#TFGinterview: Bryan Caraway talks recent injury, return date, Miesha Tate’s retirement and much more

UFC BANTAMWEIGHT Bryan Caraway was all set to face off against Jimmie Rivera at UFC Phoenix a couple of weeks back at UFC Phoenix.  After securing a huge win against Aljamain Sterling, the Rivera fight was supposed to take Caraway one step closer to the Bantamweight title shot.

Unfortunately, injury forced him out of the fight and Bryan is now facing time out to recover. With his fight off, Bryan came down to India to conduct an MMA seminar at the Superhuman Gym which is managed by Somesh Kamra. The Fan Garage’s own Nikhil Jadhav managed to catch up with Bryan and Somesh for a chat and below are the highlights from the interview.

Bryan talks about his recent injury, retirement of Miesha Tate, his return date and much more.

TFG: So first I want to talk about the terrific fight, the come from behind win you had in your last fight where you showcased your grappling skills. So is that like now the thing to go forward to, look forward to bettering your grappling skills?

Bryan: I always thought I was the best grappler in UFC. Not only in my division but I think in the entire UFC. I think I'm one of the best grapplers at least one of the top guys in the UFC for grappling. I believe I'm the best guy in my weight division.

I think I have the most submissions, currently still fighting right now in my weight division, most R&C's. So yeah I'm always endangering to choke people, that are what I do. Take people down, beat them up and choke them.

TFG: This bantamweight division, you know is one of the exciting things coming up. Where do you see yourself in this division and how far are you from the title contention?

Bryan: Well I think the ranking has me at 4 or 5, I was no. 3 but I haven't fought for little while so I definitely see myself as the top contender in the world but I'm right there and I've been putting away top level guys you know.

My last two wins came against no. 6 rank guys and then I beat Aljamain Sterling who was no. 4 rank at the time. 12-0 undefeated so I felt like I after beating Sterling, I believe I should get a title shot. I feel like Garbrandt had more publicity and more entertainment value. But I thought I rightly earned that shot before he but it’s an entertainment sport so i understand why they gave it to him.

TFG: Talking about Dominic Cruz, Was there anything you saw in his style that you might be able to exploit?

Bryan: Well Dominic lost so I don't really care about fighting him anymore. I want to fight Cody Garbrandt. Yes I see that there were definitely things and holes in his game that I could exploit. The one thing I like about Garbrandt is that he comes after and he fights.

He says, he throws and I thrive on that type of fight. I have a great chin and I like guys who will fight me and not afraid to stand and fight me. I don't like fighting guys who like to run away. I respect that 

but I respect Garbrandt for staying in the pocket and trading and I think it’s a good style matching for me. I think he's tough but obviously he's the world champion, just beat Dominic Cruz but I think stylistically I'm the guy that beat him.

TFG: It was reported in the media that it was an undisclosed injury which prompted you to pull out of the match against Jamie Rivera. So can you throw some light on your injury at this point in time?

Bryan: Yeah, I've been hurt for a while and I fought my last three fights injured and I didn't wanna take time. I didn't wanna not fight for a long time. I was afraid of taking care of my injury. So I fought injured and I ended being out longer than I wanted to be because I would get hurt and would have to push off fights. Finally this time I really hurt myself twice actually. I had a knee injury and shoulder injury and it was just too much. I hurt my shoulder which has a problem for a long time. Finally it just got too bad where my doctor couldn't give me any more ... shots or couldn't give me anymore therapy on it and then I hurt my knee so you know one thing after another lead up and I just wasn't available to go out there.

I was really stoked. I really wanted to fight and was still going to fight even injured but my management told UFC, my coaches pulled me from the fight. My actual coaches called my manager and told him that I was injured and was I still going to fight injured.

So I want to go on note saying that I still wanted to fight but my coaches called my manager and my management called UFC and said, "He can't fight. He's injured" So UFC had me go get medical attention and go get checked out to make sure if I was really hurt and when the results came back they saw that I was injured and pulled me out of the card.

TFG: Rivera has accused you of faking your injury. What are your reactions on that ?

Bryan: That's ridiculous. UFC pulled me out of the fight. They have MRI results of me being injured. They have medical documentation so that's proof right there that I couldn't fight. I'm on the top 5 ranked fighters in the world. Why would I be scared of fighting in here.

I fought everybody. I've been fighting since that guy was in diapers. I have fought bare-knuckled fights. To say that I'm scared to fight when I have 40 some fights is insane. You know I've been fighting more than half my life and I've fought every major show. To say that I'm scared now is absolutely ridiculous.

I'll fight anybody on any given day. At the end of the day, we're professionals and we should act like that. I know I'm a professional and I was really bummed by putting lot of hardwork to fight this fight. To not fight at the last minute hurts me as I'm not going up the rankings, I'm not getting paid and I'm not getting any close to the title shots I don't know why and it doesn't make sense. I think he's trying to stir the pot and create some trouble.

TFG: Meisha Tate surprised us with her retirement announcement in UFC 205. Were you surprised or was it planned?

Bryan: No it wasn't planned. Everyone was surprised in the camp. Her heart wasn't into it really anymore. She's just a little burnt out I think. She's been doing this sport for a long time and she just needed a break.

Hopefully we'll see her comeback later in the future but as of right now I think she just wasn't taking a break. She lost a few fights and it’s a hard sport. It’s emotionally and mentally draining. She won a title, lost a title, had a long road back, won the UFC title. She’s drained. That's where she's at now. She's got a lot of talent, options and everything., Movies, commentating, being analyst and more. So she's not going to be hurting.

TFG: What are thoughts on coming here and working on grassroots MMA? Do you India is a hotbed for MMA?

Bryan: Yeah I think India could be a hotbed for MMA. It's growing right now in India. It's one of the fastest growing sports in the world and with gyms like Super Human gym that are putting in good work and bringing good coaches, putting in their heart and putting good business plans together and putting together a nice gym and facility to train at and create awareness in India for Mixed Martial Arts. That's the big problem right now. Cricket is a huge sport here and MMA is new and people need to see the sport and realize that it's a martial art and not cage fighting and it's not a virtue of the Neanderthals.

It's very educated and very smart people that have a passion just like any other sport. India has so many people and a huge population. I think this could be a hub here for India if Super Human gym keeps doing things that they're doing and keep promoting the sport properly like it should be promoted and bringing in people like myself to create awareness about the sport and show high level techniques and I think sooner or later India is going to be one of the biggest hotbeds in the world.

TFG: So Somesh, what are your thoughts. Bringing Bryan was important for Indian MMA. How is this plan going to continue?

Somesh: Honestly it was a one off situation where we planned this trial for our intern staff but looking at the response and what the guys have told me, I think we can open it out and have someone of his calibre to come down here for a longer period. If he has the time, they're actually willing to do this for a longer period.

And someone of his calibre to actually get up grappling in India is a huge boost for our guys. Something as simple as shrimping which is not very common here is something which is so important that a guy with such a foundation can teach. So I can think it’s a huge boost to actually have him here. To even give us this one day is a big takeaway for all our guys. This was a trial run but I guess in the next visit, it's gonna be much larger, get down more fighters, more people and do it on a larger scale.

TFG: Your thoughts on the lads who were training with you?

Bryan: Great group of guys. They're still very green but very athletic, willing to learn. They listen very well and see me. Some of them seem very passionate about the sport and about learning. They're watching Youtube videos. They're hungry and they're trying to learn. They want to learn. They just need more gyms like Super Human gym to be able to give them access to coaches and techniques.

I was super stoked. They're awesome, really nice, really respectful and I would like to come back out here again and stay here longer. Maybe come out here and train for a few months. Maybe coach out here part time here and there if we work out a good business deal. I would love to learn more about Indian culture. I think it's a peaceful culture and I'm really excited to be here and learn more about India.

TFG: When can we see you again in the octagon?

Bryan: I think might have to get surgery. My doctor and coaches think I need to surgery before I compete again because I keep getting hurt over and over again. But we'll definitely get to see me in the octagon hopefully twice this year. Probably towards the end of this year in December.

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