Neiman Gracie expects toughest Rory MacDonald yet
As Bellator 222 approaches, one of the biggest questions on the minds of fights fans is: How will Rory MacDonald come out and fight against Neiman Gracie?
After all, MacDonald didn’t leave everyone with the utmost confidence after his last fight where he said he “doesn’t have that killer inside.” So where will that leave us with the victor of Gracie-MacDonald fighting Douglas Lima?
Gracie said it earlier and he maintains that MacDonald will come out ready to fight and believes this is one of his toughest fights to date.
“I still believe he’s one of the best welterweights in the world,” Gracie stated.
“He’s going to come in and prove he’s still on this.”
Gracie, now 9-0, has been training MMA and BJJ for a long time, but it has been said that he might not be seasoned enough for a Rory MacDonald.
“Its normal, man, people keep doubting me, everyone questioned me in first fight and I still won,” Gracie insisted.
“Im not a guy that gets too nervous or feels too much pressure. I think the pressure is on him now,” he continued.
With a lot of eyes on the upcoming fight and still questions about MacDonald’s fight game, Gracie doesn’t seem to waiver from his game plan that his brought him this far in the tournament.
“My game plan never changes, no matter who I’m fighting, it is no secret to anyone but its kind of hard to stop it,” said Gracie.
“I’m going for a submission. I expect him to try to stop my take downs and keep the fight standing. I expect him to try to stop my takedowns and finish the fight standing up,” Gracie finished.
But Gracie still knows that a victory would line him up with an equally dangerous Douglas Lima. Lima stated earlier that Gracie might be “too green” to win the entire welterweight grand prix.
“Of course I’m worried (about Lima) I know I’m going to have another tough fight,” he insisted.
“After this is over, then I’ll be worrying about Douglas Lima,” he continued.
With the victor landing in the finals against Lima, Gracie finished by stating what possibly holding the title, and being a BJJ specialist would mean in the MMA world.
“What I usually tell people is that I have already proved everything that I need to prove. BJJ is the best MMA in the world. Being a world champion will be a cherry on the top.”