Ante Delija knocked out Matheus Scheffel to kick off a successful run in the PFL 2022 season back in April, and now they rematch for the heavyweight title — and a million-dollar check — at the 2022 PFL Championship event Friday in New York City. For Brazil’s “Buffa”, the chance for redemption comes in perfect time.
“One of my dreams was to live to train and since my last fight I was able to do that,” Scheffel said on this week’s Trocacao Franca podcast. “I stopped working as a personal trainer, and now I can say my job is to train MMA. Teaching is not something I enjoy anymore. Although I do not know when I will have to return to teaching one day, I am happy to continue training. Things happened right when they had to.”
A life-changing prize is on the line Friday night, and Scheffel refuses to think about what he would do with such amount in his bank account. Still driving “an old Audi A3” after beating Juan Adams and Bruno Cappelozza in the regular season, he won’t allow himself to think about cool BMWs and gold necklaces for now.
“I’m only thinking about the belt,” Scheffel said. My dream is to be a world champion, and that’s what I believe .”
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Being a professional fighter means a completely different outcome when he rematches Delija in Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden. Scheffel was knocked out seven months ago and “learned a lot in that fight”, but said “I know what I can do” against Delija.
“I just found out what it is to just train so I don’t know how that will affect [my performance], but I hope it reflects how I felt in the gym,” Scheffel said. “All I did was train and rest, train and rest. It’s such an absurd difference. I didn’t have to worry about teaching classes. It’s now that I can proudly say that I am a fighter .”
” I didn’t perform well last night but I know I will this time and it will be different. It’s been a great change. Although I’m aware of what Delija should expect, he still hasn’t experienced the same feelings that I had for him. It will definitely bother him
” I’ve seen all possible situations,” he said. He continued, “I am strong on my feet in both wrestling and jiu jitsu. This fight is hard to predict. I even joked I’d beat him for five rounds to give fans some excitement, but I’m always after the knockout.”
Source: https://www.mmafighting.com/2022/11/25/23477649/full-time-mma-fighter-pfl-finalist-matheus-scheffel-dream-world-champion-ahead-million-dollar-prize?rand=96749
