WSOF 2's Danillo Villefort balancing fighting with management side of MMA

Call him the middle man.

Welterweight Danillo Villefort isn’t just a professional fighter any more. He’s also the go-between for his Blackzilian teammates and the manager that guides their careers, Glenn Robinson.

“Before, everyone went straight to the management,” he told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio). “We had the management work with the fighters, so what happened was the manager got too much on his plate because people call and ask him for things.

“What happens now, they have to talk to the coaches and let them know the issues that they have, and then the coaches talk to me and I talk to the manager.”

Villefort (13-4), who meets UFC vet Kris McCray (8-4) on the preliminary-card of World Series of Fighting 2, took the job more than a year ago and now sees the business from a different angle.

“I just understood the fighter side,” he said. “But now, I’ve been working in the office and working for Jaco clothing, and I understand the management side. Some fighters don’t understand the management side, and I try to make them understand.”

World Series of Fighting 2 takes place Saturday at Revel Atlantic City in Atlantic City, N.J. The event’s main-card airs live on NBC Sports Network.

Working in the office also means Villefort get a bird’s eye view of a team that includes more than a half-dozen world-class athletes and up-and-comers. Recently, he said the team, which trains at the JACO Hybrid Training Center in Boca Raton, Fla., has undergone a big change.

“Our first plan was to have between eight and 12 guys,” he said.. “But then everyone started to see how good we’re doing, and they started to come and today we have around 40 guys. So we closed the doors.”

A smaller team means more individual attention given to each fighter as they prepare for fights. That could be immeasurably helpful in restoring momentum after a series of high-profile losses. Rashad Evans, Alistair Overeem and Michael Johnson all have lost recent bouts, which has led to several reports of the Blackzilian’s decline.

Because Villefort is in the office, he has access to a computer, which means he’s aware of the word on the street.

“I don’t think it’s fair, because they just see the big guys fighting,” he said. “They don’t see the small guys fighting. We just got two new belts recently. We’ve been doing good. If we lose, of course the media is going to talk. But it is what it is. We have a good team and we’ll be back stronger than ever.”

On Saturday, no less than three high-profile Blackzilians – headliner Anthony Johnson, Gesias “JZ” Cavalcante and Villefort – will step into the cage to represent the team. It’s a perfect opportunity to show why the group of MMA veterans made so much noise in the first place.

“We left everything behind because we believe we have everything in our hands to build a new team,” Villefort said. “I respect all of those guys, because we gave up a lot of things to be a part of the new team. We had a lot of ups and downs and small issues that we had, but we are a new team. We’re doing good, and hopefully we’re going to do way better.”

For more on WSOF 2, stay tuned to the MMA Rumors section of the site.

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