May-19-2008

Unbeaten Reljic Promises Excitement for UFC Debut Saturday

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By Thomas Gerbasi

24-year old Goran Reljic has been called a ‘Natural Born Fighter’, someone for whom competing in mixed martial arts wasn’t a choice, but a necessity. It’s a tag that was placed on him almost immediately when he started training in MMA in 2003, and now, five years later, he will put those high expectations to the test against Wilson Gouveia at UFC 84 this Saturday.

“He is a good, well-rounded fighter,” said Reljic. “His weaknesses, I will keep that to myself for the fight, but I know how to beat him.”

Reljic’s confidence isn’t misplaced or just youthful hubris, despite the fact that he only has seven pro fights (all wins) against European competition, as opposed to Gouveia’s 14 pro bouts against the likes of Jon Fitch, Keith Jardine, and Jason Lambert. He is a decorated grappler with a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Roger Gracie, and five of his pro wins have come via submission.

“I have good experience in Jiu Jitsu,” said Reljic. “I never lost any tournaments and I trained with Dean Lister, Minotauro (Nogueira), Fabricio Werdum, (Roger) Gracie and other great fighters. But it was when I saw Minotauro’s fights in PRIDE that my eyes were opened on the power of Jiu-Jitsu, and that’s how I started in 2002.”

A year later, he was working all aspects of his game in mixed martial arts, influenced by another PRIDE standout who later came to the UFC, Croatian countryman Mirko Cro Cop. Strangely enough though, while Nogueira came to the UFC and won two fights in a row, the last being a win over Tim Sylvia for the interim UFC heavyweight title, Cro Cop struggled here, losing back-to-back fights to Gabriel Gonzaga and Cheick Kongo after a debut win in the organization over Eddie Sanchez. A recurring theme for Cro Cop was his difficulty in adjusting to the UFC Octagon, a matter he has discussed with Reljic.

“Mirko is great fighter, and we talk about that a lot,” said Reljic. “He told me that the cage and UFC is something different but I knew that because I did four of my fights in the cage before.”

Reljic also believes that his friend, one of the game’s most prolific strikers, will be back on top sooner rather than later.

“He didn’t do well after his loss to Gonzaga, and it’s hard to get back after that but I think he can do much better.”

For now though, Croatia’s representative in the UFC is Reljic, and he is honored to represent a scene back home that is taking off higher and higher with each passing event.

“The sport is big and growing really fast,” said Reljic. “People just like fighting a lot in Croatia.”

They like it here too, as Reljic has found out over the last couple of months after relocating to Las Vegas to not only get acclimated to the weather and the time changes, but to work with some of the sport’s best at the Xtreme Couture gym, where he has sparred with the likes of Wanderlei Silva, Forrest Griffin, and Martin Kampmann. That’s called a trial by fire.

“It was my manager Zoran Saric’s idea to come to the US early because there are more sparring partners on the UFC level and training camps are on a different level,” said Reljic. “Now I can see why he was insisting to do this.”

He has been a quick study in Sin City’s hardest game, and the way he sees it, he might just stick around a while.

“I have an advantage because I am young, so I adjust very fast on everything and definitely I will stay in the US full time,” says Reljic, who nonetheless does admit that there are sacrifices to be made to fight at this level in the States.

“I had to do a lot of changes,” he said. “I train in the US, and all my friends and family are in Croatia, but I don’t feel sorry. I don’t go out, don’t drink, I just eat, sleep, and train. That’s the way it’s got to be for the rest of my fight career. And I enjoy every single moment.”

With that love of the game comes a little less pressure for Goran Reljic when dealing with not only a UFC debut in front of a huge crowd at the MGM Grand and an international pay-per-view audience, but with keeping that “0” on the end of his record. And with no pressure, Reljic promises fireworks.

“I never felt pressure,” said Reljic, a native of Zadar, “and I fight without calculations. I think that’s why you need to risk everything in the fight; otherwise, you will be a boring fighter or pressure will come to you. On May 24, I am bringing excitement and an explosive fight.”