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08/11/09 - Fedor on Rogers: "He never had me in trouble"
Fedor Emelianenko says Brett Rogers never had him in trouble during their fight at Strikeforce last night, despite having his nose broken just seconds into the fight. Emelianenko spent a good part of the first round pressed against the cage or on his back with blood pouring from the injury, but says that is just part of te game.
“It was nothing serious, these things happen in mixed martial arts. Actually I was anticipating this strike but somehow did not see it coming,” he said. “It was nothing special, and during a fight you kind of don’t notice punches. I think there were no dangerous situations during the fight.
“The first round went the way me and my coaches thought it would, so did the whole fight in fact. I didn’t have much trouble when Rogers was in my guard. I saw his punches coming. I wasn’t in trouble during the fight.”
“In the first round i was searching for weak points. I saw his footwork wasn’t that good. I was waiting to make a strike, I missed at first but the second round I hit him,” he added, referring to the overhand right that put Rogers out of the competition early in the second round.
Despite this, he gave respect to his opponent, describing Rogers as “a very serious, very strong opponent”. Asked how he remains calm despite being in such apparently threatening positions he said, “Its difficult to explain. I try to stay calm and I try to hear what my coaches say to me.”
Fedor says panic and nerves in a fight “never happened” even early in his career. He explained, “For me, mixed martial arts is first and foremost a great sport and when I meet my opponent in the ring I respect him as a sportsman” and added that fighting a cage for the first time “was no problem”.
John Joe O’Regan
John.fightersonly@gmail.com
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