by: Jack Bratcher
Former WEC Middleweight Champion, Paulo Filho, was clearly not himself on Oct. 5 at WEC 36 when he gave up a unanimous decision to Chael Sonnen and lost his title.
It was Filho’s first professional loss in seventeen fights since turning pro in 2000. It was a highly uncharacteristic performance that left everyone scratching their heads in confusion.
The good news is Paulo Filho is taking the loss exactly the way you would expect a champion to take it. Filho told Tatame on Thursday, ““What can I do, it’s sad… The fact is that I have no excuses, he (Sonnen) went there and did his job to neutralize me and that’s what happened, he did the right job and he has all merits… It was good to give me a new spirit.”
It appears the loss will force Filho to reassess his career and make some necessary changes. In fact, it seems the changes will start with a move from Brazil to Los Angeles for improved training.
“(Train) Here will be good, everybody is coming here and that’s because it works. At Brazil we hadn’t a good training camp, and here I believe we’ll have a high level training.”
Filho’s coach, Josuel Distak said they would learn from the loss. They understand now the need for more “focus, responsibility, and the weight is a problem.” They plan to forget what happened and start over.
The plan, according to coach Distak, is to make the move to L.A. for training, get a rematch with Chael Sonnen, and then move up to the light-heavyweight division.
Whatever changes Filho’s coach decides to make, one can only hope those changes will involve helping the former champ rediscover that motivation that got him to the top in the first place.