Diego Brandao 'Feels Great' After Being The Ultimate Fighter's Top Pick

Filed under: UFC

Michael Bisping made Diego Brandao the first pick among the featherweights on this season of The Ultimate Fighter, indicating that Bisping views Brandao as the most talented fighter of the bunch on this year's cast.

In our weekly interview, Brandao said that's pretty much how he viewed himself as well -- he headed into The Ultimate Fighter house confident in his abilities, and after getting a look at the rest of this season's cast, he thought he was among the best fighters on the show.

We talked with Brandao about his status as the first overall pick, how the training he got at the Ultimate Fighter gym compared to what he had before, and what he thought of the season's first fight, between Bryan Carraway and Marcus Brimage.

The interview is below.

Michael David Smith: You were the first overall pick. How did that make you feel?
Diego Brandao: I feel great about it. I think it was because of my jiu jitsu, the coaches saw those skill I had, and in my first fight to get onto the show I showed that I was one of the strongest guys. I think at that time I felt more confident than the other guys. Getting picked first meant a lot and I felt great at the start of the show.

Getting picked first meant that Bisping thought you were the best of the featherweights. Is that also what you thought?
Yes, I always believe in myself. I always think to myself, I'm the best guy, no one is going to come to me and take my dream away. But when I saw those guys I did see there were a lot of other good guys there, too. I thought there were guys that would challenge me, but I was confident in myself.

Did the coaching you got at the start of the show differ from what you were accustomed to, training with Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn?
I learned a lot during but before I went down there I also felt like I knew a lot from my own camp. I wasn't thinking, "Oh, my gosh, this is The Ultimate Fighter!" I was just thinking like I had already prepared myself.

In the first fight of the season, Bryan Carraway beat Marcus Brimage with a rear-naked choke in the second round. Did you have any thoughts about that, as Carraway was a potential opponent for you in a later round of the season?
I think Bryan is an aggressive guy who looked good, he has very good submissions and I think he has a jiu jitsu background like me. I enjoyed watching it and felt like it was a fun fight to watch.

(Editor's Note: Check back every Thursday to get Brandao's thoughts on the recent TUF episode).

 

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Source: http://mmafighting.com/2011/09/29/diego-brandao-feels-great-after-being-the-ultimate-fighters-t/

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