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Roberto Pedreira
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April 25, 2020 Critica de Vitor Belfort Gracie Magazine Ano III, N0 16 Translated by Roberto Pedreira
Instead of punching him out as people had by that time come to expect, Vitor decided to out-grapple Joe Charles in Ultimate Japan Super Fight in 1997. Eddie Goldman didn't like that. Vitor explained why he did what he did.
"It's easy to criticize others, but Eddie Goldman is connected with wrestling and I've never heard him criticize the opponents who the wrestlers confront. Do you remember who Mark Kerr fought? Many fights between Americans are fake [armadas] such as Don Frye versus Mark Hall, Mark Kerr versus [Daniel] Bobish, and [Mark] Coleman versus [Dan] Severn. My fight was not fake. I just decided to show everyone that I know how to fight on the ground, because many people said that I only win by boxing. Critics always attack me. If I fight standing they say I don't know ground. If I fight on the ground I should stand up. One week before the fight, I stated in an interview that I would go to the ground this time. And in my opinion my performance was good. I looked for the fight the whole time, dominating the positions. Clearly Goldman, has a wrestler's vision, that is, he thinks that a fight should be "ground and pound" [colocar baixo e bater] so my fight didn't give him what he wanted [deixou a desejar]. But my vision of vale tudo is very far from that."
Vitor's fight with Joe Charles can be seen here. More interviews with Vitor Belfort on GTR here, here, and here. Gracie Magazine Ano III, N0 16 was published in 1998. (c) 2020, Roberto Pedreira. All rights reserved (translation only).
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