2023-11-10 17:27:24
New York (from our correspondent) – There really isn’t much time left until the gala evening with serial number 295. The fighters only have Friday’s public weigh-ins on their schedule (the official weigh-ins are already over), which will be the final obligation before the explosive fight in the cage.
Did the fight week go exactly as you wanted?
Yes, that’s exactly how it went. Everything is calm, the mood and atmosphere are perfect. We are ready and focused on the match.
Were there doubts that Jiří might not be able to weigh in?
At all, we have no problems with that. Jiří was about 3-4 kilos overweight yesterday. He woke up in the morning, he hadn’t eaten, and we weighed him in ten minutes.
How were the media duties compared to the first title duel in Singapore?
It is similar. It’s obviously Madison Square Garden in New York, which the media is much more focused on, but I don’t see it that way. The carousel is what it is. They are our responsibilities. Jiří runs from interview to interview, but we are still focused purely on the match. These things are rather complementary.
Is Jiří different from last June against Teixeira?
We take every match as a title game because it pushes us towards it. However, Jiří is constantly focused in this direction, we are also set in this way as a whole team. For us, every duel is a title game. We haven’t lost the title, but we’re still going to a new match and a new goal. We’re going after it.
Is there anything you learned from the first duel?
We are professionals, the whole team, including Jiří, is improving. We don’t want to make mistakes, on the contrary, we want a perfect fight. It is clear that the match can develop in any way, but we are ready for everything, whatever the opponent. Pereira is amazing, a striker, which we are also ready for. Ditto for wrestling and other things.
How did you feel about Pereira during Thursday’s staredown?
Both are different, separate personalities. Pereira is sitting here like a scared kid, and when he gets up, he’s a focused wrestler and he’s going after it just like us. Then it will be the fight everyone is waiting for. We will try to end it as best as we can.
What do different experts or former fighters say about this duel?
I don’t notice it, I filter everything. I’m focused on Jiří and I don’t want to say that I’m not interested in anything else, but I take it more superficially. Our team is cohesive, and if someone ran away and was focused on someone else, that’s not the case. We’ve already experienced that. We perceive it, but we don’t give it that much weight.
So there’s no time for fun?
There are no pranks anymore, maybe once a day or so. This has already disappeared, it was about three or four days ago. When we got here for fight week, the noose started to tighten. Then we have one goal, which is tomorrow night.
What does Jiří’s communication with the coaching team look like a few days before the match?
Communication is learned so that we are all set up purely for the match. They don’t talk much, we all know what to do. Then something is said, it might be a joke, but it’s just a laugh. We have been taught this way since Japan, this is how we operate.
After Singapore, you looked at New York. What do you say about the city?
Amazing. But whatever it is, we’re going to the hall. Of course we walked around here and looked, but it’s a battlefield and that’s how we take it. We’re not here on vacation, we’re here at work. It’s great, but we’re interested in the match. Where we have been will only be realized in time. The priority is the match.
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