Diego Brandao missed weight, badly, for his UFC 168 bout against Dustin Poirier. Then, Brandao got beaten, badly, by Poirier in the first round via KO.
Turns out, Brandao had also threatened to stab Poirier in the neck prior to their fight. That's why the Louisiana native was so amped up against Brandao at their weigh-ins the day before UFC 168.
So, the TUF: Brazil winner threatened to stab his opponent, didn't even make weight and then got starched in the first round. Not a great way to end your year, if you're Diego Brandao.
That's why our old coach told us not to talk smack before games - because if we lost, we'd look like fools. Brandao, however, evidently wasn't done with his interesting comments.
Instead of humbly getting back to the drawing board, Brandao is making excuses for missing weight (he was in a bad car accident two weeks before his fight that left him too injured to train and cut weight) , claiming Poirier was afraid of him and that his opponent just got lucky. In short, Brandao is acting delusional.
"He was there, bouncing at the weigh-ins, staring at me. I told him backstage 'if you ever do that again, I’ll stab you with a pen.’ That’s what happened," Brandao admitted to MMA Fighting in a recent interview.
Fine. Emotions run high before and during fights.
Sometimes pen-stabbings happen. Ok, not really but we can understand where Brandao may have been coming from in that moment.
After that, however, the Brazilian got unhinged with his silly talk.
Brandao says that a drunk driver hit his car while he was in it and that the injuries he sustained prevented him from training properly for the fight. Brandao said that he weighed 180 pounds just a couple weeks before his fight as a result of the accident and the inhibiting injuries.
"I couldn’t run, I couldn’t cut weight to fight," he said. "I had injuries in my back and ribs, but I went there and fought. I don’t think I trained more than five times for this fight and I knocked him down twice in the first round."
Listen, all fighters need to make excuses in their heads. It's part of what allows them to remain intact psychologically after losses, recover and come back stronger.
Whether or not you verbalize those excuses is the difference between having class or not having class. If Brandao was 180 pounds a couple weeks before his fight, when the accident happened, he needs to realize that he was walking around far too heavy to begin with.
I know he's not alone out there, but a person who has to weigh in at 145 or 146 pounds on a certain date should not weigh 180 pounds a week or two prior and expect that he or she can shed the weight reliably and safely.
If you need to lose nearly 40 pounds in two weeks, you should be on The Biggest Loser, not heading into an MMA fight.
Car accidents don't happen too often during training camps, but plenty of smaller, nagging injuries are common and those can affect how much work a fighter can do. Brandao wants to still put the blame on circumstance and luck, though.
"When [Poirier] got inside the cage," Brandao went on, unbelievably.
"I saw he was scared. He got lucky."
If Poirier reacts to fear by knocking dudes out in less than one round, he should stick with it and if he's that lucky, he needs to buy a lottery ticket, asap.
According to Brandao, UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby and UFC president Dana White are on his side with his whole skewed view.
"I spoke with him and Dana White, they said that I need to change and I’m going to be the champion one day. They said they know the fighters are afraid of me."
Perhaps Brandao will indeed change the things he needs to change in his career. Hopefully he recovers from his injuries, gets an attitude-transplant and comes back stronger than ever.
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Former WEC announcer Joe Martinez will soon make his octagon debut.
All fighters are on weight for tonight's Score Fighting Series 7 event. 
