Sherdog.com: A lot of people dont know about the ZST Grand Prix that you won. Your success in that tournament and going to Japan and winning something like that, did that prepare you mentally to succeed against someone like Gomi?
Sherdog.com: Do you now feel youre the No. 1 160-pound-and-under fighter in the world?
Aurelio: Yeah, I feel it. I really feel. He was No. 1 already. He proved that. He beat the shit out of everybody. I beat him, so now I know Im ready to fight against everyone in PRIDE. I know this. My last two fights I didnt do so good because I had some problems before. My head was not so good my last two times when I fought against Nakao and [Nakamura]. But now everything is nice in my life. My head is good. So I know I have enough skills to beat everyone. Im confident because I train a lot.
Sherdog.com: This was a non-title fight. Has PRIDE told you when youd fight for a title?
Aurelio: No, they didnt tell me yet. But I talked to them and told them I wanted a fucking rematch. I want this belt. So tell me when. Im excited for that.
Sherdog.com: You said that last time no one picked you to win. Whats it going to be like this time, either as the favorite against Gomi or will people look it as an even fight? Does that change the pressure at all for you?
Aurelio: Man, I think this time it will be minimum 50-50. Now, I dont know. People in Brazil will say Marcus Aurelio (Marcus Aurelio' class='LinkSilver'>Pictures) will win, 70 for me and 30 for him. I think. But you know, I dont like to hear this shit because sometimes you look for this and people say what they want to say. Sometimes I dont like to go to the Internet and see this. Like last time I went to the Internet before the fight, everyone said Marcus is going to lose, he has no chance. I said fuck that, I dont want to sit in front of the computer anymore. But people are going to say what they want to say. I hope everybody likes my fights and I hope people say Im going to win. Its going to be a good fight for me. Good energy.
Sherdog.com: Marcus, how old are you?
Aurelio: Im 32.
Sherdog.com: So youve been doing this for a while now. Things are starting to pay off.
Aurelio: Yeah. You know, MMA, professionally, Ive been doing just for four years. Thats why I think American Top Team is the best team because everything we made, we made in four years. Four years ago I started to do MMA and now I beat the No. 1. Were working good here. Were working hard here. So Im feeling good for this.
Sherdog.com: You started when you were 28. How did you come about stepping into the ring for the first time?
Aurelio: I fought a lot of time jiu-jitsu, and jiu-jitsu doesnt give you good money. I came here because Dan (Lambert) invited me to come. He said, Hey, Im going to open a gym. Were going to start doing MMA. You have good skills on the ground. You have good wrestling. So you have to start doing MMA. What do you think? I said, I think this is awesome. I like this, I want to do it. He said, Come here and youre going to have big support. Im going to start a team. And then I started. I moved to America and started.