Las Vegas, NV — Brazilian flyweight Matheus Nicolau heads into a rematch with Manel Kape at UFC Vegas 84 this Saturday, and arrived early in Las Vegas to wrap up his training camp by taking advantage of the UFC Performance Institute.
The UFC PI has been a huge factor for fighters calling Las Vegas home and as witnessed by the accounts of Nicolau and others, it’s also a plus for visiting fighters.
“It was really great to have the Performance Institute here,” Nicolau (19-3-1) explained to media outlets including Cageside Press during Wednesday’s UFC Vegas 84 media day. “They have everything for us like the PT [physical therapy], the recovery after the hard session of training and everything, the food, the diet, all the pros over there. The nutritionist and everybody. It was really good.”
Nicolau sees benefits to arriving in Las Vegas early that might not come if he showed up weeks in advance in another locale, he added. “Right now, that the UFC has all this for the athletes, it’s really good to come early. If it was in another city and we didn’t have all this to help us, maybe it wouldn’t make that much of a difference, just if it was like a really different altitude or something like that. But having all this from the UFC, it’s really good to come early and do the final weeks here.”
Matheus Nicolau has a good idea of what to expect from Kape, given the pair first fought just a few years ago, with the Brazilian winning a split decision. As a result, he’s ready to go the distance this Saturday.
“I’m ready for the hard 15 minutes. We know this is a high-level match-up so we have to be ready to fight a very hard 15 minutes. But I think the core of martial arts is to finish the fight, so I will keep this in mind since the first minute. But I’ve got no rush to do that. I just want to be focused, and I will be ready to do my best and to do my best performance I ever did inside the octagon.”
Watch the full UFC Vegas 84 media day appearance by Matheus Nicolau above.
