- Thread starter
- #1
Bornagaincollector
New member
I would be interested in see him fight,i believe he might do quite well.
A few moments before the weigh-in for UFC 86 was to begin at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, UFC lightweight Joe Stevenson spotted a reporter standing about 100 yards away.
The moments before a weigh-in are when a fighter is usually at his crankiest. He’s sick of not being able to eat, sick of having to sweat weight off, and the pressure of the fight is beginning to build. Normally, he just wants to be left alone.
Stevenson, though, ran over in a dead sprint. He was eager to introduce his new jiu-jitsu coach, 2007 Abu Dhabi Submission Wrestling world champion Robert Drysdale.
“This guy is the best ever,” Stevenson said exuberantly.
That’s debatable, though Drysdale, 27, clearly has serious credentials in his realm. In addition to winning Abu Dhabi, he is a six-time world champion and has more than 90 tournament titles on his resume.
He was instrumental in helping Frank Mir defeat Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira for the UFC’s interim heavyweight title at UFC 92 in Las Vegas, and he has designs on winning a UFC belt himself.
Mir’s agent, Dean Albrecht, raves about Drysdale and was instrumental in getting him hired to work under Mir as an assistant coach on Season 8 of “The Ultimate Fighter.”
Both of Drysdale’s parents were teachers and Albrecht said that is evident in the way he communicates with his students.
“He has this unique way of breaking things down and explaining things that guys can pick up what he’s trying to get across very quickly,”
Albrecht said.
Drysdale was born in Provo, Utah, but moved to Brazil with his family when he was six. He didn’t speak much Portuguese when he arrived, so his first year was difficult, but he quickly immersed himself in the country and its culture.
He graduated from high school in Brazil, and though he returned to the U.S. for college, he considers himself “more Brazilian than American.”
He opened the Robert Drysdale Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy in Las Vegas and has spent much of his time tutoring Mir and Stevenson.
He’ll corner Stevenson at UFC 95 when Stevenson meets Diego Sanchez at the O2 Arena in London on Feb. 21. Stevenson is coming off a first- round submission loss to Kenny Florian and has lost two of his past three fights, but Drysdale said he’s found Stevenson to be a quick learner.
“I was disappointed in what happened in Joe’s fight with Kenny,”
Drysdale said. “He got submitted, but the mistakes he made were not on the ground. He started chasing Kenny around too much. He knew Kenny would want to hit and run, but Joe started chasing him around.”
Stevenson ultimately made what Drysdale termed “a silly, silly mistake,” but said it doesn’t detract from his belief that Stevenson is a superb fighter.
Mistakes happen and he’s urged Stevenson to forget the Florian fight.
“You could be a world champion kick boxer, but if you drop your hands, you’re going to get kicked in the face,” he said. “At the level these guys are at, it doesn’t take much of a mistake for it to go the wrong way fast. Joe made a mistake and Kenny, being the great fighter that he is, took advantage.”
Drysdale helped Mir take advantage of his prodigious talents to become the interim champion with a win over Nogueira, a victory that could qualify as the UFC’s biggest upset in 2008.
The coach said that when he met Mir, he saw “an explosive athlete” who had only basic submissions. Mir, whom Drysdale said trained a full six months for Nogueira, has added a series of submissions to his repertoire since.
But he said as much as he may have helped Mir, Mir has helped him.
Drysdale made his amateur MMA debut in Las Vegas in December and came out with a submission victory. Though he said he considers himself a teacher first, he wants to see how far he can take his fight game.
He walks around at 210 and said he can compete at 205 pounds or 185, though he conceded it’s a tough cut to middleweight for him.
“My goal is not to say I won a UFC title or some other organization’s title,” Drysdale said. “I look at it a little differently. My goal is to test my limit, find my limits and try to reach it. I know I’m not even close right now.
“I want to be the best I can be at this and it’s been great for me to be able to test myself against all the great fighters who are there in Vegas. They’re helping to make me better and if I can help them become more effective fighters at the same time, that’s a great accomplishment for me.”
A few moments before the weigh-in for UFC 86 was to begin at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, UFC lightweight Joe Stevenson spotted a reporter standing about 100 yards away.
The moments before a weigh-in are when a fighter is usually at his crankiest. He’s sick of not being able to eat, sick of having to sweat weight off, and the pressure of the fight is beginning to build. Normally, he just wants to be left alone.
Stevenson, though, ran over in a dead sprint. He was eager to introduce his new jiu-jitsu coach, 2007 Abu Dhabi Submission Wrestling world champion Robert Drysdale.
“This guy is the best ever,” Stevenson said exuberantly.
That’s debatable, though Drysdale, 27, clearly has serious credentials in his realm. In addition to winning Abu Dhabi, he is a six-time world champion and has more than 90 tournament titles on his resume.
He was instrumental in helping Frank Mir defeat Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira for the UFC’s interim heavyweight title at UFC 92 in Las Vegas, and he has designs on winning a UFC belt himself.
Mir’s agent, Dean Albrecht, raves about Drysdale and was instrumental in getting him hired to work under Mir as an assistant coach on Season 8 of “The Ultimate Fighter.”
Both of Drysdale’s parents were teachers and Albrecht said that is evident in the way he communicates with his students.
“He has this unique way of breaking things down and explaining things that guys can pick up what he’s trying to get across very quickly,”
Albrecht said.
Drysdale was born in Provo, Utah, but moved to Brazil with his family when he was six. He didn’t speak much Portuguese when he arrived, so his first year was difficult, but he quickly immersed himself in the country and its culture.
He graduated from high school in Brazil, and though he returned to the U.S. for college, he considers himself “more Brazilian than American.”
He opened the Robert Drysdale Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy in Las Vegas and has spent much of his time tutoring Mir and Stevenson.
He’ll corner Stevenson at UFC 95 when Stevenson meets Diego Sanchez at the O2 Arena in London on Feb. 21. Stevenson is coming off a first- round submission loss to Kenny Florian and has lost two of his past three fights, but Drysdale said he’s found Stevenson to be a quick learner.
“I was disappointed in what happened in Joe’s fight with Kenny,”
Drysdale said. “He got submitted, but the mistakes he made were not on the ground. He started chasing Kenny around too much. He knew Kenny would want to hit and run, but Joe started chasing him around.”
Stevenson ultimately made what Drysdale termed “a silly, silly mistake,” but said it doesn’t detract from his belief that Stevenson is a superb fighter.
Mistakes happen and he’s urged Stevenson to forget the Florian fight.
“You could be a world champion kick boxer, but if you drop your hands, you’re going to get kicked in the face,” he said. “At the level these guys are at, it doesn’t take much of a mistake for it to go the wrong way fast. Joe made a mistake and Kenny, being the great fighter that he is, took advantage.”
Drysdale helped Mir take advantage of his prodigious talents to become the interim champion with a win over Nogueira, a victory that could qualify as the UFC’s biggest upset in 2008.
The coach said that when he met Mir, he saw “an explosive athlete” who had only basic submissions. Mir, whom Drysdale said trained a full six months for Nogueira, has added a series of submissions to his repertoire since.
But he said as much as he may have helped Mir, Mir has helped him.
Drysdale made his amateur MMA debut in Las Vegas in December and came out with a submission victory. Though he said he considers himself a teacher first, he wants to see how far he can take his fight game.
He walks around at 210 and said he can compete at 205 pounds or 185, though he conceded it’s a tough cut to middleweight for him.
“My goal is not to say I won a UFC title or some other organization’s title,” Drysdale said. “I look at it a little differently. My goal is to test my limit, find my limits and try to reach it. I know I’m not even close right now.
“I want to be the best I can be at this and it’s been great for me to be able to test myself against all the great fighters who are there in Vegas. They’re helping to make me better and if I can help them become more effective fighters at the same time, that’s a great accomplishment for me.”
