Released preview clips for Ultimate Fighter 31 gave an account and reason for participation on social networks Carlos Vera Santos in the new season reality, which can be seen from Tuesday, May 30 at ESPN and ESPN+. Almost three months have passed since the shooting in Las Vegas, and just this Friday the Ecuadorian athlete received a message from the organization informing him that he can now go to interviews with the media. The representative of the tricolor was abroad for six weeks while the competitors were filmed in a villa in the city, at the UFC Apex and UFC Performance Institute days of training and fighting. “I can only say the basics, I can’t say anything about the series,” he tells EL UNIVERSO.

Ecuador present in the new season of The Ultimate Fighter with Carlos Vera in the McGregor team

When are you sitting on TUF 31?

They divided us into three groups. The group went by car to the airport and they said ‘thank you very much, you were very good, good luck’. The other group went to the hotel and were told that they would stay there for another week in case anyone got hurt. And the other group went straight to UFC Apex to start filming. We were all nervous because we didn’t know what was going on. When we passed the hotel route, then we got to Apex, and everyone was kind of celebrating. There they put a microphone on us, told us all the rules and we went directly to the place where you can see the photo. And that’s where we met Dana Whiteto Conor McGregorto Michael Chandler, and that’s where they chose the teams. Thank God everything went well, they chose me and that’s when the show started.

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A post shared by Carlos Vera Santos | MMA (@carlosveramma)

How was your communication with McGregor and what was the relationship like?

Conor McGregor are good people. I thought the guy was taking his position seriously, and on top of that, he had the opportunity to re-engage with all the world’s media to become a UFC superstar again. When we talked, the guy knew that I practice capoeira. I didn’t know he was a fan of capoeira, so we talked a lot about it and the style. He was a normal guy, it was a cool conversation, the guy was very calm. When the cameras came, he knew how to handle the situation. The first day was just meeting people. You will see it in other episodes.

Has training with McGregor’s team encouraged you to grow?

You will see it in my episode. The only thing I can comment on is that there is always wisdom to be learned, especially with high level fighters. I have established good relations with them. I’m going to Ireland on the 5th of July to train with Conor, the coaches and his team. I learned a lot, talking to him about your tactics, how he uses his left hand, how he finds the counter, the space inside the cage fight. He helped me a lot.

Which style did you like best when training with McGregor?

It’s hard to say. There are so many things I loved about all the styles. The truth is that I really liked it. kick boxing about Conor and how he thought about his fights because that’s something I need and, exactly, it’s going to help my style. I have my own style, but obviously I want to develop and I want my style to improve. Of course, what he taught me made all the difference to me today.

(D)