Texan Cardella Ready to Mess with Castillo

By Frank Curreri

Phil Cardella can see the future. The 32-year-old fighter sees himself standing inside of a cage on March 1 and staring across at Danny Castillo with the same intensity of a lion glaring at a gazelle just before the chase. And then Cardella envisions Castillo being overwhelmed by pain and misery.

“I’m going to go in there and kick this guy’s a--; it’s not going to be a fun time for him,” vowed Cardella, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt under Relson Gracie. “I’m going to choke the s--- out of him. I’m sure he’s going to give me a choke. He’s going to get the s--- beat out of him and he’s not going to want a rematch.”

Plenty of Cardella’s fellow Texans will be counting on him to fulfill his vulgarity-laced prophecy. Cardella, who owns and operates a Brazilian jiu-jitsu academy in Austin, Texas, has fought several times in Corpus Christi. Now he’s preparing to make his WEC lightweight debut there in front of a small legion of family and friends. Despite the tough talk, the proud Gracie protégé knows Castillo is no slouch. With a 6-1 record, Castillo has only lost to No. 1 lightweight contender Donald Cerrone and has finished every other opponent in two rounds or less. Asked his impressions of Castillo, Cardella quickly rattled off a bevy of facts as if he was reading from an encyclopedia.

“He trains with Urijah Faber, Fabio “Pateta” (Prado) is his jiu-jitsu instructor, he wrestled at a lower-level college, he has heavy hands and throws a lot of hooks and upper cuts,” Cardella said. “He has good sprawl and brawl. He beat Rafael Dias in the second round. He likes the rear naked choke mainly.”

Cardella also clashed with Dias, an American Top Team disciple, and won via unanimous decision. It was one of those rare fights where a fighter – in this case, Cardella – spent a lot of time on his back but repeatedly bashed his opponent with vicious elbows from the guard. Cardella points to that bout as a glimpse of the mean streak that runs through him.

“Some people joke around and say that I have the mean gene,” said Cardella, who will be cornered by the legendary Relson Gracie for his upcoming fight. “I beat the snot out of Rafael Dias in my guard and he couldn’t pass. I beat up Rafael and put him in the hospital … He’s a very accomplished black belt champ and I beat him with jiu-jitsu. I gave him a whole lot of elbows and almost submitted him several times. I didn’t break his spirit -- I just kept pummeling him in the head and making the cuts bigger. His head hurt for two months straight. Rafael wanted to fight Phil, so that was the outcome. I didn’t enjoy inflicting those injuries to him but I’ll do it in a heartbeat to my next opponent.”

Despite his darker side, many of Cardella’s buddies affectionately call him “Good Fella’ Cardella” and appreciate the wild streak that continues to live inside of him. He is a former U.S. Marine Corps marksmanship instructor, an ex-skateboarder, an avid hunter, fisherman and snorkeler.

“I go wild pig hunting at night -- I’ll walk around the woods with guns in the middle of the night,” he confessed. “I’ll dive off a 70-foot cliff head first, I’ll go 70 feet underwater without tanks. I guess some people know me a little bit as a wild man, but I’m a good person. I treat others how I want to be treated. I try to live in a very positive manner. I don’t act like an a--hole to anybody and I don’t let any dipshits into my academy. I hold people to standards.”

And Cardella has thus far set a high standard for students who choose to follow in his footsteps. The hard-nosed 155-pounder has compiled a 13-2 record even though he hasn’t fought in nearly two years. Yet Cardella kept training during the layoff and believes he will dictate the fight from the standing position and on the ground.

“He’s going to try to keep it standing, for sure, he’s not going to like it standing because he’s a wrestler,” Cardella said of Castillo. “He trains with Urijah and they do strikes – so he’s going to try to punch the hell out me – but that only goes so far. I have sharp shins, sharp elbows, big knuckles and a hard head. I kick hard, I’m going to punch hard, I’m going to elbow hard and knee hard … I think he’s going to get flustered and try to take me down. But it’s hard to beat me up on the ground; I have Relson Gracie jiu-jitsu. It’s hard to get beat up there when you know his style of defense.”