Bowles Wants to Avoid Brawling with Page
Sherdog.com Staff Mar 2, 2011
Brian
Bowles has already beaten Damacio
Page before, but he knows he has to be careful in their rematch
March 3 at
“UFC Live 3.”
“You see him knocking people out all the time,” Bowles (Pictured) said recently on the Sherdog Radio Network’s “Beatdown” show. “He’s got heavy hands, and I tend to get out there and bang it out. That’s what I have to watch out for, is not just brawl with him and give him a chance to knock me out. I’ve got to stick to my game plan. I do plan on doing some standup. I like to mix it up, [but] I’m not going to just bang with him and give him the best chance to win.”
In their first encounter at WEC 35 in August 2008, Bowles submitted
Page with a guillotine choke 3:30 into the opening round. A year
later Bowles knocked out Miguel
Torres to become the promotion’s bantamweight champion.
However, he lost the belt to Dominick
Cruz in his first defense and hasn’t fought since.
Much of the delay in returning has been due to a broken hand Bowles suffered against Cruz. Although he has broken his hands before, Bowles does not believe the injury resulted from a particular vulnerability.
Bowles described his hand as 100 percent after surgery and the insertion of a pin. He had been scheduled to return last November against Wagnney Fabiano, but then he broke his foot when he kicked a training partner in the elbow.
“It was real depressing,” Bowles said. “I had just come off sitting around with a broken hand and then I thought I was going to get out there -- it was one of the last WEC shows, and breaking my foot, it was depressing. It’s depressing for a fighter just to sit around on the couch and not be able to fight and watch everybody else fight on TV.”
Plenty has changed in the year since Bowles last fought. Most importantly, the WEC merged with the UFC, which means Bowles will be debuting in the Octagon against Page.
“A lot of people that watch the sport didn’t know that a lot of us guys were just the same caliber as the UFC,” Bowles said of WEC fighters. “They got all the attention and made more money. Everything was better in the UFC. It could potentially be a big life changer for me.”
Bowles will be on the big stage, but he’ll also be bouncing back from a broken hand. Some fighters in his position might be somewhat gun-shy when it comes to punching.
“I’ve worked on trying to make sure that I throw my punches right, throw good, technical punches,” he said. “It will definitely be in the back of my head, but I’m in a fight. If you’re going to break your hand, that’s the time to do it. I just have to go out there and let them loose and not worry about that type of thing.”
Listen to the full interview (beginning at 50:36) with Bowles.
“You see him knocking people out all the time,” Bowles (Pictured) said recently on the Sherdog Radio Network’s “Beatdown” show. “He’s got heavy hands, and I tend to get out there and bang it out. That’s what I have to watch out for, is not just brawl with him and give him a chance to knock me out. I’ve got to stick to my game plan. I do plan on doing some standup. I like to mix it up, [but] I’m not going to just bang with him and give him the best chance to win.”
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Much of the delay in returning has been due to a broken hand Bowles suffered against Cruz. Although he has broken his hands before, Bowles does not believe the injury resulted from a particular vulnerability.
“I hit him with the side of my hand where my thumb is at,” Bowles
explained. “If you feel on those WEC gloves, there’s no padding
right there. I hit him pretty much on top of the head with the side
of my hand. It just broke my knuckle off pretty much. … If anybody
punches somebody as hard as they can on the top of the head, it’s
going to break their hand.”
Bowles described his hand as 100 percent after surgery and the insertion of a pin. He had been scheduled to return last November against Wagnney Fabiano, but then he broke his foot when he kicked a training partner in the elbow.
“It was real depressing,” Bowles said. “I had just come off sitting around with a broken hand and then I thought I was going to get out there -- it was one of the last WEC shows, and breaking my foot, it was depressing. It’s depressing for a fighter just to sit around on the couch and not be able to fight and watch everybody else fight on TV.”
Plenty has changed in the year since Bowles last fought. Most importantly, the WEC merged with the UFC, which means Bowles will be debuting in the Octagon against Page.
“A lot of people that watch the sport didn’t know that a lot of us guys were just the same caliber as the UFC,” Bowles said of WEC fighters. “They got all the attention and made more money. Everything was better in the UFC. It could potentially be a big life changer for me.”
Bowles will be on the big stage, but he’ll also be bouncing back from a broken hand. Some fighters in his position might be somewhat gun-shy when it comes to punching.
“I’ve worked on trying to make sure that I throw my punches right, throw good, technical punches,” he said. “It will definitely be in the back of my head, but I’m in a fight. If you’re going to break your hand, that’s the time to do it. I just have to go out there and let them loose and not worry about that type of thing.”
Listen to the full interview (beginning at 50:36) with Bowles.
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