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03/05/09 - Wanderlei will be king again, says Cordeiro
Rafael Cordeiro believes his long-time student Wanderlei Silva can get back on the winning track despite recent upsets. Cordeiro was the head coach - and some would say heart and soul - of Chute Boxe when it was one of the strongest teams in MMA, with Wanderlei Silva as its biggest star.
But Silva moved on and more recently Cordeiro gave his notice at the old gym. He has now reunited with Silva to train him for his UFC 99 fight against Rich Franklin.
"Wanderlei has the same heart, with the same desire to win, to confront his opponents, and I know that for his next fight he will be 100% focussed, believing more every time in what made him Wanderlei Silva, which is Muay Thai," said Cordeiro this week.
"He comes from Muay Thai, his base is Muay Thai and for sure he will be using it for the next fight, with all the energy that made him king in Japan.... now he will be conquering the same here. Everything he conquered in Japan he will be conquering here and I think the training is the base of that.
"He has a strong team of strong people following up with his work and I am here to make that as strong as possible, to turn him towards the victory which has always been the road we follow," the legendary trainer added.
Meanwhile, Wanderlei Silva himself us delighted that his former coach has once again got back on the mat with him.
"I trained with Rafael for ten years and now he has come back. I bring him in to teach me for the next fight. he is an incredible coach and he understands wrestling, jiu jitsu, Muay Thai, boxing... he understands them all because he was a professional [himself], a great fighter," Silva explains.
"I respect him a lot and i am so happy because he has come in and i have opened my gym for him and the guys from his team."
"He is unbelievable, he understands about all techniques. He has given me new combinations, I was training with him last week and his training is unbelievable. His Muay Thai is very good and he is so tough... I love to train with him. And I like him as a person, he is a great guy. he has brought [Fabricio] Werdum for training with us so I have now five heavyweights to train with here so it is very hard on me! (laughs)."
Some might say that fighters do not progress by staying with the same coach throughout their career - consider Chuck Liddell under John Hackleman - but Silva is not one of them.
"I made the decision to invite him to train me because I believe in him as a coach., he is a very, very good coach. He understands me, he trained me for ten years, and now is back. I like him a lot, he has a good energy.
"He is a Christian, he believes in God the same as me, he is a good person, he is a family guy. He goes to the gym, he goes home. He is a very serious, very focussed guy and I respect him a lot for this.
"He is the best coach in the world."
John Joe O'Regan
john.fightersonly@gmail.com
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