BBL lovers rock: “Maybe I’m arrogant. I don’t care.”

Hotspawn spoke with BBL player Umut “lovers rock” Pekdoğan after his team defeated and eliminated FURIA in a close series to stay alive in the lower bracket at VCT Masters Santiago.

Hotspawn: So you’ve just defeated FURIA and will continue through the lower bracket.

How does it feel to win today?

Lovers rock: It feels good. Amazing. I didn’t play well but I’m very thankful to my teammates. They were great today and had my back. Next game if someone has a bad game, anyone from our team can get his back.

If feels amazing, the crowd is amazing cheering for us.

Hotspawn: You had a lot of fans today chanting BBL.

Lovers rock: Yes, it’s surprising because we are from the other side of the world as a Turkish team, and we were playing against a South American team and Brazil has a very big community, but we had some fans. It felt very good.

Hotspawn: Yeah, I think the record in the screaming booth is for BBL today. Somebody got like 380. So you know you have the record for the loudest fan.

Lovers rock: Oh, that’s impressive. What can I say? Thanks to everyone who screamed or supported us.

Hotspawn: On map one today you guys looked super confident. On map two it was close. But on map three, even though you had that huge advantage after the first half, FURIA were able to come back. This was kind of similar to your game against NRG yesterday.

So what do you think is the difficulty sometimes for your team in being able to close a map out?

Lovers rock: Sometimes when we start to come back, sometimes we need to change our play style because — I’m not going to say all the things obviously — but sometimes we do the same mistakes like we did yesterday. But it’s okay.

I also believe that maybe it was the pressure of yesterday. We got comebacked yesterday and maybe it pressured us today as well. I’m not sure though. Maybe I felt it, maybe one of my teammates felt it. I’m not sure. But maybe that’s what happened and that’s why we couldn’t close the games as we should.

Hotspawn: You still closed it out in the end. So when you saw eeiu fall off the map to ground,

What was your reaction?

Lovers rock: I mean I didn’t care because I needed to be in the game. I was looking at my crosshair trying to get where Astra is.

Hotspawn: Locked in.

Lovers rock: Yeah, locked in. I was locked in. I heard my teammates yelling like “ha ha ha ha,” laughing at him falling, setting up a 4v1. Lar0k, Crewen, Rose. And yeah, it was good, but I needed to lock in.

😔 https://t.co/L4NEvKxK90 pic.twitter.com/Qd2O5XHK1G

— VALORANT Champions Tour (@ValorantEsports) March 8, 2026

Hotspawn: Today Lar0k on map two was just having a beast of a game. You two play the double duelist on the team. You’re always right there to follow up. He makes perfect space for you.

So how do you build that synergy?

Lovers rock: I mean he’s my brother. We are always together. We even have the same shirts with our girlfriends on them. And Lar0k is literally the best. In the full duelist meta, Lar0k is the best entry. So what can I say? He’s the best.

Hotspawn: A lot of the team’s really good rounds come from you and the Operator with the Yoru.

So how does your team put you in position to get maximum value from that in this meta?

Lovers rock: We have always analysed the enemy team. Our assistant coach and head coach always know what they do and they tell me where their gap is, and I try to always catch the gap.

Hotspawn: You said there wasn’t really anything to learn from that match versus NRG and that they weren’t a superteam. Those quotes are doing the rounds on social media and lot of people called you arrogant. Then today you won. So what do you think, is it just confidence?

Will you do this for another four rounds and get to that grand final?

Lovers rock: I mean, we will do it. No problem. And yeah, maybe I’m arrogant. I don’t care. I needed to say it because they are not a superteam. I’m saying it again. They were good, not bad, but they were very readable. The haters have been there forever and they will be there forever. So I couldn’t care less about them.

Hotspawn: I think that’s pretty fair.

Lovers rock: I mean they were waiting for us to lose today. They were expecting a loss. We got the win today, so I don’t care.

Hotspawn: Your team is incredibly energetic on stage.

How do you keep that mentality?

Lovers rock: We are just built like that because if we show we are getting down, the enemy will have the momentum. So we try to not give them momentum.

Hotspawn: Several of you had offers from other teams but stayed together.

How does it feel to win with this roster?

Lovers rock: It feels amazing because if it was another team, another player, they would 100% take the offers, I’m not gonna lie. Knowing my teammates rejected offers gives you incredible energy and motivates you.

Hotspawn: You’re going to be playing your next game against either All Gamers or Gentle Mates.

Would you rather play Gentle Mates again or the Chinese team?

Lovers rock: Since the tournament started, I wanted to play against marteen and win against him as well because he’s a good player doing an amazing job at the moment. Winning against him, for me, would feel better than any other team. Not Gentles Mates, Gentle Mates sucks, marteen is good. It would feel better than if we won against NRG.