Faith through the eye of the “Nightmare”
XFC 8: Regional Conflict; Bruce “The Noose” Connors
XFC 8: Regional Conflict will be on HDNet Sat. April 25th. The main event will be the featherweight championship title bout between undefeated Bruce “The Noose” Connors (7-0) and Jarrod “The Wild Card” Card (7-3-1). Bruce “tells us, “It’s for the featherweight title for the XFC and it is going to be on HDNet Television live.
I explained to Connors that XFC founder John Prisco has been heard expressing great excitement over this match-up to which Bruce replied,
“I know he is excited about the fight. He is excited I am fighting for the title. He put his faith into me and that means a lot because I have been looking to have someone to put their faith into me and to have my back and to promote me and with what he is doing he has done a fabulous job so far.”
Bruce has won all but 1 of his 7 fights by some form of choke gaining him his nick name.
“It’s Bruce “The Noose” Connors because some of the guys from my SWAT TEAM started calling me “The Noose” because I kept winning fights by chocking. It was one of the guys I work with and from there it traveled to one of my fights and everybody kind of picked it up”.
His intentions for the fight are,
“Basically to keep it my fight and stay calm and stick to my game plan. Nothing fancy just go out there be determined and win the fight.”
Bruce gave some background on himself.
“I went into the marine core right out of high school and I tried out for “Snipers” while I was in there. It is an elite unit that you have to actually try out for. You can’t just go in and enter as a Marine sniper. I did 2 tours overseas and while I was in there I actually met a guy that was into Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He was basically a beginner. At any free time which wasn’t much we rolled around. It was something that I had wanted to do previously because I had watched the first UFC but I just never knew actually how to get into it. When I got out of the Marine Core I got into Law Enforcement and that actually gave me the time to start looking around. I actually went down to one of the fights down south Florida and that is where I hooked up with Marcio Simas who I train with right now and I started getting into it!”
“I’m still working for the police department I am a sniper on the SWAT TEAM it takes up a lot of my time but if I’m not working then I’m training. I train with Marcio Simas and Gustavo Muggiati.” (Gracie Barra Orlando Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Academy Orlando, FL) “The Noose” goes on to explain,
“They are both black belts in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. I trainMMA under them and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and I also train at Dan’s Boxing in Kissimmee. Daniel Soto is the boxing coach over there.”
“The Noose” has helpful supporters.
“I have a fiancé who is ride or die for me. She doesn’t necessarily like the idea of me being hurt but she appreciate that I am dedicated to it and all my family has been to all my fights. My brother is right there with me. He trains a lot of the time right beside me and helps me prepare for the fights.”
If Bruce can gain this title to add to his already achieved Cage Warriors title the possibilities may start to open up turning him from police officer to full time fighter.
“I would hope so and hopefully Remington my manager can make that happen. He has been doing a great job so far.”As for the fight this Sat. Connors finished the interview letting us know, “It should be a brutal but quick fight.”
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Mike Brown first time defending his title
World Extreme Cagefighting- Brown vs Garcia will air live on Versus Sunday, March 1st at 9:00 PM ET. The current featherweight title holder Mike Brown 20 - 4 - 0 puts his title on the line against 12-3- 0 Leonard "Bad Boy" Garcia.” In an exclusive interview Mike says, “It’s time to put the finishing touches on things and get ready to battle.”
Brown won the title after defeating Urijah Faber back in Nov. Mike said he felt good going into the Faber fight. “Yeah of course I felt good. I was in good shape and everything was in place and it was just time to go out and fight. I knew that if I performed well I would win and if I didn’t I would lose. That is kind of how the game is.”
Having to defend his title for the first time must be stressful. Brown explains, “It’s a little more stress but winning the title opens up a lot of other things and allows me to concentrate more on fighting the money is a little better now and the sponsors are a little better now so I can focus more on training and not worry about making money other places so in some ways there is a little more stress but in some ways there is a little less stress.”
Mike enjoys most about the sport, “Just the growth of it. I can watch fights almost every night on TV now. It used to be you had to wait 4 months to see a show and every UFC was like Christmas day and now I can watch fights almost every night of the week. I love it.”
Mike least enjoys, “The aches, the pains, the injuries, and all that comes with it. I’m 33 you know. I’ve put a lot of time in and it’s rough on your body. My body is a little banged up but it’s still holding together. That is the toughest part.”
Motivation is not a problem, “Every fight has its own motivations. But now each fight, for me, is bigger than any fight I have ever had before. So it is pretty easy to stay motivated. I have a lot of cool fans and a lot of cool friends that really support me so I fight for them as well.”
Mike grew up in Maine but chose to move to Florida to further his fighting career. “I came down here for training. I was bouncing around at a bunch of places trying to get everything together. Every place had a few good guys, but if you have a couple of guys who are sick or injured or something, you don’t really have much when you have a small camp. I had great guys to work with, but I didn’t have a lot of depth. Down here, it was many world class lightweights especially. So you come down here you train; you got a couple of guys sick or injured you still have another fighter-great training partner at your weight class. I train at American Top Team down in Coconut Creek, Fl. I’m trained by Marcos Da Mattareal real good Jui Jitsu guy, Ricardo Liborio, Howard Davis Jr., Ouali Mohammed, Conan Silveira and Darrell Gholar.”
“My game plan is simple. I do what I do every fight. I go out, swing hard, and try to hurt the guy. If it goes to the ground, try to be on top. That’s real simple stuff. I train every day with great guys. I work on my striking, my ground, and my takedowns it fits any opponent. Now a day’s guys are pretty much well rounded so you kind of just have to go in and fight your fight.”
I asked Mike to tell me about a crazy moment he has had in the sport, “The sport attracts a lot of crazy people. I mean like mostly fighters. Even if you start out being kind of normal, years of fighting, I think kind of changes you and makes people a little crazy. One thing that freaked me out; One time I was supposed to fight in K1 Heroes. I showed up to fight the guy at 155 which is above my weight and when I arrived they changed my opponent to a guy who was 185. It was my first time in Japan and I was really nervous and they really tried to force me to fight him and I was like no! I will fight somebody else at 155 but I’m not fighting at 185 and they offered me more money and they wouldn’t leave me alone! I didn’t think I was going to make it out of Japan alive! It was a weird situation. They even said we will make it a gentleman’s agreement –no striking so it would be a mma match with no punches. I was like this isn’t going to fly man.”
Mike describes himself as, “I’m a simple guy. Like everybody else, I like to hang out with my buddy’s and that’s it. There is not a lot. It is what you see.”
“Thanks to American Top Team and thanks to Champion Nutrition and thanks to Tapout those are the people that got me to who I am today and I appreciate everything they have done.”
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My Interviews Sponsored by Chuck "the Iceman" Liddell- IcemanRX.com
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Bad Boy for life: A conversation with WEC 39 headliner Leonard Garcia
WEC 39: “Brown vs. Garcia” is set to go off from the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas, tonight live on the Versus network beginning at 9:30 p.m. ET.
Featherweight champion Mike Thomas Brown will defend his title for the first time since knocking off superstar Urijah Faber back in November. He’ll face the heavy-handed Greg Jackson trainee, Leonard “Bad Boy” Garcia in the night’s main event.
Garcia made a name for himself at UFC 69 when he went back and forth for three rounds with Roger Huerta in a brawl that was awarded “Fight of the Year” by the promotion. Garcia lost the decision that night, but certainly left his mark as a scrappy and talented fighter.
Feeling a little too small to compete with the endlessly talented roster of fighters in the UFC’s lightweight division, he made the move to the Zuffa-owned WEC in order fight at his more natural weight of 145 pounds.
That decision to this point has worked out great for the Lubbock, Texas native. In his two fights under the WEC banner, he’s put down top ten fighters Hiroyuki Takaya at WEC 32 and Jens “Lil’ Evil” Pulver at WEC 36 - both by first round knockout.
Garcia has undoubtedly earned his spot as the number one contender and his shot at the division crown. But as he explains, he couldn’t have done it without the support of one of the best training camps in all of mixed martial arts.
“We have a pretty good team out here. Greg Jackson is my coach and trainer. We train at Jackson’s MMA in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It’s the same camp as GSP, Nate Marquardt, Rashad Evans, Keith Jardine, myself, “Cowboy” Cerrone, Damacio Page and Dwayne Ludwig. I’m physically really ready. It’s just the fact that you’re fighting for a title. It’s kind of a bitter sweet thing. It’s really good, but then you get really nervous too. It’s working out good though. I’m training really hard. I have a really good camp. Now I am just focusing on getting my weight down and I think it is going to be a good night for me.”
WEC 39 marks the first trip to the “Lone Star State” for the Zuffa-owned promotion, and Garcia couldn’t be happier. While Corpus Christi is not exactly right around the corner from Lubbock, any Texan worth his weight in spurs will tell you it’s all the same.
“I live here. Me and ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone are renting a house down here. We rent it all year round but we have a really good relationship with the landlord lady and we kind of have it as a camp house. When people come in from out of town they all stay here. It’s a good place to have and the rent is cheap so it works out perfect when we have to be here three to four months at a time. My little brother moved down here also. He had his first fight and he came down here and ended up moving all his furniture down. It’s a lot better because I get to keep an eye on him, make sure he’s doing right. My youngest brother, he actually stayed back. He has a management position at his job and he just likes to watch us fight. He’s not really interested in becoming a fighter so he stays home and helps pay the rent on the house that we all own together down there. So he is there in a three bedroom house all alone. But he’s got a girlfriend now, so it’s all good.”
While at first glance, the “Bad Boy” moniker that Garcia embraces would appear to come from his bad intentions inside the cage, but it actually stems from a popular logo that was an early sponsor for UFC fighters that Garcia watched as he cut his teeth in the early days of the sport.
“Back in the early 90’s when I started fighting, all the UFC guys used to wear BADBOY shorts. You know, it had the eyes and some how, some way when I was like 16 or 17, I just graduated from high school and I got a BADBOY tattoo. You know the little eyes, the little mouth, and the same logo as on the shorts. I got it on my arm. I just liked the logo man. They have since offered [me a sponsorship] but I have been with TAPOUT for so long. It’s kind of one of those things where I try to be really loyal. It would be cool to be sponsored by BADBOY, but my loyalty lies with TAPOUT. Those two are kind of like UFC and Affliction, they are at each other’s throats. There is no way BADBOY would allow TAPOUT or TAPOUT would allow BADBOY to logo their stuff on them.”
That sort of competitive fire resonates with the 29-year-old Garcia, who is no stranger to sports. Aside from playing high school football, Leonard of course was a lightweight scrapper in the UFC 155-pound division in the not-too-distant past. All for the sake of competition, says Garcia.
“For me it is the competitive part of it. You know, you get ready as a team. You do everything together up until that point. Even the walk up the tunnel is a team thing. But when the bell rings it’s you and him. There is no other sport that is that competitive. It’s a one-on-one deal. There is no one else that is going to be able to help you out. It’s just you, and you have to rely on everything you’ve done with your team to come out as a winner, but in the end it is all up to you. So that is what I love about it, just the fact there is no one to blame but yourself. I think that is the best way because I used to played football throughout high school growing up and there would be times when we would lose a game and I played really well but somebody else would do really bad and I would think to myself ‘Man if he would have done his job we would have won’ and that would eat me up. Now it is just up to me so it doesn’t eat me up unless I lose.”
And losing in front of his hometown crowd is not an option. Still, Garcia recognizes the very real threat in front of him. Being able to dethrone former featherweight kingpin Urijah Faber seemed like an impossible task, until Mike Thomas Brown brushed off the hype and answered a flashy elbow with a crushing right.
“Mike Brown is a really strong wrestler, decent stand-up. He’s well rounded. He is pretty much the toughest opponent I have faced in my whole life. Coming into the fight I just want to make things harder for him. He is comfortable wrestling. I want to make the wrestling tough for him. I want to try to out-wrestle him, move away from him, keep him off his game and make him uncomfortable. So if he wants to wrestle, I want to make it the hardest wrestling match he’s ever been in. Of course my go-to thing is striking. I love kickboxing. Without giving up too much of the game plan I definitely want to try and out wrestle him. Everybody knows when we start the fight we start out on our feet so I’m hoping to get a kickboxing match out of him also.”
Like Roger Huerta, who Leonard became close friends with following their fight at UFC 69, Garcia has nothing but respect for Brown and could see them becoming friends outside of the cage - even if they have to destroy each other inside it.
“Under different circumstances, if we trained at the same camp, I think me and Mike would be one of the closer guys. We would probably be great friends. He would be one of the top guys on my list to call over and hang out with. He is a really good guy. The thing is, we are in the business of fighting and we have to fight each other, it’s already slotted. We’re going to be friends after the fight, there’s no bad blood between us. But we are definitely going to come after each other. He has something that I want and he wants to keep what he has. It’s a great sport that we can be friends and have camaraderie like this and still go in there and try to rip each other’s heads off.”
And it all goes down tonight. Remember, MMAmania.com will provide live coverage of the action beginning with the 9:30 p.m. telecast on Versus as well as up-to-the-minute quick results of the entire undercard.
Interview with Rashad Evans: "They want me. It kind of makes me a little paranoid, but at the same time, I like paranoia.”
Undefeated UFC fighter, Rashad Evans finished the year with a record of 13 wins no losses and 1 draw. He also dominated Forrest Griffin at UFC 92 on Dec 27th 2008 to become the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. I asked Rashad what happens as soon as you become the champ. He said, “They rush you off to a press conference. Then after that you get rushed to your after party and then you try to get some rest. But first, party all night.”
Since winning the title Rashad has been very busy with press obligations. Where he was born in Buffalo N.Y, they gave him the key to the city and their local newspaper The Niagara Gazette chose Rashad as the athlete of the year. Rashad said, “That was quite surprising to be honest. I didn’t expect any of that. To have my home town: it was a beautiful thing. Just because in Niagara Falls sometimes you don’t get the recognition you think you should get. I never really paid too much attention because my mom would be like the Niagara Falls Gazette doesn’t have anything about you fighting. I don’t know if it was because I moved to Michigan or whatever the case may be but they weren’t really following me to well and to have that finally from them to be: you’re the athlete of the year. That was pretty cool I liked that.
The fight was 2 days after Christmas so I asked Rashad if he had, had a chance to celebrate the holidays yet. “Not really to be honest. I’m just getting back to my family and the domestic issues. I’m trying to take care of them because they supported me for the whole training and preparation for the fight. They gave me the space and time I needed to focus so I’m just trying to give some time to them so I can do it again in a few months. “Mac Danzig: Not playing for points against Josh Neer at UFC Fight Night 17
Like any fighter with a family there is great sacrifice and separation. Rashad lives in Michigan yet he trains down in Albuquerque, New Mexico at Jacksons Mixed Martial Arts. I asked him if he packs up the family and takes them with him when he goes. “Yeah I do. Sometimes I will have them come out for a little bit. But to be at my best you have to be kind of selfish. To be selfish around your family is a really hard thing. Your child doesn’t understand you have a fight coming up, you know, he wants to play with you. He doesn’t want to see you sleep during the day because he wants to play and your wife she wants attention too. They don’t understand those things and it’s not for them to understand when you are with them your role with them is totally different. You’re not a fighter, you’re a husband and you’re a dad, and you have to fulfill that role. That can be exhausting to do when you are training for a fight and everything is about being in tune to you, being in tune with your body. How is your body feeling? How sore are you? Is everything ok? And to be selfish comes with being a fighter and does not go hand in hand with trying not to be selfish when trying to fulfill those other rolls.”
Rashad says before a fight he likes to train for an 8 week period. He explains, “I like to do an 8 week camp. Not because it takes 8 weeks, but because sometimes when you are in camp you may have a week or so where you get hurt or injured. Then, you know, you may need a little time to rest up and get your body ready. My camp always presents new obstacles for me. I’ve never had a camp where I wasn’t banged up at least a little bit where I needed to take a few days off. So having an 8 week camp allows me to not worry if I have a couple days off. It makes it so I don’t have to push it when I get a bruise or something that needs a couple of days to heal. When you do a 6 week camp, when you get a bump or bruise, you try to push through it. Sometimes that is not the best thing to do when you have got an injury.”
Where does Rasahd work out when he isn’t at Greg Jackson camp? “We have this hole in the wall little gym, that myself and this guy, Matt Torres, who got me into fighting, we fight at. It is just about a handful of people, 5 or 6 people: we just go in there and train. We are not trying to make any money, just a place where we can go and bang each other up.”
29 year old Evans has a degree in psychology. I asked him if it helps him with the sport. “It helps me a lot. It helps me more or less, it sounds crazy enough, just to try and deal with me. Sometimes I’m actually a little lost. I’m a little insecure. My mind starts playing tricks on you when you have so much pressure on you. You have a big fight coming up, different thing, where you really have to be able to talk yourself into a good mental state. It also helps me play little games on people and stuff like that too. You know kind of mess with them a little bit.”
Rashad found a way to have confidence in himself before his fight against former champion Forrest. “I was feeling really confident. The confidence comes with being comfortable with the fact that how the fight may go no matter what. You know, I may go in there and have the best fight of my life. But I also may have the worst one. I can go in there and get knocked out. Or get beat to a pulp. That can happen. But once you are comfortable with that and that is a hard thing to get comfortable with. But once you get comfortable to really, really sit and think about it. Then you kind of free yourself to be confident and say whatever happen, happens. Because you can live with yourself either way and you try to go in there and you try to perform to the best of our abilities. If you win that is excellent. That is how you visualized it. But if you don’t, then you have got to go and work on things that make you better.”
I reminded Rashad though he has been holding the belt for a mere 9 days the line has already started to form for those who want to take it from him. I mentioned Forrest, Rampage and Chuck Liddell told the Sun Sentinel, “He has got the belt and I’ll take it.” Rashad’s reply was, “I think that is exactly how he is supposed to feel. I like that fact that he wants to take the belt. Because that is what is going to keep me up at night, when I feel like going to sleep early. That is going to make me hop on that elliptical and buff out a little. Because I know they are on my heals. They want to be the one to beat me and give me my first lose and take the belt! They want me. It kind of makes me a little paranoid, but at the same time, I like paranoia.”
The interview ended with Rashad giving thanks. “I would like to thank the fans that support me because being a Rashad Evans fan is NOT an easy thing. Sometimes it may cause you to have an argument or a fight. I appreciate my fans for sticking with me and believing in me. Thank everybody else just for watching MMA and making the sport what it is today without them I wouldn’t be anything.”
Mac Danzig traveled around the world and back again before winning season six of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF). And he has yet to hit the ripe old age 30.
He already has a lifetime of experience in mixed martial arts, winning 18 professional bouts in 23 career contests. It’s safe to say, however, that the former King of the Cage and Gladiator Challenge title holder did not become a well-known name among casual fans until his winning performance on the Spike TV series back in late 2007.
Better late than never.
“It definitely made me recognizable,” Danzig explained in an exclusive interview with MMAMania.com. “I don’t know if it is always in a good light [laughs] … the way things went on the show. It definitely put my name out there and got me on the map. Instead of as before the hard core fans knew who I was. But being on the show got me the mainstream attention, which is one of the main reasons why serious fighters try to get on the show — to give their career a bit of a boost and a jump start.
For Danzig, the opportunity also meant that he could focus full-time on what he liked to do best, fight, rather than trying to squeeze it all in while trying to make ends meet elsewhere.
“I was successful with it and I was able to put myself in a position where I’m finally fighting for a living, which is really nice,” he said. “Before I had a couple other jobs at any given time. Just to survive, pay the rent and get gas and food and everything. Now I actually have a career with fighting for the first time in my life. Money isn’t everything but it’s defiantly a plus for me because now I can concentrate on training and on nothing else. That is what you need at this level. The guys I am fighting in the UFC right now, there is no time to be doing other jobs and things like that. You have got to have 100 percent of your time focused.”
Indeed, Danzig’s next fight will be against fellow veteran Josh Neer at Ultimate Fight Night 17 from the University of South Florida (USF) Sun Dome in Tampa, Fla., later on this evening. And it may be his stiffest test to date inside the Octagon despite losing a unanimous decision to Clay Guida his last time out.
“Josh Neer is a tough guy,” he said. “What can I say? I have watched film on him. I’ve been seeing a few of his fights here and there throughout the years. He is well rounded. He is good at everything and not particularly excellent at any one thing. But his wresting is good, his stand up is good, his submissions are good. It is one of those things where I don’t have a clear advantage anywhere. He is a very tough dude so it should be a good scrap. I’m just looking forward to fighting someone that wants to keep moving and having an exciting fight.”
Perhaps that’s a dig at “The Carpenter” — Guida smothered Danzig for most of the three-round fight with a relentless wrestling attack. It was a frustrating loss and one that Danzig wants to put behind him as soon as possible.
There is only one way to do that: Get into a good scrap, put on a show for the fans and hope to walk away the winner when all is said and done. He shouldn’t have a problem regarding the first two points — Neer is a 25-year-old competitor who also already has a lifetime of experience with a solid record (24-7-1).
He also has a recent arrest record.
Neer was accused of drinking and driving and arrested after a car chase on New Year’s Eve night. Police had to use stop sticks to flatten the tires of Neer’s car to end the pursuit. He was charged with a DUI and eluding police.
For a time it was unclear whether or not Neer would be allowed to compete at UFC Fight Night 17. The uncertainty didn’t rattle Danzig.
“When that whole thing first happened I took a wait and see attitude,” he said. “I waited like a day or two and once a few statements were released by his management I kind of realized that this was just a thing for him. He will probably have a court date after the fight sometime and he will have to deal with that. He will probably end up with some fines, who knows, but I kind of had a feeling that I knew it wouldn’t really affect the fight.”
And for Danzig, he says it’s really none of his business in the first place. All he cares about is Neer continuing to train and coming in the best shape possible to fight him.
“He is not the type of guy to pull out and knowing that he was out of jail I knew he would get back to the gym and train and fight,” Danzig said about his opponent. “To be honest, the way I look at it, it is not really a whole lot of my business as long as he is in the gym and training which I know he is. So that is all I’m worried about. Whatever goes on in his personnel life I’m not judging the guy. I don’t live my life that way but, to each his own. I knew for a second he may not be able to fight and I said to myself, I now the UFC will give me a replacement, so I just kept doing my thing.”
What is his business is his growing family — Danzig and his girlfriend, Angeline Grace, recently had a child together. As any new father would tell you, it is one of the most difficult challenges imaginable. But he’s up to the task, knowing that he is now fighting for way more than just himself and training partners.
Diapers are expensive.
“I just had my first baby, a daughter, on Nov 16,” he said. “It has definitely changed my life — she is everything to me. It is probably the best thing that has ever happened to me. It is a huge undertaking and it is something you can never quite totally prepare for. It is just one of those things, when it happens, you got to go with it.”
Fortunately for her, she takes after her mother.
“She is extremely cute — one of the most adorable baby’s and I’m not just saying that,” he gushed. “It’s the truth. I really lucked out. I don’t know if she got many of my genes because she is cute but she got Angeline’s. It’s a lot of fun. A lot of hard work but it is definitely rewarding. I’m going to do my best to raise her the right way and to watch her live her life. It has been a huge part of my life lately but I haven’t let it be a distraction.”
When he hasn’t been changing dirty diapers and attending to his daddy duties, Danzig has kept himself busy preparing for Neer with the All-Star cast at X-Treme Couture. It’s a gym that is loaded with worldclass talent. which Danzig admits has helped him take his already well-rounded game to exciting new heights.
“It is by far the best gym that I know of in the world right now for anyone in MMA,” he said. “We have the best roster of guys and a lot of guys people haven’t heard of yet that are really really good. They just haven’t come out on the scene yet. We always have a lot of really good pros passing through and training for a week or two. My boxing coach is Gil Martinez. He is also Gray Maynard’s boxing coach. As far as sparring partners go I’ve got Gray Maynard. I’ve got Tyson Griffin. I’ve got Robert Emerson, Martin Kampmann, Jay Hieron, Mike Pyle, John Alessio and Josh Haynes — the list just goes on and on.”
“Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonner are in there quite a bit even though those guys are bigger and I usually don’t do a lot of sparring with them,” he continued, “they are there and we train a little bit.” There are always a lot of good fighters coming through the gym as well. We have Rob McCullough at the gym right now. Sam Stout. The gym is always full of really tough guys.”
Danzig has put in all the hard work and sacrifice. He’s trained alongside some of the best in the business. Now it’s time to lay it all on the line and see if Neer can handle it. Based on what he’s been through and what he’s seen, Danzig does not think he will.
“The game plan is not to necessarily worry about him and his style,” he said. “I watch tape. I have a pretty good idea on what he is going to do but the main game plan is for me to just fight my fight and impose my will. Like I said I am just looking forward to getting in there with someone who isn’t trying to stall or play for points. I’m just going to go at it and not really worry about him or what he brings.”
Jeremy Stephens Interview post knock out- Rafael dos Anjos
Jeremy Stephens threw a devastating upper cut at UFC 91 COUTURE vs LESNAR that brought Rafael Dos Anjos crashing to the floor in a very dramatic fashion. The lightweight was so excited he ran face first with great velocity into the octagon cage bouncing off with force. The event was held Nov 15th at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. After being awarded the Knockout of the Night award Jeremy’s mixed martial arts record stands at 14 wins and 3 losses. With that lose Dos Anjos record is now 11 wins with 3 losses.
Jeremy explains to MMAmania what went on in the locker room while he was waiting his turn to fight, “As usual: getting pumped up. Just going through my regular warm ups. Dancing, moving around, trying to relax, stay calm and just go out there and perform.”
The first round didn’t look so good for Jeremy, “He took me down. I really wasn’t expecting for him to take me down. He is really strong. I was trying to get back up, but he had a really, really tight jui juitsu. I couldn’t move. I’ve been working on getting up but he left no spaces. He did a good job holding me down. Once I was able to reverse, I made a mistake. He capitalized on it. But you know I’m not going to tap. I’ve got to much heart. I have too much on the line.”
The upper cut came 39 seconds into round 3 after Jeremy redeemed himself during round 2. Jeremy tells us how he felt, “Explosive as you could probably tell! I ran into the cage! I was just so hyped up. I have so much going on in my life and it was like I was reborn again. It felt really great.” As to the run in with the cage Jeremy explained, “It left me with a black eye.”
The life of a fighter includes traveling around the country to train with the best in the business, “I met up with Hermes Franca. I flew out to San Diego to Saulo Ribeiro’s gym. We trained with Diego Sanchez a little bit. Went up to Throwdown Elite and trained with Baret Yoshida – not with Baret but with his gym- War Machine. (Former UFC fighter) Moving around allot, then I went back to Davenport to finish up training and then I met Hermes a week before the fight out in Vegas.”
As far as taking time off to enjoy the win Jeremy tells us that isn’t his plan, “The first round I kicked him. It kind of messed up my foot. I’m going to take this week off then on Mon I am going to get right back into the gym. I expect to perform here very soon. Josh Near and Hermes Franca were both in my corner they are going to be fighting in Feb. I’m hoping to spend allot of time with those guys and train and fight maybe on the same card or afterwards.”
‘Lil Heathen” is the nickname given to Jeremy he says it comes from his mom, “My mother! When I was a little kid I was more of a wild man I guess. That is the only way she could describe me. I spent allot of time with her when I was younger. She defiantly made me the best.”
Jeremy attributes some of his success to where he was born, “515 (area code) that is my city: Des Moines Iowa. If you throw a dart in the middle of the United States it would actually land on Des Moines Iowa. That is why we say we have allot of heart because Des Moines Iowa is the heart of the United States.”
Stephens gave shout outs to Cindy at the end of the fight. He explained, “She is my girlfriend of a little bit over a year. Tuesday she flew into Vegas, that week that was our 1 year, and she is currently pregnant. She is a little bit over 4 months and here in 2 weeks we are going to get an ultra sound and find out what sex our baby is. She is a real big help she is always there for me and it was all work for our baby so I had to give her a shout out.”
Jeremy is managed by White Chocolate: http://whitecm.com/ White Chocolate Management. At1901 Harrison Street, Suite #208 Hollywood, FL 33020. Main phone: 954.921.1311
Robert Drysdale UFC coach Interview
Robert Drysdale is a world leader in the Jiu Jitsu game. Now he is bringing that knowledge and his incredible heart and drive to the competition side of mixed martial arts. He told MMAmania about his background, “I grew up in Brazil and Jiu Jitsu is very popular over there. It was getting really popular in like the nineteen ninety’s. I started training. I had some contest in Brazil in 98 and then I graduated high school over there and decided to come back to the United States to go to college. Then I got involved with Jiu Jitsu in Las Vegas and started training really hard and everyone, ( I was only like 17 back then) was like, you know man you’ve got potential, you should take this seriously, your young enough and you’re hungry enough you can be really good at this. I trained in Vegas 99 and 2000. By then I was so into Jiu Jitsu. I was so sure that, that is what I wanted to do with my life that I decided to go back to Brazil for training. Because, at the time; Jiu Jitsu was still developing over here. There weren’t very many competitions maybe 2 or 3 times a year and that was it. In Brazil you could do one every week end if you want. So I decided to move back to Brazil just for competition and I was living in Brazil since. I just recently located to Las Vega. Over there I was able to compete in The Brazilian Championships 6 times; I won that. The World Championship I won that 3 times. The World Cup, 3 times and most recently the Abu Dhabi Combat. Which is: It started out with the Sheik of Saudi Arabia. He is like a big Jiu Jitsu fan. He is the one that started it. It was always an inspiration: oh look at those guys one day I want to be there. Fortunately I got invited in 2007 and fortunately I won the open division which is all the weight classes combined. So I was really happy about that.” For complete details on Roberts Jiu-Jitsu and Grappling Titles: http://robertdrysdale.net/.
Robert isn’t stingy with his Jiu Jitsu knowledge. He has trained some of the best in mixed martial arts, “Frank Mir, I’ve worked with Joe Stevenson. I’m working with Randy now for his upcoming fight [that fight took place at UFC 91 Lesnar Vs Couture.] The whole crew at Extreme Couture: Forrest Griffin, Mike Pyle, and Martin Kampmann. There are lots of guys. I’m always helping everyone out, whoever wants to learn.”
Robert puts his heart and soul into teaching the art of Jiu Jitsu. Drysdale says, “I’m excited. I love teaching and training I have been teaching and training my whole life so this is nothing new to me. I really enjoy sharing my knowledge with people. It’s really rewarding for me to watch my students develop and learn new things. It’s really cool to see a student pull something off that you just taught him. More rewarding then when I get it. It’s the greatest feeling. I really enjoy teaching and its part of learning too.”
Robert tells us of the natural progression from Jiu Jitsu to MMA, “Before I got into Jiu Jitsu back in 98 MMA was something I always had in mind. It’s something I wanted to do. I wanted to do Jiu Jitsu first. I was just so into Jui Jitsu and I was having fun I thought I kind of do not want to do it now I want to get ready I want to be better at this Jui Jitsu first. I started doing well in competition and to me it did not make sense to go to MMA without being accomplished in Jui Jitsu I am not saying if that is wrong or the right idea. To me I just wanted to really win those competitions. It was really important to me to accomplish those things before I went to MMA. I feel I did what I wanted to do and it was just time to move on. It’s time to start all over. In MMA I feel like a beginner like I’m re-learning. In MMA I feel like a white belt. It’s so new to me. It’s so cool. I feel like I am in a position where I have to put my mind into it and learn. Like the other day I was kick boxing and not doing so well and I was like what is going on? You’ve got to remember this is exactly how I felt when I started Jui Jitsu I’m getting beat and I don’t like it. It’s frustrating but you really get your mind into it and you get better as you go. Its fun I like it. I’m having the time of my life. I’ve got a great job. My job is doing what I love so I cannot complain. MMA so far has been a great experience for me.
Robert had his first MMA amateur fight for Tuff N Uff Oct. 17 2008. The fight ended in round one with Robert the victor he explained, “Whenever I prepare myself for something I’ve done well. My fight was a great experience. I was a little nervous. I guess that’s normal. Soon as I was out there it was like, there is no way I am going to lose this fight. I trained too hard for this. I’ve been training for too long. I finished him with an arm bar like in the second minute of the first round. Everything went well as planned exactly the way I wanted it to go. It was a big deal to me; liking it, and I absolutely did. I’m made for this. This is what I was born to do. I couldn’t do anything else. I have to be fighting this is where I belong and I felt that.”
Roberts next fight is planned to be a pro bout, “I’m talking to MMA organizations right now I haven’t signed anything but I should be fighting by the end of Jan my first pro fight.”
Roberts Jiu Jitsu experience and talent earned him a coaching spot on the Spike TV reality show The Ultimate Fighter alongside Frank Mir. He tells us what it was like being on the show, “It was fun. I had just met Frank like a week maybe 2 weeks before the show. It was great. Actually I was pretty close to jumping in the show as a fighter myself. But I was so new into my MMA experience I was like you know what? You might want to wait a little longer. Then the opportunity came up to go on as a coach. I hadn’t even cornered people. It was all really new to me. The show gave me the confidence. I got to train with a lot of the guys. I was like; I can do this no problem. It was defiantly one of those experiences you will remember for years. Thirty years from now I can say that was really cool. I did that. That was really a lot of fun.”
What should we expect from Roberts career as an MMA fighter? He says, “You can expect a guy who is absolutely in love with the sport. I try not to put pressure on myself, like; I got to beat that guy or I got to win that competition, because I was never like that in Jiu Jitsu. I was just enjoying myself. It’s got to be fun. I’ve got to be happy. You, loving the sport, the consequence of that will be you being disciplined in the gym. I’m absolutely going to be out there. I’ve got a long way to go. I understand that. I’m young and I’m hungry. I have all the time in the world. It is just a matter of time before I get where I want to be.”
What a difference massive nationwide exposure on The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) can make in the life of a mixed martial arts fighter … just ask season five alum, Joe Lauzon.
“It was ridiculous,” Lauzon explains about the difference before and after the Spike TV reality-based fight program. “You’ll be going out and just get stopped by random people who say, ‘I watch you fight and I saw you fight.’ It’s just kind of weird. It’s kind of unreal.”
Lauzon is used to the real world — he is self-proclaimed computer geek who was working full-time as a network administrator prior to his Octagon debut against Jens Pulver at UFC 63: “Hughes vs. Penn 2″ back in 2006.
The Wentworth Institute of Technology graduate from Brockton, Mass., was supposed to serve as a sacrificial lamb for the former lightweight champion. “Lil Evil” was supposed to challenge for the 155-pound title, which the promotion recently resurrected after it was dissolved in 2002.
Lauzon apparently didn’t get the memo, drilling Pulver in the first round with a punch that basically ended the fight. Life as he knew it would never be the same.
“I had just started a full time job,” Lauzon explained. “I’d only been training for like two years … but I was training all the time. I was very ready to fight Pulver. I was doing all the motions. ”
He had the option after surprise win, which was one of the biggest upsets at the time in the history of the sport, to either continue competing in the UFC or become a TUF contestant. He chose the show and was among the early favorites to win the 16-man tournament-style series.
Lauzon was selected by coach BJ Penn to compete on the blue team against Pulver’s yellow-colored squad. And it appeared that he was on the road to the finals before being overwhelmed by the takedowns and wrestling of Manny Gamburyan in the semifinals.
It was a bitter pill to swallow. But sometimes in defeat fighters learn more about themselves than in victory. Lauzon certainly used the loss to his advantage.
“After I came off the Ultimate Fighter reality show I went back to work for a little bit,” he explained. “But I just couldn’t take it. I was training twice a day on the Ultimate Fighter reality show and it was driving me nuts not to be able to go to boxing or be unable to train in the morning. The fact that I had to go into work first and then I could train after. I just couldn’t take it. I couldn’t handle it. It was like, I’d be sitting there: Oh this is a waste of time. It sucks. I want to fight. This is what I should be doing. I don’t want to slip behind. I quit my job and have been at full-time ever since.”
It appeared to be the wise move — Lauzon was enjoying a six-fight win streak (three inside the Octagon). But, of course, in the UFC no good deeds go unpunished, Accordingly, the promotion rewarded Lauzon with a fight against perennial top division contender Kenny Florian in the main event of UFC Fight Night 13 in April 2008.
Unfortunately, the fight did not go according to plan. In fact, when we asked him about it, he revealed that nothing really went right that night in Broomfield.
“Kenny is good,” he said. “He beat me up pretty good. I thought I was going to win that fight. I thought I had the first round. I thought it was really close. I don’t know if it was nerves that got to me. Maybe altitude played a role in it. There was a whole mess of things that went wrong. I get fouled, the ref takes away my take down and I don’t understand why. I’m not going to hype up, ‘Oh I want to fight him again,’ but I wouldn’t mind it at all.”
He’ll have to wait — Florian is expected to challenge for the lightweight title once again after going on to defeat Roger Huerta and Joe Stevenson after besting Lauzon. In the meantime, he’ll have to settle for another former number one contender Hermes Franca.
The two aggressive fighters are slated to headline UFC Fight Night 17 in Tampa, Fla., on February 7. It’s another opportunity for him to shine and leap to the next level, but Lauzon knows that it won’t be easy.
“It’s a huge fight — Hermes is super dangerous,” Lauzon remarked. “He plays possum pretty much the entire fight. He pretty much just sits back and lets you do your thing then he comes with a vicious overhand or a ridiculous arm lock. He has always got cardio through the whole fight. He is dangerous.”
He knows he needs to be at the top of his game and prepared 100 percent to knock off the feisty Brazilian.
“I’m working with guys who are heavier than me, who have that style, but can explode and stuff,” he said about he pre-fight training. “Lots of boxing, trying to deal with the different combinations that he is going to throw, that he is going to come with. I’m trying to make sure my defense is good. I don’t want to get hit with any of those crazy bombs.”
Bombs indeed — Franca has demonstrated his punching power, which is somehow overlooked because of his jiu-jitsu prowess. But as Spencer Fisher, Ryan Schultz and even Gabe Ruediger could attest, Franca hits hard. He’s without a doubt one of the most well-rounded and experienced fighters in the division.
Lauzon, however, is no slouch himself.
“I’m dangerous everywhere,” he said. “I think I’m pretty unpredictable. I think I do quite a few different things well. I think I adapt very, very well. There has been certain times where I have done something in a fight or a grappling tournament that I have never done in training — never — and I’ve gotten a win with it. So it’s dangerous when you are fighting somebody like that. I think I’m a lot bigger than him. I’ve got a reach on him. I think there will be a pretty noticeable size difference and that is tough, too.”
If his record is any indication, than Lauzon is right on the money. He has never gone the distance in 21 professional bouts win or lose. He either finishes or gets finished. It’s that “balls to the wall” mentality that more than likely is the reason he is featured in high profile bouts.
February 7 will be no different.
“I really like to get in and get out,” he explained. “I like to be the aggressor. I like to push the pace. I want to have an exciting fight. I don’t like putting things in the judge’s hands. I like to go out and push the pace. I’d rather lose, if the other guy is better, rather than try to squeak out a decision.”
Spoken like a true engineer.
Title Shot- into the Shark Tank of Mixed Martial Arts
Article Written by Penny Buffington
In 2008 Kelly Crigger published a book through the publishing company Victory Belt Publications. He named his book Title Shot- into the Shark Tank of Mixed Martial Arts. Kelly is an Army officer serving as a Lieutenant Colonel. He has been writing about the sport of mixed martial arts since 2006. In an exclusive interview Kelly gave insight into why he felt a need to write the book. “First I just wanted to explore why guys fought. I wanted to understand a little more why people did it. Because, I understand why I do what I do, I’m in the Army and I take risks for the greater good. But to strap on a little pair of gloves and slug it out with other guys is just something I wasn’t understanding. So it started out as an exploration of what motivated people to fight and then it just turned into a lot more from there. I wanted to find out why the mma fighters were portrayed so poorly in the media when they were clearly from my travels much different people then the people that you see on TV. I wanted to explore the similarities between my profession the Army and mma because every team you go into has a hierarchy just like an Army unit would have, or like a battalion. A mma gym is the same way; there is a hierarchy for sure. So that is where it started. It was an idea to figure out why guys fight and it just blossomed into a whole lot more.”
Kelly told me the mixed martial arts community is very supporting of the military. “They are all very supportive. A lot of them will even go out of there way- like Greg Jackson- about 4 or 5 months ago after UFC 88, this was back in Nov. after Rashad Evans fought and knocked out Chuck Liddell. Greg Jackson jumped in a car and drove 4 hours from Atlanta down to Savannah, Georgia and donated a day of his time training troops down there. Just because we asked. He spent an afternoon training soldier on combatives. On how to be better at hand to hand while you are in uniform and in turn they took him out on a shooting range and let him bust a bunch of caps. So it was a good time.”
Kelly explains, “The book covers 5 gyms; the Army MMA Tournament and 3 live events I went to. I went to Sport Fight. I went to the IFl Finals and I went to UFC 79 to get a glimpse of what mma is like. I got to spend 3 hours with Dana White talking about his view of mma from the top of the food chain. It was nice to see the view from the mountain top about the issues that were affecting the sport in the last year.”
“I spent so much time in the camps 5 camps that I went to from Team Quest to Cesar Gracie, Greg Jackson and Sityodtong -Mark DellaGrotte, and American Top Team. Just living with fighters hearing their stories, getting their stories, and trying to figure out what made them tick.”
“One of the things that I will tell you is the conclusion I came to when writing the book was a lot of times you see these fighters on TV and they are usually captured where they are in front of the camera at a bad time. It is easy to make snap judgments on whether you like a fighter on a 30 or 60 second interview. But you have got to keep in mind that those cameras are put in their face just before a fight. Their minds are changing their bodies are changing. They are cutting weight. They are irritable and Kenny Florian came right out and said look, 2 weeks before a fight I don’t like having people around, people don’t like being around me. I’m starting to change. I’m starting to focus. I can’t eat the things I want to eat and you stick a camera in my face and I’m probably going to say things that are going to make you not like me. So that is one of the things I hope people get from the book is that you can’t judge a fighter based on 30 or 60 seconds. Especially if it’s right before he is getting ready to fight. Kenny is a class act. He is head and shoulders above the rest. Cerebral, nice, down to earth, great view point’s, he can pick apart a fight from a stylistic advantage point. He is a sharp, sharp guy. He is a witty guy.”
The Army Lieutenant plans on writing more book on the sport as well. “I hang out with Greg Jackson. He and I are writing a book together, actually there are going to be 2 books; a book on striking and a book on grappling.”
As Kelly explains reading the book is for everybody. “If you just want to know a little bit about mma. If you’re somebody who only knows a little bit about mma and want to learn more about what it is like, live in a camp. What it is like to be a professional fighter. Then my book is for you. If you are a hard core mma junkie, there are facts in there, even people that have been around mma may finds some facts in there they probably didn’t know before. So it’s for everybody.”
While you can buy Kelly's book at Barnes and Nobles and Boarders among many other places if you purchase it from the Ranger Up web site you can buy the book signed by both Kelly Crigger and UFC and Affliction fighter Matt Lindland! $3.00 from every book sold will go directly to the Wounded Warrior Project! Price: $15.99.
http://www.rangerup.com/sharktank.html
Like never before: A conversation with UFC lightweight Diego Sanchez
UFC 95 “Sanchez vs. Stevenson” is set to go down tonight starting at 9 pm ET from the O2 Arena in London, England. Headlining the event opposite Joe Stevenson will be Diego Sanchez, a former welterweight contender making his much-anticipated debut at 155 lbs.
The inaugural Ultimate Fighter (TUF) middleweight champion had resisted the move in recent past, especially since he was knocking on the door of a potential 170-pound title shot with a win over Thiago Alves at UFC 90: “Silva vs. Cote” back in October.
Sanchez had to withdraw from the bout, however, because of a rib injury. Alves went on to strafe last minute replacement and top player in the division, Josh Koscheck, to score a convincing unanimous decision win.
While the injury was legitimate, it didn’t stop the critics from making accusations about his desire to fight the dreaded “Pitbull.” Some even accused him of “running” to the lightweight division to avoid him.
Sanchez was unfazed.
“People are entitled to an opinion. It is what it is. You get hurt, you get hurt. I just trust God’s plan!”
His new career at 155-pounds starts against one of the top contenders in the weight class. Joe Stevenson, TUF 2 welterweight winner and newly-minted Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, poses a very serious threat to Diego’s plans to move quickly through the lightweight ranks.
And Sanchez isn’t taking it lightly.
“It’s a good opponent and I’m very prepared. Being the main event at a UFC is a dream come true. I’m ready for the time change, it’s all about being able to flip the switch to ‘on’. I can do that very easy after learning peak mind state training at Tony Robbins. My game plan is to just outclass him in all aspects and to stay out of his guillotine. I’m prepared for that move.”
When Diego posted to his MySpace blog last December that he was dropping to lightweight, it wasn’t long before he was called out by former 155-pound title holder Sean Sherk. A win over Stevenson and Sanchez feels a bout with Sherk is inevitable.
“It will happen. He is the top fighter at 155 in my opinion. He just was dumb to try and strike with BJ (Penn at UFC 84). He should have pushed the pace with scrambles and a lot of takedowns. But I guess he was not confident in his ground game.”
As if facing “The Muscle Shark” wasn’t bold enough, “Nightmare” can even see himself eventually taking on perhaps the best lightweight in the world in BJ “The Prodigy” Penn.
“(Dropping weight will be a) good opportunity to better my stock as a fighter. Yes, I beat (Kenny) Florian easy and think as long as I show I can make the weight and dominate Joe, I can argue … I know the fans want me and BJ. It makes no difference in the outcome. BJ gets tired easy. It’s pathetic to think I really believed he had focused and trained hard (for UFC 94). I hope we get to fight. It’s a dream fight for me.”
Despite his optimism, not everyone was convinced that Sanchez would be able to drop the weight in time for his fight at UFC 95 - especially since he was as high as 195 lbs. just two months out.
It didn’t matter. Aside from his commitment to his new division, Sanchez had the power of herbal sweetener Stevia on his side.
“Stevia is amazing, good for cutting weight. It’s like a healthy lemon aid. Sweet! Also it gives good energy. I’m faster, stronger, more dedicated, and very focused - like never before. It’s all or nothing from here on out, I promise.”
In the end, Sanchez can’t credit Stevia, dedication or anything else for his overall success in the UFC. That good fortune came from none other than the man upstairs, the notorious G.O.D.
“All things are possible through Christ who strengthens me! The victory is not mine, it is his. Without him I am nothing. With him I am everything. I love Jesus so much! Thanks (also) to the Maloof family, Sacramento Kings, Bad Boy MMA and all my supporters.”
It all goes down a little later tonight. Remember that MMAmania.com will provide LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the tape-delayed main card action starting tonight at 9pm ET.
BJ Penn is pumped and ready to take on UFC welterweight title holder George St. Pierre. “I’m coming in, in great shape. I’m going to be real strong and real fast and great condition. I have got allot of stuff I am going to come after him with. I’m going to try to knock him out. I’m going to try to slam him on his head. I’ve got no secrets. I’m just going to go out there and grind this thing out and I’m going to win this fight.” The event will take place Jan-31-2009 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event will also air live on PPV.
Last time the two fought each other was in March of 2006. BJ lost to a very close decision. I ask BJ what his best attribute was as far as fighting goes. He said, “My technique, George is a real athletic guy so you have got to be smart out there. You have got to be thinking, weighing everything out as the fight is going.”
With only 1 month left before the fight, I asked “The Prodigy” to explain what his training consists of. “I’m training 5 hours a day. I’m training really hard for 3 hours in the morning, 2 hours at night. I’m just going full blast. I do 12 rounds a day. I do calisthenics, running and sprints, eating healthy food and honest I could fight right now. I could fight right now, today, I’m ready to go!”
Growing up in Hawaii BJ explains, “I was born in Honolulu, Hawaii moved to Hilo when I was 4 or 5 years old. I have 5 siblings, 4 brothers, 1 sister. I grew up in Hilo. I went to Hilo high school. Somebody moved down the road by my house when I was a kid, like 16 years old, and showed me what Jiu-Jitsu was. They weren’t very good at it but they showed me what Jiu Jitsu was and the rest is history I guess.”
BJ tells us his family is behind him all the way. “Defiantly allot of family support from my parents, brothers, we all kind of work together and kind of do everything as one unit.”
When I asked BJ where his nickname came from he told me, “Onthemat.com. On the Mat was my first sponsor when I was just doing Jiu Jitsu and they kept calling me the Hawaiian prodigy and then next thing I was just BJ “The Prodigy” Penn.”
BJ preferred training center is at his own Gym where he is surrounded by those who help him prepare for combat, “Rudy Valentino, Jason Perillo, Adam Disabato, kickboxing coaches, wresting coaches, Jiu-Jitsu coaches and has got everything going full blast right now. I mostly train here. I don’t really go elsewhere to often.” The training center is BJ Penn Mixed Martial Arts Academy in Hilo Hawaii.
Penn’s official mixed martial arts record stands at 13 wins, 4 losses and 1 draw. He is the current UFC World Lightweight Champion. He is going up in weight to take on Georges "Rush" St. Pierre, the current UFC World Welterweight Champion to see if he can obtain that belt as well to become the first UFC fighter to hold 2 weight class titles at the same time. George has won 17 fights and lost 2. If BJ were speaking to George he would say, “Don’t take this thing light. This isn’t a joke. I’m going to come full blast and say, I’m ready to die. I am going to beat you.”
BJ says what he thinks has George the most worried when he thinks about the fight, “I don’t know if he is worried. Everybody is talking about him; he is not that nervous for this fight or if he is taking it light or what. I’m sure he knows that I’ve got some skills that I’m brining to the table. But you never know, fighters, they get too confident sometimes.”
I asked BJ if there was any truth to the rumor I heard that he plans to also move up to the middleweight division to try and sang that tile from Anderson Silva as well to which he replied, “That is not even in my mind right now. I said a few years ago it would be great if I could be the 155 pound champ, 175 pound champ and 185 pound champion, but, I’m just concentrating right now on this fight.”
“I just want to thank all the fans for supporting me and just all the fans that support the sport period. Thank you very. I want to thank BJPenn.com and thank RVCA and Cage Fighter and Troy Mandaloniz -“Rude Boy’.
If you would like to show BJ Penn your support you can go to the following web sites:
http://www.bjpenn.com/
http://www.myspace.com/pennjd
http://www.myspace.com/_MyGYM_
To hear the audio from this interview:
Written by Penny Buffington
Fresh off the reality show The Ultimate Fighter Season 8 ,Heavyweight, Antwain “The Juggernaut” Britt headed down to the Dominican Republic where he caused his opponent to try and flee the ring after dealing with Antwains vicious ground and pound. Britt told me about the Dec 20th 2008 event, “I fought for Combat Extreme, down in the Dominican Republic fighting Thomas Sonnen. It was fun, fun to go down there and get away from this cold weather. It was a classic striker verses jiu jitsu guy. He was a really well accomplished brown belt down there. But luckily the striker won this time. I ended up winning in the second round due to referee stoppage. He took a lot of facial damage. He was cut up pretty bad. The ref had to stop it because he could not see any more. It was a good win for me.” With a chuckle Antwain explains how his opponent tried to flee the ring during the fight, “He was trying to go under the bottom rope. It was good. We ended up on the ground a couple of times and my top game, my ground and pound, is pretty good. So I was able to stay away from his jiu jitsu a little bit and kind of dominate on the ground also. It was a really well rounded win for me. I’m really proud of it.”
30 year old Antwains official mixed martial arts record stand at 8 wins with 1 lose. Antwain says the experience on the reality was, “Surreal. Man going out there and walking into that UFC training center, seeing all the pictures and all the big time fighters that you see on TV every week. It gave you the feeling that you could really be there one day. There was a bunch of insecure guys. Everyone was wondering what everyone else was bringing to the table it’s an interesting situation to be in.”
I asked Antwain if he had signed a contract to fight for The Ultimate Warrior Challenge organization, “Yes I fought for them. I did really well. I fought Terry “T-Rex” Cohen and knocked him out in about 28 seconds. The promotion was so impressed with me they wanted to sign me to a multiple fight deal. It’s still in the works for an opponent but it looks like it is going to be Mike Van Arsdale.”
“It would actually be 3 years total in May I came in as an armature. I walked in to a gym weighing about 300 pounds I was over weight and out of shape I kind of wanted to get in shape I always was a fan of the sport but never thought I would be good at it so I figured I’d take some basic steps and get in the gym and 3 months later 40 pounds lighter I had my first fight in The Amateur North American Tournament and won that tournament in the open event division and from there just never looked back I had 3 more good amateur wins and went pro and from there I’ve been on a roll.”
“It’s been a tough road I’ve got a great bunch of coaches at the Hybrid Academy in Virginia Beach. They know how to get me where I need to be I’m lucky I don’t think I would be half as successful if I’d went to any other gym in the area. My trainer is Buck Grant. He is the owner also of Hybrid Academy: Muay Thai background, but don’t mistake, we are a full MMA school.”
“The Juggernaut” tells us how one of his sponsors has been a big help with his career, “That was a huge benefit when I signed with Maximum Nutrition. They give me all the supplements that I need. My game is at a whole other level. I’m so explosive. My work out is a quality workout. I can go for hours in the ring. I wasn’t even winded! It is just ridiculous how much of a level increase that stuff gives me. I’m really familiar with taking supplements. I am an All American Wrestler and I played football. I’ve never taken anything that has given me such results in such a short amount of time. I’m really happy with it.” Maximum Nutrition can be purchases at PennyJoMMA.com.
The interview ended with Antwain telling his fans, “I’m a huge fan of my fans. Any time they can come and see me and check out a fight: I love being in front of people you know pictures autographs interviews I’m all about it so when you see me talk to me like you know me I can’t promise to make it a long fight but I do promise to make it a show.”
Tim Creduer says, “Right now, I just defiantly want to help Forrest get that win and defend his title."
UFC middleweight fighter Tim Creduer’s mixed martial arts record is 11 wins with 2 losses. “I have about 20 or so more fights. I’ve been fighting since 95.They didn’t really have data bases and stuff. But, the records they have on Sherdog are the records they use for the UFC.” According to Sherdog.com fight statistics, Tim Credeur, The Ultimate Fighter season 7 cast member has not lost a fight since 2006. For the other lose we would have to go all the way back to 2002. Fights from the reality show are not included in the record.
Fresh off his TKO win over Nate Loughran at the UFC Fight for The Troops event on December 10 Tim tells us, “I’m going to Vegas for about 3 weeks. It is the last week of Forrest’s preparation for Rashad. I went out there about a month ago and trained with him for about a week or so and I’m going back for his last week. Just to help him kind of be comfortable and be ready for his last week. We are friends and we train together so I try to support him, help him. My wife is coming with me. We will probably do Christmas after and start looking to the road ahead. But right now, I just defiantly want to help Forrest get that win and defend his title. I guess I’ll start thinking about me next. I’m really ready and able to fight anybody the UFC wants me to fight. My job is just showing up and having exciting performances. I don’t really care who it is against really.”
Tim began fighting Judo in the Navy in 1995. “There were still MMA fights going on back then, like in Mexico. Kind of some more underground stuff because it wasn’t necessarily legal back then. We were just trying to keep the sport alive. The UFC was going on but other than that the shows were very small. I started with the Navy Judo Team. My dad was a boxer I’ve been boxing and around boxing: well, combat sports all my life. I guess when I started with the Navy was really when I really started Judo training for real, I was about 18 years old.”
The 31 year old mixed martial arts fighter talks about his previous decision to quit the sport. “The show changed my life. There is no doubt about it. I was going to retire in September of 07. I had a fight in the largest coliseum I guess in the Louisiana area. It was at the Cajun Dome in Lafayette. I was the main event and that was going to be my last fight. I was finishing college in December. I got a job with a huge oil company making great money and I’m married. At that point I had been fighting over 10 years. It just kind of got to the point where I just wasn’t seeing any way with my age that I could convert it into something where I could have it as a career. It was kind of getting time where I was going to do this for a career or time to find something else to do. I decided I was going to go ahead and retire after that fight. But I guess a day or two before the fight my wife sat me down and told me it really wasn’t time for me to quit now. Even though it was difficult at times or tough, she thought that it was going to come around. I thought she was ridiculous. But yeah, I took a couple of more fights and I rattled off a couple of more first round victory’s and then the next thing you know The Ultimate Fighter calls and I’m on the show. Now I am fighting regularly for the UFC. Looking back I was one little Cajun girl’s conversation away from quitting the sport. That is how life is sometimes, sometimes you have got to take a risk and you have to go out on a limb put yourself out there.”
Creduer says his experience on the Ultimate Fighter Season 7 was something he took very seriously, “When I went on the show I wasn’t trying to be cool, I wasn’t having fun, I wasn’t there for the girls. I was there for a career. Some people go to interviews for their career; I went to The Ultimate Fighter. That was really all that I cared about was having a good showing and showing them that I deserved to be there. Eventually making my way into the UFC and making my way up from there. To be at that point now is defiantly surreal. To be going to Vegas and help train a World Champion you know it just doesn’t make any sense. You know, I don’t know what going on. A year ago I was working for an oil company.”
Professional athletes rely on sponsors to keep their careers going. As Tim explains, “There are many reasons why we have sponsors. To be a professional athlete is very expensive. For us to take the right amount of supplements, to eat the right amount of food, get the rest we need and be able to devote our lives to training. That requires money to pay our bills, to live our quality of life and at the same time be able to facilitate an environment that is conducive for a professional athlete in terms of nutrition and in terms of supplements. Maximum Nutrition helps me in a bunch of different ways. Of course financially they help me with my fights and my fighting. But more than that; they have a line of supplements that I take pretty much everything they have to offer. And man, it makes a huge difference in life, training. The ability for me to not be sore! I experience a much different level of intensity in my practices. I can go allot longer in training. The next day I can continue going allot longer in training. I don’t have as many injuries. I don’t have as much down time from just exhaustion. I have a lot better muscle content. My body has a lot lower fat percentage. It keeps me on that next level that I really need to be on to compete in a place like the UFC. I defiantly wasn’t the kind of fighter that I am now with the stuff I have got from Maximum Nutrition.”
“My management company is Denaro Sports: http://www.denarosports.com. Robert Roveta is my manager.” Tim also has a MySpace page and an official web page: http://www.tim-credeur.com/ , myspace.com/crazytimbjj.
“I’m a black belt under the Carlson Gracie System and now I have my own gym in Lousianna. We have 15 or 20 pro fighters that fight out of the gym. There is about 100 students who train here and I do go back and forth to Vegas to train at Extreme Couture with Forrest and them.”
Tim finished the interview saying, “Thanks for the support. I really appreciate everybody being behind me and believing in me. I will continue to pushing forward and hopefully get some big wins in the future.”
To Listen to the Audio from Tim Creduer Interview:
Anthony Johnson audio Interview Strikeforce Fighter
Alvin Cacdac Interview Fighting Strikeforce
Written by Penny Buffington
Alvin Cacdac is set to fight Friday STRIKEFORCE DESTRUCTION at the HP Pavilion at San Jose Friday, November 21. Cacdac has a record of 4 wins and 4 losses. Win or lose the scale is about to tip. Alvin needs the win to further his career in the extremely talented world of mixed martial arts. Alvin tells MMAmania.com, “It’s coming up in San Hose. It’s against Jose Palacios He is a tough guy a good kick boxer so I’m probably going to take it to the ground hopefully end it with either a submission or ground and pound.” Jose Palacious record is 3 wins with 1 lose.
Alvin has prepared for his fight at a top notch gym. “I train at Nor Cal Fight Factory with little Dave (Dave Velasquez) over here in San Jose.”
Alvin only started training for mixed martial arts a short time ago, “Not that long, maybe 4 years. I was always into it in High School and throughout my life. A buddy of mine from work was like, o yeah I fight, I do MMA. I said alright cool. He got me in.”
Sometimes family support is hard to come by, “At first they didn’t support it because they were like you could get hurt. But you can get hurt at anything. I think they support it though.”
As always the life of a fighter is all time consuming, “I have to give up allot of my personal time, my free time. You have to be dedicated to it. The free time I do have, I spend it with family and my girlfriend.”
For this Fridays Strikeforce fight against Palacio- Cacdac has a game plan, “Allot of combinations, get him frustrated. Hopefully not let him get to much gap. I don’t want to get kicked or anything so hopefully just smother him and just give him hell.”
What keeps Alvin dedicated? “My family, my coaches, and myself of course.”
When asked what his nickname is and where it came from Alvin replied, “The Pilipino Phenom, I don’t know where I got it from. Other than I’m Pilipino and my last 2 fights I slammed 2 guys in the head and they were like you are crazy, you are a phenom, so they go Pilipino Phenom.”
If you would like to visit Alvin on the internet or sponsor him he can be reached through, “My manager, (http://www.hitemupfighter.com/ ) my coaches or my MySpace”: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=3781590
“I’m pretty sure MySpace is a big thing now.”
Alvin’s Hit Em Up web page:
http://www.hitemupfighter.com/ALVIN.html
I asked Alvin if he looks up to anyone in the sport and without hesitation he answered, “Yeah BJ Penn. I’ve been watching him ever since I was in high school. I was like o man this guy is sick.”
To his fans and future fans Alvin said, “Thanks for all your support. Hopefully I will be victorious and I hope to put on a show.”
Referee Steve Mazzagatti Interview
When asked his thoughts on Brock Lesnars request that he not Ref for UFC 91 Couture VS Lesnar
“I have no idea how it came about. He has got a job to do. His management has got a job to do. I guess that he has got allot on his mind. These guys are professionals. They have got to go out there and fight to the best of their abilities and not have any weight on their shoulders. Obviously I was some weight on his shoulders or his management felt so and they decided to try and request that I not ref the fight. Personally I didn’t do anything. I was doing my job and that is what I get paid to do. Unfortunately it is not always the most popular thing. It’s easy to get out there in the ring and bounce around and look cool and be a referee but it’s tough when you have to make the calls. I had to do my job. I can understand he wants to go out there with no weight on his shoulders. Basically they requested the athletic commission choose another referee or not really choose another referee but I be taken off the list of available referees for that particular fight. Which is very common in boxing, it’s gone on, it happens all the time. I didn’t think I would have gotten the fight anyway but they did end up assigning another referee. But like I said I didn’t think I would have gotten the assignment anyway.”
How are Referees chosen for Events and matchups?
“We have a board of commissioners that work for the state of Nevada or whatever state we are talking about. I can pretty much say it’s all the states. They sit around at a round table meeting. It’s open to the public anybody can go to these meetings. They talk about upcoming fights. We have got this title fight and this title fight we are going to assign officials. We have got this referee and this referee and this referee available well, let’s go with X referee and they pick the referees like that. The same for the judges, the judges are assigned to the fights the same exact way. I think it’s pretty much the title fights the rest of the fights the executive director probably handles those. I’m not really sure. I’m not really involved in the politics of it but from what I understand that is how the process goes.”
How many events do you Ref per month?
"I’m averaging a couple a month. I pretty much just stay in Nevada. I have a full time job. I am a fire fighter here in Los Vegas so I don’t want to take too much vacation away. If it doesn’t take any more then 3 or 4 hours to fly to and I get offered an assignment I’ll take it. Usually the commissioner of the state calls you up and says would you be interested in coming out and reffing one of our fights? I just turned down a show in Costa Rica but pretty much here in Nevada, anything that is going to be here in Nevada I referee, because this is my home state.”
If you wanted to be a full time ref is that possible?
"Being a ref is not a full time job. We don’t make anything like the NFL guys do or the NBA guys do. It’s a little bit above a hobby. It’s always been a hobby. I’ve been involved in the fight game my whole life. When it came to: when I had kids and stuff, I said, wow I love this sport. How can I stay involved and not put so much time into it and I looked at officiating? Well it’s a thankless job. I’ve reffed probably three or four hundred fights for free. Allot of them amateur muay thai, armature boxing, armature grappling tournaments, whatever you could ref and you’re doing it just out of the love of the sport. Of course when the UFC legitimatized themselves and cleaned up the sport a little bit and tried to bring it mainstream they started promoting here in the state of Nevada. This is my hometown and I got the gig. That is one of the better paying official jobs but for the most part it’s not anything you could make a decent living at. Even if I could, being a firefighter was always a lifelong dream too. It would be awfully hard to walk away from that.”
Unlike the NFL guys and the NBA guys type of referees: they have a crew that travels with the show. Where with arm to arm combat generally the officials are in the states like N.Y. has a set of their referees, California has a set of their referees, New Jersey, Florida. Earlier on in 2003 and 4 we would travel around with the UFC as they did events because they didn’t have an infrastructure to support this sport. So they would ask us to go along. As time went along more and more state were building their own infrastructure. Their were armature fights and smaller pro shows where these guys are getting experience and they are building an interstructure for themselves. They are getting their referees they are getting their judges and these guys deserve to do the big shows too, you know, and you’re seeing it. Florida pretty much uses their own crew of guys. New Jersey pretty much has their own guys now. California has Herb and Josh and Big John and there are a half a dozen other fine referees that live in California so why should they pull me over to California or New Jersey or where ever. These guys pay their dues in the smaller shows I think they should have the opportunity to work the big ones too.”
“It isn’t an easy job to do. It’s easy to sit back on your lazy boy drinking a beer and second guess what you are going to do after watching a replay a half a dozen times when you are out there we have less than a split second to make these decisions. They come down and you got to make the call. That is what determines a good referee from not being a referee. Like I said, you can get in the ring and bounce around and look cool and not make any calls and probably do just fine, nobody will even notice. But, we are out there looking for fouls. That is what we get paid to do. What good is a referee who is not going to look for fouls and call the shots? That is when this job becomes hard, when you have to put your foot down. We don’t want to make these calls. Why did he do that? Right in the middle of a big old fight you got to stop and take a point from them. That is what we get paid to do and what good would we be if we didn’t make these calls."
Do Refs attend school or take courses?
"We study. We go to courses. I’ve got an up-coming doctors seminar I’m going to be going to with some of the finest trauma surgeons in the country. Talking about cuts; where is it dangerous, where should we be concerned about, because, the ref has the ability to affect a fight when a cut happens. Especially in this sport. If you’ve got a couple of guys laying some leather down on each other they are both pretty gassed but let’s say one got gassed more than the other and he happens to get cut. We have seen it in some big fights that I have let go and he gets cut and it is an insignificant cut, but the head tends to bleed an awful lot. It puts allot of blood out there and the fans don’t understand it. Because I go to these seminars and I understand what is dangerous and what is not. I let the fight go on and if I would have called a time out that could have given him time to recover a little bit, so he could come back and win the fight. I was sure the Dr was not going to stop the fight. There are a few areas involving the face area and the eye area primarily if the blood was going into the eyes we would be concerned and call in a Dr. We also attend grappling seminars that Big John puts on. We will bring in some jiu jitsu guys and we will talk about just what they are trying to accomplish so we understand what is going on, on the ground game.”
Being a professional tell us some things the fans aren’t aware of
“Allot of fans don’t really understand what the back of the head is. The definition of the back of the head is going up your spine and basically all the way to the top of your head with one inch to each side. We say targeting that area. If that area is targeted, not accidently the guy turns his head into it and it catches it or if he is a jui jitsu guy, he has got a full mount and he’s got his chest berried on the fighter and the fighter on the bottom has his face berried up in the guy’s chest. Well, he can’t see where he is hitting or which way this guys heads turning while he’s trying to soften him up to try to get him to roll off. We get allot of accidental fouls. We are looking at targeting fouls. Where you hit it and then, oh, there it is I’m going to hit it two more times. If you are hitting the ear you are good to go.”
“We tell these guys in the dressing room, we go and talk with them and we tell them what we expect. If you target that area, don’t get excited, because I will take a point away from you with no warning. If you grab the cage and it effects your positioning and effects your momentum in the fight we will take a point from you. No warning. There are some things you do that you just can’t warn a guy about. You know? We have already warned them in the back.”
“Another thing the fans don’t understand that is, after a foul has been committed, the fighter who commits the foul if they are in a dominant position, we take that position away from them through a stand up, through a neutral position . If he is in a passive position say he is getting grounded and pounded and he reaches up and pokes the guy in the eye of the guy who is on top of him beating the crap out of him then we take appoint from him while the fight is still going. We are not going to stop that fight. We are going to take a point from him right away.”
“My goal as a referee is to completely stay out the picture. To completely stay out of the fight unless I am absolutely needed to affect the fight. If I’m needed for a stand up, if I’m needed to break them off the cage. I keep my ass out of the TV unless I need to because these guys are performing. That is what the fans came to see that is what they came to hear.”
Any regrets on past fight decisions?
I take my job serious. I study hard. I know the rules without even having to think about them. I don’t have any regrets of bad calls I have made. I have missed some things. I can’t call something that I don’t see. For instance if somebody gets poked in the eye and if I don’t see it I can’t call it that way. I can’t assume. Guys are getting kicked in the groin. Guys are getting poked in the eye. I can’t assume guys are getting head butted unless I actually see it. I’ve got o call it the way I see it. If I have no indication it was an eye poke and then boom the guy goes down, I got to call the fight, He is down the guy is jumping on top of him beating the crap out of him. I have got o stop the fight I can’t go Oh shit, now he is telling me he got poked in the eye. I can’t go back and change my call. So those things I feel bad about.”
“The sport is evolving so fast and every show that I do I just can’t imagine it getting better then the last show but it always does.
Interview Fighting Joe "Daddy" Nov 15th
Written By Penny Buffington
At UFC 87 on August 9, 2008 Kenny “Flo” Florian defeated Roger Huerta by unanimous decision. Next up will be Joe Stevenson at UFC 91 on November 15th. At the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Kenny told MMAmania in an exclusive interview, “I will be fighting Joe Stevenson. I’m really excited. Joe Stevenson is a phenomenal opponent, very dangerous opponent, one of the best in the world out there as a lightweight. He is in my way of advancing up the ladder even more. I want to fight the best guys. Joe Stevenson is not only a nice guy and a very experienced opponent, he is one of the best out there and I’m looking forward to the challenge. I know I’m going to have my hands full.”
Kenny’s last fight against Roger Huerta left Huerta looking like a beaten man in deed. The evidence was left in the form of bruises in the eye area of Rogers face. His spirit looked broken as well. When asked what was next after the fight at the Ultimate Fighting Championship post press conference a truly crushed looking Roger hung his head and answered, “I don’t know.”
Kenny gave MMamania his thoughts on the fight, “I feel that I did some good things over all. I defiantly felt I beat him in all aspects. I out grappled him. I out wrestled him and out struck him. I think I was able to win the fight without really any problems. I didn’t really get hit at all. It was kind of a nice clean fight.” He went on to explain, “There are allot of little things I felt I should have improved and I’m trying my best to improve on them now in my training preparations for my next fight. Over all it was a decent performance but I was hoping to do better. Of course allot of credit goes to Roger for being a tough opponent. Great learning experience you know any time you can learn from a win you know it’s a good thing.”
Extreme dedication and a whole lot of hard work is the life of a fighter. Kenny trains at his own gym he owns with his brother in Brookline Ma. The gym is named Florian Martial Arts Center. He also trains at F-15 Training Center with Peter Welch his boxing coach. His Muay Thai and MMA Coach is Mark DellaGrotte. Kenny says, “I couldn’t ask for a better training camp or better training over all.”
Training and fighting keep Kenny busy. He also finds time to run the gym with his brother. That’s not all. While doing the interview with MMAmania via the phone Kenny explained, “I am actually on my way home from ESPN. I was in Connecticut filming MMA Live which is a show we do every week on ESPN.com. It’s a great show. It’s great to have the World Wide Leader in Sports covering mixed martial arts the way that they have.”
Florian will be ready for his fight on Nov 15. He tells MMAmania, “I train 6 days a week, 2 times a day. Whether I’m training for a fight or not. I’m always training 6 days a week 2 times every single day. It’s not crazy all the time. It’s not like I am now preparing for Joe Stevenson but its consistent training all the time. I think that is the key for me to be able to improve and get better and to learn new things, also to consistently get better with your conditioning and technical skills. So there is no off season for me. If anything people try to kick me out of the gym.”
To his fans Kenny says, “I just want to thank them so much for their support. Especially my local fans in Boston. I’ve been getting allot of love and support lately from all over the place that send me emails. I want to thank the troops as well. The military and everything that they do for us, I’m just a huge fan. I find allot of inspiration in what they do. I’m just very grateful for the support. Even if they are not a supporter of Kenny Florian, if they are a supporter of the sport it’s great for us. I hope to get some more fans in the future.”
You can see the match up live on PPV. While watching it may be nice to know Kenny is very appreciative to be a part of this incredible sport. He seems to truly love all aspect of mixed martial arts. He explained, “The fighting and training, I really do love the most. I really enjoy going out there and competing against all the great fighters out there in the UFC. The UFC has always treated me so well. I really enjoy that aspect. I really love teaching as well though. I really do. I love teaching and analyzing fights. I’ve been really blessed, I think, in my life and in my career at this point. I feel like everything I do I truly enjoy, I’m truly passionate about, and it all revolves around mixed martial arts. Something that really moves me every day I wake up with a smile on my face. I think it’s a gift any time you can love what you do for work. I truly consider it a gift.”
If you would like to hear the audio from this interview you will find it on the home page of http://www.kennyflorian.com/ October 22, 2008 -Kenny Previews his UFC 91 Fight Against Stevenson-Listen to Interview. Simply click the link on his home page.
Felice Herrig talks about upcoming Title Fight and trash talking Lisa King
Brandon Williams MMA Fighter worth getting to know
Urijah Faber says, “I think I’m going to beat him up.”
WEC® FABER VS BROWN will be shown live on Versus, Nov 5th 8:00 PM ET.
Urijah Faber has become the face of the WEC. His record, fighting style, and personality have thrust him to the front of the MMA scene. Urijah’s fighting record is 21 wins with 1 lose back in 2005 to UFC lightweight fighter Tyson Griffin.
This is how Urijah explained to me how he thinks the fight will go, “The fight is with Mike Brown. He is
a really tough guy. He is 19 and 4 out of American Top Team. He fought his last fights in Japan and he has fought before in Russia a little bit. He is tough. He is well rounded and well I think I’m going to beat him up.”
Fans may be very interested to know you can go to: http://www.urijahfaber.com/ or http://energy.nofear.com/ and enter your email address. No Fear Energy Drink and VERSUS is giving
fans the chance to win, a VIP trip to Sacramento, to see Urijah Faber and his Ultimate Fitness gym for an exclusive training session with Urijah. The current WEC Featherweight Champion of the World. The contest begins on November 5th.
Urijah tells me about the contest, “They are going to be flown out and all their accommodations paid for. We will get to do a one on one session. A meet and greet and all that good stuff. It is kind of cool. It’s a good idea. It is going to help promote me and also the sponsors as well.” About his gym Urijah tells me, “It’s my own gym, downtown Sacramento (http://www.ultimatefitness.pro/). I feel like it is one of the best facilities in America. We’ve got allot of top notch trainers and allot of great fighters that are going to be coming out of here and making a real big splash in the sport. It is an awesome facility. I spend most of my time here.”
Urijah is trained by different trainers depending on the discipline being taught. When asked who his trainers are Urijah replied, “My mui thai instructor, boxing instructor is Master Thong. He is a really accomplished trainer. He has 4 WEO Champions, 2 kick boxing World Champions and over 300 matches for mau thai itself and I have Fabio Prado. He is my Brazilian jiu jitsu coach now. There are allot of guys on our team that help out as well.”
Since Urijah’s only lose has been to Tyson Griffin I asked him if there would be plans to have another match with him. This is what he said, “Yeah I think it could happen. Maybe not right away, but something, before I’m done fighting and he is done fighting, hopefully, for sure will happen.”Faber fights for the WEC where Tyson fights for the UFC. They are no longer in the same weight class. I asked Urijah how he thought a match up could be made? He replied, “I’d have to go up in weight. I wouldn’t necessarily switch over to the UFC. Maybe they would do some kind of cross promotion. I’m not sure how it would work. I’m not really thinking that far into the future right now. I’m just trying to focus on what’s at hand and go day by day.”
Faber tells me his family supports his career. He says, “My family support is great. My mom doesn’t like to come watch me fight. She can’t handle the brutality of it. The idea of me getting punched and stuff like that. But she will watch it after she already knows the results. She has always supported me in my life in just about everything I’ve done. The rest of my family loves it! They know I’m following my dreams.”
Ending the interview Urijah said, “Thank you so much for all the support. I really feel the love. Keep on watching and check out: http://www.urijahfaber.com/ and enjoy the fight. It is going to be exciting.”
Thiago Alves after his win over Josh Koscheck
WFC Sept 27th in Tampa, Fl. pre fight interview with Kit Cope
Part 1: Part 2:
On Monday August 25, 2008 the city of Utica N.Y. threw a pep rally for Matt Hamill. Matt is fighting the toughest fight of his life on September 6, 2008 at UFC 88 in Phillips, Georgia. Matt will be fighting his childhood friend Rich Franklin. After Matt graciously greeted, shook hands, signed his autograph, and took pictures with fans, I spoke with him to get his thoughts on the upcoming fight. First thing I wanted to know was about his friendship with Rich he told me, “Yes. He is a really good friend of mine. I helped him with wrestling takedowns. Rich and I we grew up together. We were raised and born in Cincinnati, Ohio. One day he asked me. He wanted some help with his takedowns so I just helped him out with takedowns and we’re still friends. No matter what, inside the ring or outside the ring. We leave friendship at the door. We two are professionals. I know it’s sad. It’s like fighting my brother but I have to do this. I fight for my daughter. I’m getting my name out there. I know he has more experience then I have. I’m inexperienced. My record is 6 and 1 and his record is 25 and 3. So that could be a stepping stone for me. He is a former World Champion that’s got me more motivated. I want to show what I got. I’m getting better every time I fight. So don’t miss my fight Sept 6th because I’m ready!”
Rich is fighting this fight by moving up in weight class from a middleweight to Light Heavyweight. I asked Matt if Rich was at a disadvantage for moving up in weight class. “No because he goes up in weight class he gets more energy. He had a hard time getting down to 185. Normal weight for him is about 220 so now he only has to go down to 205. My disadvantage is I won’t have a coach in my corner. I’m deaf. I cannot hear. So I have my own game plan. But that’s alright. I’m going to go out there and do my thing. Rich is a world class stiker. I have to keep my eyes open. It’s not going to be easy. There will be blood. I know that for a fact. I’m going to go out there with 100 percent and show them what I have.”
Matt has 30 acres where he plans to have a gym. He told me, “I’m a country boy. I like to train in the country.”
Attending the pep rally was an organization Matt has been working with to get mixed martial arts legalized in N.Y. State. I asked Matt what his contribution has been. He said, “When I found out there was no MMA in N.Y. UFC or any other MMA. I was shocked. I went to the senate and testified but they vetoed. I think it’s because it’s a bloody sport and they don’t like that.” You may check out the info for the organization called Anger Management at: http://www.angermanagement4mma.com. Matt has his own webpage as well. http://matthamill.com/.
The audio clips from Penny Buffington Interview with Matt Hamill:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftPTCKIisb8&feature=channel_page
N.Y. State Senator Joe Griffo spoke at a pep rally for Matt
& the Mayer of Utica N.Y. issued him a key to the city!
Mikey Gomez Florida's #1 unsigned Mixed Martial Artist
Mikey Gomez was voted Florida’s #1 unsigned 170pnd mixed martial artist.. He is set to fight at Cage Warriors USA in Florida on August 23rd.. You can find information for this event at: http://www.cagewarriorsusa.com/. Gomez is fighting Charley Blanchard for the welterweight title. On Thursday August 15, 2008 I spoke with a happy Mikey. He told me, “I am really excited to fight for the Cage Warriors belt. I’m fighting a really tough aponant named Charley Blanchard from American Top Team. I’ve been training really hard for this upcoming belt and now I’m just tweaking up my game in preparation for it.” Charley Blanchard’s record is 7 wins 1 loss.
Gomez returned last week from training in Brazil. He explained, “I just got back from Brazil. I was training at Gracie Fusion. There’s a bunch of World Champions in there. The experience was great they pushed me real hard for the fight. I know I’m going to come on top on the 23rd.” Mikey is a head instructor at Gracie Berra in Orlando, Fl. He explains, “I train here in Florida and it was really exciting to go back to Brazil. I haven’t been there in 5 years. It was a different experience a different environment so I know that helped me a lot to get out of my comfort zone.”
Mikey’s last fight was against Antonio Grant for XTREME FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIPS in March 2008. The first punch was thrown by Antonio but Mikey's fast counter punch saw Antonio fall to the ground. Mikey mounted for one of the crowd’s favorite techniques- the good ole “ground and pound.” Antonio tapped out. Mikey tells me of the fight, “I was trying to look for a warm up fight and they actually called me like 5 days before the match and I took the fight. I was getting ready for this fight already. I was able to finish it with a TKO in 27 seconds of the 1st round.” Mikey’s mixed martial arts record is 9 wins and 4 losses.
Mikey gave me some background on himself. Telling me, “I was born in California and went to Paraguay when I was 5 years old. I was raised there. My parents are from there. When I was 19 I decided to become a professional fighter and I figured I’d move here to the States and have more opportunity. I actually moved to Boston and I was only able to handle the weather for a month. Too cold! Then I decided to move to Florida and I found this great school that has become my home as well.” He went on to explain even further, “I moved here from Paraguay in 2001. Been training here ever since I came and then my family came. So we are all together here in Florida. Florida has been my home ever since. I’ve been here for almost 8 years and I just love the weather here. It’s like back home and people are really friendly so it was really easy for me to make Orlando my home.”
The interview with Mikey Gomez ended with him giving thanks, “I’m really happy that Cage Warriors chose me to be one of the belt contenders for Cage Warriors USA. I have some big shoes to fill in. Dan Hardy was a great champion for them for awhile. I’d like to thank all my fans people that help me, my trainers, and my friends. People that didn’t quit on me, my mom, my sister, if it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t be able to do it. They support me 100 percent.” Fans can show support to Mikey on his MySpace page :http://www.myspace.com/paraguaio.
Frankie Edgar fresh off his dominating win over Hermes Franka
“Big” John McCarthy Retired, but for how Long?
Mixed Martial Arts fans all time favorite ref. Big John McCarthy retired this year from the duties we loved to watch him perform. Since UFC 2 fans have just assumed he was a permanent fixture in the octagon. Personally I found it surprising and was interested in getting to know why he left the fast growing sport. This is what he told me. “There were a lot of things that lead up to my decision. I was frustrated with the way some things were being handled in mixed martial arts. There was people being put into positions that had the authority to have a say on the fighters fights themselves. There was people that were judging that had no idea what they were looking at. There was people that were refing that didn’t understand what they should do at given times and in certain situations, because they didn’t understand what the fighters were doing. That bothered me. When I went to people and talked about it, it was always… [Well don’t worry about it. We are growing and we’re expanding and things are going to get better.] It never did anything to make it better. I just looked at it, after awhile, I felt like I was being a hypocrite. He went on to explain,” It started out with MMA, from the very beginning, was a learning process for me and for everyone. But there came a certain point where if you didn’t understand the sport, then you shouldn’t have been a part of it. If you had the ability to be part of an athletic commission and get put into a space where you have the actual power to affect a fighter’s life or livelihood and you were doing that without understanding what that fighter was doing. That was what really got me frustrated. That was the biggest thing. That was a huge part of it. The other part of it was there were certain things that happened within the UFC that I was kind of working with. I didn’t particularly like. That was just a small part of it. That said to me, you know what, it’s time for me to walk away.”
John doesn’t complain without action. He is working with the ABC to change the laws that govern judges and referees. Big John told me,” The Association of Boxing governs all of the commissions throughout North America. We are trying to get things done as far as certification and education of judges and referees. They will actually have to go through a course. Prove that they know what they are doing. What they are supposed to do in a certain situations and know what the fighters are doing. They are going to have to prove all that. When that is in place, that’s a big step forward for the sport.”
I asked John if he would consider coming out of retirement. He replied,”I loved doing what I was doing. I loved working for the UFC. I loved working for the Athletic Commissions. I loved any show that I was doing .To go back to it, I always left the door open to, you know, someday I will go back. That could very well happen. But right now I’m doing other things. So am I going to go back? I keep saying yes, someday, but I don’t know. It’s funny, since I’ve retired, I’ve been asked to do more shows then I did when I was actually working. I am so busy it is ridiculous. Everyone is like, your retired, and I’m like, man if I’m retired…. I’m tired! I’m doing things all the time!”
John told me about the gym he owns. “My gym is in Valencia, Ca. Its sixteen thousand square feet as far as size. About four thousand square feet of mat space. I have an actual 30 by 30 cage and a 24 by 24 boxing ring in there. I wanted to have a place where you could do everything in one spot. All the things that I look at that are important to being a mixed martial artist. It’s been open now coming up on 2 years and it’s been fantastic. I love the place. It’s been a great experience.” I also brought up to John that I knew Owned Entertainment was in works to shoot a reality TV show there. “Jason Chambers from Human Weapon is part of it. Part of my thing was I wasn’t going to be part of it.” He chuckled, “I don’t have any desire to be part of a reality show. I’m loaning out the gym so they can do it and hopefully get some people that are good for it. I even have a couple of fighters who have tried out for it. So we will see if that happens. We’ll see how it goes.”
Finishing the interview with John he said, “The main thing I like to tell everyone is thank you to everyone that supports mixed martial arts. I really look at it like the sport came around at the right time, because of the internet, is what saved it. At a time when things were going bad the hardcore people kept it alive on the internet and it has just continued to grow. The UFC is obviously the big show in town they’ve done a great job of marketing it and of making people want to be at the events and want to see what is going on. The fans of the sport are what make the sport what it is. I thank them all the time. They’re always very kind to me. Anytime you see me come up and say hello. I love talking to you.”
John’s gym: http://www.bjmuta.com/
John’s webpage: http://www.bigjohnmccarthy.com/
Part 1: Part 2:
UFC 86 (JACKSON VS. GRIFFIN, Saturday, July 5th, live on Pay-Per-View from Las Vegas, NV.) is going to be some serious fun for MMA fans! You can view the fight card at UFC.com. Joe "Daddy" Stevenson will be fighting in the lightweight category against Gleison Tibau. Gleison is from Brazil and is now fighting out of American Top Team in Florida. Joe has an impressive mixed martial arts pro record of 33 wins and 8 losses. I asked Joe about his upcoming fight, "I'm fighting Gleison on Saturday. Everyone is pretty much aware of that. What they are not aware of is this will be the first fight that my son Joey will be ever attending. I'm really excited about that. I'm glad to be back in Los Vegas. England was fun but Vegas is my home." Joe is a happily married father of 4 boys: 2month, 2, 5 and 7 year olds. Joe fought for the Lightweight Title, and lost to BJ Penn, in England at UFC 80 in Jan. of this year.
Some fighters have their own mixed martial arts schools. Joe Daddy is one such fighter. He told me, "I train at Joe Stevenson's Cobra Kai in Victorville, Ca." He is managed by Dean Albright. Joe began fighting for the UFC in 2005. Since joining the UFC he has fought 7 times. Before that he fought most of his fights for such organizations as, King of the Cage, Gladiator Challenge and The Bas Rutten Invitational.
After the fight Joe talks about his plan. "I'm going to go immediately and teach next week at my gym and the week after that I'm going to take my family down to the beach and just have a week with them. Then I'll be back to teaching."
Joe describes himself to us, "You pretty much can read my character and my personality on my sleeve. I'm pretty laid back. There are few things I take serious, my training and my family and God. Other than that, I just like to have a good time."
As we Wrapped it up Joe said, "I hope that everyone tunes in and gets ready for a great show. I've taken this fight really serious and I want to finish." July 4th millions of eyes will look to the sky for the light show but on July 5th look to the Octagon for the real fireworks.
Joe would like you to visit his Sponsors:
http://www.warriorwearclothing.com/
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Jorge Gurgel Interview (I've been very disappointed with my sub par performances in my UFC career so now, I'm ready)
With 13 wins and 3 losses in his mixed martial arts career and a fight coming up against Cole Miller at UFC 86 (RAMPAGE JACKSON vs. FORREST GRIFFIN, on Sat. July, 5th live on PPV, from the MANDALAY BAY EVENTS CENTER in Las Vegas, NV), Jorge Gurgel explains to me, "I'm very excited. Saturday can not come any sooner. I've been here in Seattle preparing for the last 6 weeks straight. It's been the best training camp I've ever had. I finally have a coach that is going to be my permanent coach. That finally, I think, is going to make me fight to my potential and do what I've always planned to do. I've been very disappointed with my sub par performances in my UFC career so now, I'm ready. I am mentally ready. I'm physically ready. I have a coach. I have a sport psychiatrist. It's the best I've ever been, so I really can not wait to fight to the level my fans have been expecting me to fight and pretty much myself. I have been very disappointed with my UFC fights. You know, I've had great fights up until I got up to the UFC, being a coach and being a fighter at the same time really has not paid any dividends to me and I've been separating myself from Ohio. I secluded myself to becoming just a student again. I think it has been the best move I have made in a long time."
Jorge isn't leaving Ohio for good. He says, "I have a school with 400 hundred students there. Now, every 2 months, I will have a fight; I will be training with Matt (Hume). Wherever Matt is, sometimes Matt comes to Ohio and trains at my school, sometimes Matt goes to Hawaii, and we're going to train in Hawaii. I just plan on making my training camp whatever Matt Hume's decides for me and him to do." Matt is also Rich Franklins coach.
The school Jorge owns is JG MMA Academy. He described it to me, "I have a 13 thousand square foot facility in Ohio. My gym is extremely successful. I have a full octagon in there. Boxing ring, over 5,000 square feet of mats. Everything I've ever wanted is there. I just needed a coach. As soon as I stepped out of that octagon for my last fight I made a call and I made a decision that I was not performing up to my expectations or to anybody's expectations. "
On Sat. in the corner for Jorge will be, "Rich Franklin, Matt Hume and I think you always see my little brother. He looks like me. He is little. My little brother, he is always in my corner." In the audience will be his entire family minus his father, who had his visa denied, even with a letter from the UFC.
To his fans Jorge would like to say, "For some reason I have a humungous fan base. Way more than I think I deserve. They give me the motivation everyday. Every time that I read a message or an email saying how much they like to see me fight and how much they support me, all through the good and the bad times. You guys are what gives me so much motivation so much energy to go out and train and battle through my injuries. You guys are my motivation; you guys are my energy. All my students that believe in me, that's what drives me. I don't want to let anybody down. I'm very grateful and appreciative of all the support and the love of my fans, all these years, especially my students. They are my life. They are my family. They've been nothing but great and motivation to me through the years.
I can't imagine as an MMA fan missing UFC 86; RAMPAGE JACKSON vs. FORREST GRIFFIN. Now I also can't wait to see the new and improved Jorge Gurgel!
Part 1: Part 2:
KJ NOONS RETAINS TITLE AFTER DEFEATING YVES EDWARDS- DIAZ BOYZ BRAWL
Interview with Karl James “KJ” Noons
Written by Penny Buffington
On Sat. June, 14th 2008 Elite XC aired on Showtime. Fighters such as Nick Diaz defeated Muhsin Corbbrey by TKO, though the fight was not aired. The title bout featured KJ Noons, defending his lightweight belt against Yves Edwards. KJ retained his title with a clear win over Yves. KJ gained the belt by first defeating Nick Diaz in Nov. of 2007.
KJ told me his thought’s leading up to the fight, “I just trained so hard because I knew Yves is such a great competitor. He’s got so many fights under him and I was going in as the underdog where I feel comfortable. I just trained super hard for this fight. Man, it was the longest I’ve ever trained for a fight because we were supposed to fight on April 26 and it got pushed back, you know a couple months, so this was defiantly the longest camp for me. Yves used to be I guess you could say the UFC uncrowned champ back in the day.”
KJ had the look of a champion after his win over Yves he said, “I caught him with a great shot. It was just a great feeling. Man, it’s almost like a relief, all that buildup all that training to that point and to come out on top it’s just the most rewarding feeling. All that work you put in you know finally it pays off.”
While KJ was receiving his belt and enjoying his victory the topic of him defending his belt again came up. It became apparent very quickly that Nick Diaz was ready to try and get the belt back from KJ when Diaz and his entire crew including his brother Nathan entered the octagon. Next thing we see as viewers, a free for all breaks out. KJ tells me, “I won my fight. I’m in their celebrating with my family and friends and before you even know it these guys are like in the ring and I guess they brought them in. I can understand how they want to pump up a fight. But he got in there (Nick Diaz) and I didn’t see his fight before. They said do you think he deserves a rematch? They said no. I mean his fight wasn’t that exciting. I guess. That’s what I had heard. Afterwards, I still haven’t even watched the fights so I’ve only seen my fight on like YouTube. You know I saw him get mad. This is what I’m telling you, is what I saw on the TV. You know, when I was in there, his brother was behind him. You can’t see him on TV. He’s flicking and cussing and having words with my dad and I see this and uh you know, I mean, it breaks out. You know what I mean. A scuffle or whatever and uh I think it’s only natural. I mean everybody, if their going to throw fingers and talk a bunch of trash. You know, I think just everybody would want to retaliate. At the same time it was ridiculous. I mean, I didn’t even get to celebrate, it was like 30 seconds. I mean jeez the whole card was done early. My fight was supposed to go, what, like 30 minutes and they got these guys in here 30 seconds after my win. It’s just, whatever.
KJ also let me know what his plans for the future are, “I’m going to work on my gyms. Stay in shape and just go forward with my boxing career. That is really one of my goals. Just want to start building my career in that and keep on fighting, you know.”
KJ trains at cityboxing.com:
http://cityboxing.com/
Also visit KJ’s webpage.
The video of the fight is there.
If you missed it.
http://kjnoons.com/
http://www.elitexc.com/
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson INTERVIEW
By Penny Buffington
Quinton "Rampage" Jackson can be seen on Spike TV's The Ultimate Fighter 7. He is a coach opposite Forrest Griffin. At the end of the shows season the UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton will put his title on the line to fight Forrest Griffin who has a pro mma record of 15 wins and 4 loses. The fight will air live Saturday, July 5, on Pay-Per-View from Las Vegas, NV.
I spoke with Quinton on Tues, May 30th directly after he finished a 2 hour work-out with his coach and manager Juanito Ibarra. Rampage doesn't prefer to surround himself with a lot of people because “It's hard to trust people.” When I asked him about his experience on the The Ultimate Fighter 7 he said. “I didn't expect for it to be so much work. I'm not a coach and I don't really want to enjoy doing it again”
I asked Quinton who else he would like to fight in the future he said. “I want to fight any of the ones that have beaten me in the past.” His record is 26 wins and 6 loses. Mauricio Rua he lost to back in April of 2005 while fighting for Pride. Other loses include, Wanderlei Silva whom he lost to twice, once in 2003 and again in 2004. To come up with another lose we would have to go all the way back to 2001.
Quinton Jackson is a proud family man living with his four children three boys and one girl. If you would like to check out his MySpace page go to: http://www.myspace.com/rampagejackson. You can also visit his webpage to see many videos www.allrampage.com.
The UFC is the most popular of all mma organizations. Quinton told me “The UFC really cares about their fighters where Pride was all about themselves.” Sounds like Quinton has found his place to shine. He asked to “Thank my supporters.” Wow that is a lot of thank-you's. He would also like to thank the companies that support him.
Add the Companies that Support Rampage!
HB Ultimate Training Center- http://www.myspace.com/hbultimatetrainingcenter
Toyo Tires-
Throwdown-
Affliction-
BOOST Mobile-
Interview with Thiago
Written By Penny Buffington
June, 7th. 2008 at UFC 85 in Bedlam, England Thiago Alves proved he is no joke in the welterweight division when he put the dumbfounded look on Matt Hugh’s face as he decisively kneed and punched his face till 1 min and 2 sec into round 2 for the win by technical knockout. Matt Hugh’s is known as the greatest welterweight of all times so for Thiago that must have felt great. I spoke with Thiago and was able to get his thoughts before and after the fight.
Before the fight Thiago said it was, “A lot of pressure, I mean not a lot of pressure but, I new I have to win the fight. The last two weeks I sprained my ankle training and it was kind of really bad I couldn’t make weight and everything. I was really really nervous but I don’t know, I think I really sucked it up and everything worked out good.”
After the fight Thiago was,” In heaven! Just hard work paying off. I was really really happy man and don’t know, I can’t describe.”
Thiago was four pounds over for the fight. Matt agreed to fight with a reduction to Thiago’s purse. Once in 2006 Thiago was fined and suspended for taking a drug to reduce water weight. Rumor has swirled that he may possibly move up in weight class. Not the case. Here is what he said about the subject, “The end of 2006 I got caught with diuretics and I got suspended for 8 months. But not for this fight though I really sprained my ankle. I was going to turn down the fight and I called my manager and everything and we called the UFC management.” He was told, “Maybe I have to take cortisone shots so I could train. The cortisone shot makes you hold water too. I couldn’t walk for 3 days because of the ankle. I always make weight though.”
Alves tells me he plans to remain a welterweight and he also says, “The UFC has been good to me I’m not planning on going no where.” He trains in Florida at American Top Team. You can visit their webpage: http://www.americantopteam.com/. American Top Team is a highly respected gym. Thiago expressed gratitude for being with them, “ATT is the best camp in the world. We got the best coaches. We got the best training partners in the world. I go to work, yeah I go to work, and it’s like a family. All my family is from Brazil and I find a new family here in side of the gym. I couldn’t be in a better place.”
What can we expect in the future from Thiago “The Pitbull” Alves? “A lot of knockouts. I’m gunna get the belt. I’m gunna knock everybody out.” To his fans Thiago had to say, “I want to appreciate all the support and all that. Everybody who trust me and know that I’m gunna get out there. God bless you guys keep pulling for me because it’s just the beginning.”
Everybody was Cung Le fighting
For the real deal go see Cung Le’s official page :
http://www.cungle.com/sv/html/website/WebSite_8/m_main.jsp?id=8&
Everybody was Cung Le fighting
Carl Douglas sang “Everybody was Kung Foo Fighting,” this song I hear lately over and over in my head. I switched it up a bit though and sing to myself, “Everybody was Cung Le fighting.” Sometimes I sing it out loud, like when I was playfully throwing my version of a leg kick at my 16 year old son and knocked my knee on the corner of the doorway. My son was looking at me like I was a retard.
Cung Le doesn’t look like a retard throwing a leg kick. Or a flying back fist, flying leg scissors etc. He, instead, looks unbelievably gifted. The woe’s and the aah’s flow freely from my mouth as I watch this Mixed Martial Artist work his way to superstardom. When I spoke with him this past Saturday, I told him he was a freak of nature. Gosh, I hope he knows I was giving him a compliment!
The dedication these fighters have to give: all of the training, interviews, and vast amounts of traveling. Cung Le has come up with one way to cut down on some of his travel time. Instead of traveling to high altitude areas, where the oxygen intake is less therefore, enhancing physical endurance. He snuggles up in his own high altitude sleeping chambers in his bedroom.
Did I say snuggles? Actually from what Cung Le told me it is none to comfortable. Even though he is not claustrophobic. He had “Nightmares the first few nights.” and “It can be very difficult.” But hell, Cung Le is so incredible he even talked his “girl” of 3 years into sleeping in there with him. Good thing they don’t have to sleep in it all the time just leading up to a fight. It’s nice to have support from a loved one. He also uses a cardio workout machine that limits air intake as well.
Cung Le has appeared on televisions shows as himself such as Walker Texas Ranger, Warrior Nation, and Human Weapon. He is also appearing in movies, set to come out later this year or early 2009. Fighting: A young ticket scalper is introduced to the world of underground street fighting. Starring Channing Tatum and Terrence Haller. The video game Tekken has a movie coming out that will feature Cung Le as the character, Baek Doo San. You can check out the movie real video for Lost Warrior: Left Behind at http://www.gorillapictures.net/lostwarrior.html. You can also check out the movie real video for Blizhniy Boy: the Ultimate Fighter at http://www.gorillapictures.net/blizhniyboy.html. You can find past movies by searching Cung Le at http://imdb.com/.
Cung Le told me he was “Living the American Dream” after “Leaving Vietnam in 1975 under gunfire.” I couldn’t help detect the pride in his voice when he said this.
After Cung Le’s win over Frank Shamrock 2 weeks ago, he says he is “chillen.” How wonderful he can chill with his 2 boys that he has “100% custody of.” When he is done with that it will be off to the next fight. I can’t wait to see what this 5’10” 185 pound Strikeforce World Middleweight Champion has to bring. What to do next after you broke Frank Shamrocks wrist; that is the question.
What is the truth?
Interview with Brandon "The Truth" Vera
