A Conversation With CFA Featherweight Danny Chavez Part Two
Danny Chavez was a combatant in the inaugural match of the undefeated Featherweight Tournament at CFA 03. In part one of our conversation we discussed his win over fellow undefeated featherweight Justin Steave. In part two we discuss future opponent Joey Rodriguez, the grand prize and loving his gym.
When asked about Joey Rodriguez his opponent at CFA 04, Chavez was excited for the bout. “I can’t wait to fight him.” Chavez said “He was the winner and he is the next guy in front of me.”
And what about Rodriguez’ performance at CFA 03? “My opinion is my opinion. I think he won one round fair and square. It’s like me being honest about my own fight. I feel I won the first two rounds, but I think he won the third one. That’s just being honest. I think honestly he lost the first two rounds, just because of getting control and being taken down, and the ground and pound. The third round I think he [won] it, but I’m not a judge. I’m nobody to say something. A lot of people were saying the same thing about my fight. Me and him made it to the semi-finals, it is what it is.”
Does Chavez have a gameplan ready for Rodriguez? “My strategy for this fight is me being better than him everywhere. Faster than him, stronger, on the ground and in the stand-up. My game-plan is to be one step ahead of him. I’m not going to counter as much as I did my last fight. I gave up the third round by trying to counter the guy and letting him pressure me. I’m not going to let that happen [again]. I’m going to pressure him.”
Although Chavez isn’t thinking to far into the future, it’s hard not to at least wonder what one could do with $20,000. When asked if he had at least pondered what winning the tournament and it’s prize would mean, he wasn’t shy about his thoughts.
“First things first. I’ve thought about it already, I’m not saying I think the money is with me already, but I think I already have a plan. My first plan would be to go to Columbia and see my family who I haven’t seen in 10 years. Have a nice little vacation. And most of all it’s going to be an investment to be able to train more and better. I don’t have all the resources to train great. I don’t have money for supplements. I don’t have money for transportation. With this I’ll have everything I need. This will set me up to start my career even better than what it is already.”
Many fighters would love the chance to invest in their future, but Chavez already knows there is only one place he wants to train in MMA.
“Right now I like everything I have in my gym. If anything what I would like to do later on would be going to camps that are out there. Like real wrestlers that don’t think about nothing else besides the double leg or single leg. I have plans for maybe one day to go to Thailand and learn some Muay Tai over there. Things like that. I always talk about going to Mexico and do a little boxing. Wherever it comes from, the sport, not really go to MMA gyms. I’m probably more focused on separate martial arts… But MMA Masters, we train hard so our fights come easy.“
Chavez left our conversation with some finals words for his CFA 04 opponent. “Train hard man. I’m going to bring it this time. Don’t look at my last fight as the way I perform, because that’s not really the way I perform. I’m going to redeem my last fight. So he needs to train hard, because I’m going to train harder. I’m training harder than what I trained for this last fight.”
Comments
Loading ...
