In a hot Swedish summer day Antonio Rogerio “Minotoro” Nogueira, Murilo Bustamante and Pedro “Bebeo” Duarte from Brazilian Top Team (BTT) – one of the best MMA team in the world – has arrived to Stockholm. They held a very anticipated Brasilian jiu jitsu (BJJ) and submission wrestling (SW) seminar at the Hilti academy. Afterwards we went to have dinner and we got some time to interview these three fighters about the latest fights and BTT in general.

ASGARD: Is this your first time to visit Sweden? How do you guys like Swedish summer?
PEDRO: I have been here a couple of times. I have experienced Swedish winter. Bustamante too. Minotoro has been in Malmo before. Yes, all of us are enjoying Swedish summer. We all have been here during the winter so it is like being in another country!

ASGARD: How do you think Scandinavian students quality to compare to others teaching BJJ?

MINOTORO: Oh, they are good. There’s no difference from Brazilian students. And we are proud of our Swedish students getting better and better. You know in Brazil there are so many peoples training BJJ and still the Swedish quality is fine like Brazil. It’s wonderful.

ASGARD: Why did you start with BJJ?

MINOTORO: First it was Judo. My mother was training in a gym and saw the Judo class. So she sent me and mine brother there. I was 6 years old and trained Judo for 6 years. After that I started BJJ. You may know BJJ is a popular sport in Brazil too. And I enjoyed a lot. Plus I must mention the name of Gracie was big. It is not only I who was influenced at that time by Gracie.

ASGARD: And you started to win lots of cups in BJJ.

MINOTORO: Yes, I have learned very fast. Then I have moved to Rio to learn more.

ASGARD: How many years did you take to get the black belt?

MINOTORO: It was 4 years and a half. That is fast to make a black belt in BJJ.

ASGARD: David Bielkheden has signed with your team now. What is the future plan of BTT academy?
PEDRO: We are very busy now to concentrate for the fight now. Besides David we carry many new fighters.

ASGARD: Can you mention the names?
BUSTAMANTE: We have lighter weight fighters as Luis Buscape Junior, Milton Multinho Vieira, Juan Jucao and Fabio Mello. So we have nothing business plan by now. Of course in the future we would love to have more academies but that will come later. We are very busy to support these guys too.

ASGARD: How is the situation between Ricardo Arona and the PRIDE organization?
BUSTAMANTE: Arona still has a contract with PRIDE. He has a contract until the first half of 2007, with more three fights, if I’m right. They have interest in using him. He was invited to this Grand Prix, but he injured his foot in the fight against Wanderlei. He was unsure about putting his name in it, because he wasn’t recovered from this injury until February. Because he didn’t want to fight, they took him off the card. But he is recovering himself and is back to training. With the end of the Grand Prix and starting to reduce the absence of fighters from the GP … I believe that Arona will be back in September.

ASGARD: Tell us about the rematch between Arona vs. Silva
BUSTAMANTE: Arona was better and won that fight.
ASGARD: What do you think about a rematch between Arona and Fedor Emelianenko? [In Rings-King of Kings 2000 there was a fight between Arona and Fedor that Fedor won by Decision (Unanimous).]
BUSTAMANTE: Yes, I think it would be very good. And I do believe that Arona defeated Fedor in RINGS!

ASGARD: How about Paulo Filho?
BUSTAMANTE: He is the best fighter of 83kg. He is very integrated and clever fighter. The last fight to that French fighter Gregory Bouchelaghem was tough.

ASGARD: So who is the best grappler at BBT? And who is the best striker? Who is the most complete?
BUSTAMANTE: Paulo is very good on the ground, but I wouldn’t say he is the most complete. He could not impose his game against Murilo Ninja, who didn’t have a good fight against Paulo. We have more athletes with a good BJJ game, like the Nogueira brothers. It’s all about having the chance to show your game plan. Everyone on BTT has improved a lot in boxing skills; we are more confident about using Muay Thai and boxing. We’ve been working on that a lot. In my eyes those who have better boxing skills are Rogerio “Minotoro” Nogueira, Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira and Edson Drago. Rogerio “Minotoro” is the Brazilian champion. We have excellent boxers and ground fighters, but Paulo is the one who knows how to use his ground game better in MMA.

ASGARD: I hear Vitor Belfort is training with BTT. Is that true? Did you see his rematch against Alister Overeem (Strike Force – Revenge 2006-06-09)?
BUSTAMANTE: No he isn’t training with us. We have separated since the last incident in years back. No, I haven’t seen that fight yet.

ASGARD: Who are the possible BTT athletes to dispute the middleweight belt this year?
BUSTAMANTE: We are in several negotiations. There are a lot of rumours, but those who choose the fighters are not the PRIDE promoters, not even the athletes. Those who choose the fighters are the Japanese crowd. It’s their choice. There is a tendency that I see in my travels to Japan, in a title shot against Wanderlei, that maybe happens against “Minotoro.” But for that happen, we have considering his fights on this Grand Prix. If he wins a couple of fights it will be difficult for him to go back to fighting in the middleweight division. But if he fights it will probably be against Rogerio. If that does not happens in September, it will be on New Year’s Eve. Before that Rogerio will have one or two more fights.

ASGARD: What are the plans of the team in the USA? Would you think of putting someone to fight in the UFC or other organizations like IFL and WFA?
BUSTAMANTE: I am in a huge struggle with the Ultimate Fighting Championship. We are keeping contact before the events, but we have a big barrier, the visa, which is a complicated point. I’ve already sent a lot of DVDs of our athletes, but they never give us the visa. It’s part of our plans to put one of our guys to fight over there, especially in the UFC. We are keeping contact with other events also, but the visa always is the main barrier. I don’t know how far it can go, but it is our biggest problem.

ASGARD: What is the relation to Liborio and American Top Team (ATT)?
PEDRO: Just the name and we are friends but we have no official business contract.

ASGARD: BTT has various top athletes in the same the weight division, like you, Arona, “Minotoro” and Paulo Filho, who are lighter now. How do you guys do the management, considering that it’s not always possible for everyone be fighting at the same event, and there are not many events that pay as well as PRIDE? Considering that, is it hard to be a fighter and manager at the same time?
BUSTAMANTE: It’s a little complicated, but this is the kind of problem all teams wish they had. We have top athletes, and this is good. We let them know that those decisions come from the promoters, but definitely nowadays being a great athlete is not enough. Your position outside the ring counts a lot, your image, etc. It’s PRIDE’s choices, not ours. Sometimes, considering the physical condition, we point out one or other. It’s not usual, but happens. In my position of being an athlete and manager, its evident it stays a little complicated. But I’m focused on fighting, different than the other managers, because I’m training and living every situation inside and outside the ring, which helps me in my decisions, choosing the best situation to the athletes. As a manager, I have to benefit the athletes. My participation in the ring helps me in my work as a manager. Sometimes I’m absent, but I counter balance being at training with my opinions, which gives me advantage to the other managers.

ASGARD: Tell us about your times with Carlson Gracie and his influences.
BUSTAMANTE: Carlson was very important in our history. It was in his gym that we, BTT leaders, started our careers. But unfortunately destiny put us in different ways. During that time, under his influence, we always had a lot interest in training mixed martial arts and that was because in the 1990’s, Carlson’s Team stood out in MMA. And this is BTT’s way, being successful very quickly. Under his influence in our lives we reached success. We were thinking about joining all gyms for a single BJJ World Championships and I agreed with that, despite that I’m not that focused on gi tournaments, but I will support it. We’ve made a shirt to honour Carlson and wore it on the last PRIDE editions. All kinds of tributes to Carlson Gracie, I will support.

ASGARD: You faced Alistair Overeem in PRIDE 29-Fists Of Fire (02/20). What were your worries facing against him?
MINOTORO: I knew that I needed to take care of myself when I shoot takedowns over him, because he could land knees or sink a guillotine-choke. So it made the fight hard to take Overeem down, I exchanged strength against him and it harmed my stamina and boxing in first round. In the second round, I became more confident and dominated the actions on the ground and on the feet. Judge game me a big marked 3-0.

ASGARD: Did you get surprised because Overeem won the ADCC Trials since he’s considered a stand-up fighter?
MINOTORO: Nowadays, the guys are very strong in all skills; Overeem is a professional fighter and he showed it when he won the Trials (in Stockholm). He’s tall, explosive, and knew how to take advantage of situations at the ADCC Europe Trials.

ASGARD: Did you have any special strategy for the rematch against Overeem (PRIDE-Critical Countdown Absolute 7/1/2006)?
MINOTORO: Because Alister got good knees and a good guillotine choke, I needed to wait for his attack. I couldn’t shoot a takedown without any moves done by him. If I make the first move, I could eat a knee on the face or have my neck caught by a guillotine choke. On these points Alister is a difficult fighter hard to fight standing and hard to submit. So the first half I had to be careful to indicate the distance. Studying Alister soon I started to read the distance better and pushed him more in the second round.

ASGARD: Why was the towel thrown in by Calbin?
BUSTAMANTE: I don’t know.
MINOTORO: I think Alister has eaten my punches. Losing his stamina he turned his head low and his speed went down much and my left hit him hard. I saw that he was out. Immediately I pushed him into corner striking much more. That’s it.

ASGARD: In December last year you won Brazilian National Boxing Championship. Can you tell us something about your boxing?
MINOTORO: I started to practice boxing only to increase my performance in MMA, but I adapted myself very well and today I have plans to challenge in the Rio Pan American Games in 2007 and maybe the next Olympic games.

ASGARD: What can we expect from “Minotauro” on this Grand Prix?
BUSTAMANTE: About Nogueira, he has a very big chance to be the champion this year. He is stronger, heavier. It was something I was trying so hard for a very long time and I couldn’t do: an athlete who is very strong and very technical. Stronger, I think he can count on more weapons, plus his techniques. Besides that, Fedor, who is notoriously a hard fight for anybody – and he showed to know how to stop Nog’s game – will not fight. Because of this, his chances get higher.

ASGARD: What do you think about Wanderlei Silva’s participation?
BUSTAMANTE: Other than being lighter than Nogueira, Wanderlei is a hard fight for anybody. He was the best light heavyweight and, in my opinion, has an excellent contract – which he deserves – and faces a new challenge: fighting in the heavyweight division to give more emotion to his athletic life and improve his career. I believe that with him this Grand Prix gets more interesting. I think that he can offer a great expectation from the fans in relation with how he will present himself, and even more, with him replacing Fedor, we will have a more exciting Grand Prix with parity. Fedor, even being the best in the world, doesn’t show many surprises in his fights. And Wanderlei does.

ASGARD: Silva came up to the PRIDE ring with Gi and the black belt…
BUSTAMANTE: He is the same. I’ve never seen him to submit anyone.

ASGARD: How do you think Josh Barnett?
BUSTAMANTE: He is very integrated and his ground techniques are good too.

ASGARD: How about Mirco Crocop?
BUSTAMANTE: He is one of the best fighter. But he is not integrated. He fights without ground.

ASGARD: Pride GP Open Weight semi-finals. There come Mirko “Crocop” Filipovic, Wanderlei Silva, Josh Barnett and Minotauro in the semi final. Who will win the tournament?
BUSTAMANTE: Minotauro!

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