Issue 017

September 2006

Luciano Azevedo is an exciting young Brazilian fighter who regularly makes the trip over to the UK in order to fight. A veteran of international events as varied as WCFC, Shooto and MECA, he has a record of 9-2-0. Five of his eleven fights have been on UK soil, and in this interview with Denis Martins, he discusses his love for the UK and his dreams for the future. 

You're nearly a local UK fighter. You fought a lot in the UK, so let's talk in English, OK?

(Laughs) Are you crazy? I'm not very good at talking in English!

Your last fight was on Caged Gladiators on May 22nd, and you choked Emmanuel Fernandez. The fight took only 50 seconds, an easy fight, right?

Not at all. Mainly because Emmanuel trained here in my academy last year, and I knew he could be a future opponent. So I didn't give him many chances during the fight, I didn't know what he observed from me when he trained here in Rio de Janeiro. The funniest thing in this fight was that I wanted to develop my stand-up game against him, because I had trained a lot of Muay Thai. I threw a high-kick ,which missed, and he shot for a takedown, I sprawled and sunk an arm-triangle in less than one minute of the fight and he tapped.

You had beaten the brother and the student of Emmanuel on Cage Carnage 5 and 6 respectively. So Emmanuel already knew your game very well…

And he stated he'd avenge his brother and his teammate, plus he'd surprise me in the fight. Man, I was very calm and I gave him a submission defeat.

You’ve fought 5 times in UK. Did you get to develop yourself well there?

I didn't feel the jet lag since the first time I fought there, I didn't have problems with this. I've a lot of friends there. The people from UK are similar to Brazil, they love soccer, and when I go fighting I wear a Liverpool soccer team t-shirt and they support

me a lot.

Between these 5 fights in the UK, was the match against Din Thomas on WCFC the most important of your career?

I can say it was. I faced Thomas who has more fights than I did and he's a Shooto, Inoki Bom-Ba Ye and UFC veteran. I knew he'd be the toughest opponent I ever faced, but I was confident and I beat him by unanimous decision. This was the most important fight, but in my opinion they all are.

What kind of strategy did you have in mind to face Thomas?

I observed that he was a tough guy to be taken down and he had good boxing. So I resolved to explore what he wasn't good at, the kicks. I connected good kicks on him and I got to knock him down, and if I had followed him when he dropped I could have knocked him out, but I didn't. I took him down twice, but I felt he was stronger than I was and he blocked my game on the ground. The experience against Thomas was great because I developed my weak part (the kicks) against a MMA veteran.

Would you classify yourself as a ground fighter?

For a while, yes. I'm looking to be a complete fighter, but I just started my deep Muay Thai training sessions with coach Rafael Calafange this year. So you know, I'm a Luta-Livre fighter for the last 12 years. I know this martial art very well and I use it in my fights. I believe I'm 75% ground fighter, 25% stand-up fighter.

Do you think that if you had won these 5 fights on UK soil on shows like Cage Rage or CageWarriors you'd have more recognition?

I think so. But I know that things will happen at the right time, I don't know if I'm one of the best, but I know I’m not a tomato can. I want to fight, and I want to acquire experience to reach the great events around the world.

You competed 5 times in a cage and 6 in a ring. In what battlefield do you prefer to fight?

I prefer the cage, because the opponent can't escape from our submission attempts. If I could choose, I'd always fight in a cage. The first time I entered a cage I didn't felel myself, but when the fight started I turned it on and felt comfortable. I've adapted to the cage.

And the fight salary in the UK? Is it good?

Much better than Brazil. Here in Brazil the money is low but thanks to God we've a few sponsors to support us.

You are the Cage Carnage and WCFC champion, but where are your belts?

I already discussed with the promoters of these shows about the belts. But they told me I need to defend it three times, and then I can bring them to Brazil. I hope to fight soon for the WCFC belt and bring it to Brazil, even though I had fought only twice for the belt. I love belts, they shine a lot and I want one! (Laughs).

Is there any fighter would you like to fight?

I think Joachim Hansen would be a huge adversary, of course I don't choose opponents and I want to fight whoever they put in front of me.

You started MMA at Shooto Brazil 1-"The Amateurs". What was it like?

I was very nervous. It was in 2003 and we wore head and leg protectors and our punches and kicks were limited, we only could kick and punch on the feet, on the ground only use submissions. But I won that 4-man tournaments and I got the invitation to fight in Shooto in Japan, where I had my first MMA defeat.

We saw some funny moments on that Shooto Brazil event. Nobody was used of fighting in Brazil with that much protection.

(Laughs) Oh yeah, a few times punches missed our face, but it connected with the head protection and it turned, blocking our vision, It happened to me in the finals and I was nervous, but I managed that situation

Why did you move from -65kgs to -70kgs?

Lack of fight offers, and tougher challenges.

Was this move hard or easy?

I had no problems, but for almost all of my fights I’ve weighed 69kgs, and just once I got to 72kgs. Against Suyan in Meca FC, he weightd 76kg and I was just 69kgs. But I like to fight in this category and I feel better. However if a challenge at 65kgs appears I’ll fight- but I need good salary money to make it.

Would you like to leave a message to the fans?

A big hug for all UK fans, every time the UK promoters call me to fight I'll be very happy to fight there. We've an e-mail contact [email protected] and this is a way of putting the fans near to us. Thanks also to my sponsors Grande Rio and No Gi.