snakerattle79
11-27-2009, 07:14 AM
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PDG: From a trainer’s standpoint what positives and negatives did you take from Brett’s second round knockout loss to Fedor Emelianenko?
Mike Reilly: I think that universally people were very impressed with what Brett was able to do in the first round. The first round went basically the way that we thought it would go with the exception being that we were hoping to see more right hands thrown by Brett. After the fight Brett said the same thing and said that he couldn't see the openings to throw his right hand. I think he was a little too tentative and concerned about letting his hands go. As far as the rest of the first round went I think that we controlled the action especially on the feet where Brett was able to land a very good shot that drew an awful lot of blood from Fedor’s face. Brett controlled the action up against the fence which we worked on in training and knew that he could do and I believe that the way he handled himself on the ground was a surprise to everybody except for us.
PDG: You mentioned that before; that even though none of Brett’s fights had gone to the ground you guys had been working on his ground game extensively.
Mike Reilly: That is my background and is really the base for a lot of the things that we do during training. Brett has very good round skills, he is extremely difficult to submit and so we weren't surprised at all about how Brett performed on the ground during the first round. We knew that Fedor’s best option was to stay in the half guard because if he made any effort to gain the full mount he would have been reversed. Brett did a good job getting back to the guard, reversing and then landing a couple of good shots. I think part of the problem in this fight was that our game plan consisted more of the standup game and maybe we should have surprised Fedor with more of an emphasis on the ground game.
PDG: So in your opinion did Brett win the first round?
Mike Reilly: I definitely believe that he won the first round because there was only two big punches landed and both of them came from Brett. He also controlled the action against the cage and even though Fedor’s Superman Punch got an ovation from the crowd it had no effect on Brett. We controlled the action standing; he got the escape on the ground and landed good punches on the ground. So yes, I believe he won the first round but you never know because lately you don’t know what the judges are watching. You could blindfold three chimps and the scoring would be more accurate. In between rounds I told Brett that he was doing a good job and that Fedor had to of realized he wasn't going to be able to do any damage on the ground. We were definitely very confident going into round two but obviously the fight did not end how we wanted it to.
PDG: Can you talk about round two and the mistakes that were made that led to the knockout?
Mike Reilly: Again in round two like in round one, Brett did not keep the pressure on by throwing his right hand. He was more worried about being countered than he was about being first. When you have hesitation in your game it is like playing prevent defense in football and you usually end up giving up the big play. We definitely should have attacked more especially since we knew that Fedor’s ground game was not going to impact the fight.
PDG: So basically your game plan was to use Brett's height and reach advantage to strike first and strike often.
Mike Reilly: It is definitely what we wanted but we were also concerned with Fedor’s counter punching ability and I think that those concerns led to the hesitation that I talked about.
PDG: What did you think of the stoppage to end the fight?
Mike Reilly: I want to be really clear about this...I do not want to question ”Big” John McCarthy’s decision to stop the fight. John does not have the benefit of replay or slow motion. When a fighter gets spun around like that and hits the canvas the odds are very likely that the fight will be stopped. I think that any competent referee would have made the same call and my opinions are based on being able to view the fight several times via replay. Brett brought up both his hand and his leg to defend himself and if he had not turned away from Fedor but turned the other way I think the fight would not have been stopped. Fedor did an incredibly smart thing by standing there and throwing punches while Brett was on his back instead of moving down into the guard position were Brett would've been able to tie him up and get all of his eggs back in his basket. Brett was clearly hurt by the punch but he was never unconscious and that is what made the loss so frustrating because Brett felt that if he was going to take a loss he wanted to leave on a stretcher. When he got back to the locker room he wasn't hurt, he wasn't tired and the people that were questioning his endurance were wrong.
PDG: Lately, commentators for every fight think at least one fighter in the match is gassed.
Mike Reilly: Yes they do but Brett was far from gassed and he wasn't even tired. He was in very good condition for this fight and he would have had no problem going the distance. I guess we just have to go forward from here.
PDG: How long until you get Brett back in the gym training again?
Mike Reilly: He took about a week off but that's it. We are already making preparations for his next fight and have started his training program. Brett didn't suffer any injuries during that fight so there is no reason not to get him right back in the cage training again. That was another frustrating thing about the fight in that Brett suffered no damage. I remember being in the locker room and telling him that I should hit him with something so it looks like he was actually in a fight. If we were able to round up 10,000 more people on short notice Brett would be able to have a rematch today. His puppy does more damage to him than he sustained in the fight.
PDG: With the loss, Brett is going to have to take a step back in the Strikeforce heavyweight division; do you guys start looking at “Bigfoot” Silva or Allistair Overeem as future opponents now?
Mike Reilly: Whoever Strikeforce decides to give us whether it is Fabricio Werdum, Silva or Overeem we will take it. Brett was originally scheduled to face Overeem back in June but he ended up knocking out Andre Arlovski after Overeem pulled out of the fight. We still want that fight and we feel that we are owed it. We are extremely proud to be a part of the Strikeforce organization because of how they treat the fighters and the great events they are able to promote. It would be a great honor for us to give Strikeforce a heavyweight champion that would actually defend his belt and we are hoping to get that opportunity.
PDG: It's not like Overeem is on the shelf injured and isn't fighting; what do you think the deal is?
Mike Reilly: That therein lies the problem, I don't believe that Overeem respects the Strikeforce promotion. I can't read his mind and figure out why or what the problem is and I don't want to get into too much of the fighter bashing because everybody has to make their own decisions but we would like to see that heavyweight title defended. We also want to be one of the people that gets the opportunity to fight for the title.
PDG: What changes if any are you planning on making for Brett's next training camp?
Mike Reilly: This was really Brett's first camp where he was able to train like a professional fighter; where we are able to rotate him around to different places where he could focus a 100% on training and so we are going to continue that. As a coach I try to give my fighters everything they need to be successful including access to other coaches and camps because I don't always have the right answer. This was the first fight where we ever really had the freedom to do that and now we're going to be able to have even more time and more freedom to train Brett professionally and make the most out of it. The biggest reason we were able to train Brett differently this time around than in his previous fights was because of the incredible support that we got from his sponsors.
PDG: From a trainer’s standpoint what positives and negatives did you take from Brett’s second round knockout loss to Fedor Emelianenko?
Mike Reilly: I think that universally people were very impressed with what Brett was able to do in the first round. The first round went basically the way that we thought it would go with the exception being that we were hoping to see more right hands thrown by Brett. After the fight Brett said the same thing and said that he couldn't see the openings to throw his right hand. I think he was a little too tentative and concerned about letting his hands go. As far as the rest of the first round went I think that we controlled the action especially on the feet where Brett was able to land a very good shot that drew an awful lot of blood from Fedor’s face. Brett controlled the action up against the fence which we worked on in training and knew that he could do and I believe that the way he handled himself on the ground was a surprise to everybody except for us.
PDG: You mentioned that before; that even though none of Brett’s fights had gone to the ground you guys had been working on his ground game extensively.
Mike Reilly: That is my background and is really the base for a lot of the things that we do during training. Brett has very good round skills, he is extremely difficult to submit and so we weren't surprised at all about how Brett performed on the ground during the first round. We knew that Fedor’s best option was to stay in the half guard because if he made any effort to gain the full mount he would have been reversed. Brett did a good job getting back to the guard, reversing and then landing a couple of good shots. I think part of the problem in this fight was that our game plan consisted more of the standup game and maybe we should have surprised Fedor with more of an emphasis on the ground game.
PDG: So in your opinion did Brett win the first round?
Mike Reilly: I definitely believe that he won the first round because there was only two big punches landed and both of them came from Brett. He also controlled the action against the cage and even though Fedor’s Superman Punch got an ovation from the crowd it had no effect on Brett. We controlled the action standing; he got the escape on the ground and landed good punches on the ground. So yes, I believe he won the first round but you never know because lately you don’t know what the judges are watching. You could blindfold three chimps and the scoring would be more accurate. In between rounds I told Brett that he was doing a good job and that Fedor had to of realized he wasn't going to be able to do any damage on the ground. We were definitely very confident going into round two but obviously the fight did not end how we wanted it to.
PDG: Can you talk about round two and the mistakes that were made that led to the knockout?
Mike Reilly: Again in round two like in round one, Brett did not keep the pressure on by throwing his right hand. He was more worried about being countered than he was about being first. When you have hesitation in your game it is like playing prevent defense in football and you usually end up giving up the big play. We definitely should have attacked more especially since we knew that Fedor’s ground game was not going to impact the fight.
PDG: So basically your game plan was to use Brett's height and reach advantage to strike first and strike often.
Mike Reilly: It is definitely what we wanted but we were also concerned with Fedor’s counter punching ability and I think that those concerns led to the hesitation that I talked about.
PDG: What did you think of the stoppage to end the fight?
Mike Reilly: I want to be really clear about this...I do not want to question ”Big” John McCarthy’s decision to stop the fight. John does not have the benefit of replay or slow motion. When a fighter gets spun around like that and hits the canvas the odds are very likely that the fight will be stopped. I think that any competent referee would have made the same call and my opinions are based on being able to view the fight several times via replay. Brett brought up both his hand and his leg to defend himself and if he had not turned away from Fedor but turned the other way I think the fight would not have been stopped. Fedor did an incredibly smart thing by standing there and throwing punches while Brett was on his back instead of moving down into the guard position were Brett would've been able to tie him up and get all of his eggs back in his basket. Brett was clearly hurt by the punch but he was never unconscious and that is what made the loss so frustrating because Brett felt that if he was going to take a loss he wanted to leave on a stretcher. When he got back to the locker room he wasn't hurt, he wasn't tired and the people that were questioning his endurance were wrong.
PDG: Lately, commentators for every fight think at least one fighter in the match is gassed.
Mike Reilly: Yes they do but Brett was far from gassed and he wasn't even tired. He was in very good condition for this fight and he would have had no problem going the distance. I guess we just have to go forward from here.
PDG: How long until you get Brett back in the gym training again?
Mike Reilly: He took about a week off but that's it. We are already making preparations for his next fight and have started his training program. Brett didn't suffer any injuries during that fight so there is no reason not to get him right back in the cage training again. That was another frustrating thing about the fight in that Brett suffered no damage. I remember being in the locker room and telling him that I should hit him with something so it looks like he was actually in a fight. If we were able to round up 10,000 more people on short notice Brett would be able to have a rematch today. His puppy does more damage to him than he sustained in the fight.
PDG: With the loss, Brett is going to have to take a step back in the Strikeforce heavyweight division; do you guys start looking at “Bigfoot” Silva or Allistair Overeem as future opponents now?
Mike Reilly: Whoever Strikeforce decides to give us whether it is Fabricio Werdum, Silva or Overeem we will take it. Brett was originally scheduled to face Overeem back in June but he ended up knocking out Andre Arlovski after Overeem pulled out of the fight. We still want that fight and we feel that we are owed it. We are extremely proud to be a part of the Strikeforce organization because of how they treat the fighters and the great events they are able to promote. It would be a great honor for us to give Strikeforce a heavyweight champion that would actually defend his belt and we are hoping to get that opportunity.
PDG: It's not like Overeem is on the shelf injured and isn't fighting; what do you think the deal is?
Mike Reilly: That therein lies the problem, I don't believe that Overeem respects the Strikeforce promotion. I can't read his mind and figure out why or what the problem is and I don't want to get into too much of the fighter bashing because everybody has to make their own decisions but we would like to see that heavyweight title defended. We also want to be one of the people that gets the opportunity to fight for the title.
PDG: What changes if any are you planning on making for Brett's next training camp?
Mike Reilly: This was really Brett's first camp where he was able to train like a professional fighter; where we are able to rotate him around to different places where he could focus a 100% on training and so we are going to continue that. As a coach I try to give my fighters everything they need to be successful including access to other coaches and camps because I don't always have the right answer. This was the first fight where we ever really had the freedom to do that and now we're going to be able to have even more time and more freedom to train Brett professionally and make the most out of it. The biggest reason we were able to train Brett differently this time around than in his previous fights was because of the incredible support that we got from his sponsors.