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Tennis great, Serena Williams once said that losing motivated her more than anything else. Napoleon Bonaparte said victory belongs to the most persevering. Never say die. Never quit. Keep trying. All of these proverbs and inspirational quotes can be applied to life as a whole, or specifically to individuals in their careers. The takeaway from them all is the same - Don't stop trying.
The point of this little exercise is to illustrate that sometimes, fighters can find real value in a loss that normally comes in the form of motivation and determination. When you combine that frame of mind with a healthy dose of trash talk from the opposing corner, you get the makings of a great rebound story. This particular recipe is already cooking between Vinny Magalhaes and Anthony Perosh in the lead up to their scheduled August bout at UFC 163.
I recently spoke with Vinny on the MMA Sentinel radio show, and got his thoughts on the disrespectful way he feels that Perosh called him out, and how he feels he isn't in a position to talk trash or make call outs right now. Here's what he had to say:
Image Is Everything
I'm used to having the image of the douchebag that was calling people out, and now I'm the guy being called out. The last time that happened, it didn't work out so well, and I'm done with that. I'm just trying to keep quiet and not talk about it too much. I'm not trying to be the bad guy any more.
Maybe eventually I will go back to talking shit, but I'm just not in a position to do that right now. When I was talking shit, I was on a six fight winning streak and finishing my fights. I called out somebody that I thought I could out style and I thought he was a good fight for me, but things didn't go my way.
I think it's best to keep quiet, because I need to get wins before I can talk like that. It will happen, and then I'll talk shit [laughs]. It looks bad and sounds bad when you're coming off a really embarrassing loss. When you call somebody out, you better win, otherwise, it just looks really bad.
Anthony Perosh
Same thing goes for Perosh. I don't know why he called me out. I mean, the loss he's coming off of ... seven seconds, I wouldn't even call that a fight. It's bad enough he called me out after that loss, but he called me out to fight in Brazil, in front of my family and friends. I'm going to be the one that ends up making him look bad, even though he was the one who called me out.
*Note: This next quote was in reply to a question about Perosh's BJJ skills*
I don't want to sound like I'm talking shit, but Anthony Perosh sucks. He has good jiu jitsu, I mean, he's like the best guy in Australia, as far as jiu jitsu goes, but there's just him and his brother. If you're the best guy, you should have at least 20 guys to compete against. When it's just you and your brother, being the best guy in your country doesn't really mean much.
When I first signed with the UFC again, Joe Silva asked me to give him a list of names of who I would fight immediately. I gave him a list of like six names, and Anthony Perosh wasn't on that list, but he ended up being the guy that Joe contacted first, but Perosh was like, 'No, I don't want to fight Vinny.' He was on a little streak, so I guess, for him, that fight didn't make any sense.
Now, after I lose a fight to a Top 10 guy, I mean, he's nowhere close to Phil's level. It's like he's saying, 'Oh, I want to fight Vinny because he sucks.' I took it personally, because when you call somebody out after a loss, it's like they're saying they want to fight you because they'll beat you up, too.
When I was doing my last three fights in M-1, they offered me guys up, but I made sure I picked the ones that were on winning streaks and one was undefeated. When I got to the UFC, my whole list for Joe Silva was of guys coming off wins, as well. I didn't want any guys coming off losses, because somehow, to me, that's like a cheap shot.
He's going to have to pay for it now. There's no way he's going to beat me in Brazil. It's not because it's in Brazil and my family and friends will be there. It's more for the fact that I'm not losing this fight because I could lose my job. It's a lot more serious than he thinks it is.
Popularity In Brazil
I haven't been in Brazil in like forever. The last time I was in Brazil, was before the UFC really got popular over there. If I had to compare myself to someone, I would say that I'm as popular as Chael is in Brazil, right now [laughs]. It's not popular in a good way, either. Remember, I'm the guy who supposedly talked shit about Big Nog on TUF, and I was hanging around with Chael, so yeah, that's how popular I am in Brazil [laughs].
I don't think it's going to be that serious for me over there. Here's the deal: Once people see that Brazilian flag next to me on the tale of the tape, with the Australian flag next to him, they're going to be rooting for me. Lucky for me, most of the Brazilians that go to the fights are new MMA fans. They don't know the whole thing about me training Chael, or the story behind me and Nog, so when they see that Brazilian flag, they're going to be on my side, that's for sure.
You can follow Vinny via his Twitter account, @VinnyMMA
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