Denver’s own Brian Camozzi fought for the welterweight championship belt and defeated Nick Barnes by submission with a rear naked choke. This was Camozzi’s third fight in the RFA and he has come out victorious in all three. This fight proved to be his greatest achievement in his career, but that doesn’t change his focus on what is yet to come.
“It’s one step in the journey, now it’s the battle of keeping it,” Camozzi told Press Box Insider on Mile High Sports.
Going into the fight, Camozzi felt this could be the toughest fight of his career. Thinking it could go all the way to the championship round.
“I was in it for the long haul,” Camozzi said. “I was expecting a tough fight, I wasn’t expecting it to be easy. I was expecting to make it into deep water if not the championship round. That’s the hardest thing about MMA.”
Camozzi is 7-2 in his MMA career with both losses coming in decisions. His mind is set on one thing and that’s to get the fight over with as quickly as possible.
“I’m trying to finish it as fast as possible. I don’t want decisions,” Camozzi said. “I’m not like everyone else that wants some ridiculous war. I’m in there to go as fast as possible and finish as fast as possible and get out.”
The defending champion, Barnes, was 11-1 in his MMA career entering this championship fight. Camozzi knows how great a fighter Barne can be.
“I’m not taking anything away from Nick [Barnes], he’s a great fighter, Camozzi said. “One mistake can lead to a loss and that’s kind of what happened. I was able to capitalize on it.”
Brian’s brother, Chris Camozzi, currently fights in the UFC. This was a special night for both Camozzi brothers as Chris was in his corner during the fight.
“He said he was proud of me,” Camozzi said. “Obviously, it’s a big accomplishment, it was the biggest fight of my career. Once things kind of settled down and we were sitting together he told me he was proud of me. I think he was as happy as I was.”
After his championship win, Camozzi has no timetable of when his next fight could be.
“No news yet. I know there are still a couple of welterweight matchups that are coming in the next couple of events,” Camozzi said. “For all I know they are waiting to see how those turn out, which is fine. I typically take a week or two off from training and then I’ll get back to it. What ever they come back with at that time, we’ll start gearing up for the next one.”
He would like to fit one more fight into 2016 to defend his new belt.
“I’d like to squeeze another one in, if I can do November or December,” Camozzi said. “That will make it four fights for the year, I think that would be a pretty good pace.”
One thing about Camozzi though, he doesn’t care who his opponent is.
“I’m a bit of a weirdo. That’s the last thing I think of,” Camozzi said. “I have never thought, ‘Oh, I want to fight this guy next’. I’m more in the mindset of, I don’t care. Call me, tell me who it is and that’s fine. I’ll show up on the date we agree on. It doesn’t really matter to me.”
Brian Camozzi is now at the top in the RFA welterweight class. You may see a brother combo in the UFC in the near future.
To catch the full interview with Brian Camozzi, including what he does in between his fights, click the podcast below…
https://soundcloud.com/milehighsports/9-13-16-brian-camozzi-didnt-want-to-be-that-guy-with-the-belt-press-box-insider
Catch Press Box Insider with Josh Davis Monday-Friday from 8p-10p on Mile high Sports AM 1340 | FM 104.7 or stream live any time for the best local coverage of Colorado sports from Denver’s biggest sports talk lineup.
Feature Image Credit: RFA Fighting