"The Professional Predator" gets back into the Bellator cage tonight against Rafael Carvalho at the Save Mart Arena in Fresno, Calif., and he spoke to MMAmania.com about his move from Ohio to Colorado and future MMA plans.
Brian Rogers was seeking some changes in his life and in January, the Bellator veteran departed from the Strong Style Gym, packed up his life in Ohio, and headed out west to Denver, Colorado, to join Factory X. Rogers stayed with friend and new teammate Chris Camozzi until May before getting settled and making the full-time move in June.
"Everything has been good," said Rogers, who will face Rafael Carvalho at Bellator 125, tonight in Fresno, California at the Save Mart Arena (results). "The change has been good. I've decided to move forward and get that title shot. They run their program a little differently and things like that. I was looking for a change in training and in life as well. I had spent time at Factory X in the past. I've been friends with Chris Camozzi since 2008 and I had gone out there and he had come out to Ohio. We had gone back and forth over the years. I had only spent a week to 10 days or so while I was out there. I enjoyed the program and when I was looking around to make a change that was the place that I decided to settle on."
This is Roger's third full camp at Factory X, but only his second fight due to his March opponent, Gary Tapuosa, pulling out of Bellator 113. At Bellator 119, the 11-3 fighter landed a flying knee knockout over Adrian Miles, the second one of his career. There were opponent changes for this bout also, as James Irvin and Brett Cooper both withdrew with injuries.
That didn't exactly give him a ton of time to prepare for Carvalho, who is making his Bellator debut.
"He is a tall, athletic striker," Rogers said. "He has been tearing up the regional scene in Brazil. He is 9-1 now. I'm not really overly worried about his height because I train with tall guys. Chris Camozzi, Dustin Jacoby, Adam Stroup, are all guys that are 6' 3" or taller. I don't know a ton about him. I'm actually going to review some film with some of my coaches today again. I kind of let them, more or less handle it and tell me what to do after I look over it. The good thing about this is initially I was supposed to fight James Irvin, then he got hurt. Then I was supposed to fight Brett Cooper and he got hurt."
"Now it's Carvalho. They are all strikers so I haven't really had to change anything. I've had the opportunity to work all angles of my striking game because I was going to face three different strikers. Throughout this camp I've evolved my skills in a variety of ways because I was training for three different strikers. It would've been different if he was a wrestler or a jiu-jitsu guy or something like that. I felt like it was a good opportunity to get more, well-rounded on my feet."
Now that Scott Coker has taken over the reigns of the promotion, Rogers was happy to hear that he won't have to fight in any more tournaments. He fought in six altogether and made it to the semifinals twice.
"I'm excited about it. I'm looking for big fights and bigger checks," he said. "That's what I'm here for. The old regime was great to me, but I'm happy that the tournaments are gone. Now your performances have to speak for themselves. When I first got into Bellator I got thrown into a tournament right away. The roster wasn't deep. I probably wasn't really ready. I was 7-2 coming off the regional circuit and I hadn't really fought anybody. Besides the weight cut, you really don't have time to make adjusts and change your style. It's tough going back-to-back. Sometimes I had to fight 28 or 29 days later."
With a win over Carvalho, Rogers will extend his winning streak to two. He said he has a little less than a year on his current contract and he plans on adding more W's, earning a title shot and forcing the promotion to offer him a new deal with a big pay day.
"I want to put together a win streak and get about an 80-percent pay raise and have a new contract," said the former Walsh University linebacker. "I'm happy with Bellator. I'm just going to rattle off wins until they give me a title shot. Hopefully when I'm knocking at the door they will decide to redo my contract and what not. It's a little different now. With the tournament that was your big money opportunity. A lot of your single fights weren't for as much money as the tournament fights were. I definitely want to redo it, but I'm under contract now. I'm happy to have the opportunity to put up finishes and do what I'm supposed to do until I get a title shot and get a new deal and everything."
His first chance to impress the new boss is tonight and although he is a little homesick, he is highly motivated and fully believes his move and gym change was for the best.
"I miss Ohio a lot," he said. "I came to Colorado to better myself and things like that and to become champion, which is why I'm here. I miss my family every day. The people in Denver are great. It was not just work, it was actually good people and I made good friends. Denver has a pitbull ban in a lot of the areas, and the surrounding suburbs. Now I can't have my dog, my parents have my dog. It's a lot. It's motivation. You don't want to move too far away and fail. I think about home a lot. After I fight I will go back and visit. I'm 100-percent satisfied with my decision.
"I'm still here. I've been on the roster since 2011 and I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. I can tell you right now it is a really dangerous time to fight me. If you want to go back and look at old film it's not going to do much good because I've changed a lot."
No comments:
Post a Comment