Roan "Jucao" Carneiro will never forget about the night that referees over at DEEP 18 (Japanese MMA organization) stopped his fight against Ryo "Piranha" Chonan due to cuts heading toward the end of the third and final round. Carneiro was forced to stand up in several occasions during the fight where he seemed to be in dominant positions. Although his 5-fight winning streak was ended because of referee stoppage, he strongly feels that the win was taken away from him.
3 1/2 years later, the UFC set up a rematch bout that many MMA fans have been waiting for. Dana White had first announced the fight between Chonan and Carneiro for UFC 85, but Chonan was forced out of the card due to an injury he suffered while training.
In a late replacement, Kevin Burns filled in Chonan’s spot and won the "submission of the night" over Carneiro in one of UFC’s biggest upsets (Burns acquired a $50,000 USD bonus). The Brazilian has put the loss behind him and although he hopes to fight Burns again in the near future, he wants to focus on the most important rematch of his career. He believes in taking one fight at a time and Chonan is first at the UFC 88: "Breakthrough" event. Atlanta has been his hometown since his transition from Brazil and into the United States, "It is going to be awesome…I am proud to say that Atlanta is my new hometown and I am really excited.” However, it will not be an easy fight for Carneiro and he definitely understands that. He admits that Chonan is still a huge threat in the octagon and nobody can underestimate any fighter that is a part of the UFC.
Here’s a snip from Roan Carneiro himself:
"I’m not going to lie, it still bothers me very much…I was very unhappy with the DEEP referee and the way he officiated our
first bout. They constantly stood me up from dominant positions on the
ground and tried to make it as difficult as possible to beat Chonan. I
feel I completely dominated the first two rounds and the cut stoppage
with two minutes left in the third round was bulls**t. I am glad our
rematch will be in the UFC and I’m looking forward to having a fair
fight…I was really disappointed when I found out he was injured and couldn’t fight me at UFC 85…But I understand that this is a fight business and people do get hurt…I’m just glad the UFC decided to put this fight back together…Definitely (this is a must win), losing this fight is not an option for me…It (a win over Chonan) does a lot for me…It avenges a past loss that should have never happened and it also
moves me up the UFC rankings. I am very thankful for this opportunity."
(props to ufc.com)
