With REBEL Fighting Championship’s second installment just around the corner, longtime Asian MMA staple Will Chope (19-7) will be looking to bounce back from consecutive losses for just the second time in his career come fight night.
Chope is set to embark on an 8-man tournament, as he sets his sights on being crowned the promotion’s inaugural 145-lbs title-holder.
Officials have thus far conjured up an impressive line-up for the tourney. It includes a mix of well established MMA stars along with top prospects, with the promotion even securing a new venue to draw in the hardcore masses. The excellent brackets include international names such as former WEC champ Miguel Torres, URCC champ Reydon Romero, top Australian fighters Pat Promrangka and Michael Tobin along with Japanese MMA standouts Takahiro Ashida and Yojiro Uchimura.
Chope, in the meantime, has been slated against Brazil’s Mauricio Dos Santos Jr., a fighter spotting a 10-8 record who’s set for his first pro MMA fight on foreign soil.
The lanky Californian took base in Singapore for this upcoming tilt. In this short interview with the 23-year-old, we gathered his thoughts ahead of the tournament early next month:
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- On his first impression(s) of the draw…
Chope: “I’m happy with the first pick. It sucks that me, Torres and Ashida are on the same side. I was hoping to be on the opposite side and meet those guys in the finals, but I’m happy they’re fighting each other. At least the two strongest guys in the tournament are fighting each other so they’ll take each other out. And I’m happy with the tournament, the way it’s set up and it’s going to be exciting. I feel like I’m going to be able to walk through a lot of these guys and hopefully, Ashida and Torres beat each other up hard enough so when I fight the winner of those two, it will be easier.”
- On the format of the tournament…
Chope: “We’re going to have the quarter finals first, which is one fight, and then the semis and the finals on another. I’ve never done that before. But it’s all about chalking up experience. I’m going to learn from this, have exciting fights, make good money and I’m happy with it. I’m happy just to fight. Of course I’m thinking who I’d like to fight and the easiest way and what not because the end goal is to get the belt. I really want to win the tournament so I’m looking for the easiest way but then again, I can’t control that.”
- On why fighters are itching to fight him all the time…
Chope: “I think a lot of people when they see my record, they’ll say it’s padded or something and a lot of them would want to build their name off me. They’d probably see my old fights and think I’m very beatable. Actually I’m not the most technical fighter. The reason why I beat a lot of guys is because I’m awkward. It’s not because I’m super technical. So I think a lot of guys think they’ll match up well against me but I try to be realistic, I know who I’ll do well against and who I’m going to struggle with. Like the tie with Ashida and Torres, that will be a tough fight against those guys. I’m glad I’ll get the winner. It would have definitely sucked to have to fight them both in the tournament.”
- On fighting ever so frequently…
Chope: “I’ve got to make money. Most of the money I make is from fighting. I don’t have a normal job, I don’t leave Asia, go back to my home country, save up some money and then come back. I make all my money in Asia. Plus it’s really fun to travel. You get to go everywhere, party in different places so yeah, it’s great.”
- On building back or at least racking up enough momentum to match the 14-fight winning streak he once had…
Chope: “I’m very easy going with promoters. A lot of times guys have hard times finding fights because they demand too much. Well, I’ll fight for my opponent’s value. People complain I fight low level guys but you know what, if a promoter wants to pay me some money to fight a low level guy, sure, why not? I’ll just go, beat him up, get paid and have fun. I get to go to a new country, meet friends in the process, whatever. So I’ll do that in all the little shows all over and sure, I can rack up a lot of wins. As long as I have a couple of quality wins, along with fighting lower level guys, then who cares, right?”
- On fighting Mauricio Dos Santos Jr….
Chope: “I know he talks too much shit and speaks broken English. I am going to put him away worse than Germany put away Brazil in the World Cup.”
- On why he aspires to be the ultimate journeyman in MMA…
Chope: “I want to beat the records set by Jeremy Horn and Travis Fulton. I want to have like 300 fights. That’s my goal. Like, I want to be remembered for having the most fights ever in the history of MMA. If I get a couple of championships and titles along the way, that’d be awesome. And the money would be great. But I plan to be in the sport for a long time. Possibly be like Dan Severn who fought till he was like 52.”
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REBEL FC 2: Battle Royale takes place August 1 at the Suntec Exhibition and Convention Centre in Singapore. The main card for the event features the aforementioned 8-man tournament, while the prelims is set to showcase a host of names from both the local and international circuit.
Keep it locked to MMASucka.com for the full fight card and for more updates with regards to this event.
Credits: Red Card Sports Radio, Will Chope
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