Eduardo Dantas Discusses Fighting His Former Teammate Marcos Galvao at Bellator 156

MMAjunkie recently spoke to Bellator bantamweight fighter and former champion Eduardo Dantas, who is set to face his friend and former teammate Marcos Galvao for the belt at Bellator 156. Below are some highlights.

Dantas on how things have changed: “A lot has changed. I lost the belt, and now I’m fighting to get it back. So my motivation is doubled. I’m the challenger, and the challenger has to really show he wants the title – which I’ll do on Friday. I think this time it will be a better fight. It will be better for both of us. Now he’s an opponent like any other. He’s like a stranger to me, or someone I’ve never trained with. I read he said his head wasn’t in the right place because he was fighting me then. Now there are no excuses. And I believe his head will be in the right place. Now we’re going to give it our all. And I think it’s going to be just as good for him as it will be for me.”

Dantas on his relationship with Galvao: “When we meet, we talk. But there’s that awareness that we can fight each other at any point, so the atmosphere is different. We try not to get that close, anymore. But it’s OK, we can be friends when we retire. I expect and hope he’ll be at his best to make this fight great. But he will be facing my best self. A much more well-rounded fighter than he faced on 2013. It’s the best version of me, I think it’s going to be a great fight. The real winners will be the fans.”

Dantas on a fight getting postponed: “I was very prepared for that fight, I was doing great. And then it got postponed on weigh-in day. I was very sad, so I tried to do other things that I liked to try to soften the blow. I traveled, cleared my head, and got back to re-do the camp. It was the same fight, so I had to do it all over again. But I believe it didn’t happen by chance, so we looked to evolve on it. As time goes by, I believe I get a lot better. I learn, I see fights with different eyes. I evolve. I think Galvao is the same, but I’m focused on myself and I think I’m much better than at my first camp.”

Dantas on wanting to be the best in the world: “I want to be the best in the world, but in order for that to happen I need to beat ‘Loro’ first. I will win this fight and get the belt back on June 17. I still have another six, seven months left on my Bellator contract. I like to stay active, and they sometimes left me on the shelf for too long. They got me one fight in one year, then matched me up against a tough opponent on the next. I think that made it a little harder. We don’t like fighting once a year, because that’s how we make a living. There are many tough guys outside of Bellator. (UFC champ) Dominick Cruz has been unbeatable, and I’ve seen many openings in his game. He moves well, and I see very few people exploring his leg work. And in order to stop him, his legs are the way. There’s also (UFC bantamweight) Thomas (Almeida), who I’m a fan of. I think there are many fights to be made.”