UFC 102 Preview: Brandon Vera and Krzysztof Soszynski Talk About Their Upcoming Fight

Brandon 'The Truth' Vera talked about Krzysztof Soszynki, a late replacement for Matt Hamill:

Standup? He has standup. Is it good? No, I’m sorry. Is it technically good? No. Will that bastard swing? Yes. Will he swing with all his might? Yes. Is his wrestling good? It’s better than average. He’s just like Matt Hamill. The only difference between those two guys is that he’s a southpaw. Almost the same fight, just opposite stance.

He also talked about his 10 week camp and training with guys from the Alliance Training Center and Team Black House:

I trained here at Alliance Training Center in Chula Vista. Man, the training partners, the list is ridiculous, man. There’s Travis Brown, Mark Munoz, Phil Davis, Shane Del Rosario, Aaron Beach, Dominick Cruz, Junior Dos Santos, Rodrigo Nogueira. There were some other national champ wrestlers that came in and beat my ass. The list goes on and on. It’s a ridiculous list. Then Lloyd (Irvin) flew in from the east coast to here. Then he flew in about six or seven guys, and they got to whooping my ass too. The camp is about 10 weeks long. About eight to 10 weeks long.

I had some great standup partners, and then I had some ridiculous-ass wrestlers, and then I had Rodrigo Nogueira on top of me. It can’t get no better than that. 

Krzysztof 'The Polish Experiment' Soszynski talked about his game plan:

We're definitely going to be moving lots and trying to create angles, and not fight him in his range. I have to fight in my fight, not his fight... My main game plan is to stand up with him for the beginning of the fight and kind of see what happens. I feel very confident in my stand-up ability. I feel that I hit a little harder than he does. But definitely, he's a little more accurate; he's got a little more reach on me. But we're going to stand and bang with him and see what happens.

I feel great. I still think this is by far the best time for me to fight Brandon Vera. He's coming off of a big win, but he had a couple of losses before that. We'll have to test him. The goal is to test him, push him and see if we can break him. And I feel this is the best time for me to do it.

He also talked about coming in at short notice against a guy like Vera:

I feel that having been there for Dan Henderson and helping him get ready for Michael Bisping, I was in pretty good shape already. I already had a few weeks ahead of schedule, so taking this fight on five weeks notice wasn't that big of a deal, you know what I mean?  ...As I said before, I would prefer a full training camp, but I think I have enough time to get prepared mentally and physically, and I'm 100% ready.

I think Brandon Vera takes this fight. Yes, Krzysztof Soszynski will be coming off six straight wins, and yes, Vera has lost three of his last five, but Krzysztof will not only be stepping in at five weeks notice, he will also be having a huge step up in competition from fighting guys like Brian Stann and Shane Primm. 

K-Sos also said that he plans to stand and bang with a dangerous kickboxer in Vera.. If that's true, I think it is a very bad idea on his part. He is a good wrestler with pretty decent submissions skills, and I think his biggest chance of winning is if he works the clinch to get a takedown. He may also have a strength and weight advantage come fight time, and he should use that to his advantage by trying to out muscle and hold Brandon on the ground while working for a sub or some ground and pound.

Odds makers have it close with Brandon Vera having the slight advantage at -170 and Krzysztof Soszynksi at +170. Who have you got?

HT: MMA Mania & USA Today

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