After an excellent 2021 for Marcus
Almeida and Antonio
Carlos Jr., two top jiu-jitsu practitioners who decided to
transition to MMA, another BJJ standout is focused on the move from
the mats to the cage.
“I´ve got the world absolute gold this year, my goal is get my
second absolute gold at ADCC next September, something that no one
achieved yet, and move 100% to do MMA,” Felipe “Preguica” Pena told
Sherdog.com.
“I´m moved by challenges. I feel like when I was a blue belt, I was
already dreaming about one day being an absolute champion in the
black belt [division]. I’m already looking for a boxing and muay
Thai coach here in Minas Gerais. Seeing former opponents like
‘Buchecha’ and ‘Cara de Sapato’ doing great just motivates me.”
The Vinicius Draculino protégé naturally weighs 216 pounds and
plans to fight at light heavyweight in MMA. But before making that
move, Pena has another dream to achieve in the grappling world. As
the only man who has defeated Gordon Ryan
twice, “Preguica” is dreaming about the possibility of facing “The
King” in the next edition of ADCC.
“I have nothing against selling fights with trash talk, but Gordon
just pisses me off, because he lies a lot on the internet, saying
everybody is afraid of facing him,” Pena said. “Myself, Kainan,
Hulk we are doing everything to fight him. I defeated him twice.
First via rear-naked choke in a no-limit grappling fight in 2016
and again in the finals of the ADCC absolute division in 2017 where
I also took his back. If I had a few minutes more I would have
submitted him once again. So how can I be afraid of him? It makes
no sense.”
Since Ryan is slated for a super fight with Andre
Galvao at the 2022 edition of ADCC, Preguica hopes that he can
serve as a replacement for either man.
“I already faced Galvao five times, it´s 3-2 for him, and I also
would love to face him again. Finishing my grappling history facing
Galvao or Ryan would be like a dream.”
Pena currently has two camps in mind to help with his transition to
MMA.
“I’m sure that to reach a high level in this sport I need to train
with the best, so of course I´m planning to leave my hometown, Belo
Horizonte, to the United States,” he said. I’m close to [Almeida}
and [Carlos Jr.], so ATT in Florida would be a great option, but
I´m also a good friend of Neiman
Gracie and Romulo
Barral, who works with Rafael
Cordeiro at [Kings MMA]. So, any of those two options would be
great.” said Pena.
The black belt points to three figures in MMA who have inspired
him.
“Khabib [Nurmagomdev], Georges St.
Pierre and Charles
Oliveira,” he said. “Each one in a different way was able to
apply grappling in MMA and all of them inspire me in a different
way.”