Marcos Escobar talks ONE FC and MMA in Malaysia (Pt 1)

Marcos Escobar talks ONE FC and MMA in Malaysia (Pt 1)

Published on June 20, 2012 by The Sandman in ONEFC

Marcos Escobar Speaks Ahead of His Battle Against Fellow Brazilian Rodrigo PraxedesAt ONE FC Destiny Of Warriors

Last week, The Sandman sprinkled his sand and put the site to sleep temporarily. But he wasn’t sitting around watching the Euros and laughing at Holland…No, he wouldn’t do that! Everyone else is already laughing at them. The Sandman met Marcos Escobar instead.

In Part I of this interview, Marcos talks about his foray into MMA and his fight with fellow Brazilian Rodrigo Praxedes at this weekend’s ONE FC: Destiny of Warriors event at Stadium Negara.

Marcos Escobar may not be Anderson Silva, but in the Malaysian BJJ community he comes pretty darn close. The Brazilian will make his MMA debut at Stadium Negara and he says preparations have gone splendidly.

“Training went great and I am feeling good. Now we are just cutting the final pounds to get into the weight,” he said.

Despite both being Brazilian BJJ practitioners in this region, Marcos doesn’t really know much about his opponent Rodrigo Praxedes.

“I don’t know much about him; just that he’s also a BJJ Black Belt and is 1-0 in MMA,” said Escobar.

Escobar runs his own BJJ academy in Kuala Lumpur but has trained for this fight at the famed Nova Uniao academy in Brazil which is also the home of UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo. Asked if he would have preferred a non-Brazilian, Escobar said that having to fight Brazilians is just part of the business.

“I am just happy to be fighting. I’ve been waiting for this for quite a while. I surely would (have) preferred to fight someone from a different nationality but we know this can happen when we fight at a professional level.

“It’s all good, it’s just business. It’s only one fight and after that I am sure we’ll become friends,” he said.

With both fighters being BJJ black belts it would not be a surprise if this fight ends up on the mat pretty quickly. Escobar is not taking anything for granted though and is making himself as well-rounded as possible.

“I’ve been working on all aspects (of my game); striking, BJJ, wrestling. I’m trying to stay as well rounded as I can.

“I expect this fight to end up on the ground because we are both from BJJ origins but I’m ready for any situation. My game plan? Hmm… WIN,” Escobar laughingly said.

At 36 years old, many questions have been raised regarding Escobar’s reasoning for going into MMA at such a late stage of his martial arts career. Escobar says he understands why people may think it’s just publicity for his gym, but he is genuinely interested in pursuing MMA.

“Everyone is asking me about my age but  it’s just a number. I’m feeling good, in great shape and you guys will see this on Sat 23rd June,” he said.

On the issue of it just being publicity, Escobar was quite forthright in response.

“I think it will work both ways, Leverage is more focused on BJJ. We are specialists in ground training and everyone knows how important BJJ is in the MMA game.

“Yes, I think it will help to hype the gym but is not the ‘one’ reason I am doing this. I always wanted to get into MMA, feel the adrenaline and I always liked to fight.

“I know I won’t have a 10-year career ahead but I still can have a great one, no matter for how long,” he added.

Escobar is not going to plan too far ahead in his MMA career. Assuming he gets past Praxedes, he’ll leave the matchmaking to ONE FC and go back to Rio de Janeiro to continue training.

“I’m not looking at anyone specific, I’m focussing on my fight against Rodrigo now and after the fight I will leave it to ONE FC to decide.

“I am heading back to Rio de Janeiro to spend time with my family and concentrate my training at Nova Uniao again. My goal is to push myself as much as I can and improve every day.”

You can catch Marcos Escobar (Leverage MMA) take on Rodrigo Praxedes at ONE FC: Destiny of Warriors at Stadium Negara, Kuala Lumpur this Saturday, 23 June.

Keep checking back to MMAnewsAsia.com for Part II of The Sandman’s interview with Marcos Escobar. In Part II, Escobar talks about the development of BJJ and MMA in Malaysia.

For more rants and opinions, feel free to follow the Sandman at @MsianGooner on twitter.