New interview with Kurt Pellegrino. He talks about his win over Tavares, his loss to Diaz...pretty interesting stuff.
On his fight with Tavares...
"Through this whole fight, I had to call myself a quitter and battle through that."
"My demons were the toughest fight."
"I’m just happy I went into the cage and fought because I didn’t want to fight."
"I was scared, my back was against the wall and fighting somebody like Thiago, who is such a good fighter and never gets tired, I had to prove a lot to everyone..."
"This fight here made my whole career again."
"Thiago Tavares in my mind was the guy I never wanted to fight."
"I think Thiago...I know Thiago is the toughest fighter that I’ve ever fought."
"Beating Thiago definitely helps me sleep better at night."
"Personally, I thought he tapped, but I never felt it."
On his loss to Nate Diaz...
"Mentally, that fight almost ended my career."
"Nate is a good fighter. I really don’t think he’s a bad fighter or a bad kid, but if I could ever get a rematch with Nate, I would jump all over it."
"I’m not calling Nate out and I really don’t care if I don’t ever fight Nate again, to be honest with you, because that chapter in my life is gone, but I wasn’t in a good place in my life when I fought Nate."
"I can’t watch that fight because that wasn’t me."
"I entered the cage against Nate not as Kurt and I left that cage destroyed."
"It was hard for me to even look at people that I did Jiu Jitsu with because I got submitted by someone that would never submit me in 100 years."
"I had to realize that I was a quitter and I was a loser"
On working with Kenny Florian and Kevin Kearns...
"Kenny was there every second. I could call Kenny at 3 in the morning and he would call me back to make sure I was okay."
"I haven’t really had a coach since I left Renzo’s school, but I consider Kenny Florian my head coach."
"That’s really what I needed; someone that was really there for me."
"Those guys are my success from now on in. If I lose, it’s going to be because I got knocked out."
"It’s not going to be because I beat the crap out of some guy and then mentally shut down; it ain't happening no more."
Really good interview. Pellegrino is pretty honest about a lot of stuff that was going on with him mentally and emotionally after the Diaz loss and leading up to the Tavares win. He talks more about his fight with Diaz, his return to the Octagon, working with Kenny Florian and Kevin Kearns...a bunch of other stuff in the full interview:
http://www.fighthype.com/pages/content3473.html
I couldn't believe he beat Tavares.
U gotta keep your eye on Batman.
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Kurt is good people. Always happy to see him win.
Kurt's a cool kid. He was at Ring of Combat on the 12th.
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Why did he leave Renzo/Ricardo?
And now he's fallen out with Franca (which I heard a lot of folks have)?
"I haven’t really had a coach since I left Renzo’s school"
That says it right there for me. If you can't accept the advice and tutelage of Ricardo or Renzo, your ego needs to be checked and revisit your thought process
"That says it right there for me. If you can't accept the advice and tutelage of Ricardo or Renzo, your ego needs to be checked and revisit your thought process"
do you have any background on why he isnt there or are you talking out of your ass?
he was owning nate and boneheaded it up on the takedown right into the triangle. he's an awesome fighter.
Nahnahnahnahnahnahnahnah BATMAN!!!!
Batman is the shit.
I've heard he and Renzo didn't see eye to eye about alot of things. I've never hear anyone who has trained with Renzo say a bad thing about him. His top guys still rave about that academy and Renzo himself. I've heard from guys with big egos say Kurt has a bit of an ego problem. Cool guy but doesn't handle authority very well.
HBM
PTA - do you have any background on why he isnt there or are you talking out of your ass?What I took from what was told me, he didn't think he was getting ahead quick enough and that they weren't making the right decisions for his career. You know, same shit that makes a lot of people jump teams when they don't have to.
That's a shame. I've always known Renzo to be very caring and putting others first. I'm sure Kurt was no different.
Kurt's a very cool guy...Very approachable and easy to talk to. Glad to see him find some motivation and get on the right track.
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