I had the opportunity to speak with Welterweight Daniel “Ninja” Roberts about his upcoming fight on July 3rd at UFC 116 versus Forrest Petz. Roberts is fighting out of Tulsa Oklahoma, with a current 9-1 professional record. Daniel is absolutely HUNGRY for this win, as it would mark his 10th professional win. Roberts told me that this is a great matchup for him as most losses for Petz been by submission, and Roberts is submission specialist. He trains with Cesar Gracie, Gilbert Melendez, the Diaz Brothers, and the rest of the Skrap Pack. He has trained in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for 13 years, and is a 3 time NAGA champ, 2 time NAGA world finalist, jiu jitsu champ, 2 timejiu jitsu world medalist, and jiu jitsu world finalist, so he definitely has grounds to hope for a strong submission win on the 3rd. Roberts had told me that although fighting in the UFC is a huge accomplishment for him, he’s not going to be completely satisfied until he gets that win, and that win is going to be the best feeling in the world. Besides getting this win at UFC 116, Roberts’ long term goal is to win the Welterweight title, and given the drive and determination he expressed to me during our interview, I’d say its safe to say that may happen down the road.
Not only did we talk about Roberts’ upcoming fight we discussed recent fights, and the MAIN EVENT at UFC 116. I asked Daniel’s impressions of the Fedor/Werdum fight, given that he is a strong BJJ fighter himself. Daniel expressed to me that it was a great fight, however talk about a rematch at this time may be a bit premature. “I’d love to have a rematch with Don Howard, who beat me in march, and caused my only loss, but sometimes, when you’re beat, you’re beat, and you’ve gotta accept it, move on and learn from it. Sometimes you need to build your way back up, and earn the rematch. Its not a given. And that’s the exciting thing about MMA. Anything can happen, and you never know from fight to fight what’s gonna happen. All you can do is learn from what does happen.”
I also asked him about his opinion the main event at UFC 116- Carwin v Lesnar. “Carwin is a tough fighter, he’s been knocking everyone out lately. But Lesnar does have the advantage on the ground with his wrestling background. If Lesnar plays his fight smart, he’ll keep Carwin on the ground. If not, it leaves it WIDE open for Carwin to leave him in the same position the other fighters he’s fought lately are in. Knocked OUT! But the truth is that this is MMA, and it could go either way.”
We also discussed Roberts’ tips for beginning fighters. ” Get into a good camp! Train hard, and have a good work ethic. MMA is probably the hardest sport I’ve ever done, probably the hardest thing in life I’ve ever done. Its A LOT of work! You have to put in the effort to get what you want accomplished. This is NOT a lazy sport. But sometimes because MMA is such an unpredictable sport, its not going to matter how much effort you put into a fight. Sometimes you are going to take a loss. Its the nature of the beast. All you can do is NOT GIVE UP, learn from it, and continue to work.”
Daniel would like to thank all his sponsors including Carried Out Fight Gear, as well as his trainers, and the rest of the SKRAP pack. Be watching for a follow up interview after UFC 116- hopefully we will have a Submission win to write and read about! Follow Daniel on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ninjaroberts, and also at his website www.ninjaroberts.com.D
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