After a two-year absence due to multiple knee surgeries, former
Professional Fighters League light heavyweight champion
Antonio
Carlos Jr. made a successful return to the cage in April,
submitting Simon
Biyong in the opening stanza at
PFL 2 on April 12.
Advertisement
While that earned “Cara de Sapato” six points in the PFL standings,
four other light heavyweights earned quicker finishes than the
Brazilian at the event. That means Carlos Jr. enters his
PFL 5 matchup with Alex
Polizzi in fifth place, so he will need another impressive
showing to assure himself a place in the postseason.
“It never happened in PFL history. Five fighters getting a quick
six in the first phase. Nobody is guaranteed [a spot] in the
playoffs. It´s like we are all starting now,” Carlos Jr. told
Sherdog.com.
Carlos Jr. expects Polizzi to try to use his wrestling to control
their fight at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City.
“He has an excellent folk wrestling technique and probably will try
to take me down, but that’s the position where I feel more
comfortable,” said Carlos Jr., who revealed that he and
American Top Team training partner Joshua
Silveira arrived one week early to adapt to the altitude in
Utah.
Carlos Jr. realizes there is a chance he will have to square off
against Silveira in the postseason if all goes as planned for both
ATT-based light heavyweights. The UFC veteran is prepared for that
possibility.
“Of course the best scenario would be to face Joshua in the final
and have the million-dollar dispute inside the American Top Team,”
Carlos Jr. said. “But for now, we both have very tough challenges
and we are not thinking about that.”
Carlos Jr. had high praise for another training partner, Ikram
Aliskerov. Aliskerov will face Robert
Whittaker on short notice in the
UFC on ABC 6 headliner on Saturday in Saudi Arabia.
“We have the same manager, Ali [Abdelaziz]. Since the first
sparring we did, I told Ali that this Russian will be a future
champion,” Carlos Jr. said. “Ikram is good everywhere. When I was
in the UFC I always said Whittaker was the worst matchup for me.
Even Adesanya would be a better fit for my game. But I see
Whittaker and Ikram having a war, which is hard to predict the
winner, but I have no doubt Ikram will give him a hard time.”