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Kurt Pellegrino: "That fight almost ended my career; I was a quitter"

2K views 12 replies 13 participants last post by  SpecC 
#1 ·
New interview with Kurt Pellegrino. He talks about his win over Tavares, his loss to Diaz...pretty interesting stuff.

On his fight with Tavares...

"Through this whole fight, I had to call myself a quitter and battle through that."

"My demons were the toughest fight."

"I’m just happy I went into the cage and fought because I didn’t want to fight."

"I was scared, my back was against the wall and fighting somebody like Thiago, who is such a good fighter and never gets tired, I had to prove a lot to everyone..."

"This fight here made my whole career again."

"Thiago Tavares in my mind was the guy I never wanted to fight."

"I think Thiago...I know Thiago is the toughest fighter that I’ve ever fought."

"Beating Thiago definitely helps me sleep better at night."

"Personally, I thought he tapped, but I never felt it."

On his loss to Nate Diaz...

"Mentally, that fight almost ended my career."

"Nate is a good fighter. I really don’t think he’s a bad fighter or a bad kid, but if I could ever get a rematch with Nate, I would jump all over it."

"I’m not calling Nate out and I really don’t care if I don’t ever fight Nate again, to be honest with you, because that chapter in my life is gone, but I wasn’t in a good place in my life when I fought Nate."

"I can’t watch that fight because that wasn’t me."

"I entered the cage against Nate not as Kurt and I left that cage destroyed."

"It was hard for me to even look at people that I did Jiu Jitsu with because I got submitted by someone that would never submit me in 100 years."

"I had to realize that I was a quitter and I was a loser"

On working with Kenny Florian and Kevin Kearns...

"Kenny was there every second. I could call Kenny at 3 in the morning and he would call me back to make sure I was okay."

"I haven’t really had a coach since I left Renzo’s school, but I consider Kenny Florian my head coach."

"That’s really what I needed; someone that was really there for me."

"Those guys are my success from now on in. If I lose, it’s going to be because I got knocked out."

"It’s not going to be because I beat the crap out of some guy and then mentally shut down; it ain't happening no more."
Really good interview. Pellegrino is pretty honest about a lot of stuff that was going on with him mentally and emotionally after the Diaz loss and leading up to the Tavares win. He talks more about his fight with Diaz, his return to the Octagon, working with Kenny Florian and Kevin Kearns...a bunch of other stuff in the full interview:

http://www.fighthype.com/pages/content3473.html
 
#5 ·
Pellegrino is a Jersey guy so I of course like him.

And hoenstly the guy is underrated he gave both Diaz and Stevenson amazingly tough fights. In fact he was kicking the crap out of Nate until he jumped into Nate's guard and got choked.
 
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#11 · (Edited)
batman was one of my favorite fighters since then.. even with a loss to stevenson and diaz.. this guy is the sh** ..he fought stevenson with a broken hand for 3 rounds and fought alberto crane with a hole in his face.. ive never seen anyone like that.. :praise01:
 
#13 ·
yeah he comes to fight and he fights pretty damn hard. i was pretty shocked when he got caught in a triangle because i expected him to dominate every part of the fight with nate. I'm not saying nate is a bad fighter, but i just expect a lot from kurt especially after the Joe Stevenson fight
 
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