At UFC Fight Night 56 we saw Alan Jouban take on Warlley Alves in an exciting back-and-forth war. Alves came out like a man possessed in the first three minutes of the first round. Jouban weathered the storm and showed tremendous heart, surviving the first round onslaught and arguably winning the second and third stanza. The fight was marred slightly by Alves’ multiple calls for fouls that didn’t exist and finally by the questionable scoring. After the scores were announced fight fans heard the usually polarized Brazilian crowd showing Jouban respect and making it known they didn’t appreciate the decision.
I had the chance to talk with Alan and get his take on the decision against Alves, the Brazilian fans, and losing out on fight of the night honors.
Aaron Robbins: Thanks for sitting down with me Alan. Any injuries from the fight?
Alan Jouban: “I feel great. As far as battle wounds I’m not that banged up. I’m usually a lot more banged up especially after a war like that. I picked up a little stomach virus from Brazil, so that’s the only thing I’m dealing with.”
AR: Speaking of Brazil, how did the fans treat you over there? I think there is a mis-conception that Brazilian fans don’t treat American fighters well over there.
AJ: “I agree, but Brazil is great! The journey there was pretty horrible, getting there was quite the trip. As far as the people go, they are really cool. I did some training at the local gyms, and people got very friendly after that. I was invited to Garden Fight Club to do some training. That made the trip a lot better. We had some local hook-ups to help us get around, tell us about the better places to eat, and they made us feel very welcome over there. There were a lot of high level Jiu Jitsu players at the gym that wanted to hang out and take pictures. We ended up hooking them up with some tickets for the event, so we ended up with some new fans over there.
“Overall the fans and the people over there were great. The friends that we made at the gym were super supportive. Even after the fight after they called him as the winner I noticed he was getting boos from the crowd. I don’t think that’s ever been done before at a fight in Brazil. I was caught off guard by that. It was just the judges that rubbed me the wrong way.”
AR: You can’t fight the judges; however, they are just officials appointed by the local athletic committee. It showed by the crowd’s reaction that they were not blind to the fact that you put on a war and arguably won that fight. How did hearing their reaction make you feel?
AJ: “It dampened the sting of the decision a little bit more. I was pretty heart-broken to not get the win, but I wasn’t shocked because I knew I was in foreign territory. I knew I had to do something clear-cut to win, which was get the finish, I didn’t get that done, so I knew it could go either way with the judges in his home-town. To hear the crowd boo the decision really solidified the way I was feeling inside that I had done enough. I’ve said before that maybe it’s something in the way I was raised or the movies I watched, but I’ve always had that Rocky spirit in me. I think the majority of fans like a good come-back. I think most people really appreciate heart, as long as you have respect and heart it’s hard for them to boo you. I don’t try to get beat up and make come-backs, it just happens with my fighting style sometimes. To hear the fans honoring me after the fight and expressing their disapproval of the decision definitely made the trip back home easier.”
AR: Did your camp plan for the aggressive way that Alves started the fight?
AJ: “We absolutely planned for it. My coaches broke that scenario down over and over the entire camp. I would intentionally start my sparring that way. I always had a fresh sparring partner, and I would put my most aggressive training partner in the first round. It was the plan from the get go. We wanted to meet him in the middle, and not let him bully me or get off to that fast pace. Punch him in the face and let him know it was going to be a long night. I thought I did just that, we met in the middle and exchanged combos, but I threw a kick that he kind of caught and knocked me off balance. Once I hit the canvas he started laying ground-and-pound and really went for broke, but we were prepared for that absolutely.”
AR: Was Alves stronger than you anticipated?
AJ: “He was strong, but not stronger than I anticipated. If anything, he wasn’t as strong as I thought he would be. I’m not taking anything away from him, obviously he’s very explosive and athletic, and he showed that in the fight. What I’m referring to is his time on the show. He was competing at 185 and just clobbering guys. I’m not a huge Welterweight. I’m six-feet-tall and walk around at about 190. I was curious to see how I would handle a guy who was just man-handling guys at 185. He was very strong, but I felt that I fared against him very well. Other than the take-down I was able to dictate where the fight took place. After I got up he wasn’t able to hold me against the cage or take me down.”
AR: After weathering the early storm you came back strong, and in my opinion took the second and third rounds. It appeared that you were hurting him to the body, was that something that was evident to you during the fight?
AJ: “Yeah, I knew that I had hurt him to the body. The liver kick is probably my favorite technique. I remember hitting Alves with it very hard once, I think it was at the end of the first round. I think that’s when I cracked his rib; I didn’t know that happened until after the fight and I saw that he was suspended due to that injury. I wish I would’ve know because I would’ve just unloaded to his body. Obviously knowing what I know now, I wish I would’ve stayed on top of him and landed more body punches and kicks.”
AR: Fighting as you do, from the left-handed stance, sets up opportunities for that liver shot which has stopped a good many fights. You came back from adversity in the first, and then you guys proceeded to put on a war. I was very surprised that you didn’t end up with the Fight of the Night Award. Were you shocked you didn’t get the nod?
AJ: “I can’t say I was shocked. I’m still fairly new in the UFC, and I don’t expect to be handed certain things like some of the bigger stars. I felt that me and Alves being bigger fighters, and stepping up and taking the co-main event, and the fact that he was the undefeated home-town favorite would get us the award. I just thought there was more to our fight. I feel like Alves cost us Fight of the Night. What I mean is that he kept trying to get out of the fight. He called for several low-blows and eye-pokes. I feel that I legitimately grazed his eye once, and I did accidently hit him low on one occasion, but he called for fouls five or six times asking the ref to stop the action. He did that to catch his breath and stop the momentum I was building, and I’m pretty certain that’s what cost us $50,000. It really bugs me. We talked to Joe Silva about it, and he said all the stoppages killed the momentum of the fight. I think he was looking for breaks during the fight because he had never been tested. He never had somebody take his best shots and then keep coming. I felt that I was the first guy to do that against him. I think he was looking for a way out, and it was simply to see when I watched the fight.”
AR: Win or lose it was a fantastic fight to watch. That wraps it up for me. Is there anything else you would like to say before we put this talk to bed?
AJ: “I want to give props to my team. Julio Trana, my striking coach at Saekson Muay Thai, for figuring out what would work against Alves, and putting together a great game plan. My wrestling coach, Kenny Johnson at Blackhouse, did a phenomenal job at training me to stay off the cage. Alves puts everybody up against the cage, and he wasn’t able to do that with me. I also want to thank Eddie Bravo “the Jiu Jitsu whisperer” who has been my BJJ coach from the beginning, and my strength and conditioning coach Jonathan Gonzalez.”
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