Rafael Viana Says He Will Be RFA’s First Light Heavyweight Champion

Rafael Viana spoke with MMAjunkie about his fight with Devin Clark for the inaugural RFA light heavyweight title at RFC 37. Some highlights are below:

On his periods of inactivity: “I haven’t fought often due to various injuries. It made it difficult to be in fighting shape. And I didn’t have a manager before to find me fights. Pedro Rizzo would try to book me, but he wasn’t a manager. He was still an active fighter. I understand why he couldn’t stop his own life to take care of our needs. So, I couldn’t fight too often even when I was healthy. And in early 2013, after my second fight, I had a serious knee injury in training. I had to travel back to my hometown to undergo surgery. It was hard to recover. My family was a great help. Without them, maybe I wouldn’t even be fighting today. Another reason for my low number of fights was the fact that I fully dedicated myself to training my brother Guilherme Viana after he signed up with Bellator.”

On being helped by Glover Teixeira: “To this day, I feel very thankful to have met Glover. He taught me modern MMA. The older guys only knew vale-tudo, in which the martial arts are separated. That leaves some gaps. Glover showed me modern MMA, which includes takedowns, ground-and-pound, and takedown defense. And I brought my brother, Guilherme, into MMA. He used to be a soccer player, and at first, he’d make fun of my jiu-jitsu. He’d call it groping men. Around the time I was 17, and he was 16, one day he agreed to come to class. I got him a gi. I put him in my guard and told him to get out if he could. I choked him out and he fell asleep on top of me. When he woke up, he decided that this stuff really works. And from that point on, he started pursuing a fighter’s life and also going to my trainers’ classes. He was both state champion and Brazilian vice champion in boxing. Later, I brought him to Rio de Janeiro too. He met Glover and Pedro Rizzo. We all started training together at the Manguinhos facility. Now that he’s in Bellator, he’s surpassed me. I’m very happy my brother chose the same path. I’m proud of him. He’s a beast. ”

On his MMA goals: “I just got back from my honeymoon. I’m running around, getting ready for this fight. My manager got me a three-fight contract with RFA. My debut is for the belt. I hope that, from now on, I’ll be able to fight more frequently. In RFA, it’s the first time I’m contracted by a promotion outside Brazil. Their champions often go straight to the UFC. I’m very thankful to my manager for his work. Now I’m training hard with Glover to be the RFA champion. I studied my opponent (Devin Clark). He’s one of the toughest challenges in my career. He’s a good fighter, strong and explosive. His record is similar to mine. And he also shows up to finish his opponents. So I think it will be an excellent fight. It will be a war. I’m getting ready for war. I’m going to be RFA’s first light heavyweight champion. I’ll put on a show. I hope Dana White and Bellator enjoy my fight, so one of them hires me on.”