Garcia. For more information or to download past episodes, go to www.mmajunkie.com/radio.
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