Francisco Rivera: Being the underdog motivates me to fight better and harder – UFC News
Francisco Rivera, the surging young American bantamweight, in a recent media interaction commented that he is eager to get in the octagon against Roland Delorme to put forth a great show, adding that being denoted as an underdog only motivates him to fight
better and harder.
Rivera and Delorme will take on each other on UFC 149 which will be held on July 21, 2012. The event will be televised from Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
The main fight card is being headlined by the non-title much anticipated bout between Urijah Faber and Renan Barao with the interim bantamweight title up for grabs. The Saturday night extravaganza will also witness Tim Boetsch take on Hector Lombard in a
non-title bout, co-headlining the fight card.
Rivera recently shared his thoughts about the former three consecutive wins and the upcoming clash against Delorme. It must be noted that this will be the third bout in seven months for the Californian and despite facing a tough schedule the bantamweight
prospect is grabbing wins.
Francisco will enter his second UFC bout and is coming off a three-bout win streak. Rivera caught media’s attention when in his last bout the ‘Cisco’ nailed Alex Soto, a respectable name in UFC’s bantamweight division.
The bout with Roland will be Rivera’s 11th career bout. Francisco currently boasts eight wins with five of them coming via knockout. When asked as to how he feels about the busy schedule and the way he is taking on fights after every two months, Rivera simply
stated, “I'm ready – I can't wait. I'm on a good streak right now. This will be my fourth fight in six months, so I'm looking to keep the streak going and I'm getting more confident fighting now every two months.”
Francisco also thumbed down the fact that he will enter the octagon with pressure, adding that the pressure will only be on Roland’s shoulders as he will be fighting in front of his hometown fans.
Rivera stated, “I can't wait to put on a show. I love being the underdog and going into someone's home town – it makes me fight better and harder, and I think it's going to be a good fight. All the pressure's on him. I don't think he wants to lose in front
of his home town.”
Roland, Rivera’s Saturday night opponent, has been in a total of nine bouts, boasting eight wins and six of them via submission. The stats clearly show that Roland is a submission specialist therefore Rivera needs to come up with some unique plan to nullify
Roland’s submission manoeuvres and attempts.
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