Filho on Manhoef, says Roger Gracie could be the one to Defeat Fedor

Published on: 27th June, 2009

Filho on Manhoef, says Roger Gracie could be the one to Defeat Fedor  | read this item

After not fighting at his best in his last two outings against Chael Sonnen as the WEC Middleweight champion, Paulo Filho who was released from his contract by Zuffa has made a return to the Ring in Japan and will make his debut at DREAM 10 on July 20 taking on the always dangerous striker Melvin Manhoef of Holland. Filho however also comments that fellow Brazilian Roger Gracie could be the first man to really ever defeat Fedor Emelianenko if they were to ever meet.

While speaking to Fighters Only Filho who is a very well known Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt in his own right says that he respects the power of Manhoef, but also mentions that he is at his full potential only in the first five minutes of a fight.

“Melvin Manhoef fights very well for the first five minutes, is the best in the world. He has a stunning right cross punch with a lot of speed. He’s the most dangerous guy of the division. At the same time, he knows when he trades he feels the hits. He has proven he can beat anyone or be beaten,” he says. His chin is not hard but I owe him credit for his abilities and for fighting heavyweight fighters even being a middleweight athlete. Melvin faces everybody and he will be difficult to be stopped when learns jiu jitsu.”

Then Filho goes on the subject of the best fighter in the world pound for pound in Fedor Emelianenko whom he also has a lot of respect for. However Filho says that if anybody can beat Fedor it would be Roger Gracie by submission.

“I’m really a fan of Fedor. I admire him as an athlete, person, but every one of us has fails and he’s not different. Watch him against Ricardo Arona in 2000, he shows some holes on the mat. Other fighters haven’t taken advantage of it, they haven’t known how to apply jiu jitsu like Roger Gracie has being doing,” he explained.

“Fedor is not a hard man to take down. His blow is heaviest but he also feels the hits, he is an ordinary person. If you know to use his own weight against himself during the takedown, it is possible to catch a submission.”

Although Filho does make a good point that anyone can beaten, Fedor still really has not been beaten at this point and Roger Gracie is also a very talented fighter as far as Jiu Jitsu goes, but with Fedor still taking out former UFC champions at the moment it is not known as to whether or not Fedor will eventually slow down, but if Gracie is not the man to meet Fedor and/or possibly beat him it may be because Josh Barnett has accomplished it first, but I could be wrong too.  

 Nelson Rodriguez AKA: Nelo2.0 is the Co - Owner of URDirt.com who is also an Editor and Author on the site. Read more from this author

Readers Comments