Camozzi: “The pace I set will hurt Lemaire"

Chris Camozzi heads to Los Angeles, California at the end of this month to face nine-fight GLORY veteran Mike Lemaire at GLORY 52 LOS ANGELES.   The fight takes place Saturday, March 31 and will be Camozzi’s second fight in GLORY since leaving the UFC after twenty fights with the organization. Lemaire is ranked #10 and represents a significant step up for Camozzi’s second outing.    “Oh I don’t care. I would have preferred to step up even higher than that if possible,” laughs Camozzi. “I am trying to get on the fast track, I’m not here to hang around. I want to get up there.”   Blocking Camozzi’s way “up there” is Lemaire, also coming off a win and looking to go 2-0 in what will be his tenth fight for GLORY. He’s a veteran of the organization, but that doesn’t faze Camozzi much.   “He’s a solid fighter: good kicks, he’s got Muay Thai skills. He starts hard but fades as it goes on,” Camozzi shrugs.    “I plan on him starting hard. I’ve watched him a good while and I feel I have an advantage there. I cornered Dustin Jacoby against him in the LAST MAN STANDING tournament so I have had a close look at what’s got already.    “I’ve been asking for this fight for a while and there is a reason I have been asking for it, put it that way.”   Camozzi is based in Denver, Colorado and enjoys the benefit of training at altitude in the Mile-High City. He says that when he descends to sea-level, the benefits to his fitness are “like having an extra round in me”.   “The pace I set is going to hurt him. That’s the key I think. Other than that… he tends to loop his right cross a bit, that’s a good opening for me. He’s got nothing too flashy. Solid but basic fundamentals and combinations. He’s good at the basics but it’s stuff you train since day one.”   Like any fighter making their sophomore outing, Camozzi has a clear goal: get that second win. But he also has other items on his tick-list, one of which is to establish something about his power.   “That GLORY 48 fight with Kyle Weickhardt, the biggest criticism I heard afterward was that I have no power. I dominated the fight but didn’t put him away,” he says.   “But that’s not it. I couldn’t throw too much power because he wasn’t coming forward; it’s hard to throw power against a guy moving backwards all the time. So that’s something I am looking to show this time.    “I am also looking to set a ‘most punches thrown in a GLORY fight’ record. I threw a good amount in that last one and I want to see if I can be the busiest fighter on the roster in that way!”   Camozzi fights Lemaire at GLORY 52 LOS ANGELES on Saturday, March 31 in a middleweight bout on the main card.