The Fighting Nerds need to regroup after a few tough losses in the UFC, and team leader Pablo Sucupira knows that. Back to Sao Paulo, Brazil after Jean Silva’s Noche UFC loss to Diego Lopes this past weekend in Texas, Sucupira and fellow coach Flavio Alvaro went straight to the gym to give their athletes a message of support.
Silva lost by knockout to Lopes a week after Caio Borralho and Mauricio Ruffy also suffered their first UFC defeats in Paris, with a decision to Nassourdine Imavov and a one-sided
submission loss to Benoit Saint Denis, respectively.
The conversation was posted Thursday on Carlos Prates’ Youtube channel.
“This is the moment to be humble and put our feet on the ground,” Sucupira said. “We will listen more, we will fix what needs to be fixed, and put things back in place. And be sure, guys, that Caio, Carlos, Jean and Ruffy are on path to becoming champions. We will never change that mindset.”
The Sao Paulo-based group had an incredible rise in the UFC thanks to Borralho, Silva, Prates and Ruffy’s performances in recent years, but they have all lost once since December.
“If now we have to work more and talk less, like everyone’s saying, I’m willing to,” Sucupira said. “I’m willing to tone down a few things, step away from some luxuries, go back to the essence we had. I think maybe in a way we lived liked champions before we were champions and lost a bit of our essence, which is work well. Our essence was always admired.”
Sucupira looked at the three recent losses as “a delicate moment” for the team but a chance to break down the mistakes made. The MMA coach, however, won’t ignore the good things they have done over the past few years.
“[Silva] lost to No. 1 of the division, [Borralho] lost to the No. 1 of the division, [Ruffy] lost a fight that was a gigantic leap. All that for a team that has been in the UFC for two and a half years,” Sucupira said. “Before we talk about the wrongs, I wanted to talk about the rights. We’ve created something new, a new way to fight, a new way to promote a team, a new imagem for an athlete. We created a team, a family, a bond never seen before. And we made it to the top very fast.
“First of all, don’t forget everything we did right and everything we’ve created, and understand that it has all taken us to a certain level. Be humble to know that among everything we did right, there were a few things we did wrong, and we’ll have to change that. There’s a line that separates being in the UFC from getting to the belt. It’s a line everybody always dreams of [crossing], and that’s our dream from day one.”
Prates, the first one to lose in the UFC in a decision against Ian Machado Garry in December, rebounded with a violent knockout against Geoff Neal to set up a clash with Leon Edwards for Nov. 15 in New York. Borralho, Silva and Ruffy are currently awaiting their next assignment.
