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Oregon based pro fighter, Shorty "The Pitbull" Weikel (7-1), will be fighting
Kui Gonsalves (3-0) at 145 lbs this Friday, Nov 4th on the undercard of Superior Cage Combat 3 in Las Vegas. NW Fightscene's Spaniard had a
chance to talk with Shorty the night before weigh-ins about the fight and more...
NW Fightscene: How much information do you have about your opponent? I really couldn't find much out there on him. What do you know about him?
Shorty Weikel: I don't know a ton. I pretty much probably know what you do. He only really had one video on line that I could see of and there was nothing really super impressive about it. I know he's probably going to be a tough kid. He likes to throw that hard overhand right. And then other than that he'll follow it up with just another power hand. ...and this is all based off a long-time ago fight. He's taken a break since then and has only had one this year so it's really hard to say what he's going to come out being like. He's been training at Xtreme Couture for the last 3 years, so he's going to have some good training partners. But I really don't know what to predict out of him besides what I've seen about him before. I'm just going to go in there and improve my game from my last fight and that's pretty much how I plan on going into this.
NWFS: How do you train for that when you don't much about an opponent?
Weikel:
I just do a lot of training on stuff that I know that I need to work on. I don't go into it too much with an ultimate game plan, like I'm going to this or do that with the kid because I don't know how he's going to react to anything. All I really do to prepare for someone that I don't know is to look back at the guys he's fought. I look at their records and who they've fought and their styles. And why they lost to him or why he lost to them. Although he [Gonsalves] hasn't lost to anybody. But the only people he's fought are people that don't have good records. I'm tired of fighting guys that are fighting people that are less than 50 percent. I mean they got these wins and they're 3-0, 4-0, 8-0, or 7-0, but yet you look at the guys they've fought and those guys are 0-5, 0-4, 2-4, 2-5. And it's like you guys are fighting people that are mediocre fighters and you're using that as 'Hey, I have a really good record and I'm going to take on this guy because he's a tough fight.' I don't think that they properly get ready for me is the way I look at it. They don't understand that I've fought some really tough guys, guys that actually have some really good experience under their belts. Like Rob [Hisamoto] and Jason [Georgianna]. Even Jason Gybels was a really tough fight. He just beat Crazy Horse and Gybels is slick on the ground, but I was still able to pull the win over him.
NWFS: After your loss to The Ultimate Fighter's current season cast member Bryan Caraway, you really turned it up a notch getting wins over Denny Linton and Jason Gybels. Those are two big guys in the Northwest right now and you really took those guys out quickly. Talk about the motivation after losing to Caraway?
Weikel:
Yeah, it really sparked a lot into me. I went into that fight pretty confident because I was 5-0 when I was going against Caraway. Caraway just showed me that no matter how many fights you have or how many wins... I guess I was on the opposite side of what I was just saying. I was fighting guys who I thought were really good and Caraway made me understand that no matter how bad I think the person is I'm fighting, I really need to step it up and be ready for anything that comes my way. And so since then, I've really stepped back and tried to look at my game and on how I need to improve and what I need to do to improve. And I have. I've picked up my cardio. I've picked up my hands training, my ground game. Everything's falling into place. I'm doing everything I can with the gyms that are available to me. And I hope the next step is the next level. That I find a gym that'll want to take me in and actually give me the proper training and stuff. Not that I don't have it. I just don't have the gym behind me such as a lot of these other guys. And I think that kind of helps me in a way because they have the gym and stuff, but they don't have the heart or desire or mentality that I have. I have the mentality and everything to go through these fights and now just need a good gym.
NWFS: You've fought on some pretty decent cards but this is one of your biggest and your debut in a Las Vegas show. Talk about what's going through your mind a couple days before the fight.
Weikel: Yeah, it's definitely my biggest fight. I'm excited. Rumor had it that Dana White is going to be ringside to so I pretty much came in here to put on the best show I possibly can to make it that Dana wants me to come to the UFC, or even that he sees that I have the potential for it. Kui is pretty tough. He's out of Xtreme Couture. So a win over him would be a win over a legit fighter out of a legit name gym, compared to beating people that are from gyms around the Northwest. He's coming from a good gym so it'll be a good win if I get one.
NWFS: What are the next couple of days like for you before the fight?
Weikel: I've got my trainer Tomi Massey with me and he's going to help me go over some things. Mainly just go over bad situations that may happen if something goes wrong. It's not that he's going to put me into something but that I'll accidentally slip into something or I accidentally give him something and how am I going to react to that. If I'm pounding him but I accidentally give him the armbar, what am I going to need to get back out of it. Am I going to step over the face? Am I going to stand back up? ...Pretty much just going over all the situations and scenarios that could happen in the 15 minutes that we're going to be fighting. And then go in there and go to war.
NWFS: You're the first fight out of the gate. What does that mean to you?
Weikel: I'm excited to start the show off right. Get that win and then sit back and watch the rest of these guys go about it.
NWFS: Well we're all excited for you and pulling for you from here in the Northwest. Anybody you'd
like to thank?
Weikel: Yeah. I'd like to say thanks to all my fans, especially the ones that are flying out here to watch me. I actually have quite a few of them. Thanks to my sponsors: Get On My Level, Xumout, Oregon Kickboxing Academy, and Midtown MMA. NW Fightscene, you guys of course, and Core Strength Chiropractic. I think that's all of them. If I've forgot anybody I'm sorry, thanks to you guys and I'll definitely give you a shoutout on the video.
NW Fightscene thanks Shorty for taking the time to speak to speak with us. He fights this Friday, November 4th against Kui Gonsalves on the undercard of Superior Cage Combat 3 at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. More info on the show at superiorcagecombat.com.
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