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Getbig Misc Discussion Boards => Mixed Martial Arts (MMA/UFC) => Topic started by: SinCitysmallGUY on April 04, 2009, 07:58:30 PM
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In Brett Rogers' (8-0) three fights with the ill-fated EliteXC, the heavy-handed striker spent just over five minutes earning three wins.
But if you think you've seen all there is to see with "The Grim," the 28-year-old advises you to pay attention to his April 11 Strikeforce bout with "Abongo" Humphrey (5-0).
"I've been working Wing Chun, Muay-Thai, and a lot of the ground game," Rogers told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) on a recent media call. "Those are different things that I haven't had the chance to show because my fights have usually lasted a minute."
Rogers has yet to fight beyond the first round in his eight professional contests. But the 6-foot-5 heavyweight doesn't believe he'll have troubles should the fight last beyond the opening frame. And Rogers doesn't believe "lumbering" is a term that should be used to describe his 265-pound frame.
"I'm a big guy, but that doesn't necessarily mean I'm a slow guy," Rogers said. "(And) just because I'm big doesn't mean my gas tank is going to be low."
Instead, Rogers wants to be seen as the complete package as a heavyweight fighter. And with EliteXC's demise keeping him on the sideline for nearly 11 months, Rogers said he's had plenty of time to progress his skill set.
"The layoff, it wasn't fun," Rogers said. "(But) I had a lot of time to think about things that I should do, how to prepare for the next event. I knew it was just going to be a matter of time before somebody picked me up or I moved on to something else.
"I've moved on to different schools. I have heavy guys to roll with, new equipment. I just feel good. I just can't wait to get in there and show off a little bit."
But don't expect the evolved Rogers to be any less aggressive than the one who stopped Jon Murphy just 61 seconds into his most-recent bout at EliteXC's CBS-broadcast debut.
"I'm always going to have the aggressive side to me that just wants to get out there and put my hands on a person - just get in and get out," Rogers said. "But I've had a chance to evolve some techniques, just some things that I think are going to stand out as far as the MMA world goes."
With limited previous exposure, Humphrey brings a degree of uncertainty with him to the cage for the opening main-card bout of "Strikeforce: Shamrock vs. Diaz." But if Rogers lives up to his word, so will he.
"What I've seen from 'Abongo,' it seems like he likes to move around and use explosive energy," Rogers said. "That's definitely going to become an exciting fight, because I'm going to move around, too - especially saying that he wants to be the lighter-end heavyweight.
"I've been getting a lot of talk that the heavier you are the slower you are, which is not true at all. That just means you have to train a little bit more to keep up with that smaller person. So, it's definitely going to be an explosive feeling to the fight."
And while Rogers stopped short of offering a prediction for the fight, the Minnesota resident did say he intended to showcase his newly well-rounded game.
"As far as my hands go, I feel like I can hang with the best - anybody in the top 10, anybody up there," Rogers said. "And as far as the legs go, I haven't even had a chance to showcase that, and I still stand with that.
"I've been working my legs a lot. (There's) just a lot of things that I've been working on the side that I just haven't had a chance to showcase because I've never been put in that situation."
Of course, the old stand-by may just do the trick.
"I always test a person out to see where they're at," Rogers said. "If they're strong in something then I try to catch them with something that I know for a fact they're weak at. And lately, it's just been the head shots. If you take a lot of head shots, you're just going to fall out. That's just how it's been."