UFC 111: Kurt Pellegrino to Show Dominance and Devastation against Camoes

On Saturday night, UFC lightweight Kurt Pellegrino will fight in his home state and is looking to show his dominance in what some consider to be the most exciting division in the sport.

Pellegrino is riding a three fight win streak that includes victories over Thiago Tavares, Robert Emerson, and Josh Neer. In his last bout, the lightweight dominated the majority of three rounds against the aforementioned Neer but cites overtraining as why he could not finish the fight.

“The thing I’m upset about is I didn’t get to do what I wanted to do. In that fight with Josh, I kind of beat him up pretty good and I was happy with my performance. The problem with that was I burnt myself out. I took that fight and I didn’t do what I was supposed to do. I sparred so much to fight Josh Neer and I shouldn’t of done that. I shouldn’t of been sparring everyday to fight that guy and that was my mistake,” Pellegrino said.

“For this fight, now I know what I have to do having gone through those experiences. To fix that and all those things, I stopped sparring and started working on my mitt work. My mitt work is at a whole different level now. It always takes a fight where things go wrong for things to go right for your next one. I’ve taken the sparring back to once or twice a week and now when It’s time to spar I want to spar and I’m ready to. I feel fantastic when I’m sparring.”

The new approach that has the lightweight feeling on a whole different level can be attributed to his new found strength and conditioning program. One that he states has changed his life.

“My whole life and everything has changed. I’ve never felt like this in my whole entire career, my wrestling is better, my boxing, everything is completely on another level. I think it’s because I focused on cardio and spent so much time on eating right. It’s just unbelievable, this is going to be the best I’ve ever been. My wrestling and jiujitsu in general is unreal. I wouldn’t want to change anything, the way everything is going now. I’m just so happy” 

His opponent at the Prudential Center on Saturday night is Brazilian jiujitsu black belt Fabricio Camoes whom has secured 60 percent of his victories via submission. However, Pellegrino states a new frame of mind and believes that no matter what he is not going to be submitted.

"He’s a high level jiujitsu black belt and if you’re going to get tired and take someone down like him you’re going to have to be on your best game. But I’m not going to be submitted no more, the only way I’ll be submitted is if the ref stops the fight because he broke my arm or my leg. I’m on a whole different level of not tapping right now. Neer popped it twice and I told my students he’d be bringing my arm home because I’m never tapping again after my Nathan fight.”

With that being said, the New Jersey native believes that nothing will be standing in the way of his victory come fight night.

“There’s nothing standing in my way, no money or anything. I’ve pulled out every single thing I possibly can. I always train with Kenny and Keith Florian and Miguel Torres. I’ve had every single one of those guys here training. .”

In addition to Kenny and Torres, both of which are high level fighters in the sport, Pellegrino also had the assistance of one of boxings elite.

“I trained with Miguel Cotto (former WBA and WBO welterweight champ) for this fight he came down for our training camp. He’s a world champion and he's boxed at the highest level. Sparring with him was awesome and learning why he moves the way he does and does the things he does was great. I worked on my body shots with him and he’s a genuine guy so it was an honor having him in the camp.”

He believes that his top notch training partners and coaches will propel him to the top of the division and that is exactly where he feels he belongs.

“I want to fight for number one contender, that’s my goal. Hopefully beating Fabricio moves me closer, if not hopefully it gets me a big fight. I never wanted to fight for the belt and now I want to fight for the title. I want to see where I’m at and I’m looking to finish Fabricio. I want to show my dominance and I want to win in devastation.”

Pellegrino gets to prove he deserves that place amongst the divisions elite in a few short days and is excited to do so.

“Jersey's where it all started, I’m fortunate to be a fighter and be fighting in my home state. It has helped tremendously and I asked Joe Silva to find the best and I really believe he’s trying to find the best Kurt Pellegrino. I’m so excited to fight that it’s unbelievable and if I win this fight I 100 percent want the number one contender.”

For more information follow me on Twitter: @JoshDCarey and read: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/367771-ben-saunders-looking-to-put-on-a-show-at-ufc-111-in-new-jersey