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Mixed Martial Arts Fighter Interviews

September, 2009

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My latest MMA Fighter Interviews

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Travis Browne Kicking Ass and Taking Titles

2/27/2010 2:56:38 PM

Travis Browne Kicking Ass and Taking Titles

Written by Penny Buffington

For the second time in the month of February, 2010 heavyweight mixed martial arts fighter Travis Browne snagged himself a title belt. He explains, “It was the Gladiator Challenge. I fought Aaron Brink. He is a veteran of the sport. He has been around for a long time. He has over 40 fights and I just had to go out there and do what I had to do and send him back into retirement.” The fight that took place on Feb. the 21st ended via knockout 35 seconds into round 1. Aaron had just returned to fighting after 2 years in retirement.

“I’m confident in my skills, also in my size and my athletic ability. I just don’t think he knew what to do with me. Whether or not he clinches and I beat him up in the clinch or I did like I did and pick him up and slam him or whether he wants to stand with me, he was going to get knocked out, so either way it was not good news for him.”

Mr. Brown won the Night of Champions Heavyweight title on Feb the 5^th against Abe Wagner via knockout, 8 seconds into round 1. He said, “I think that fight was a little more satisfying for me. The reason was is because nobody knows of me out there. I was the big underdog. There was a lot of hype around him. I knew going into that fight and my camp knew going into that fight that I was going to just walk through him like I did. Everyone else was saying Travis Browne is going to get his butt kicked and he hasn’t fought anyone that was a real fighter and that kind of stuff. So going into the fight I just knew I wanted to go in there and prove everybody wrong. One of the things that is starting to follow me is that I do not have good hands, because I am a Muay Thai fighter. So I just wanted to go out there and prove to everyone that I do have power in my hands. I think I knocked him out twice in the 8 seconds!”

Travis has won all 9 of his fights so far. All but one ended within seconds. The one that did go all 3 rounds turned out to be a good learning experience for Travis. “That fight that went all 3 rounds; he was a tough fighter. That guy was just durable and he knew how to use the cage. The whole fight I was chasing him and trying to find him. He did a good job of wearing me out. That fight the most helped me to mature as a fighter.” The fight was against Mychal Clark at Bellator Fighting Championships 8 in June of 2009. Travis won by unanimous decision.

Travis tells me, “I’m 6’ 7”. My last fight I weighed in at 261.”

Browne is proud to be a member of the Alliance Training Center located in Chula Vista, CA. “I train with Brandon Vera at the Alliance Training Center. We have a stable force at Alliance. We have Phil Davis, Joey Beltran; Phil just beat Brian Stan in the UFC. Joey beat Rolles Gracie. Krzysztof Soszynski who just beat Stephen Bonner, Brandon Vera, also we have the Nogueira brothers come through. At Alliance Training Center there is not one fighter that can go there and have a good day. There is always somebody there that can catch you and beat you up a little bit. I’m really confident in our camp there is nothing really stopping us right now.”

His management team is NCFC Elite, Inc. “Jeff Clark is my management. He has been doing wanders with me; lining me up, picking the right fights, at this point he has basically helped me mature in the last year. I’ve been professional for about a year now so my maturity level has gone up so much. Also I owe that to Alliance as well. I was up north training with a different crew until about maybe April or May of last year and then once I moved down there I was like wow is this how it’s really done. That is where you learn how much you really want to be in this sport because they train you really hard.”

Travis is ready to sign with the UFC? He said, “2010 is going to be a big year. My manager’s phone is starting to ring off the hook. There are some big organizations that want me to go out and fight for them. We are trying to lock down what promotion is best for me. For me I would like to fight for the most prestigious promotion out there but it all has to make sense as well. I’m young in the sport and I have a lot to offer so we will be making that decision shortly.”

When asked if he could pick an opponent he would like to fight in the near future Travis replied, “The guy that has a big bull’s eye on his back right now is Broke Lesnar. I think there is a new generation of heavyweights coming out. I have to give him credit because he has totally reinvented the game.”

When Travis is not training for a fight he is training dogs! He owns his own company that trains K9’s. “I’m a private company and basically what we do for the military is we go out and we train a dog up to a certain level and then we go ahead and sell them the dog. We help prep them and get them ready for whatever they need to do. That is my job. That is what I do now, it’s fun, but I’m ready to start fighting full time.”

I asked Travis if his family and friends support his fighting career and he said, “My wife supports me. She gets nervous but she goes to the shows and is supportive. My boys are always talking about it- Oh daddies a fighter- right dad? My best friend’s son is a little older and more understands the sport and he says- Uncle Travis you are like a superhero.”

To wrap up the interview the 27 year old gave thanks to his fans. “Thank you for all the support. I know 2010 is going to be a big year.” Impressive is his professional mixed martial arts record of 9 wins with no losses, his size, youth, ambition, and the fact that his last 3 fights added up to 52 second in the cage, 17 seconds was all he needed to claim 2 titles within weeks of each other. I’m thinking his career is about to explode.

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Hermes Franca Retires from MMA

1/9/2010 1:55:06 PM

Former UFC Fighter Hermes Franca is Teaching Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in Liverpool NY.

Written by: Penny Buffington

for Scotsman Press

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Hermes Franca with his teaching partner Guybson Sa

Former UFC lightweight fighter Hermes Franca recently announced his retirement from mixed martial arts competitions and has relocated to Liverpool, NY. This is an incredible opportunity for Onondaga County and surrounding areas. Hermes is teaching Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at a gym in Bayberry Plaza called East West Combat Club.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a martial art, combat sport and a form of self-defense that focuses on grappling and ground fighting. Achieving a dominant position on the ground is one of the hallmarks of the BJJ style. It was derived from the Japanese martial art of Kodokan Judo in the early 20th century. The Gracie family continued to develop the system throughout the 20th century, during which it increased its focus on ground fighting and refined its techniques.

It promotes the principle that a smaller, weaker person can successfully defend themselves against a bigger, stronger assailant using leverage and proper technique. Jiu Jitsu can be trained for sport grappling tournaments (gi and no-gi) and mixed martial arts (MMA) competition or self-defense.

The Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu also known as BJJ ranking system awards a practitioner different colored belts to signify increasing levels of technical knowledge and practical skill.

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Hermes Franca, Guybson Sa and students

Franca a former UFC lightweight contender and WEC lightweight title holder talks about his decision to retire, "It's really hard in my situation to train and teach. I made my decision because you have to spend a lot to be a full time fighter. I go to some camp and stay there for 6 weeks before a fight and it is expensive. I have to travel and bring some fighters. The food is really expensive to eat well. Twenty percent of your purse has to go to taxes and another ten or twenty for your manager. Another ten or twenty percent for expenses and pretty soon you've got nothing."

"I want to try to keep more to my business side. It's not a big business. I'm not saying I’m going to be a millionaire but that is what I like to do. I make a living. I know every month I'm going to have my money.”

Injury is a constant concern for a professional MMA Fighter. Hermes knows all too well injury’s can be costly. "After I hurt my knee I thought of retiring. Sometimes when you train hard and get hurt and have to stop for a year or six months it’s hard. Sometimes you do not know how you are going to pay your bills. That is what you do when you are a full time fighter; you do not have another job. I am a good Brazilian Jiu Jitsu instructor so I am going to take advantage of that."

He goes on to explain, "I'm still going to compete at Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and grappling events and I'm going to teach. That's what I like to do; run my Brazilian Jiu Jitsu program and maybe you will see me outside the cage cornering some of the fighters.” Hermes mixed martial arts record stands at 19 wins and 9 losses.

The 35-year-old native of Fortaleza, Brazil says, "Liverpool is a small city but the East West Combat Club is huge. It's all over the United States. Actually it started out United Professionals; that is a company that teaches you how to run your own business. They invited me to do the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu program. A lot of schools are interested in BJJ and my program.”

He also adds, "I'm doing what I like to do so I'm blessed."

Whether you want to get in shape or learn self defense or break into the fastest growing sport in the nation you can be taught by a true professional former UFC star right in Liverpool, NY! Stop by or give them a call at 315-715-9417 for information on the mixed martial arts, karate facility and all it has to offer.

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Hermes Franca

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Cung Le Interview

9/19/2009 8:39:29 AM

Cung Le is a Man of Many Talents

Interview with Cung Le by Penny Buffington

The multi-talented Cung Le discusses his decision to give up his belt in order to concentrate on his acting career. “I decided to vacate my belt. I have been out of action in the cage for the last 17 months. I felt like the right thing to do- the honorable thing to do- is to vacate the belt so the top competitors in the Strikeforce middleweight division could compete for the actual belt, not the interim belt. Because I don’t feel that it is right for me to keep doing movies while everyone is waiting around or fighting for an interim belt. I sat down with my promoter Scott Coker and we worked it out.”

Coming to the decision was not easy especially considering his long standing relationship with Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker. “It was a very difficult decision. I have been fighting and competing in martial arts since 1994. I turned pro in 1998. I have been with Scott Coker since 1998 when I signed with him. He put me on ESPN 2 on Strikeforce Kickboxing and made me fight for titles in super fights. Also we went over to K1 USA to do super fights and then when he opened up the mixed martial arts Strikeforce division I was part of his first show and my last show with him was against Frank Shamrock.”

Just because I vacated the belt does not mean I am retiring I plan to come back early next year. With everything that has been going on with me the last year and a half I have been able to do movies at the same time fight. But as the parts get bigger and the rolls get more demanding I came to that fork in the road where I basically had to make a decision and my decision right now is to strike while the iron is hot and do the best I can do in the world of entertainment, movies and stuff.”

In fact one such movie Cung is in, Pandorum will be released this Fri. September 25, 2009. Le explains, “Basically the movie starts in this massive space ship. The 2 min. trailer talks about there are 60 thousand people and 500 years. It’s like a Noah’s Ark going to a livable planet. They have every nationality on this ship in sleep chambers that will keep them young and healthy so when they do get there they will wake everyone up and re-building begins. But, somewhere along the lines during that time frame people start waking up and the 2 crew members Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster when they wake up they think they are alone. They don’t remember anything of what they were supposed to have done because they have been asleep so long. So Dennis Quaid is guiding Ben Foster through the vents. Along the way Foster notices there are other people and craziness going on and I save them in my opening scene and we team up and we explore the ship.”

Obviously Cung Le did not just walk on to a set and snatch up a movie roll without putting in a whole lot of effort. “I have been taking acting lessons since 1998 off and on. I have gotten more serious in the last 2 years. I have been working with private acting coaches. I knew when I got the part in Pandorum that it was going to be no easy task. Most of my scenes were shared with Ben Foster. My manager told me he has known Ben since he was 17 and they call him the scene stealer as you can see in Alpha Dog and 3:10 to Yuma he stole the show from whoever he shared the screen with and I did not want that to happen to me. I made sure that even for the audition I had time to prepare for it. I trained just like I would be training for a fight. Morning and night putting myself on tape, getting with my private acting coach and doing scene study. When I got to the audition I knocked my audition out of the park and they cast me for a roll that was supposed to be Japanese. They couldn’t find the right Japanese so they opened it to all Asians and I beat out all the top Asian actors that went out for the part. The director Christian Alvart told me a lot of people auditioned. I was excited and I knew that was just the beginning of a lot of really hard work because now it’s “go time”. I get to go toe to toe with Ben Foster so it was pretty awesome.” You can view a complete list of movies Cung Le has been in and will be in the coming year at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1087183/

As with many professionals Le has a family he has to distribute his time to as well. “I have 2 boys, Cung Michael is 8 and Anthony Ryan is now 4. I got married in August to Susan. She was my rehab therapist before we started dating. I had a major hamstring injury. She was the therapist at Score Clinic. We became friends and one thing lead to another and now we are married.”

Cung Le may have given up his Strikeforce middleweight title spot but they will never actually take his belt. He told me, “They make a new belt every time. Lucky for me I have a nice Strikeforce Middleweight belt really no one can ever take.”

“When I come back I plan to be in the best shape and hopefully not to have too much rust. I will take it one day at a time, one fight at a time, and one movie at a time. Right now it is all about promoting Pandorum. I’ve got a few days before it gets released and Overture Films was kind enough to do a little premiere in San Jose for me at the AMC Mercado. They added a Q&A after for the media. It starts at 11:30.” Media please contact AMC Mercado for the date.

Here are 5 things you may not know about Mr. Le: “I think I’m a funny guy. I let my sons win every day when we play either baseball or football. I have sweet tooth for chocolate. I am grateful everyday I wake up. I’m a Round 5 -series 4 -action figure. It’s pretty cool”

Wrapping up the interview Cung thanks his supporters. “Thank you for all your support and for sticking by me. When I come back I will make sure that I am in shape. I always come in ready to fight; and win, lose, or draw, I will be ready to put them spinning back kicks with full affect when I get back into the cage.”

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