(The splash of green on the far right edge of the photo? That’s Susie. Photo courtesy of MMAWeekly)
Editor’s note: Yeah, it’s been over a month since Gary has graced us with his presence; long story, but it’s our fault, not his. Please forgive us for the delay. If you have any burning questions for the next installment of “Ask Gary,” please submit them in the comments section below, and catch up on his past columns here and here.
‘zaman fu’ asks: Please tell us some crazy stories about your sister.
Susie and I have always been really close and most fans would be familiar with seeing her in photos or post-fight ring celebrations. Throughout her life, Susie’s had a number of different boyfriends and, most of them, I didn’t like. The only men who I ever liked have been her husband and the man that she’s with right now. I’m sure there is an entire biography that can be written based solely on crazy stories about my sister Susie. She’s a party animal. Anytime I went to a fight, she would party enough for the both of us. I’d always go back to my hotel room and she’d go out to party with the fighters and fans. Needless to say, she’s got the skinny on everybody.
‘DARKHORSE06′ asks: Dear Gary, How come you never got paid what you deserved? Why were people always ripping you off? And why was it so hard to save? Not to push any buttons.
Hindsight is 20/20. Each one of us has our own life to live. Nobody makes all of the right choices at the right times. I’ve done both good and bad things but when all is said and done, I’m the one living my life. I’ve learned not to spend too much time worrying about how other people think they may have lived my life. Everybody gets ripped off and I’m no different. Old guys like us may have gotten taken advantage of sometimes but it’s nothing to whine about. Hopefully the new fighters can benefit from our experience by learning to watch their back and pay attention to what’s going on. Don’t let people make decisions for you. Make decisions for yourself and be careful who you give your trust to.
‘danomite’ asks: Who, out of all the people you have fought, hit the hardest?
You never even feel the people who hit the hardest because they just put you to sleep. I’d say that Fedor is one of the hardest hitters because he put me to sleep and I didn’t even feel a thing. Heath Herring also put me on Queer Street; a lot of people don’t give Herring the credit he deserved as a fighter but I’m telling you, he hits very hard. It’s very important for people to understand that just because somebody knocks you out, doesn’t necessarily mean they hit hard. It just means they hit you correctly, meaning you’re not breathing at the proper time or you don’t clinch your jaw at the right time. There’s a lot of guys who can hit hard but to be honest, no one personal really stands out. I was always prepared for the guys who hit hard so nobody ever really caught me off guard. I always did my research on my opponents and would train accordingly.
(Goodridge vs. Herring, Hero’s 4, 3/15/06)
‘danomite’ (again) asks: What do you think about Zuffa being the only big organization left?
Zuffa’s been treating everybody really well but the only problem with only having one player on the block is that it looks like a monopoly. Zuffa is cleaning up and doing what they need to do by taking the market share away from as many competitors as possible. And you know what? Good for them. You cannot blame them for making decisions in the best interest of the company. Now that Zuffa’s number one, other people are out to take a piece of their pie. The industry is starting to learn that if they are going to get any piece of the pie that Zuffa has been baking, they can’t be greedy and try to take more than their share.
‘jimbonics’ asks: How often are you mistaken for Gilbert Yvel?
‘danomite’ (wow) asks: Which black athlete or movie star do you get mistaken for most often? My money is on LT (Ladainian Tomlinson, not the other guy)
I always get mistaken for Rampage. Rampage Jackson and I go back a long way and we’ve had many conversations regarding how often we get mistaken for each other. We’ve hung out a lot together and we always have each other’s back. Rampage married a Japanese woman at the same time that I was thinking about marrying a Japanese woman. Rampage and I both know how to entertain the fans as arena celebrities; however, we are also very personable and approachable to individual fans. Both of us have been fighting our entire lives and have developed strong wills. We’ve always had the same attitude towards the sport and he’s always been my brother in this difficult sport.
‘SnackDaddy’ asks: Tits or ass?
Anybody who knows Big Daddy knows that I’m “Ass all the way, ass all day.” I love big booty.
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