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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
When the UFC canceled UFC 176 earlier this month, co-main event fighter Gegard Mousasi was caught off guard via social media and expressed his displeasure with the situation.
However, it turns out the UFC had actually informed his manager before making the announcement, but by the time Mousasi woke up in Holland, the news had already made the rounds. With that in mind, he now says he regrets his initial outburst.
"Basically my manager knew it so there was some miscommunication," Mousasi explained in an interview with FoxSports.com. "I woke up and at that time I saw it on Facebook actually, and my manager knew it and he would have told me but with the time difference [in Holland] so I made a mistake there a little bit."
"First reaction, you're going to be mad. We are human beings. The first time you hear your fight is cancelled, you're going to be angry but now I'm okay with it. At first reaction, you're emotional, you're going to react to it. It's better to control your emotions, but we're human beings but s*** happens and I got angry."
While he believes he was too emotional in his reactions that day, he remains frustrated with the date and location change. He's happy to be in a main event now on Sept. 5 opposite Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza, but feels a whole lot of time and energy was ultimately wasted in prepping for August 2.
"I was coming off of two training camps in a row and this was the third one in a row and I had some injuries, I was dieting and training with the injuries. It was too much in a row," Mousasi said. "It was difficult because I was coming off three training camps and now it's rescheduled so I have to keep the motivation to keep going. I had fighters I had brought in from Poland for my training camp, just a lot of work and energy. Now I have to take some time off to rest and rebuild again.
"It's just a lot of wasted time and energy, what can I say. It's not just the training it's so many other things that go along with it... I'm happy about the main event, that's a plus. This is the fourth main event so I'm thankful to the UFC that they have their trust in me. I can't really complain. I will have the advantage against Jacare going five rounds. It's a good thing for me. If I win this one, I'm definitely going to be a contender."
Penick's Analysis: With how important this particular fight is for both Mousasi and Souza, any interruption or significant distraction can be a detrimental frustration, so his initial reactions were entirely justifiable. It's understandable to be unhappy with the date getting moved, but now he's got to focus on doing whatever he has to do in order to win that fight and put himself in the Middleweight Title mix.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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