|
|
  - GOUVEIA EXPECTS A STEP TOWARDS TITLE AT UFC 84
Monday, May 12, 2008 - by Mitch Gobetz - MMAWeekly.com
Quietly moving up the light heavyweight ranks in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Wilson Gouveia looks to continue his ascension at UFC 84. He is expected to be part of the main card, taking on a newcomer to the Octagon in Goran Reljik.
Gouveia made his UFC debut back in June of 2006, where he took on MMAWeekly.com’s No. 5 ranked light heavyweight Keith Jardine. In a very exciting contest, he came up on the short end losing a unanimous decision to “The Dean of Mean.” He rebounded against Wes Combs, defeating him by rear naked choke, and subsequently submitted Seth Petruzelli and Carmelo Marrero.
In his most recent fight, Gouveia faced off against the highly touted Jason Lambert. He passed his test with flying colors, knocking out Lambert in the second round to secure a place for himself in the list of top contenders at 205 pounds.
MMAWeekly Radio spoke with Gouveia recently to discuss his preparation and thoughts for his upcoming bout. “I'm very excited. I feel very, very, very good. I'm in better shape than when I fought Jason (Lambert).”
Reljik will be making his debut in the UFC, and has mostly fought in smaller shows. Since he has only fought in smaller shows, there was not a lot of footage for Gouveia to review and prepare a specific game plan. “To be honest, I have no idea. I watched a highlight video of him on the Internet. It's very difficult. It's kind of hard to find fighting tapes,” commented Gouveia.
“I'm kind of going in blind for this fight. I just trained everything for this fight. For him, there is no information at all. I just have to be 100% for everything. He's supposed to be a very good jiu-jitsu guy. Every Croatian guy is supposed to be a very good striker. I'm not taking him as just being a jiu-jitsu fight.”
Since Reljik is stepping up in competition and exposure, Gouveia feels that can only put more pressure on his upcoming opponent. “I think it's going to be a shock. His fights were in small shows. That's a factor that will be in my favor.”
When Gouveia knocked out Lambert, most would believe that his next fight would be against a top ranked opponent. While Gouveia is slightly disappointed about not getting a top ranked contender, he does not take Reljik lightly. However, he would like to get a really tough fight following this one.
“To be honest, I pulled four wins in a row. My last fights I won by submission or knockout. I was expecting a real tough (opponent). It's no problem. I fight anybody they put against me,” said the American Top Team fighter. “I want to fight a big name. If I could pick the fights I want right now, I would like to fight Chuck (Liddell) or a rematch against Keith (Jardine). They are the two guys that are in my mind right now. I'm taking this fight very seriously though. I trained very hard.”
American Top Team has produced some of the best fighters in the sport today. Their impressive list includes Thiago Alves, Marcus Aurelio, Gesias “JZ” Calvancante, Denis Kang, Thiago Silva and, of course, Wilson Gouveia, just to name a few.
Training with such a highly talented team is one of the key components that has Gouveia believing that he will be a world champion. “I think one of the big differences in our team is that we treat everyone like a family. As a team, we're like brothers,” he exclaimed.
“We're so organized. We have a schedule and everyone follows the schedule. It's not the kind of gym where you go by yourself and every now and then there will be guys to train with. It's just amazing.”
With a win over Reljik, Gouveia is one step closer to completing his goal of becoming a champion. He believes his strong work ethic will help propel him to the pinnacle of most mixed martial artists’ dreams. “I'm training very much to be the next UFC light heavyweight champion.”
This fight will be a feature fight on the UFC 84 card, which is loaded with some explosive match ups, including the a main event lightweight title bout between current champion B.J. Penn and former champion Sean Sherk.
Gouveia is looking forward to hopefully capturing one of the bonuses that the UFC hands out by delivering a stunning knockout of Reljik. “I'm gonna go knock him out. I'm going to make this fight as quick as I can. Get in and get out.”
BACK TO THE NEWS
Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday
Related Articles :
- - FIGHT CARD FINAL FOR SOLD OUT UFC 84 (Wednesday, May 07, 2008)
The Ultimate Fighting Championship on Wednesday confirmed the final four bouts for its upcoming UFC 84 event scheduled for May 24 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
- - SHERK OFFICIALLY CLEARS DRUG TEST IN NEVADA (Tuesday, May 06, 2008)
Keith Kizer, the executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, told MMAWeekly.com on Tuesday via email, “The NSAC received Mr. Sherk’s steroid and drug test results this morning and they were all negative.”
- - SEAN SHERK TESTED, BUT NOT YET CLEARED (Saturday, May 03, 2008)
Despite earlier reports to the contrary, former Ultimate Fighting Championship titleholder Sean Sherk has not yet cleared his drug test in Nevada ...
- - GORAN RELJIC TALKS ABOUT UFC 84 BOUT (Saturday, May 03, 2008)
Undefeated Croatian light heavyweight fighter Goran Reljic will make his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut when he faces American Top Team fighter Wilson Gouveia at UFC 84 ...
- - TITO ORTIZ DRUG TESTED BY NSAC (Friday, May 02, 2008)
Former Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight titleholder Tito Ortiz was the latest mixed martial artist drug tested under the Nevada State Athletic Commission’s new out-of-competition testing procedure...
- - WANDERLEI STRENGTH COACH PREPARING FOR JARDINE (Friday, May 02, 2008)
Wanderlei Silva’s personal strength and conditioning trainer, Rafael Alejarra, spoke with MMAWeekly recently to discuss Silva’s upcoming fight with Keith Jardine at UFC 84, the recent performance of Jacare at the DREAM Middleweight Grand Prix, training mixed martial artists, and more ...
- - FOUR ADDITIONAL BOUTS CONFIRMED FOR UFC 84 (Wednesday, April 30, 2008)
The Ultimate Fighting Championship on Wednesday confirmed four additional bouts for its UFC 84 event scheduled for May 24 in Las Vegas, bringing the current fight card to 11 bouts.
- - RASHAD EVANS MOVES FROM ICEMAN TO SANDMAN (Thursday, April 24, 2008)
Rashad Evans joined MMAWeekly Radio on Wednesday night to talk about the new match-up with James Irvin on June 7 in London...
- - RICH CLEMENTI MAKES QUICK RETURN TO UFC 84 (Tuesday, April 22, 2008)
Despite having gone the distance this past weekend in his UFC 83 bout with Sam Stout, Rich Clementi will be making a quick turnaround and fight again on May 24 ...
- - SHERK FINALLY CLEARED FROM SUSPENSION (Monday, April 14, 2008)
Former Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight titleholder Sean Sherk was released from active suspension in California on Monday ...
- - HEAVYWEIGHTS ROUND OUT UFC 84 FIGHT CARD (Monday, April 07, 2008)
The Ultimate Fighting Championship has confirmed, via its website, several bouts for its May 24 event in Las Vegas, including the debut of Shane Carwin and the return of Christian Wellisch ...
- - DANA WHITE TALKS ANDERSON, TITO AND TV (Sunday, March 23, 2008)
Following the promotion’s recent return to Columbus, Ohio, Ultimate Fighting Championship president Dana White spoke with MMAWeekly about Anderson Silva, Tito Ortiz, TV deals and more ...
- - TWO NEW BOUTS ANNOUNCED FOR UFC 84 (Tuesday, March 18, 2008)
The Ultimate Fighting Championship on Tuesday announced two more match-ups for UFC 84. Former “Ultimate Fighter” cast member Jon “War Machine” Koppenhaver returns to face Octagon newcomer Yoshiyuki Yoshida, as well as a contest between Jason Tan and Dong Hyun Kim.
- - UFC 84 ADDS MORE LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHTS (Sunday, March 16, 2008)
The Ultimate Fighting Championship on Sunday announced the addition of three light heavyweight bouts to its UFC 84 fight card scheduled for May 24 in Las Vegas.
- - TITO ORTIZ STILL FIGHTING LYOTO MACHIDA AT UFC 84 (Wednesday, March 12, 2008)
Rumors surfaced on Monday that former UFC light heavyweight champion, Tito Ortiz, was going to withdraw from his fight with Lyoto Machida at UFC 84 due to an injury, but MMAWeekly.com has confirmed with Ortiz himself that the fight is still happening...
- - UFC PRESIDENT NOT CLOSING THE DOOR ON TITO (Saturday, March 08, 2008)
UFC President Dana White spoke to MMAWeekly.com about the upcoming bout between embattled light heavyweight Tito Ortiz and top contender Lyoto Machida taking place at UFC 84 and Ortiz's future, if there is one, with the UFC...
- - EXCLUSIVE: DANA WHITE TALKS UFC & BUD LIGHT (Thursday, February 28, 2008)
The UFC announced a major sponsorship deal with Bud Light on Thursday, hot on the heels of EliteXC's announcement of a deal with CBS. Dana White spoke exclusively with MMAWeekly about both ...
- - MAIN BOUTS CONFIRMED FOR UFC 84 IN LAS VEGAS (Thursday, February 28, 2008)
The Ultimate Fighting Championship on Thursday officially announced three of the main card bouts for its UFC 84 fight card on May 24 in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
- - UFC ANNOUNCES MAJOR BUD LIGHT SPONSORSHIP (Thursday, February 28, 2008)
Ultimate Fighting Championship president Dana White on Thursday announced that the promotion has struck a deal with a new blue-chip sponsor, Anheuser-Busch ...
- - WANDERLEI CONFIRMS UFC 84 BOUT WITH JARDINE (Saturday, February 23, 2008)
Wanerlei Silva on Friday confirmed that he was going to sign his bout agreement to fight Keith Jardine at UFC 84 in May ...
- - WANDERLEI SILVA MULLS HIS UFC FUTURE (Tuesday, February 19, 2008)
There has been much speculation about Wanderlei Silva's future in the UFC. His latest comments fan the flames of a possible bout with Keith Jardine and, surprisingly, a possible move to middleweight ...
- - GORAN RELJIC VS. WILSON GOUVEIA AT UFC 84 (Wednesday, February 06, 2008)
Goran Reljic is set to make his debut in the Octagon on May 24 when the Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to the MGM Grand Garden Arena ...
- - UFC 84: MAY 24 IN LAS VEGAS ()
Copyright 2009 MMA Weekly LLC. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of MMA Weekly content is expressly prohibited without expressed written consent of MMA Weekly. MMA Weekly will not be liable for any errors in content or any action taken in reliance thereof.
|
|
|
|
