Two of MMA’s top middleweights, Jorge Santiago (#11) and Mamed Khalidov (#10), are set to clash for the second time in under five months at Sengoku’s March event, this time with Santiago’s title belt up for grabs.
In a new interview released by Khalidov’s KSW Team and translated by Japan-MMA, the fighter formerly known as the “Cannibal” gives his thoughts on the November bout and how the rematch may differ:
Before the last bout he was saying in the interviews that he wants to stand with me and I was ready for it. It turned out that he doesn’t want to trade punches with me and decided to take me down. He made mistake and I capitalized on it. It’s doesn’t mean that the second fight will be alike, I think it might be much tougher, honestly. . . I have a feeling that it won’t be as fast as in November. He already knows what to expect.
And although the Polish phenom won the first confrontation via TKO in under two minutes, Khalidov — a devout Muslim — says his training for the fight was less than ideal:
Without a doubt I’ll better prepared than the last time. Most importantly I’ll be mentally ready knowing that I’m 100%. In October I was after Ramadan, I was out of shape with only three weeks to train. It all happened so fast, weight cutting, short time to prepare. I was wondering myself if I would be able to win. This time it’s much better.
Video of the first fight after the jump.