And both complain about losing decisions to Tyson Griffin.
Here’s Thiago Tavares on his opponent at the Jan. 23 Fight Night, Michihiro Omigawa.
I think he is a good opponent. I think the guys from UFC are trying to build my name again because I’m coming off a loss. That’s why they didn’t give me a top opponent. Not disrespecting him — he is a good athlete, fought at the Olympics and in big MMA organizations. He is a middle-level fighter, not top, but I’m training to face him like it is a title shot.
I have to concur. Omigawa put up a tough fight against Matt Wiman, but the dude ought to be fighting at 145 in the WEC.
Here’s Tavares on his decision loss to Tyson Griffin:
You have no idea what I’ve being going through since that fight. Plus the fact I didn’t think I lost. … Maybe he won, but I didn’t agree with the way that gave him the victory. … There was a judge giving him 30-27; that guy had bad intentions. I’m trying to let it go, but I will over-think it. I’m trying to see that fight not as one step back, but as I didn’t make a step forward.
And he’s making a controversial pick for the upcoming B.J. Penn vs Joe Stevenson interim title fight:
In opposition to a lot of people, I’ll put my money on Joe Stevenson. I think he will beat B.J. Penn by the pressure he will impose. He is a very strong guy, well prepared, and he knows about his skills. He has great cardio and he is stronger than B.J. Being that this is a five-round fight, I think things won’t go well for B.J. Penn. Because either he wins in the first two rounds, or things can get nasty.
Here’s Clay Guida talking about his decision loss (robbery) to Tyson Griffin, “I’m arguably 3-1 in the UFC (Guida is 2-2 in the UFC, but lost a controversial split decision to Tyson Griffin)”
I’d have to agree with Clay there, that fight ended with him on top of Griffin and putting a beat down on the kid.
Guida’s doing some talent scouting too, talking about the lightweights that he’d like to see in the UFC:
I’d like to see some other guys make their way over to the UFC. Guys like Gilbert Melendez who I fought last year, is a stud. He’s probably top two in the world right now. Joachim Hansen, Takanori Gomi, Shinya Aoki, Gesias “JZ” Calvancante, whom I’ve worked out with; I’d love to see all those guys come over. UFC’s awesome right now, but it’s going to keep improving as more guys make their way over.
Got to agree with him about Melendez and Calvancante especially. I’ve given up hoping that Gomi or Aoki come to the UFC.
