Juliano Coutinho Prefers Team Loyalty Ahead of WSOF 31

Juliano Coutinho spoke with MMAjunkie about his fight with Justin Willis at WSOF 31. Some highlights are below:

On rebounding from his WSOF 20 loss: “It was tough to prepare for Chaz Morgan after my loss to Steve Mocco. I took nearly a year off from fighting after that loss. But I didn’t stop training and making adjustments. I put emphasis on wrestling and striking. The fight with Mocco mostly affected my mindset. But right after the fight with Chaz Morgan, which could have gone either way, I knew for sure that I’d secured the victory.”

On sticking with his training: “I’m not a fan of people switching from academy to academy. It goes against what I learned in jiu-jitsu. Loyalty is very important. If you start out with a team, you should stick with them until the end. Have faith in the process. Moving around just devalues the fighter and the sport. That’s not the sort of example I want to give my students, from the children to the adults. If I keep jumping from branch to branch, it’s a bad example for them. Have faith in your trainers, work hard, and fight for yourself, not for others.”

On Willis: “Justin Willis comes from a good camp in California, AKA. But that doesn’t mean anything to me. I watched one of this fight videos. He seems very athletic but doesn’t have a traditional martial arts background. He seems well-rounded and dangerous. He’s both heavy and fast. But I think his weakness is the ground game, so we’ll try to exploit that. I’ve been working on my wrestling so I can get him down and finish him on the ground.”

On fighting lighter: “The main change is that I’ve been focusing on my cardio since he’s very fast. So I’ll be ready for him. I’m in the best shape ever. I dropped around 14 pounds. I improved my diet and have been working with a nutritionist. I dropped weight without meaning to. I’m more explosive now.”