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Diego Vital Beats O'Keeffe; Dreaming Of UFC
18 Jun 2010
By Dean Parr
On June 6th, London Fight Factory's Diego Vital extended his unbeaten record to 4-0, taking home the Adrenalin FC Lightweight Title in the process as he defeated pro-debutant Steve O'Keeffe impressively after 3:18 of the second round via submission due to a rear naked choke. Vital was pleased to an extent with his showing, but when asked if he thought it was a good performance, he analysed,
"I don't think so, because I wasn't fully prepared. Before the fight, I was working from 5am to either 2pm or 3pm in the afternoon, and after that I'd have to come home and look after my son and be with my family and wife. Then, I'd have to go training, so I couldn't train my fitness at all. I'd just had normal training in the gym for an hour and a half a day. I think I could be better if I trained properly and had the time to do that. It's just difficult because I have proper responsibilities."
However, emerging victorious with the Adrenalin FC gold still means this is an important victory for the Brazilian. "I'm so glad I won the fight," beamed Diego. "Now I've got the belt, I started to think and talk to my wife and those in my academy about my training. I'm going to go to Brazil now to see my mum, then when I come back, I'm going to still work in the mornings but try to train more MMA, and if someone wants to fight me for the belt I'll fight. Then I'll look forward to one day being in the UFC. It is my dream. I'm sure I can get that far."
For those who haven't seen Vital in action, he brings a stellar ground game to the cage, and the O'Keeffe bout showed his striking is developing too. "I really like to go on the ground, but if it's in the stand-up I don't mind at all," admitted Diego. "I try to be prepared for both. With Steve O'Keeffe, I don't think he thought I'd be good in the stand-up.
"It was a really good fight," he continued. "I knew he was going to be tough, but maybe if I'd have trained more on my fitness it wouldn't have gone past the first round."
Vital hasn't an idea of any person in particular who he'd like to take on next, but he's convinced they'll regret getting in the Cage with him.
"I'm going to be prepared for anything," he asserted. "If it's a good stand-up guy I'll work more on that, if they're good on the ground I'll work there, and I promise I'll give a really good show for everybody. There's always something to learn. There's always something you'll be doing wrong, my coach will see it and then I'll learn."
So far, Vital is on track to achieve his UFC goals. Only time will tell if he turns his potential into reality and makes it all the way.
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