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| Photo by Bloodyelbow.com |
Francisco Rivera is an up and coming bantamweight in the UFC that is both one of the more entertaining fighters at 135, which is quite the accomplishment, and he also holds the power of a heavyweight. He has a record of 8-2 with 5 of those coming by 1st round KO/TKO with an accumulated time of just 4:05. That’s some power!
Anyway, Rivera was very gracious in taking time away from training to do an interview with us on his upcoming fight with Ken Stone at UFCon FX 4. He took this fight on short notice, replacing the injured Edwin Figueroa. His answers were very honest and we look forward to him showing his power on June 22!
Championship Rounds: Hey Francisco! Thanks so much for doing this with us and we can't wait for your fight! So, your next opponent is Ken Stone at UFC on FX 4. How do you think taking this fight on short notice will affect your performance?
Francisco Rivera: This fight will be good one. Going to just bring it, hopefully he wants to stand and bang a little before he eventually tries to take me down. (Laughs) But we will see, I come to fight on my feet. It's what the fans like, it’s what I like, so we will see :).
CR: What motivated you to take this fight with Stone?
FR: What motivated me to take this fight was that I'm on a good fight streak and this will be my fourth fight in five and a half months. So my body is in pretty good shape and my confidence level is riding high.
CR: How do you envision your fight with Stone going?
FR: I feel like [the fight] will turn out my way. How can I say it won't? (Laughs) [I predict a] KO in the second round.
CR: What do you ultimately want to accomplish in the sport of MMA?
FR: I want to be able to look back and know that I was part of the biggest MMA organization of all time. Most people dream [of it]. And my dream came true.
CR: Which of your accomplishments means the most and why?
FR: Making it to the UFC is by far my biggest accomplishment of all ... Never would have I thought I would be here. My life growing up was a mess.
CR: What was your initial reaction when the UFC officials called you up to come in on short notice to fight Alex Soto?
FR: I was crying because after the 1st cut with Zuffa™, things were not good for me. I didn't think they would call me that fast but I knew my last two fights before they called me were two of the best KO’s of the year.
CR: Talk about your fight with Soto. What was your gameplan? And why do you think you utterly dominated him for 3 rounds?
FR: My fight with Soto was what I wanted and I knew what would happen. My experience got me through; the nerves and my confidence got me through the fight... Once I felt his power I knew it was my fight. He ran from me for three rounds and I rocked him in every round so I was happy with my performance. I was able to get some cage time and I was happy with my win.
CR: You are a very seasoned striker. How long have you been training in MMA and what was your first martial art?
FR: Yes, my Muay Thai was my 1st martial art. And my boxing was top notch in training. I was beating all the MMA guys up in training which led me to MMA and my first amateur fight which I got my ass kicked in. (Laughs)
CR: When you first were interested in MMA, who was your role model?
FR: My best friend, who died a few years back, was the one who got me to do MMA and I dedicate my MMA career to him. He was also a MMA fighter, Brian “Jop Jop” Joplin… RIP.
CR: There has been a lot of controversy over judging in MMA. How do you think this could be improved? What should be done?
FR: The thing with the judges sucks. To prevent that, or going to the judges, I guess fighters must finish fights, thus the only way to stay away from them (Laughs) Point blank.
Thank you to Francisco Rivera for doing this! Go follow him on Twitter @CiscoRiveraUFC and tune in on Youtube or Facebook for his fight against Ken Stone on June 22!
RIP Brian Joplin
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