Story Planned on Tiring Alves, Then Teeing Off
Sherdog.com Staff Jun 2, 2011
Rick
Story knew he matched up well with Thiago
Alves. He asked for the fight, got it and delivered a win on
Saturday at UFC
130.
“When the fight first started and I got him up against the fence and I took him down immediately, I was pretty much comfortable with how the fight was going to go from there,” Story (Pictured) said Monday on the Sherdog Radio Network’s “Beatdown” show.
The bout went to Story via unanimous decision (29-28 on all three
cards). By beating Alves, Story scored the biggest win of his
career and his sixth straight in the UFC. Turns out that requesting
the fight was a wise move.
“He’s had problems in the past with tough wrestlers and his gas tank,” Story said. “It just seemed like the perfect game plan. … I’m a good wrestler. I can hang on him. I can get him tired. I can keep him backing up because my style is always forward. It’s hard to land effective strikes when you’re backing up and it’s hard to land punches when you’re tired.”
“Our game plan was to get him tired and then start teeing off in the third round,” Story said. “Pat was reiterating that in the corner, saying, ‘We’re not going to take him out in the second round. We’re going to wait until the third round.’ … In the third round I wanted to try and finish the fight, and doing a little bit more standup was going to be the way to do it. But I didn’t feel any desperation going into the third round. I just wanted to push the pace still and land more strikes.”
Story didn’t get the finish, but he did show that he has a chin while absorbing Alves’ strikes.
“I train to stand there and throw,” he said. “I don’t like saying that I have a strong chin because that means it’s been tested, but I can take a shot and I like standing in there and trading.”
Now with Story moving into the title hunt, speculation has begun over his next opponent. He’s expressed interest in Jon Fitch, but Fitch sounds more interested in rematches with B.J. Penn or Georges St. Pierre.
“I have to respect that,” Story said. “How many wins straight is he on? He’s fought GSP and he fought him five rounds. He lost the decision and he put together this win streak, and I respect that.”
Asked if he’d like to fight Penn, Story said he wouldn’t turn the match down. But for now, it’s wait and see.
“I mean, what I want, I want that title shot,” Story said. “I want to fight somebody that will get me that title shot the quickest. Fitch, he just had shoulder surgery. Koscheck, he’s got the eye issue. It’s still up in the air. We’re going to see what happens.”
Listen to the full interview (beginning at 54:00).
“When the fight first started and I got him up against the fence and I took him down immediately, I was pretty much comfortable with how the fight was going to go from there,” Story (Pictured) said Monday on the Sherdog Radio Network’s “Beatdown” show.
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“He’s had problems in the past with tough wrestlers and his gas tank,” Story said. “It just seemed like the perfect game plan. … I’m a good wrestler. I can hang on him. I can get him tired. I can keep him backing up because my style is always forward. It’s hard to land effective strikes when you’re backing up and it’s hard to land punches when you’re tired.”
Story controlled the first and second rounds. He wanted to finish
Alves, though, and the prefight strategy he had drawn up with coach
Pat
White to achieve that end called for striking with the
dangerous Brazilian.
“Our game plan was to get him tired and then start teeing off in the third round,” Story said. “Pat was reiterating that in the corner, saying, ‘We’re not going to take him out in the second round. We’re going to wait until the third round.’ … In the third round I wanted to try and finish the fight, and doing a little bit more standup was going to be the way to do it. But I didn’t feel any desperation going into the third round. I just wanted to push the pace still and land more strikes.”
Story didn’t get the finish, but he did show that he has a chin while absorbing Alves’ strikes.
“I train to stand there and throw,” he said. “I don’t like saying that I have a strong chin because that means it’s been tested, but I can take a shot and I like standing in there and trading.”
Now with Story moving into the title hunt, speculation has begun over his next opponent. He’s expressed interest in Jon Fitch, but Fitch sounds more interested in rematches with B.J. Penn or Georges St. Pierre.
“I have to respect that,” Story said. “How many wins straight is he on? He’s fought GSP and he fought him five rounds. He lost the decision and he put together this win streak, and I respect that.”
Asked if he’d like to fight Penn, Story said he wouldn’t turn the match down. But for now, it’s wait and see.
“I mean, what I want, I want that title shot,” Story said. “I want to fight somebody that will get me that title shot the quickest. Fitch, he just had shoulder surgery. Koscheck, he’s got the eye issue. It’s still up in the air. We’re going to see what happens.”
Listen to the full interview (beginning at 54:00).
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