Mike Brown is not giving up on Mateusz Gamrot’s road to UFC gold.
Gamrot (25-4 MMA, 8-4 UFC) stepped in on three weeks’ notice to replace an injured Rafael Fiziev against Charles Oliveira in Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 261 main event at Farmasi Arena in Rio de Janeiro. He was submitted in Round 2.
American Top Team head honcho Brown still sees potential in Gamrot, who holds wins over the likes of Fiziev and Arman Tsarukyan.
“We win together, we lose together. I’m truly heartbroken for my friend @mateusz_gamrot but I always admire his courageousness. Gamrot is not afraid of big challenges and taking big risks. He landed in Florida 3 weeks ago to started his training camp for a UFC headliner scheduled on November 8. His second day in America he heard the news of Fiziev pulling out of his fight with Charles Oliviera. So like the soldier wanting to go to battle he campaigned hard for the opportunity to fight the Brazilian legend. A few days later he secured the fight. So Mateus trained hard for about 12 days and jumped on a plane to Brazil and took his shot. It’s always a gamble every time you step in the cage and this time the gamble didn’t pay off. The fight didn’t go our way but Gamrot still maintains that same warrior spirit and his passion like no other. He is truly on of a kind. I think the fans have great respect for his willingness to fight anywhere under any circumstance. In 30 professional fights this was the first time he was ever finished. When you are fighting the absolute best fighters on planet earth this is a possibility and bound to happen eventually. Charles himself is a legend and a former champion yet he too has stumbled in the past.My point is I still believe in Mateus and still believe he can be champion one day. It was a tough loss and a hard pill to swallow but all we can do at this point is get better. We can always get better.”
Although the risk didn’t pay off, a win for Gamrot could have catapulted him to title contention. The former two-division KSW champion has now lost two of his past three fights.
