Carlos Diego (on top) against Herzog / Photo: Dan Rod
Last weekend, US Open 2011 ended in an awe-inspiring battle in the final of the absolute black belt division. On one side, heavyweight champion Diego “Nosferatu” Herzog (Ralph Gracie). On the other, middleweight winner Carlos Diego Ferreira (Arsenal). The war that ensued between the like-named competitors ended with Herzog pulling off the win late in the match, helping is team take first in the overall adult standing.
We had a quick chat with the absolute runner-up regarding the match and what he’s looking forward to in his career. Here’s what he had to say:
“Bro, we had a lot of great matches at US Open 16. I won my division and lost the absolute final late in the match,” said Carlos. “I had three matches at weight and won them all by choke.
“The absolute final was great, really tough. I was doing well but the ref made some mistakes. No problem, now I’m just going to hang on till the next championship. I train even more in Texas,” he said.
“I see my game improving a lot now. A lot of the credit for that goes to my training partners, who help me so much. I’ll be at the No-Gi Worlds in November; that’s what I’m training for now. My No-Gi and Gi games are similar, since I train both. I’m fixing to have a good Worlds,” he said in closing.
