The match between TUF 5 champ Nate Diaz and Junior Assuncao at tonight’s UFC Fight Night isn’t getting much attention. That’s because people really haven’t seen Junior throw down. There’s a good interview with him on Inside Fighting:
Assuncao: Totally man. I actually just got my black belt (from fellow UFC fighter Diego Saraiva). I was in Brazil for four months at Black House training with a lot of world class guys like Lyoto Machida, Anderson Silva, the Noguiera brothers. It was good getting to put myself against world class guys like that. My ground is where it needs to be. Unfortunately I’ve not been able to show much of my ground work. I had a real bad fight Pellegrino and even in my last one where I won I was a little too aggressive. When I got to the position I liked I ended the fight. Nate is good on the ground but he’s not anything special on the ground. I think the match up is great. He’s good on the ground, I’m good on the ground. I likes to trade, I like to train. He doesn’t like to shoot much, I don’t shoot that much.
IF: Do you feel that you’ll also have the advantage in the stand up striking department having worked with guys like Lyoto, Silva and the Nogueira brothers who themselves are good boxers?
Assuncao: At this point I’m so comfortable with my stand up that man, I definitely won’t have a problem standing up with him. But I have a good game plan for him, a surprise.
IF: You are a young guy but Nate is very young. Do you feel that you will have an age or experience advantage over him?
Assuncao: Well that actually kind of gets me thinking. He’s a young guy and I’m not taking his credit away, but I’ve fought a lot of good guys and had tough fights before with experienced fighters. But when I fought Dustin HazelettI was 24 and he was 20 and he still came to fight. I won but he did everything right. He broke my face, he broke my arm. That fight was just carried with heart. If this fight goes to a longer distance, I think my heart will be a factor. So I won’t take it easier just because he’s younger. I’m sure he’ll come to fight.
Yes, he did say that Dustin Hazelett broke his eye (orbital bone to be exact) AND his arm before Junior got the TKO. There’s video from that fight on Junior’s web site.
The UFC site has some good video pregame talk from both fighters too.
Those who are expecting Nate Diaz to have a cakewalk are in for a surprise. Kurt Pellegrino made Junior look pretty bad but Diaz doesn’t have anything like Pellegrino’s wrestling skillz.