Chris Camozzi Warns Future Opponents to Watch Out For His Knees

In an interview with MMA Junkie, Chris Camozzi (23-10 MMA, 8-7 UFC) spoke about his performance at UFC Fight Night 83. He knocked out his opponent Joe Riggs (41-17 MMA, 5-7 UFC) and broke his arm with a series of knees. He won a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus. Here are highlights:

On how badly he beat up Riggs: “I didn’t know when it happened, but afterward I saw him in the back and they were putting him on the stretcher. I guess one of those knees hit him in the arm, and you can’t block knees like that – you’ve got to get your head up.”

On a warning to the other middleweights: “I hope (it gives future opponents a warning). I’ve always had good knees. A lot of my past fights have been won by knees – it’s something I train a lot. Knees and elbows are two of my favorite things.”

On his training: “Tonight felt great. I’ll fight anybody, short notice or not, but I’d prefer to have a full camp, obviously, and I think you can see a difference in my performance when I have time to train as opposed to rushing in there. Tonight, I just felt spot on and ready to go. My coach and I worked a ton of specific stuff – a lot more footwork. Looking back at past fights, I was lacking moving my feet. And even though you didn’t really get to see it this fight, I was in there prepared to do it and threw a hip feint, which set up everything off that jab and everything else. Just changing up my style a little bit, and strength and conditioning – just how many times a week we’re doing it, and I feel a lot more explosive with my punches.”