(You can pretty much guess why he had to shave his head.)
Look, we’ve busted Jason Reinhardt‘s balls a couple times because of his tendency to fight 0-0 opponents, his winless UFC record, and because he happens to look like Steve Carrel’s stunt-double in a movie about meth addiction. But of course records never tell the whole story. As a sub-155′er trying to make a living in the Midwest, Reinhardt had to take whatever opportunities were available to him, and was often paired up with much larger opponents on his journey to the big show. After news of his UFC release broke, Reinhardt went on the UG to respond to his critics and defend his strange career. I thought it was worth passing along. Read on…
*****
i’m not gonna lie. i’m having a bad day today. I’m human. I have feelings. I train just as hard as anyone. many tell me i over train and to slow down. i know only one speed. i come from the work ethic of miletich fighting systems. i love pat miletich for that. can i vent for a second? each and every one of us fighters have our battles. our struggles. it’s called life. heck, each and everyone one of you have your own battles. you guys get up, go to work, support your familys, get up and do it all over again. even if your not an mma fighter, your, a “Warrior” in your own right! lifes rough. but the important thing is never to give up, no matter what. i make no excuses. i hate fucking excuses. i hate it when fighters make excuses for their losses. that drives me crazy. i guess i’m a little old school. some critics like to say, i’m a can crusher, or whatever the hell they call it. Don’t they understand when i was fighting there basically were no weight classes? there were no commissions. we all got paid yes, but i always faught whoever my manager told me too. my job was to train, and show up and fight. i did my job, and did it well. every single fight i ever faught the guys always out weighed me. (with the exception of one) (even for official title fights which were suppose to be 135lbs.)
Ray Duke for example, from Arizona was a 4x highschool state wrestling champion who outweighed me by 15 pounds and Dan Severn told me, “jason, he’s forfeited his right for the title” “the belts yours” “he didn’t make weight” “you don’t have to fight” I respond, “fuck that Dan, we are fighting. I have all my friends and family here. “Let’s fight” and fight we did. He dropped me in the first with a left, broke my nose and i got my ass up and finished him. Nobody told me he was a 2x Golden Gloves Champion. Did Ray fight anymore after that? once or twice. i was told his spirit was kinda broken when he didn’t take the belt back to Arizona.
Or, let’s talk about Sean Yoshida, the 2x national Judo champion i faught in my very first pro mma fight in the year 2000. Ya, i did Judo. i was a white belt and use to watch this stud throw people on their “domes” at all the judo tournaments. He was sponsored by “Sony” and i use to watch him and admire his skills. Guess what? a year later he was my first pro mma fight. The promoter comes to me, “jason, sorry, your original opponent from travis fultons school couldn’t make it and all we got is Sean Yoshida, and he’s too much for your first pro fight” My exact response, “fuck that Brian Madden,(god rest Brian’s soul) I will fight him.” Again, i had tons of tickets sold and people drove 3 hours to watch me fight. i don’t want to let one single fan down! EVER. I live for the mma fans! period. honestly, i thought i was gonna lose my first pro mma fight, until Jeremy Horn (who’s in my corner) looks me in the eyes, and says, “jason, this is fighting, it’s not judo” “i was scared, i’m man enough to admit it.” Well, guess what, the “can crusher” choked the Judo olympic hopefull out in 36 seconds. oh ya, i weighed in at 132. he weighed in like 147.
can i please mention the “experienced” Del “the phillipino Delight” Hawkins, who was my 5th pro fight, who also once again, out weighed me for the RSF title belt. They announced him something like 55 wins, 8 losses in Rage in the Cage out of Arizona. Jens “Little Evil” Pulver was in my corner for this one. Jen’s says, “Jason, he’s gonna high kick you, I watched him warming up” “When he throws that high kick, i want you keeping your hands high, and throwing a straight right counter down the middle. (thank you pat miletich for teaching us this counter) I did just that and Jeremy horn told me it was one of the nastiest cuts he’s ever seen at the time. this is where it went bad…I got too excited, tried spinning to Hawkins back from standing, (didn’t know what i was doing back then) Anyway, i end up on my back, spun for the arm lock, hit it, didn’t hook the leg, Hawkins picks me up, power bombs me. i hit my neck on the wood floor. (that story next) wood floor!! i wasn’t letting go of the armlock for shit. He picked me up again, power bombs me again, but this time the armlock got sunk even tighter. he taps. i win. my neck is broken. c5 c6, and cracked vertebre.
hawkins goes to the hospital, gets some stitches, and was back fighting in a couple months. Jason Reinhardt is out a year and a half, and was told he would never be able to train again. Ya right. ok, doc. Instead i make it to the UFC.
Wanna hear a story….The promoter Randy Greenman at the time, had guys like myself, sean sherk, karo parision, manny gamburian (sp)?, chris Lyttle, steve berger. all these world class athletes. Randy paid very well. however, randy, lust like we all sometimes do, had his own deamons. First of all, when they were putting the ring together (yes, ring, not cage) i noticed they weren’t placing the half inch or whatever it is padding over the plywood. i ask the guys, “what happened to the padding”? “It got wet last night in the rain” “i didn’t really give a shit, i was just curious. Heck, the way i looked at it, i faught many street fights on concrete, so whats the damn difference, right? Well, the shitty part is, Randy didn’t pay my medical bills, or have insurance. remember, no commissions!! it all came out of my pocket. It actually put me into bankruptcy, and was the start of my financial troubles.
Randy Greenman was found a couple years ago with his head cut off in the woods, shot execution style, with his innocent friend who happened to be getting just a ride home killed as well. look it up. st. louis post dispatch. you live by the sword, you sometimes die with it. Randy did. RIP Randy.
Let’s move on so the fucking can crusher can tell ya a little more…how about the tough ass Jorge Conger from Ohio who screwed his full ride ohio state wrestling scholarship up who was kicking the shit out of me at Legends of fighting championships in indianapolis indiana, only for me to come back and win. Ask Spencer “the king Fisher” all about that War! He was in my corner. Jorge was also bigger than me. No big deal. I will fight anyone. i wish jorge would have continued. He could have really gone far.
How about the young Jorge Santiago who i faught in King of the Cage at the Stampede Stadium in Calgary Canada. He was also kicking my ass and i won. That’s one of my only fights thats on you tube. I kept all the other off on purpose because the advice of other people telling me it gives my opponents an advantage. fuck that. it’s time to put some old school stuff up.
i could go on and on. did i ever fight some easy oppoenents? Well, i really don’t know what that truly means. Because every single time you step your two feet inside that cgae with 4 ounce gloves anything can happen. How about the guy they brought in to fight me last min. who weighed exactly 192 pounds, and i weighed 139lbs. Try fighting someone who outweighes you this much in front of your own hometown. Well, the can crusher knocked him out.
my point is guys. Yes, i do feel like i have to defend myself. finally!! i’ve kept quiet for so long regarding this subject, and all i want is acceptance from the fans. from you guys. i give my heart, my soul, and every ounce of being in my body to mma. this is my life. I am improving every single day. Heck, i’m even picking up my family and moving to Vegas to pursue my dream. i am no quitter. Can’t i get a little respect? I don’t fucking suck. i am a decent fighter, and i’m improving daily. please please don’t give up on me!! much respect to all…
oh, one more thing i forgot to mention for the “Can Crusher” i’m glad you mentioned statistics, because your right. Often times, many of the opponents on my official record books had more fights than shown and recorded, because there were basically no commissions requiring the promoters to report the results into the state or web sites. and this sucks. anyway, all good. i’m moving to vegas and continuing with my new team Wand fight Team and people are gonna see a lot of jason reinhardt. i ain’t going anywhere. fall down 7x, get up 8