UFC 133: Jorge Rivera Preparing for Stand-Up War with Constantinos Philippou

Yet another Jorge Rivera vs. Alessio Sakara fight was scrapped earlier this week when the UFC officially announced that Sakara was forced out of the fight with an injury and would be replaced by Constantinos Philippou.

This marks the third time that a fight between Rivera and Sakara has been removed from a UFC fight card, but this one may finally be the straw that finally breaks the camel’s back when it comes to the fight ever materializing.

“I honestly feel like this fight wasn’t meant to happen,” Jorge Rivera told Bleacher Report MMA. “There’s no way that you set up the fight this many times and it falls through. It just wasn’t meant to happen.”

Rivera was just as shocked as everyone else when he found out that the fight wouldn’t be happening.

“I was just in disbelief. I thought, at first, that my manager was playing a joke on me,” he admitted. “I was just talking to my sister and my brother-in-law and we were joking about what it’d be like if this gets canceled. I was like ‘No, we’ve got it this time.’ Then I get the phone call,” he laughed. “I was like, ‘Damn it! I can’t believe this [expletive]!’ “

With this many injuries and last-minute changes to fights, it would be easy to understand why Rivera might be thinking that Sakara doesn’t really want this fight. But Rivera doesn’t look at in it that way whatsoever.

“I know Alessio’s a tough guy. I know he’s a fighter. If he says he’s really hurt, I believe him,” he said. “Anything can happen in our business and does all the time. Then they have a replacement for him. It happens for a million other cards, too. It’s just the nature of the business, so you’ve gotta roll with the punches and just move on.”

“I broke my arm the first time, then he got sick. Then he tore his ACL. If it wasn’t meant to happen, so be it.”

Still, despite the disappointment that the fight won’t be happening at UFC 133, Rivera is ready to move on to his new opponent, Constantinos Philippou, who made his debut for the organization just a few months ago at UFC 128, losing a decision to Nick Catone.

“I’ve seen Constantinos and he’s dangerous. He’s got good power in both hands, especially in his right hand,” Rivera noted. “He’s a real strong guy. So I’m hoping it’s going to be what I was training for before, and that’s a stand-up fight.”

But even more than Philippou’s natural gifts, this will be the biggest fight of his career as he was promoted from an undercard fight against Rafael Natal into being on the main pay-per-view card.

“He’s a going from a fight where he might not have been seen at all to being on the main card. I would want to make the most out of that, and I’m sure he’s going to want to make the most out of it, as well,” Rivera stated.

Phillippou has been training with former The Ultimate Fighter winner and former UFC welterweight champion Matt Serra for this fight. This talented camp will likely bring the best out in him.

“I know Matt Serra and Matt Serra is a great trainer. I know him personally from the TV show we shot together [The Ultimate Fighter 4],” Rivera said. “I’ve seen him prepare other fighters and I know this guy is going to be ready.”

“The fact is, I don’t know what’s going to happen,” he laughed. “I’ve got my plan and I know what I want to do, but I don’t know that it’s going to happen.”

One thing is for sure, though—Rivera will be looking to keep the fight out of the judges’ hands and finish the fight within the time limit.

“As a fighter in this business and as an entertainer, it’s your job to finish the fight,” he proceeded. “That’s your job. You’ve got 15 minutes to do so. You can always do enough damage so there are no judges. Just finish the fight.

"If both of you guys come out battered, but you win Fight of the Night, they will appreciate your performance in that manner. That’s the goal.”

Fellow UFC fighter BJ Penn has been an outspoken critic of MMA judging for awhile now and has even come out and said that he believes that all fights which are not finished in the time time limit should automatically be considered draws.

While he doesn’t completely agree, Rivera likes this idea in some ways.

“I think BJ’s a genius,” he laughed. “But I wouldn’t whole-heatedly agree with it. Because if a guy is dominant for three rounds and doesn’t finish it because he’s fighting a guy who has an iron jaw or is just really tough, I wouldn’t necessarily call that a draw because one guy is getting dominated the whole time.” ‘

“For a fight, 15 minutes is a long time. Think about being in a barroom brawl. A 15-minute barroom brawl. That’s a long time! In 15 minutes, you should be able to finish the fight.”

While Rivera will be looking to do what he always does best and knock out his opponent, one thing will be a bit different than usual.

While he normally proudly wears the logo of his sponsor Ranger Up, he will not be permitted to do so at UFC 133 due to controversial new UFC sponsorship guidelines which all but eliminate the possibility for smaller companies to promote their brand with fighters.

But being the wild man that he is, Rivera already has his sponsor’s back.

“The guys from Ranger Up... I love those guys so much to the point that I got the logo tattooed on my body,” he chuckled. “So at one point or another, people are going to see ‘Ranger Up!’”

“These guys are not just my sponsors. I love these guys. When it comes to my career or on a personal level, I cannot thank them enough,” he continued. “What they do and what they stand for, for the soldiers around this country... Those guys are all soldiers. They’ve already answered the call and they continue to do so by helping others who are still in the mix.”

To add Rivera’s point, the gentlemen at Ranger Up have taken it upon themselves to do what they think is right and they will continue to sponsor their fighters even if they are not wearing the “Ranger Up” logo on their shirts.

“It just goes to show who they are. It’s not just sponsoring fighters, either, it’s helping out our brothers and sisters who are coming back from overseas. I mean, what more can you say? The guys are awesome.”

If you’re wondering where you might have heard of the Ranger Up name before outside of as an MMA and military apparel company, look no further than the Ranger Up YouTube Channel, which blew up in traffic prior to Rivera’s most recent fight against Michael Bisping.

A quick look through the channel will bring you to some hilarious videos which caused quite a bit of buzz throughout the MMA community.

But with the success of these videos, it seemed odd that the guys at Ranger Up and Rivera hadn’t put out anything for the upcoming fight with Alessio Sakara. But Jorge was quick to mention that they had actually been working on some video.

“We did interviews with Sakara!,” Jorge laughed. “But this video was going to be the exact opposite of the other ones [the ones they made about Michael Bisping]. I’m not sure if they’re going to come out now that the fight is canceled, butI think you guys would’ve had a riot!”

Fortunately, not long after our interview, the Ranger Up YouTube page was updated with a brand new, hysterically funny video which featured both Sakara and Rivera killing one another with kindness.

“Honestly dude, I’m just having fun with it,” Rivera admitted.

For a guy who makes a living punching other guys in the face, Jorge Rivera is truly one of the most genuinely nice people in the sport today. But when it comes time to step into the cage, he is all business. Constantinos Philippou may be the next guy to see that on Aug. 6.  

“It’s important to me to finish the fight,” he said. “If there’s an opportunity to finish it, I will.”