Over the next 36 hours, one beloved coach from
American Top Team will travel the country to corner fighters in
both Professional Fighters League and Ultimate Fighting Championship events.
Coach Marcos
“Parrumpa” DaMatta will be serving as one of the main cornermen
for five different competitors this weekend, and he will have to
fly from Las Vegas to Kansas City, Missouri, in the process.
Despite the exhausting slate ahead of him, “Parrumpa” is extremely
optimistic for all of his students. Speaking with Sherdog ahead of
his fully loaded schedule, the Brazilian jiu-jitsu coach noted he
had absolutely no complaints or regrets.
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“After being in the corner of Russians Magomed
Magomedkerimov, Magomed
Umalatov and Brazilians Raush
Manfio and Natan
Schulte [at PFL 3], I’ll try to sleep a few hours and fly to
Kansas [City] to corner Edson
Barboza in the co-main event of [the] UFC [card],” the coach
explained.
In fact, merely being asked to corner by this many athletes is an
honor to some members of the coaching staff, who believe that this
is a positive sign for their hard work.
“In ATT, the fighters choose their coaches; being chosen by so many
Russians and Americans, besides my countrymates, means I’m doing a
good job,” DaMatta remarked.
When asked to analyze all five matchups, the Carlson Gracie black
belt first mentioned that both Russians will finish their opponents
at the PFL card on Friday. This would presumably get them fairly
close to reaching the playoffs, with six points apiece should they
each pull off stoppages in the opening round.
“I see them submitting [their opponents] in the first round,” Da
Matta stated confidently. “Magomedkerimov already won the prize in
2018, and I see Umalatov as clear favorite this year. Actually,
both had visa issues last year. They both applied for green cards
and couldn’t leave [the] USA. When [the] PFL put the semifinal in
London, they broke them up. But this year I have no doubt, they
will rule the division.”
Concerning the lightweight division, however, the ATT coach does
not see such an easy path to success for former champs Raush and
Schulte.
“They were set in the very first fight against a finalist and
semifinalist of last year,” “Parrumpa” noted. “I see Raush winning
in a war via decision, and Natan submitting Steven Ray in
the 2nd or 3rd round. Aubin-Mercier and Burgos will also be a war.
The ideal scenario would be Natan, Aubin-Mercier, Raush and Burgos
in the playoffs, but the way the fights were set may bring some
surprises.”
The vaunted coach is not entirely thrilled with the changes that
the promotion has made to its playoff and matchmaking system, with
fewer fighters reaching the postseason than past years.
Additionally, DaMatta believes that the PFL is weeding out some of
the better fighters by matching them together early.
“If you put the toughest in first phase, you will favor other
fighters, like Clay
Collard, even Bruno
[Miranda],” DaMatta lamented. “We could see that [at]
featherweight and light heavyweight. To tell you the truth, I liked
most [of] the old way, [with] 12 fighters in the initial bracket
and eight [reaching the] playoffs.”
Just a few short hours after handling his ample PFL duties, DaMatta
will flight to Missouri to corner Barboza against tough out
Billy
Quarantillo. According to the Brazilian coach, Barboza’s morale
and confidence is still high despite coming in on a losing
streak.
“He is really motivated [for] that fight. Edson likes to face
opponents that brings the fight to him, and that’s exactly what
Quarantillo does. Definitely the guy is tough, but his weak point
is exactly the toughest point of Edson. I truly believe Barbosa
will return to the win column and permit ATT to finish the weekend
with 100% of good results,” “Parrumpa” concluded with pride.