Alan Belcher with his daughter
Before the Copa Podio heavyweight GP, UFC fighter and BJJ black belt Alan Belcher spoke to mmafighting.com about how he’s taking time off MMA to heal injuries and focus on improving and becoming a great BJJ player.
The only thing with my MMA career and injuries is just, I’m tired of getting injuries. I have so much stuff going on, I have the back problems. So, now my back’s feeling better, I’m starting to get back into competition, and I just really… I dunno, I’m just working on Jiu Jitsu. I’m not… I don’t have any plans or expectations for MMA in the future right now.
So, of course, I’ll probably want to do it again, but right now my life is kind of going a different way. I’m trying to coach more, trying to be a Jiu Jitsu competitor more, do some of the things that I was… When I was focused on the UFC I had to be focused on that all the time, everyday. So, now that I’m taking a break from that, I’m not just going to chill and relax by the pool and get fat, you know? I gotta stay busy, keep working, doing something else.
You know, I already have my black belt, but now I’m trying to get better. So, this is part of the process.
He said that he wasn’t retiring from MMA and that he plans to return eventually:
Of course there’s a chance. I can’t say, 100%, I definitely will fight again. But, then again, I’m not going to retire either. So, I wanna leave my options open. Within the next six months, I’m not going to fight. I guarantee you that. But, I’ll let the time pass, let half of the year go past, second half of 2014 we can talk about it then.
About his growing interest in Jiu Jitsu:
Just, like I said, I want to work on my Jiu Jitsu. Since the eye injuries and some of my injuries I lost a little bit of desire for the fight. I had a lot of disappointments and lost, you know, some of the desire and the passion to go after the belt. Also, I don’t really want to do it for the money. You know, that’s why I’m doing this.
I’m not getting paid to do this fight. It’s just for the heart, it’s just for the love of the game. And that’s really what I want to compete for. So, my love is here, coming to Brazil with the Brazilian people and doing the Copa Podio and seeing how I do, that’s what I want to do. You know what I mean? So, UFC is not what I really want to do. And no matter how much money they can pay me, I don’t want to do that right now. That’s just how it is.
Check out this technique from Alan Belcher:
