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Exclusive: Jorge Masvidal On His Wild Ride From the Streets to the Main Event

(‘Gamebred’ uglies up KJ Noons at Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum. Photo via ESPN.)

By Jonathan Shrager

Jorge Masvidal‘s MMA career has taken him to Russia, Japan, Costa Rica, and the Playboy Mansion — not bad for a guy who got his start in bare-knuckle fights in his native Miami. Now riding back-to-back victories over Billy Evangelista and KJ Noons under the Strikeforce banner, Masvidal has been honored with a lightweight title shot against Gilbert Melendez at the promotion’s upcoming card on December 17th in San Diego. We got in touch with Masvidal recently to learn more about his streetfighting pedigree, his unconventional fighter’s lifestyle, and why “The Mansion” isn’t as exciting as you’d think. Enjoy…

CAGEPOTATO.COM: I wanted to start off by discussing your streetfighting past. Was it those underground brawls that made you consider the sport of MMA as a profession?

JORGE MASVIDAL: No. Before I did the streetfighting I knew I wanted to do MMA. I knew I wanted to get paid. I didn’t want to be a streetfighting king or nothing. I wanted to fight the best in the world and get paid for my talent. I knew since I was a kid at the age of 13 or 14 that I wanted to fight. I wanted to box, but I was also in love with wrestling. I wish I could have done both, but I realized I could only be competitive in one of them. Then MMA came along and I knew that was the one. At the time I was streetfighting, there wasn’t really an amateur MMA scene. I did that when I was about 18 or 19. They asked me to do it and I was like ‘why not?’

Having been involved in something so raw as backyard brawling, you must experience relatively little fear stepping into the regulated industry of MMA?

Oh yeah, big time. In MMA, I don’t got to worry about getting stabbed, or nobody shooting at me if I beat them up. That’s a big positive. In a streetfight, anything can happen at any random moment. If someone gets upset in the crowd, or you’ve caused somebody to lose money, they can pull a knife or a gun on you. You always get an adrenaline-rush when you step into an MMA cage, but it’s nothing like the concerns you have when streetfighting, when you’re worried about avoiding weapons.

(‘Gamebred’ uglies up KJ Noons at Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum. Photo via ESPN.)

By Jonathan Shrager

CAGEPOTATO.COM: I wanted to start off by discussing your streetfighting past. Was it those underground brawls that made you consider the sport of MMA as a profession?

Having been involved in something so raw as backyard brawling, you must experience relatively little fear stepping into the regulated industry of MMA?

Before your permanent transition into MMA, you competed in one professional boxing match. Why wasn’t boxing the right fit for you?

I’d already fought a couple MMA bouts when I had the boxing match, and the boxing just wasn’t paying me well at the time. I landed a decent deal with Bodog which guaranteed me good money compared to what I was receiving in boxing. In boxing, I was getting something like 700 or 800 bucks, whereas in MMA, I was being offered $20,000 win or lose. So it was no-brainer. Had boxing offered a few grand more, I would have pursued that. But the problem was, my lack of amateur boxing experience meant that I would have had to put together 15 to 20 fights before I could make some decent money. So it was a financial thing, but also, at the end of the day, I love MMA more than boxing. My first two loves were wrestling and boxing, so to combine them is perfect, and what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

Did you earn any money for your streetfights against Kimbo’s protégé Ray, the brawls which helped you rise to prominence online?

Nah man. I just did them. I just went out there to fight and compete. I was having some trouble getting some fights. I never realized [the backyard fights] would get me so much exposure, because I’d been involved in tons of previous streetfights. Kimbo was already famous by that time.

How did Kimbo know to get in contact with you to organise the brawls? Are you still in contact with Kimbo and do you have a good rapport with him?

Well, Kimbo and me trained at the same gym, and Kimbo’s manager Mike Imber contacted me offering me the scrap so I accepted gladly. That was that. I bump into Kimbo at local MMA shows in Miami, and I get on really well with him. He’s a tremendous dude. We both come from a similar fighting background so we have similar mindsets.

There’s something perversely compelling about watching fights unfold in an uncontrolled environment. This phenomenon is proven by the stats: Your fight vs Ray has 660,000 YouTube views. The highest amount of views for one of your professional fights is 71,000 vs Yves Edwards. The biggest irony being that the latter actually showcases a knockout.

That shows exactly what it is. I’ve achieved so many more accomplishments in MMA than beating up Ray in a streetfight, and people don’t even know about it. People don’t know I beat Yves and other top guys. But everybody has their own opinion.

Any chance we’ll see a return of the big hairstyle you were sporting back then?

Well, maybe when I move up a weight class to welterweight. Right now I couldn’t make lightweight if I kept the hair. When my hair’s wet, it weighs a lot. I thank my moms for my good hair. And also the long hair wasn’t practical for training. But I did like rocking the long hair, it helped pick up chicks.

How about the long jean shorts? Would those be authorized by Scott Coker for a Strikeforce fight?

Haha, no, I wouldn’t get away with that. There’s too much wrestling involved in MMA so they’d rip right open. They’d also hamper my mobility. For a streetfight, I dressed appropriately, but for MMA I wear those tight spandex shorts. Maybe I could wear the street attire heading into the cage, but not to compete.

I recently interviewed your boy Isaac Kesington (AKA Genghis Con), and given that you are one of his principal MMA muses, you were the topic of much discussion. For one thing, he revealed your love of a good fiesta. How do you have the ability to both work hard and play hard?

Yeah, Isaac’s my partner man. Hell yeah, I like to party. Me and my great friend Alexis Vila are always training and partying hard. It goes hand in hand. I really don’t drink alcohol excessively. But I like to hang out. Not necessarily in a club, but after a long day of training I just like to unwind and take my mind off fighting. Maybe hit the stripclub. You can ask Isaac, he has seen me do it a million times. I’ll party ’til 4 or 5 in the morning, and then be up at 8.30 to get to the gym by 9. I’ve been doing it for a long time, so it doesn’t affect me much.

Isaac assured me that prior to the KJ Noons you began to take training camp more seriously.

Yes. Well, my coaches were riding me about it. My nutritionist, she wanted me to get some more sleep. But the problem is I kind of have insomnia. I only need five hours and I’m good. But my coaches wanted me to get like eight hours. Even if I’m at home, I’ll stay up playing video games. I’m just active at night.

And you’re apparently fond of junk food?

Oh, of course man. I’m a big McDonalds and Burger King fan. If it wasn’t for my weight I’d be eating that stuff all day long. It keeps my weight up but performance-wise, I feel great. I’d eat a double quarter-pounder with Big Mac sauce and go and kick anybody’s ass. Until I was 23 or 24 I used to live off junk food. It was funny because when I fought Ray the first time, I was actually halfway through the McDonalds drive-thru when I got the call offering the scrap. I ate half my burger, then I was good to go. And I finished the other half of my burger following the fight.

Does your nutrionist allow you to have the odd McDonalds here and there during training camp, or are you cutting it out completely?

I can’t say completely man. You know, I might have to blame you on this because you’ve brought up McDonalds so much during this interview that I might have to go and get some [laughs]. I try to diet strictly Monday to Friday and eat the food I’m supposed to for training, but during the weekends, when we train less sessions, it’s tougher so I might get me a double cheeseburger during the downtime. If I eat junk food I tend to burn it off by training hard, and that’s the difference. And if I’ve had a tough practice, nothing will pick me up like a good old-fashioned dessert. Yo, wait up, I got your countryman Brad Pickett here.

(Jorge puts me on the phone to Brad, who fought Renan Barao at UFC 138. Brad jovially offers to translate Jorge’s English for me before passing me back to Masvidal.)

Ok, moving on from food to women. Isaac informs me that you are a bit of a ladies man?

Who don’t love women? I love women as much as the next man. Ah man, Isaac is talking me up there, trying to help me out. I mean, we go out and try. Isaac is handy with the ladies too. That’s why he and I have always got along so well since the first day we met. I took him to my spots to party and he loved it so we clicked right away. It’s like I’ve known him for years because we are into the same things.

You’re one of the few lucky fighters that had the opportunity to fight at the Playboy Mansion. Can you reveal to us the post-fight shenanigans than ensued following your TKO victory of Matt Lee back in 2007? That must have been a wild afterparty.

Im’a tell you man like I’ve told everyone, and it’ll burst your bubble. I’d heard all the rumors about the Mansion so I thought we were going to have a blast but it wasn’t that good, because the ratio was like 20-25 dudes per every chick. We chilled and ate some food, but the girl:guy ratio just wasn’t right so we ended up leaving to hit some spots out in LA. I saw Hugh [Hefner] sitting in the crowd and I would have loved to chat with him. But he was busy with his chicks and his wives doing his thing. The cage-girls were hot but I’m not sure whether they were actually bunnies.

Well thanks a lot for your time today Jorge, it’s been a pleasure.

Hey no, thank you man.

‘UFC on FOX’ Exclusive: Once Again, Clay Guida Looks to Prove Himself in Career-Defining Fight

(How far can the amped-up UFC star take his current hot-streak? Photo via Heavy)

By Elias Cepeda

If you were Clay Guida, you might be a little pissed off right now. In June, Guida was matched up with then-#1 UFC lightweight title contender and reigning WEC champion Anthony Pettis. Despite beating Pettis and picking up his fourth consecutive UFC victory, the Carpenter didn’t earn a title shot. Instead, he wound up with a bout against the man Pettis beat for the WEC belt, Ben Henderson.

Guida vs. Henderson was booked for a spot on the historic November 12th card that would be televised on FOX, promising a tremendous amount of exposure. Then, Guida learned that FOX would only be televising the card’s main event — Cain Velasquez vs. Junior Dos Santos for the heavyweight belt. And now, UFC President Dana White has not even guaranteed that the winner of Henderson (who last defeated Jim Miller) vs. Guida will be the next challenger for lightweight champ Frankie Edgar.

The past year appeared to be an emotional roller coaster for Guida, one perhaps capable of distracting him from his tasks at hand. Or…not.

“That stuff doesn’t bother me for a second,” Guida says. “Emotional roller coasters are for little girls playing soccer. If anything, those things just help me focus more.”

(How far can the amped-up UFC star take his current hot-streak? Photo via Heavy)

By Elias Cepeda

The past year appeared to be an emotional roller coaster for Guida, one perhaps capable of distracting him from his tasks at hand. Or…not.

“That stuff doesn’t bother me for a second,” Guida says. “Emotional roller coasters are for little girls playing soccer. If anything, those things just help me focus more.”

We should have known better. This is, after all, a fighter who once told me that he felt it was ridiculous for a professional fighter to ever get tired and that if he or she did, they should find a new career. Guida just isn’t very good at making excuses. As such, he’s not complaining about having to fight such a tough opponent after beating the #1 contender, or not even being guaranteed a title fight if he beats Henderson.

That’s not to say Guida doesn’t feel he is the rightful #1 contender to the UFC lightweight crown. He just doesn’t mind proving it over and over again. “We’ve been around [in the UFC] for five years and have never been in a rush to get a title shot, so we’re not starting now,” Guida says.

“We are just going to follow our gameplan and keep exploiting our opponents’ weaknesses. Hopefully a big win against Henderson will put an exclamation point on me being the legit, number one contender and show Joe Silva, Dana White, and the Fertita brothers. They’ve seen great performances from me but they’ve also seen me fall short a couple times,” he continues.

As for his television exposure, Guida’s bout will be broadcast on Facebook and on FOX Deportes, and he’s predictably positive about the whole thing: “You know what, if it is a good enough fight people will watch it anyway. They will show it in the future on re-runs and if I fight well I can get the big shot at the lightweight title. Things happen for a reason,” he says.

“The dedicated fans will watch it and hopefully they will bring along some of their friends who are newer to the sport.”

At the moment, Guida is heading to Anaheim from his New Mexico training camp at Jackson and Winklejohn’s MMA. He says he got his RV (the same one he drives to Lebowski fests and jam band concerts around the country) to New Mexico for camp two days after Labor Day, but that this camp “feels quicker than any other before.”

Guida seems to feel that Henderson is a better fighter than Pettis – “That wasn’t the best Henderson out there against Pettis,” he believes – but that “Showtime” had a good game-plan to beat “Bendo”, and that he just might follow it in principle.

“Pettis stayed in Henderson’s face and kept him guessing. It would be smart to follow suit,” Guida says.

As usual, Guida isn’t favored by most to win his next fight, but he’s fine doing what he does best once again. “It’s time to go out there and prove the critics wrong.”

Exclusive: UFC 138 Co-Headliner Brad Pickett Discusses Expectations and Opportunities

(“One Punch” may be a catchy moniker for the roguish bantamweight, but it could very well be the thing that stands between Pickett and a shot at the title. / Gruesome photo via Brad’s Facebook page.)

By CagePotato contributor Ben Cartlidge

This Saturday’s UFC 138 event in Birmingham, England, marks the organization’s sole stop in the UK this year and, as expected, the anticipation is already at a feverish level. The card is a mixture of home-grown talent and international mainstays, and is headlined by the first five-round non-title main event in the promotion’s history between Chris Leben and Mark Munoz.

The co-main event features one of the most dynamic fighters to come out of the UK who, after a career spanning twenty-five fights with multiple appearances in the WEC and Cage Rage, is finally making his UFC debut. Brad “One Punch” Pickett meets Nova Uniao prospect Renan Barao, after a back injury forced Pickett to withdraw from his UFC 130 bout with Miguel Torres, in a potentially incendiary affair at 135lbs.

Brad took the time to chat with CagePotato.com about his preparations for this fight and his plan to snap the insane win-streak of his dangerous opponent…

CAGEPOTATO.COM: Renan Barao has twenty-six straight wins, and his only loss was a split-decision in his professional debut, six years ago. Do you think you’ve got the skills to be the first one to finish him?

BRAD PICKETT: Stats are stats. Everyone loves them but I don’t care about them. I’m going to go in there and throw hard and try to knock him out. If I can knock him out then I’ll be the first person to do that which would be brilliant, or the same if I was to submit him. I don’t look at his record and go “look at how many fights he’s won.” There’s no point in breaking it down like that because you just go into it all too much.

I honestly think I’ve fought a lot higher competition than this kid has. I’m not saying that he’s not good because you beat the people that are put in front of you but I don’t think he’s fought someone of my calibre yet. Honestly I believe I’m a better athlete and I’ve got the tools to win it. It’s my fight to throw away.

By CagePotato contributor Ben Cartlidge

Brad took the time to chat with CagePotato.com about his preparations for this fight and his plan to snap the insane win-streak of his dangerous opponent…

Do you think this is a riskier fight for you than your fight against Torres was because Barao doesn’t have a big profile and name value?

Miguel was, in my eyes, an amazing match up. I loved that fight and he was a huge name for me to take on but that’s done and dusted and I’ve got to put it behind me. Barao’s a more dangerous opponent not entirely based on skills just because he hasn’t got that huge name that Torres has.

It’s like when I fought Demetrious Johnson — nobody knew about that kid. I had to fight him and he was 12-0 or 14-0 at the time and I beat him and he went on a tear and now people know just how good he is. If I beat him now, I’d get a lot more praise than I did for beating him then, but it is what it is.

It’s the same as when I fought Ivan Menjivar. He was a big name back in the day, I mean he fought GSP, but he was coming back after a four-year break and he’d had one other fight. It was a really tough fight and risky for me but you’ve got to get in there and do your job. Some match ups you like and some you don’t but you’ve just got to get on with it and act professionally.

As a fighter with a reputation for staying busy; how hard has it been for you to miss the bulk of 2011 through injury?

As any sort of athlete in any sport you want to be active, especially at my time in my career. I know I haven’t got long left in my career so I want to be as active as possible. When I retire, that’ll be that, so I need to know that I’ve put everything into it and I’ve been fighting for as long as I can. Being injured at any point is not great, so I’m happy that I’m back in shape, feeling good and I’m ready to go.

My back was pretty bad and it’s thanks to the guys and both in England and America who’ve helped me a lot. I’m there now; I’m in touching distance of the fight. I’m very happy to be ready with everything. My camp’s done, I’m in shape and all I’ve got to do is not fall down stairs or anything like that and I’ll be fine.

So this has been the first complete training camp you’ve had this year obviously with the cancellations to your other fight; has it been harder to get back into it?

This camp’s been better because I’ve trained a lot smarter and listened to my body a lot more. I had Conan [Silveira] running my camp with Mike Brown over at ATT and we’ve all spoken a lot about how I’m feeling physically throughout and making the training work better as a result. We’ve still done a lot of training but it’s been more sensible because of my injury and coming back from it.

There’s certain things, with an injury, that you don’t want to do too much of and I’ve done a much better job at responding to my body as a result. It’s been a really good training camp with some great sparring partners. I had Sirwan Kakai come out from Sweden who’s a great young fighter and obviously Mike Brown and all the other guys at ATT and it’s been the best camp I can remember.

Obviously training at American Top Team has been a massive help to your development as a professional. Do you think that training abroad is the only way that a UK fighter will be able to compete on the highest level?

American Top Team have helped me with my wrestling so much and the quality of sparring partners there is amazing, but obviously the level of competition in America is much higher in general. I don’t just mean MMA athletes either — there’s a lot more high level grapplers and strikers to train with over there than in other areas.

If you’re in your gym in London or somewhere and you don’t have as big a team then you really miss when you’ve got fighters out with injuries or on holiday or preparing for a fight because there isn’t the depth. American Top Team has so many fighters that you get good sparring all year round and, for me personally, I live in the UK so when I fly to America for a camp I know that all I have to think about is nothing but business.

When you’re at home the distractions of being at home are everywhere and it’s really hard to work around them or shake them off sometimes. It’s so true about that because there’s always something happening when you’re at home and, if you’re not careful, it impacts the way you train. As soon as that plane lands in America I’m all business. I know that the next few months are going to be all about training hard and playing video games.

This is not only your first fight in England for two years but it’s also your UFC debut and it’s a co-main event. How much pressure do you feel under going into this one?

I always put pressure on myself coming up to any fight but, before, all I focused on was how much I needed to win and I wouldn’t care how I got myself through it as long as I came out with the ‘W’. My focus now is to put pressure on myself to make sure I perform well and I’ll be happy. I’m happy to be fighting; I’m probably happier about that than anything else.

I’m not going to go in there and be happy to be there and not care about the result though; that’s not my style. I’m going to go balls to the wall and try to get this win. If I can perform like I know I can perform then there’s no doubt in my mind that I’ll win. It’s a fight though. He’s going to want to beat me but if I fight the way I can then I can beat him.

I don’t think the stage will get to me because I’m quite mentally strong at this point in my career. I get nervous for my fights, everyone does, but I’m in a really good place and I’ll go out there and give it everything I have.

This fight is a big opportunity to show your skills to a much larger audience. What do you want to show to these new fans who may be watching you for the first time?

There are a lot of people in the UK who may not even know who I am because I’ve been fighting in the American circuit for the past few years. They may not have seen what I do because the WEC wasn’t really televised in the UK so unless they’re hardcore fans they’re not going to know who I am.

It’s exciting to show some of the newer fans what I’ve got to offer not just in the UK but all around the world. If you haven’t seen me fight before then I’m game and I always seem to get myself into really good fights. I’ve not been in many boring fights at all if any really.

So let’s say that you’re able to get the victory here; where does this win put you in the bantamweight division?

I really don’t like looking past an opponent and I’d be really stupid and naive to look past someone like him because he’s dangerous. Where does it put me after though if I do beat him; only in a good position. Winning at the level that I’m at can only put you in a good position. If you keep winning in the UFC then good things happen. If I win this and someone says that my next one is for the belt then that’s brilliant but as long as I keep winning then I’ll keep fighting this high level of competition and eventually a title shot will come. My goal is really simple for this fight; I’m going to go out there on Saturday and put on a great performance and come away with the win.

The best of luck on Saturday Brad, thanks again for the time. Any messages for anyone to finish?

Thanks to everyone who’s helped me out for this one both over in ATT and in the UK. I’d like to say thanks to my sponsors Headrush, Hayabusa, V.I.P Services, Venum and also the Institute of Human Performance who’ve helped me with some conditioning elements of this camp. Thanks for all the good wishes from everyone and all the support.

Visit bencartlidgesupermma.blogspot.com for more of Ben’s musings on MMA, video games, and life itself.

Bellator 48 Exclusive: Seth Petruzelli Explains His Bald Head and Karate Background

Here’s what happens when you give an eccentric amateur MMA fighter a Bellator 48 press credential and tell him to “just have fun out there.” Our man Jeff “KarmaAteMyCat” Watts was representing CagePotato in Uncasville, Connecticut this weekend, and came back with a ton of interviews with the show’s stars and supporting players. We’ll kick things off with his chat with the victorious Seth Petruzelli. Instead of going the predictable route and asking the Silverback what it felt like to ruin Ricco Rodriguez’s 12-fight win streak, Karma uncovers Petruzelli’s feelings about fedoras and traditional martial arts — as well as his most beep-worthy photo with Tom Lawlor. Lots more to come…

Exclusive Interview: 11 Questions With Bob Sapp

(Bob, what is best in life? “To crush your enemies, see them [pile-]driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women.” Photo courtesy of UPI)

With a decade-long career that has included pro-wrestling, MMA, kickboxing, and acting, Bob Sapp is one of the most iconic entertainers in combat sports. Sapp returns to the big screen in the new remake of Conan the Barbarian — which hits theaters today — as the villainous tribal leader Ukafa. We caught up with the Beast last night to discuss everything from Conan to Mike Tyson to Beast-endorsed sex toys. Enjoy…

CAGEPOTATO.COM: Hey Bob, thanks for taking the time to speak to us. Where are you right now?
BOB SAPP: I’m in Dubai, doing some training for my next WKA kickboxing fight, August 26th in Germany. My opponent is Florian “Faust” Pavic. I am 100% healthy, so you’ll see me going old-school with a lot of big punches.

Tell me a little about the character you play in Conan the Barbarian.
Ukafa is basically a big, brute, bully guy. He’s a non-talkative guy, because he’d rather talk with actions than words. You can see how strong he is, especially at the beginning when he actually tackles a real horse. I didn’t do any comedy in this one — it’s strictly a serious role, straight action and adventure. So I consider this role to be very similar to the one I played in Elektra with Jennifer Garner a few years back.

(Bob, what is best in life? ”To crush your enemies, see them [pile-]driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women.” Photo courtesy of UPI)

Tell me a little about the character you play in Conan the Barbarian.
Ukafa is basically a big, brute, bully guy. He’s a non-talkative guy, because he’d rather talk with actions than words. You can see how strong he is, especially at the beginning when he actually tackles a real horse. I didn’t do any comedy in this one — it’s strictly a serious role, straight action and adventure. So I consider this role to be very similar to the one I played in Elektra with Jennifer Garner a few years back.

Being in these action films seems like such a natural fit for you, because your career in the fight business straddled the line of sport and entertainment. When you were fighting in Japan for PRIDE and K-1, did you view yourself more as an athlete or as an entertainer?
I guess it would kind of depend on what I was doing. It started to blur the lines a little bit. I think it’s safe to say that I viewed myself more as an entertainer than a pure athletic fighter. Because even during my fights I would make them entertaining on purpose. We actually had a couple fighters who were doing that — you remember Sudo Genki was doing some of that with his entrances.

Your first foray into combat sports after your pro football career was your Toughman match against William “Refrigerator” Perry. How did that come about?
I was with WCW, they went bankrupt, and they ended up calling a friend of mine, Steve Emtman, and asked him to box Refrigerator Perry. Steve had no interest in boxing, but he thought a better story line would be, former Chicago Bear who worships Refrigerator Perry and ended up getting released his first year, would like to go back and get revenge on the team, and in order to get revenge on the team, well, he will have to pick out America’s Cutest Big Man. [Perry] was my idol, too, I had his jersey number in high school. It was hard to fight him. I was like, “Man, I can’t believe I’m beating up the guy, and he’s the reason why I played football.” It was crazy.

I’m guessing that’s not the the first time you had to beat somebody’s ass. Was fighting a regular occurrence when you were growing up in Colorado?
When I played football, I was the one who would be getting in all these fights during practice. One time, I actually got so angry that I took my right hand up and ripped my face-mask off of my helmet. I’ve always been pretty big and strong. I can remember the coach saying, “Well that’s good because now you gotta play like that and it’s gonna be pretty scary,” and it sure was. So, I didn’t do that anymore.

At the height of your success, there seemed to be an entire industry devoted to you and your merchandise. How crazy did that get for you? Were you ready for that kind of fame?
I guess I was as ready as you ever can be. Of course nobody can be ready for over 400+ products made with your name, likeness, and image, and hundreds of commercials. When I was in the NFL I ended up being a bad investor and lost all my money, but I was able to make some better choices the second time around. So when I saw the big money coming in again, I knew exactly what to do. I paid off my home and concentrated on paying off every bill that I had. I’m completely debt-free at this point.

What was your favorite piece of Bob Sapp merchandise?
The most unique piece of course is the Bob Sapp women’s vibrator, and they actually asked me if I’d come back and do another one — this time they want to use my head. That was the most unusual piece, but the one that I thought was really cool was the Casio watch, where my entire face would light up.

How aggressive did the fans get in Japan?
One time a bunch of girls took their clothes off and jumped on top of my taxi cab. That was pretty funny. Another time, there was a huge mob of fans who wanted to get at me, and they ran all the way over to me and pushed over this guy who was physically challenged. I thought he was in trouble so I went over to pick him up, and he said “thank you very much.” And as I picked him up he took my picture. That was the funniest thing I’d seen in a long time.

How upset were you that you never got to fight Mike Tyson?
Oh, extremely. I thought that was a great storyline, traditional boxing vs. kickboxing. The problem is, sometimes with K-1, they’d find one thing that works and they want that same thing to work with everyone. So then you later saw that they were stating, “Hong Man Choi’s gonna fight Mike Tyson, Jerome Lebanner’s gonna fight Mike Tyson, Mirko Cro Cop’s gonna fight Mike Tyson.” It ended up getting a bit crazy, and they were never able to concentrate and remain focused on one thing. They just confused everybody. And unfortunately Mike Tyson was unable to get into Japan because of the things he’d done in his past.

You were supposed to appear in the last K-1 Dynamite!! New Year’s Eve show, but pulled out after a money dispute. The story went that you showed up and they tried to give you half of what they originally offered you. Has Japanese MMA always been corrupt?
It’s never been corrupt. I can remember when they were really honorable. I fought Mirko Cro Cop, and although I didn’t have any time to relax, because I was working 24/7, it was wonderful to see — they basically picked up my entire tab for the injury. How wonderful is that? Fast forward to the present, and you have somebody who goes in there and gets injured, their insurance forms tell them that if they get injured they’ll be taken care of, and as soon as they get injured, K-1 tells them that’s a pre-existing injury and you don’t have to treat them. There was some really naughty, nasty, disgusting stuff.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to listen to Mr. Tanikawa when he says “K-1′s gonna be fine, we’re gonna be fine,” and then the next day he’s like “we need investors, we need investors,” and the next day later, “we will hold events, we will hold events,” and after that, “we need investors, we need investors” — you start to think, well, which is it? If you’re holding events, why don’t you pay all your debts to these fighters who haven’t gotten paid?

The sad part is, you have some guys who are 20-year veterans in there fighting, and they haven’t gotten paid for fighting five or six times. In the fight game, you’re going to end up receiving some damage in a fight. So it’s really disappointing when you look online and see so many keyboard warriors speaking ill of the fighters, and knowing that they’re giving and receiving brain damage for your sakes, and the only thing they get out of it is disrespect. They gotta deal with that, and then they gotta turn around and get hit with the fact that they aren’t getting paid any money? That really stings, it really hurts.

After nine years in the fight game, do you have any regrets?
No, I have no regrets, I would do it all over again. And hey, I’m still running around here and kicking. Now, it’s just in an entirely wholesome way.

— Ben Goldstein

Exclusive Interview: Brock Lesnar Discusses ‘Death Clutch’, Part 3

For the previous installments of our conversation with Brock Lesnar, click here and here.

BRIAN D’SOUZA: [When you were sick], maybe you thought a lot about your family, about what you’ve achieved in life…any regrets?
BROCK LESNAR: No, you know, I thought, if this thing is going to take advantage of me, I wanted to figure out what was wrong with me so I could beat it. When you’re laying there, after the fact, you start thinking about your family, and your friends. It wasn’t until afterwards when you’re thinking ‘Man — I really could have died from this stuff,’ when the dust settles, and you start thinking about it.

And on the other side of things, on the business side, there’s a lot invested in you, or a lot of value to you from the UFC. What was their attitude back then and recently, right now [when you pulled out of the Junior dos Santos fight]?
The first thing that came out of Dana White’s mouth was concern for my health. He said, “Don’t even worry about the fight. Let’s get your health taken care of.” That goes to show a lot about the company, and about the person that Dana White is.

Josh Barnett once told me ‘We have a pro wrestling system for MMA.’ But I kind of believe it’s a star system; I believe this based on the estimated pay-per-view buys which suggest — which we both know — you’re the number one draw in the organization by far. Going into the millions of pay-per-view buys where Georges St-Pierre can maybe do 800,000 or 900,000. How do you feel about being the number one guy?
Well, I don’t feel any different other than I’m glad to be in that spot, that opportunity; it’s a lucrative spot to be in, and at the end of the day, I hope that I can get back in the Octagon to keep trying to pursue those numbers.

For the previous installments of our conversation with Brock Lesnar, click here and here.

You’ve got these great numbers. There’s a lot of respect for you. You probably get a lot of great things contractually that most guys could never even dream of getting — no matter how successful they are, because on top of this, you were in the WWE, which is a great public relations machine itself. You were a star there, and came into the UFC, and became a bigger star than any UFC fighter could possibly become. Are you grateful to pro wrestling — or your own hard work and athleticism — for making you what you are?
Absolutely. I’m not stupid — without the WWE, the WWE made me a household name and increased my value tenfold before I even pursued the UFC. Could I be where I am today without the WWE? Probably not. Could I be drawing the same numbers that I’m drawing? Probably not. I brought a lot of fans over, a lot of crossover fans that I brought, just from the general public and WWE fans, I believe.

Do you believe that the real growth, in terms of pure numbers in MMA, is actually attributed directly to superstars like yourself, and a couple other guys…who are the household names who do these kinds of numbers?
I have to believe that just the growth of the sport in general — with anything — the more visibility they could gain, the bigger the audience is going to be, obviously. The UFC is doing all the right things to make this a mainstream sport, and if I can contribute to that, I’m glad for it and at the end of the day, it becomes more lucrative for other fighters, and myself, and the UFC, and we can still put out a great product that entertains people, and everybody is happy.

An ESPN Magazine estimate recently pegged your annual salary — probably from [fight] purses alone — at 5.3 million dollars. Is that hotter or colder, or can you not disclose that?
I’ve got no comment. No comment for that.

How do you feel your salary compares to someone like Manny Pacquiao — and again, we say MMA is a pro wrestling model — but he’s said to clear $32 million in the same survey.
Don’t believe everything you read.

I don’t necessarily believe everything that I read, but especially for the lower guys, like one of your opponents Shane Carwin — his guaranteed purse for his fight against you was $50,000; in boxing, it’s usually 25 percent of the purse bid that goes to the [title] challenger. I believe you’re doing pretty well, because you definitely have all the leverage over the UFC, but the guys who don’t have any kind of power aren’t really given the best kind of deal.
I don’t know for sure, I really don’t. I’m only concerned about one person, and that’s myself. I have no idea — I don’t read anything, I don’t pay attention. At the end of the day, I just want to fight and win fights and this is prizefighting for me, and winning fights, you win prizes.

I totally understand. You’re an individual and your own hard work got you to where you are. But have you ever thought about the next generation that’s coming up — they’re going to be kids [who] might look for some advice or some guidance to navigate the system.
I think the youth that want to enter this arena, it’s a good opportunity for learning disciplines and I think you’re going to see as the years go on, better fighters, because they’re learning all these new disciplines at a younger age, and it’s really becoming second nature to them. But as far as the business side of things, this is a capitalistic world we live in and if they can learn to save their money, they should provide a good living for themselves.

Is there anything else that you wanted to say on the subject of your book, or your life, or what you’re going to do next?
Hopefully, people go out and read this book [Death Clutch]. And right now, I’m just focused on my health, and trying to get better, and trying to get into the Octagon.

Buy ‘Death Clutch’ at Amazon.com