One on one with Jonas "Speed" Bilharinho

Back once again with the renegade master! Well, I told you guys I would be more frequent this time around. I bet you didn't expect 3 articles within a week, now did you? 

Since my last article was about Jose Aldo's injury and how it affects his bout at UFC 189, I tried my luck and contacted the man imitating Conor McGregor for Jose Aldo, Jonas Bilharinho.

I'm extremely proud for making this happen since I became a fan of Jonas after seeing his shadowboxing video with Jose Aldo. For all of you who don't know, Jonas is 6-0 in his MMA career and is Jungle Fight's Bantamweight and Featherweight champion. He was brought in to Jose Aldo's camp to mimic Conor McGregor's fighting style. We talked about a lot of stuff, including; his future in MMA, Jose Aldo, his pick for todays' Yoel Romero/Lyoto Machida fight and a bunch more. Check it out.

When did you start training MMA?

I've been training martial arts since I was 3 or 4 years old. But, I started doing MMA when I was 16 or 17 with Alex Gazé from Team Nogueira. 

When did you get your nickname, "Speed"?

I like nicknames that mean something about the athlete. I got this nickname because I was asking all my folks on Team Nogueira which is the most remarkable ability of mine. And everyone spoke about my speed.

You mentioned in an interview that you have a background in tae kwon doe and karate. Did it help your transitioning to MMA with already having backgrounds in those two?

I prefer muay thai and boxing strikes, because those are harder and more powerful. But when I´m talking about movement, karate and tae kwon do for sure are better for measuring the distance.

Lyoto Machida is probably the most famous karateka in MMA, how do you think his fight against Yoel Romero will go?

I know that Lyoto Machida has one of the best notions of distance in MMA. So Yoel Romero will probably have a problem fighting him and Lyoto will end up knocking him out in the second round. That's my opinion.

           Not only does he fight like Conor McGregor, he also sports a haircut similar to the Irishan.

What made you pick Team Nogueira over other MMA teams?

I started in Team Nogueira with Alex Gazé and master Luiz Alves. I was training muay thai as an amateur. With the time passing I was improving my abilities and people started to recognize me. Then one day came an invitation to be a professional athlete. I was substituting a guy on a spar on a Saturday and after that I saw Alex Gazé and Anderson Silva chatting about my abilities. When I received the invite it was one of the most emotional moments in my life.

Where you a fan of "Minotauro" and "Minotouro" (Nogueira brothers) when you where growing up?

Sure. Minotauro and Minotouro are source of inspiration for the entire team. I've loved them since they were Pride fighters. 

Who are your favorite fighters in the UFC or generally in MMA?

There are 3 fighters that I like. I like Anderson Spider Silva, of course. My entire game [fighting style] is based on his game. I like José Aldo Júnior, he's one of the biggest stars in Brazil. This guy is a monster. I love to watch his fights. Also, I like Luke Rockhold. Very complete fighter. He can wrestle, strike and submit guys. Those 3 are the athletes I like the most now.

Your last fight was in April, do you have any news regarding your next fight?

I think I have nothing more to do in Brazil. I got two belts in one of the greatest organizations which is Jungle Fight. So I´m waiting UFC to call. I already rejected a Bellator offer. It's all about Dana White. As soon as he calls me, I will be among the greatest.

You have 6 wins, with 4 ko/tko finishes. Do you think we'll get too see more of your grappling skills in the future?

I don´t like to see myself as a striker. I try to be a complete fighter as much as I can. Here in Brazil, people are usually better in the ground game, so I try to strike them out. In the US I will do whatever I can to win the fight. If my opponent is a grappler I will strike him out. If he's a striker, I will try to submit him. I will always take the fight wherever I feel comfortable.

What was it like training with Jose Aldo?

It's a great experience. Of course, I´m a huge fan of him. Training with a guy who inspires me is a dream come true.

You mentioned that you talked trash to Aldo when you trained with him to mimic Conor. Is it true you also screamed at Jose like Conor does?

That's true. I always scream at Aldo and talk trash to him. We try to prepare him the best we can both mentally and physically, for Conor McGregor. We know this fight is gonna be tough. Jose is gonna be prepared.

Do you think Jose's injury will affect his performance in his fight against Conor?

I don´t know... An injured rib... I wouldn´t fight if I was in his shoes. I wouldn´t.  An injured rib can disturb a lot during the fight. I don´t know what Aldo will decide.

On the same night as Jose faces Conor, Robbie Lawler defends his welterweight title against Rory MacDonald. Are you a fan of either fighter and who do you think will win?

I love seeing both guys fight. Both are strikers and go for the finish. Based on the first fight, I will go with Robbie Lawler. But as a professional athlete, I know that you can always improve yourself. I can´t predict who will win, but I know it will be a good fight to watch.

What are your thoughts on the UFC's Reebok sponsorship deal? A lot of fighters, including Jose Aldo are very unhappy with it. 

I don´t know, it´s probably for the best, thinking in long term. I know a lot of fighters are complaining about it, including José, but I don´t know what to think.

Do you think you will ever face off against Jose in the octagon?

I don´t know. If I can choose, I'd prefer not to face him in the octagon. It´s a fight that wouldn't make me happy. Of course, I wouldn´t want to lose, but at the same time I wouldn't like to win. If  I could choose, José moves up to 155 and I will be the future champion at 145.

                                 Jonas' last fight that made him a two division Jungle Fight champion

     
                                            

A big thank you to Jonas for taking his time to answer my questions. I hope to see him in the UFC soon. Also, a quick shout out to his manager for being cool with me interviewing Jonas and replying to me in a short notice. Now go and like Jonas on Facebook. and while you're at it. Drop by my fan page and give me a like. That's all from me folks, talk too you all soon.

Jose Aldo vs Conor McGregor - Aldo injured, likely out of UFC 189 bout[UPDATE]

Well, I was planing on doing an article about something else but this news just popped out off nowhere and it poses a very unique problem which requires delicate handling. 


So, around Tuesday afternoon rumors started popping up that the long reigning Featherweight champion, Jose Aldo, sustained a fight re-scheduling/canceling injury .
As the time passed by the rumors turned to facts as it was confirmed that Jose did in fact get injured by his training partner just 2 weeks out of the biggest fight in his career. Bad luck turned to worse when  more details started surfacing. Jose's sparring partner landed a clumsy spinning back kick to the mid section and cracked the champions' ribs. The reports claim Aldo leaving the gym in pain but still willing to compete. Here's where thinks get a bit complicated. UFC 189 has been all about Aldo vs McGregor(despite Robbie Lawler defending his belt against Rory MacDonald on the same card). The promotional tour for this fight started months ago with the Irishman taunting the champion all over the world, stealing his belt and getting inside his head. It's literally the most expensive promotion a single UFC fight has ever had. This fight was aimed to be UFC's Manny Pacquiao/Floyd Mayweather and Aldo just put everything in jeopardy just 2 weeks before the fight of his life. Now this puts Jose and the UFC in a tough spot, but still with a few options left to explore.

Option a) If Aldo's x-ray results come back showing only slight injury that can heal by fight time, the fight is still on. How this will be handled inside the octagon is different story. This is the best case scenario.

Option b) X-ray results show Aldo has a broken/cracked rib and will have to withdraw from the fight forcing UFC to either reschedule the fight or give Conor a new opponent. Among many fighters throwing their name to willingly step up on a short notice, Chad Mendes and Frankie Edgar are the most mentioned names.


Option A
UPDATE:
Looks like  the best case scenario is happening and is even better than expected.  Jose Aldo's x-ray results came through and Aldo's ribs are fine, he just bruised them(although a bruised rib is no joke. It hurts like a bitch, makes training very difficult and it's a nightmare to heal) and the fight is still on like donkey kong!  However, a lesson has been learned and nothing is being left to chance. In case of another freak accident, Chad Mendes gets an interim title shot against the Irishman.  Meaning, come July 11th  Conor McGregor will be getting his damn  Featherweight championship belt even if it means he has to buy one on ebay. Speaking of the Irishman, he took no time in taking a jab at the champion after news came through that the fight is still on.

It turned out he just had a little period pain.

— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) June 25, 2015

Like him or hate him  McGregor knows how to bring in the viewers and spike up the numbers. His screaming at Aldo's face back in  January  was played, replayed, used, reused and abused into oblivion for promotional and marketing purposes. He is a fighter who knows how to bring attention and his first fight as a a PPV headliner is expected to bring in a million ppv buys. In light of these interesting tidbits and news of the champions potential withdrawal  from the fight, Chael Sonnen dropped some thoughts regarding the numbers Aldo could end up making. Despite being a dominant champion, Aldo has never had a high enough profile fight that would generate big enough numbers for him to get a piece of the PPV pie. Now with McGregor in the picture, he suddenly joins the PPV percentage club(yes, I just made that up) and could earn as much as 3,5 mil $. Which could come in handy once the complicated mess that is the Reebok&UFC sponsorship program sets in and he starts losing money, as per his words.

Conor McGregor screaming at a laughing Jose Aldo after his win over Dennis Siver in January, source

Option B 

It is no secret that Dana White has a thing for the Irishman and his antics, White was quoted saying that if Conor is to win against Jose Aldo, his first title defense is going to be in Croke Park. Therefore, it would be in the company's interest if Conor would turn champion at UFC 189. So pitting him against a dominant wrestler(with knockout power) who can push the pace and bring the fight to him could very well mess up those dreams of a stadium title defense return to the land of the Leprechauns.





NOT-Jose Aldo vs Conor McGregor

Ok. Well with all that being said and done what will ultimately happen with this main event? Well, a rib injury is nothing to mess around with, no matter how tough you are. Since the cat's out of the bag masking the injury and just toughing it out is not an option. If his trainers won't stop him, the athletic commission just might. Conor McGregor on the other hand, took to twitter to post a somewhat cryptic message that hints at him willing to accept a replacement fight for the July 11th fight card. As I mentioned above the most thrown around names for replacing Jose Aldo( if needed) are Frankie Edgar and Chad Mendes. Frankie posted an instagram photo of him saying he's waiting by the phone and Chad joined in on the cryptic social media posting fun and tweeted that he just landed  in Las Vegas. What does all this mean? Either Frankie and Chad decided to screw around with everyone at the worst time possible or they are preparing for "the call" from Dana.

Conor doing his best Jean Claude Van Damme impression, source

Here's some interesting trivia for the road. If indeed Jose Aldo pulls out of this fight. It will the 6th time he has done so.




That's all from me. Like I said, I got a couple of  things in the works, so be on alert for more content. Until we meet again, I'm Armbar the batman dressed(not really, but sounds cool right?) blogger and I leave you now to the vastness of the interwebz.

p.s. don't be a douche,  like my facebook page .

Quick thoughts about a lot of stuff

I'm back..finally!

Let's try something new for a change. Instead of me posting a" tl,dr" article every now and then, I'll make  one article covering multiple subjects. Kinda like the weekly news round up format I did. So let's see how this goes.




                                     PED epidemic within the UFC

So, UFC has decided to "clean up the sport" and make random drug tests more frequent with the ultimate goal being that they test every fighter on their roster.  Sound awesome, right? What could possibly go wrong? Well, how about fighters testing positive for banned substances, like a lot.
Anderson Silva, Hector Lombard, Jon Jones, Nick Diaz all tested positive for banned substances. The good news here is that more random testing is going to be performed and performance enchaining   drugs  will not being tolerated. Dana White even held a special press conference addressing the situation and reveled that they will do random drug test more frequently and the punishments will be even more severe. The bad new is that with drug testing becoming more frequent more fighters will emerge with failed drug tests. UFC MW Tim Kennedy  said on the subject:  "It's gonna get a lot worse before it gets better". I'll agree with him, more tests will more then likely mean more fighters testing positive, which will affect the fight cards. However, this is a long term process and growing pains are a part of it.

                                          Anderson Silva learns about his failed Doping test.

                     


                                           "...because we're the hot girls"

I'd like to state that I started writing this months ago(that's why the content here is a bit outdated) and at that time Paige was just another pretty face with a potential for greatness, Carla Esparza was a newly crowned champion, the Women's strawweight division was  just barely introduced and everything was very new, fresh and relatively unknown.   Since then, EVERYTHING changed. Paige now has an exclusive and probably very lucrative sponsorship deal with Reebok and is on a 2 fight win streak in the UFC. Carla Esparza lost her title as quickly as she won it and we saw the rise of the divisions new champion and future superstar, Joanna Jerzejyzyk. Joanna is coming off a vicious third round tko victory against Jessica Penne in her first title defense at last night's UFC: Berlin fight card. With her brutal and precise Muay Thai striking and still improving ground game, Joanna is looking to dominate the division for quite some time.  It's quite amazing how quickly things change in mma....and how long it took me to make this article.

Female strawweight prospect, Paige VanZant  made comments about here upcoming bout with Felice Herring saying that she expected to be matched up against Herring because they are both hot. The comments made the mma community a bit uppity, most notably fellow female 135lbs fighter Joanne Calderwood who said that it should not be about looks but about skill. Which is true. Ones looks shouldn't be a determining factor in making sport based decisions.  However, the Women's 135lbs division is less then a year old, the champion has yet to defend her belt and the talent pool is very, very modest. So any chance at getting exposure these girls can get they should  take it and run with it. Getting 2 attractive females who are also skilled fighters to face each other is a no-brainer from a marketing perspective. Pretty girls grab people's attention fairly easily and going by Paige's comments she's quite aware of the situation and is embracing it.
                               

                         Al Bundy understood  this 20 years ago and he was a fictional character!

VanZant(middle) at a Reebok launch party accompanied with  #1 FW contender Conor McGregor (left) and former LHW champion Jon Jones(right); source

                               CM Punk training hard for his debut

Both Ben Askren and Tyron Woodley have made statements that CM Punk is taking his new career choice seriously and that he's hard at work for his debut. Ben Askren was not so pleased when it was announced that Punk signed with UFC with a 0-0 record at 36 years young. However, from the looks of  things, Punk made him a believer  by putting the hard work in the gym. Since I've already written a lengthy article about UFC signing Punk and what  too expect from it, I'm gonna go straight to the point here. Punk's got a whole lotta work in from of him before he steps inside the Ocatgon. Ultimately I think his chances of winning a fight will largely depend on the level of competition he will face. Askren has mentioned that Punk could probably end up fighting in the welterweight division with the weight loss increasing as he trains away. Going down a division solves no problem for Punk. The welterweight division is filled with big names and hard fights, and with the return of the former champion still being a possibility the division will only get deeper. Whatever division Punk settles for he should be very careful when picking his opponent. All it takes is a bad stylistic match up to make you realize you're not the toughest guy in the world.

CM Punk posing for a UFC promotional photoshoot;  source

                UFC's Reebok sponsorship deal costing fighters money

The dreaded Reebok sponsorship deal start date is getting ever so closer and frankly many fighters are not happy with what it bring to the table. Myles Jury, Brendan Schaub (who went as far as saying that with the deal in place he is forced to retire from competetive mma fighting), Donald Cerrone and even the Featherweight champion himself, Jose Aldo have all spoken against the Rebook sponsorship deal. Some have even pointed out that with the exclusive deals with Reebok they will LOSE money and sponsors. Now from what I gathered this is gonna be a very radical and controversial change and has zero to no chances of going smoothly. Dana White has been promising that the deal in the long term is a great thing for the sport and has been very supportive of it. The question is what exactly does Rebook bring to the table? What makes it so special? Well the plus side is that the fighters that are having trouble getting sponsors will now have a sweet Reebok deal in place with all it's perks.  That means  kickass custom made fight attire, sponsorship money and various Reebok products. That's the good news. The bad news is...well everything else. A lot of fighters have sponsorship deals that will now have to be terminated because of the nature of the Reebok contracts and therefore lose money. Not only that but tenure based payouts means that new fighters in the UFC will make less money with Reebok then they could potentially with other sponsors. The deal starts july 11th, and things are not looking bright. But, time will tell if this was a good move or a bad move.

Johnny Hendricks, one of the few fighters satisfied with the Reebok sponsorship took to twitter to show off his sweet new Reebok merch prior to his UFC 181 bout with Matt Brown. ; source

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know everything. What can I say, my laziness got the best of me.  I already have some thing on the way so I hope that I'll get them out faster than it took me to make this. So, until then....I'm your awesome blogger, Armbar and this is my ranting spot. I wish you all an awesome summer holiday filled with sun, booze, mma and of course, my blog.