UFC featherweight Cole Miller (18-6) doesn’t mince words and isn’t initially open to reflection today. He’s on his way from Miami’s international airport to Los Angeles, where he will fight Nam Pham this Saturday, August 4th, on the preliminary card of UFC on Fox: Shogun vs. Vera.
Traveling is hardly ever any fun, and it must be less so for someone cutting weight, as Miller is. And when he’s asked what he may have learned from his last fight, a loss to Steven Siler in March, Miller is hard on himself.
“I wouldn’t say I learned anything from that fight. I just looked like shit,” he deadpans. “I moved backwards too much, I tried to counter too much, which is not really my game. I don’t know why I did that.”
Miller has never lost two fights in a row in his MMA career — and admits to a certain pride in that — but says that these days, losing at all is not acceptable. “When I was younger [losing two in a row] really meant that you didn’t learn from your previous mistake or didn’t work hard enough. Now its more of a, ‘losing sucks, period,’ feeling,” he says.
UFC featherweight Cole Miller (18-6) doesn’t mince words and isn’t initially open to reflection today. He’s on his way from Miami’s international airport to Los Angeles, where he will fight Nam Pham this Saturday, August 4th, on the preliminary card of UFC on Fox: Shogun vs. Vera.
Traveling is hardly ever any fun, and it must be less so for someone cutting weight, as Miller is. And when he’s asked what he may have learned from his last fight, a loss to Steven Siler in March, Miller is hard on himself.
“I wouldn’t say I learned anything from that fight. I just looked like shit,” he deadpans. “I moved backwards too much, I tried to counter too much, which is not really my game. I don’t know why I did that.”
Miller has never lost two fights in a row in his MMA career — and admits to a certain pride in that — but says that these days, losing at all is not acceptable. “When I was younger [losing two in a row] really meant that you didn’t learn from your previous mistake or didn’t work hard enough. Now its more of a, ‘losing sucks, period,’ feeling,” he says.
Miller’s opponent, Phan, is also coming off of a loss, to Jimmy Hettes at UFC 141 last December. Miller says he can’t take away much from Phan’s last bout, either.
“Nam got rocked in the first round and I think he never really recovered,” he says. “I don’t really think his last fight showed much of anything other than that he is hard to finish. He nearly got TKO’d from punches from the top, he’s got solid boxing and good conditioning, and he hasn’t been finished in years. He’s also a black belt in Karate so he’s got good kicks.”
Phan also happens to be a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, but Miller believes he’ll have the advantage on the ground. He’ll just have to get it there.
“I think I have an advantage on the ground for sure, but its all about being able to take it and keep it there,” Miller says. “Nam seems non engaging on the ground, more defensive. When Mike Brown took him down in their fight, he didn’t play Jiu Jitsu at all, he just tried to get up. When he was in Leonard Garcia’s closed guard, he mostly looked to ground and pound. I’m sure his Jiu Jitsu is good, we just haven’t seen him play that game much.”
At 6’1, Miller will have a huge reach advantage over Phan, and the American Top Team member hopes that will make his striking attack that much more potent.
“I hope [my reach] will have a big impact on my striking successfully. But the thing about reach is that it doesn’t mean anything if you cant establish it,” he explains. “That’s what the game is going to be — can I keep him where I want him? Can I keep him at a distance or in really tight and out of that middle range, or is he going to punch me up?”
One thing Miller seems certain of is that he will feel strong and be conditioned. He recently went back down to his old weight of 145 pounds, after spending his UFC career at lightweight.
“This is the best shape ever been in. Naturally, it’s fight week so I’m annoyed, low on weight. This part is the sucky part but this is part of the game. I feel strong this late, and I did well with other training partners that fight at the same weight class. This is my weight class,” he says.
One of those training partners is former WEC champion Mike Brown, who has previously faced and beaten Phan. Miller says he did ask Brown for tips, but that help can only go so far since he and Brown are completely different types of fighters.
“I got some sparring in with [Brown] during camp,” Miller says. “But the thing is, Nam is going to come at me with a completely different type of game than he did with Mike Brown. Mike and I are basically polar opposites. Sure, you ask about little things like how he felt, but I don’t put much stock into video or what somebody else tells me. My game is nothing like anything else Nam has ever fought.”
Miller will be the outsider coming in to face the Southern California resident Phan, on Saturday. It’s a role that, even if he doesn’t relish it, he has gotten used to.
“I haven’t fought in my home state, in Georgia or Florida since 2006 so fighting guys in their home is something I do,” Miller says. “It is more motivating than anything else. I know they are motivated. If I was able to fight in my hometown I’d be more motivated than I ever had been before, I’d be putting in even more work, pushing it extra hard and I expect my opponent is trying to do the same thing. So, I’m putting in the work and driving myself extra to exceed that.”
Man, you’d think reporters would give it a rest with asking retired fighters like Randy Couture whether or not they have the itch to come back to fighting. I mean, Couture hasn’t fought since April of 2011 when he took on Lyoto Machida at UFC 129 for crying out loud. On second thought, I guess that’s also the last time Georges St. Pierre fought, so…
In any case, we’ve been enjoying a series of video interviews with “The Natural,” done by MMAFighting’sLuke Thomas recently. In the first installment, Randy talks about his decision to retire, and how well it’s sitting with him these days as he jets around the world making blockbuster and straight-to-video films alike, all while running a top MMA gym.
Perhaps most interestingly, Thomas references the just-retired Kenny Florian, who recently spoke about the difficulty of adjusting to no longer being able to identify himself as a fighter, and asks Couture about how he defines himself these days. Is he a wrestler? Is he a fighter? Is he a coach? Is he the Scorpion King? Couture, per usual, gives a thoughtful and earnest response. Give it a look, and check out more from this revealing interview series after the jump.
Man, you’d think reporters would give it a rest with asking retired fighters like Randy Couture whether or not they have the itch to come back to fighting. I mean, Couture hasn’t fought since April of 2011 when he took on Lyoto Machida at UFC 129 for crying out loud. On second thought, I guess that’s also the last time Georges St. Pierre fought, so…
In any case, we’ve been enjoying a series of video interviews with “The Natural,” done by MMAFighting’sLuke Thomas recently. In the first installment, Randy talks about his decision to retire, and how well it’s sitting with him these days as he jets around the world making blockbuster and straight-to-video films alike, all while running a top MMA gym.
Perhaps most interestingly, Thomas references the just-retired Kenny Florian, who recently spoke about the difficulty of adjusting to no longer being able to identify himself as a fighter, and asks Couture about how he defines himself these days. Is he a wrestler? Is he a fighter? Is he a coach? Is he the Scorpion King? Couture, per usual, gives a thoughtful and earnest response. Give it a look, and check out more from this revealing interview series after the jump.
(Nothing that a little super-glue and duct tape won’t fix… / Photo via @MartinKampmann)
By Elias Cepeda
At this point, fight fans are wondering how Martin Kampmann can keep pulling dramatic victories out from the jaws of defeat. In March, the UFC welterweight contender was being soundly beaten for fourteen minutes by Thiago Alves on the feet before forcing him to tap out to a guillotine choke with seconds left in the fight.
Less than two weeks ago, Kampmann did it again, this time against Jake Ellenberger. Ellenberger connected with a monster left hook to the dome of Kampmann at the start of their TUF 15 Finale main event bout. Kampmann went down hard and looked to be moments away from losing and letting the division’s number one contender spot to the interim title — or whatever these poor guys are competing for at this point, in Georges St. Pierre’s absence — go to his opponent.
Instead, Kampmann somehow survived the round. Less than two minutes into the second, he landed his own punches and one huge knee to the head, putting Ellenberger down and out, and scoring his second come-from-behind stoppage win of 2012.
But good luck trying to figure out what, exactly, was going on in Kampmann’s mind at those moments of in-cage crisis before he turned the tide. “I kind of go on autopilot when I’m in there and try not to think too much,” Kampmann tells CagePotato.com.
Thinking is for training, for strategy, for figuring out how to prepare for the fight. In the heat of battle itself, a fighter needs his training to pay off with dividends of pure reaction. Punches, kicks, feints, and even submission holds need to be instinctual at that point.
“The more I think, the worse I do,” Kampmann explains.
(Nothing that a little super-glue and duct tape won’t fix… / Photo via @MartinKampmann)
By Elias Cepeda
At this point, fight fans are wondering how Martin Kampmann can keep pulling dramatic victories out from the jaws of defeat. In March, the UFC welterweight contender was being soundly beaten for fourteen minutes by Thiago Alves on the feet before forcing him to tap out to a guillotine choke with seconds left in the fight.
Less than two weeks ago, Kampmann did it again, this time against Jake Ellenberger. Ellenberger connected with a monster left hook to the dome of Kampmann at the start of their TUF 15 Finale main event bout. Kampmann went down hard and looked to be moments away from losing and letting the division’s number one contender spot to the interim title — or whatever these poor guys are competing for at this point, in Georges St. Pierre’s absence — go to his opponent.
Instead, Kampmann somehow survived the round. Less than two minutes into the second, he landed his own punches and one huge knee to the head, putting Ellenberger down and out, and scoring his second come-from-behind stoppage win of 2012.
But good luck trying to figure out what, exactly, was going on in Kampmann’s mind at those moments of in-cage crisis before he turned the tide. “I kind of go on autopilot when I’m in there and try not to think too much,” Kampmann tells CagePotato.com.
Thinking is for training, for strategy, for figuring out how to prepare for the fight. In the heat of battle itself, a fighter needs his training to pay off with dividends of pure reaction. Punches, kicks, feints, and even submission holds need to be instinctual at that point.
“The more I think, the worse I do,” Kampmann explains.
Kampmann has nearly as many professional fights as he does years of life, with many more amateur MMA, kickboxing, boxing, and submission grappling contests under his belt as well. He says that all of that, plus the hard moments in the gym where he’s gotten in trouble and persevered, are the keys to his ungodly durability in the Octagon.
“I’ve been in those situations before and that experience helps you stay composed in the fight,” he says.
Kampmann is about to head to his native Denmark for a well-deserved vacation as well as to likely undergo surgery to repair a nagging injury to his knee. After that, he says he’d like a shot at interim UFC welterweight champ Carlos Condit.
Johny Hendricks has also called out Condit after recently beating Jon Fitch and Josh Koscheck, back-to-back, but Kampmann is the last man to have beaten Condit. Three years ago, the pair clashed at UFC Night Night 18, with the Dane winning a decision. Kampmann says that he will fight Hendricks in an elimination match if he has to, as Dana White has said he is intending to have happen. But there is no doubt in Kampmann’s mind that he’s already earned a title shot.”
“I feel I’ve done the hard work and I feel I’ve earned the title shot,” he says. “I’ve fought some of the best guys in the division, I’m on a three fight win-streak and the judges didn’t see it my way in a couple fights before that. But everyone knows my opinion on those decisions. I’m not gonna keep whining about that.”
Kampmann says he has no personal axe to grind with Condit — he just wants the belt. “I’m cool with Condit. He’s a cool guy,” he says. “But I know he wants to erase his losses. He told me some time before that he wants to fight me again to avenge the loss. He’s just a competitor, like me. I want to erase all my losses and I don’t blame him for wanting to do the same thing.”
After compiling a 3-0-1 record in the UFC, heavyweight contender Travis “Hapa” Browne will welcome Strikeforce standout Chad Griggs into the Octagon at UFC 145: Jones vs. Evans (April 21st, Atlanta). CagePotato video-correspondent Sal Mora caught up to the undefeated slugger at the Jackson’s MMA camp in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to chat about his upcoming match — which will close out the UFC 145 preliminary card broadcast on FX — as well as Browne’s life outside of the cage. Check out the exclusive video after the jump, and let us know how you think this one will go down. Some highlights from the interview…
– On deserving a “step up” after four fights in the UFC: “I can’t worry myself with that. Joe Silva lines ’em up, I knock ’em down. Whoever he decides to put in front of me, it’s none of my business. I’m just out there to put on a show and keep winning my fights. It doesn’t matter who I fight, or where I stand in the rankings. I’m not somebody who gets caught up in that. I don’t even know where I stand right now, actually.”
– On what his sons think of their dad’s MMA career: “I think right now it’s not something that they have fully grasped. Before I came to camp, my last dinner with my kids…we’re all sitting down to dinner, and the waiter comes over and says, ‘Can I get you guys anything to drink?’ and my son stands up on the bench that he’s sitting on and says, ‘Hey! My dad’s in the video game!’…It was really cool to see my son happy about that. I just want my kids to be proud of me, and I think I’m doing that.”
After compiling a 3-0-1 record in the UFC, heavyweight contender Travis “Hapa” Browne will welcome Strikeforce standout Chad Griggs into the Octagon at UFC 145: Jones vs. Evans (April 21st, Atlanta). CagePotato video-correspondent Sal Mora caught up to the undefeated slugger at the Jackson’s MMA camp in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to chat about his upcoming match — which will close out the UFC 145 preliminary card broadcast on FX — as well as Browne’s life outside of the cage. Check out the exclusive video after the jump, and let us know how you think this one will go down. Some highlights from the interview…
– On deserving a “step up” after four fights in the UFC: ”I can’t worry myself with that. Joe Silva lines ‘em up, I knock ‘em down. Whoever he decides to put in front of me, it’s none of my business. I’m just out there to put on a show and keep winning my fights. It doesn’t matter who I fight, or where I stand in the rankings. I’m not somebody who gets caught up in that. I don’t even know where I stand right now, actually.”
– On what his sons think of their dad’s MMA career: “I think right now it’s not something that they have fully grasped. Before I came to camp, my last dinner with my kids…we’re all sitting down to dinner, and the waiter comes over and says, ‘Can I get you guys anything to drink?’ and my son stands up on the bench that he’s sitting on and says, ‘Hey! My dad’s in the video game!’…It was really cool to see my son happy about that. I just want my kids to be proud of me, and I think I’m doing that.”
– On Griggs’s style: “Chad comes out and sets a pretty high pace. He’s a smaller heavyweight, so he can get away with that…No matter what, you have to be just as intense as your opponent, if not more. Otherwise, that can help sway the momentum their way.”
– On dog-training: ”I had my own dog and I was too poor to get her trained, so I started apprenticing under a trainer, and since [then], I just grew fond of training dogs, and saw what difference you can make in people’s lives when they have a dog that’s actually trained and well behaved…I haven’t been training dogs for the last couple years since I started in the UFC, that way I can focus fully on my training and make sure I come out on top in my fights, but it’s definitely something I want to get back to once I’m done.”
– On the possibility of his kids following in his fighter-footsteps: “I think it would be tough for me. I love my boys, and anybody who truly knows me knows I’m a big softie. I hate watching my friends fight; that’s stressful for me because I don’t have any control over it. I would rather take an ass-whippin’ instead of letting them take one. You know what I mean? If they’re catching one, I would rather catch it for them. But I think watching my kids do something like that, I think I would be proud of their accomplishments, and I would be there for them if they ever had any disappointments in their career. But I’m just here to support them, I’m not pushing MMA on them…I’m letting them learn themselves and see what they like and what they want to develop into.”
[Ed. note: I specifically asked Sal to throw in that question about the four-year-old Yorkie. I was hoping that Travis would reveal some pro tips that I could use to control my dog’s separation anxiety, but I guess there’s no such thing as free advice when it comes to dog training. – BG]
Brian Stann‘s accomplishments in MMA and military heroism are matters of public record. But what about the man himself? As the UFC middleweight contender heads into his pivotal co-main-event against Alessio Sakara at UFC on Fuel TV: Gustafsson vs. Silva this weekend, we spoke to the All-American about everything from his childhood to his intense training to his various pursuits outside of fighting. Enjoy, and follow Brian Stann on twitter @BrianStann.
CAGEPOTATO.COM Hi Brian, many thanks for the opportunity to conduct this interview. I read that you played football as middle linebacker at the Naval Academy. How good were you at football? Do you think you could have made the NFL? BRIAN STANN: No, not even close. When I played football in college, I was recruited to play quarterback. My style was more to pass than run the option. Quarterback didn’t really work out, so I got moved around to a lot of different positions before finding a home at linebacker. It was a position I had only played sparingly at high school, so I had to learn the position while actually playing at a competitive level. I was always a good athlete, but quarterback was my primary position, and I never really had the stuff to play in the NFL.
Going back even further, you were actually born in Japan, at Yokota Airbase. Were your parents in the armed forces? Yes that’s true. My father was in the air force, so my family was stationed at the airbase. My mom left with me and my sister when I was two years old, and we moved back to Scranton, Pennsylvania. I pretty much lived there until I left for college.
Obviously you were very young so you might not remember, but being born there, do you feel any affinity with Japan at all?
Yes I do. When I was young, The Karate Kid was big, and I always thought it was really cool that I was born there. My mother and I made this promise that one day in the future we would return to visit Yokota and that she would show me all the different spots, and reminisce, since I don’t remember anything. So there’s certainly an affinity there, and when my fight career is over and I’m not constantly in training, my mom and I will make that trip.
So, you were born in Japan, raised in Pennsylvania, currently live in Georgia, train out in New Mexico, and fight everywhere. Where do you consider home now? You must feel a little displaced at times with all the traveling.
Brian Stann‘s accomplishments in MMA and military heroism are matters of public record. But what about the man himself? As the UFC middleweight contender heads into his pivotal co-main-event against Alessio Sakara at UFC on Fuel TV: Gustafsson vs. Silva this weekend, we spoke to the All-American about everything from his childhood to his intense training to his various pursuits outside of fighting. Enjoy, and follow Brian Stann on twitter @BrianStann.
CAGEPOTATO.COM Hi Brian, many thanks for the opportunity to conduct this interview. I read that you played football as middle linebacker at the Naval Academy. How good were you at football? Do you think you could have made the NFL? BRIAN STANN: No, not even close. When I played football in college, I was recruited to play quarterback. My style was more to pass than run the option. Quarterback didn’t really work out, so I got moved around to a lot of different positions before finding a home at linebacker. It was a position I had only played sparingly at high school, so I had to learn the position while actually playing at a competitive level. I was always a good athlete, but quarterback was my primary position, and I never really had the stuff to play in the NFL.
Going back even further, you were actually born in Japan, at Yokota Airbase. Were your parents in the armed forces? Yes that’s true. My father was in the air force, so my family was stationed at the airbase. My mom left with me and my sister when I was two years old, and we moved back to Scranton, Pennsylvania. I pretty much lived there until I left for college.
Obviously you were very young so you might not remember, but being born there, do you feel any affinity with Japan at all?
Yes I do. When I was young, The Karate Kid was big, and I always thought it was really cool that I was born there. My mother and I made this promise that one day in the future we would return to visit Yokota and that she would show me all the different spots, and reminisce, since I don’t remember anything. So there’s certainly an affinity there, and when my fight career is over and I’m not constantly in training, my mom and I will make that trip.
So, you were born in Japan, raised in Pennsylvania, currently live in Georgia, train out in New Mexico, and fight everywhere. Where do you consider home now? You must feel a little displaced at times with all the traveling. Haha, well, it’s normal to me, though my wife is still getting used to it. My kids are very young, and that’s what they’re accustomed to. Once I left home in 1999 and went to the Naval Academy, that was it. At that point, I had a bag packed and I was all over the place. When I graduated I lived in Virginia for a while, then I moved to North Carolina, then I moved to Georgia. But while I was in North Carolina, I was constantly back-and-forth, training in California with the Marine Corps for two weeks at a time, and two tours in Iraq, so I’m really used to living on the move. My wife has lived in the same place virtually her whole life, and only recently moved out of Scranton to Philadelphia just a short time before we were married.
Does your wife remain in Georgia with the kids while you are doing your training camp in New Mexico with the Greg Jackson camp? Not for the whole time. She’ll come out for about four weeks of my training camp — two different periods of two weeks — and sometimes I will fly home over the weekends also, because I can’t stand being away from my kids. I have considered walking away from the sport on several occasions, because I wasn’t making a tremendous amount of money, and I couldn’t stand being away from my children.
Have things gotten any easier as your UFC career has progressed? Yes, once I dropped down to 185 and I fought Mike Massenzio — and won the “Fight of the Night” bonus — then I defeated Chris Leben, things really started to turn around for me. I began to sign new endorsement deals, providing me with the opportunity to spend time with my family during training camps, which makes the sacrifices of being a professional fighter more worthwhile. And the UFC do a great job of taking care of their fighters.
Is the Marine Corps Martial Arts training elite-level, tantamount to the training you receive at Jackson’s? The level of training is very different. The training in the Marine Corps has to be at a very basic level because the masses are being trained, as opposed to individual fighters. The Marine Corps needs to have a program that gets a lot of people to the point where they are functional martial artists with striking and ground-fighting, rather than making them exceptional at any one specific skill. Furthermore, it’s a weapon-based system, in which the officers have to learn techniques that incorporate their weapons. However, having said all that, it still provided a great basis for my MMA training, and ensured that I fell back in love with martial arts, because it was practical. When I started to grow up, I began to realise that the traditional martial arts’ stances and techniques that I had learned as a child weren’t necessarily practical, and in turn I started to gravitate more towards conventional sports.
Could a lot of your Marine training partners have competed in the UFC? Oh, without a doubt. Maybe they couldn’t walk straight out of the military and into the UFC, but with time they could compete at the highest level. They possess the fundamental athletic skills, coupled with the mental fortitude required to compete in the sport — not to mention the poise you need when the lights are on and the cameras are rolling. The military has a lot of personnel that could be successful in MMA. The principal difficulty is that they already have a large commitment, and it’s extremely hard to train while simultaneously on active duty. During the majority of my WEC career, I was active duty and didn’t possess the sufficient time or assets to train as I currently do.
What degree black belt MCMAP do you hold? I’m a first-degree black belt. The other degrees do not necessarily denote superior technique, but rather the time which one spends practicing. My level was that of an instructor/trainer, so I could appoint instructors. You have regular practitioners of all different belt levels, but then you have instructors who can award belts and appoint instructors, which is the highest level you can attain.
I noticed online that you appear to boast three fighting nicknames, including “Grosso,” “All-American,” and “Captain America 2.5.” Do you prefer your current moniker, “The All-American”?
Haha, I wasn’t even aware of the other nicknames. I get awarded new nicknames at our gym on a weekly basis. It’s a great environment where we all tease each other. With regards to the “All-American,” when my manager tried to figure one out, there were a bunch of suggestions made, and I wasn’t overly keen on any of them. I was thinking I might go without one. Some of my buddies chipped in with their opinions, and the “All-American” was mentioned, which I preferred to “The Assassin” or something obvious like that.
Who are your main training partners at Jackson’s? Obviously we have our core group of guys, including Joey Villasenor, Keith Jardine, Jon Jones, Diego Sanchez, and Clay Guida — all guys that have been there for several years or longer. And we also get fighters coming in from all over the world to train with, either new members of the team or guys who have tagged along with somebody else. At the moment I’m training with the likes of two-time All American wrestler Derek Brunson and the ex-football player Shawn Jordan, so there really is a wealth of talent at my disposal.
Who are you closest friends with at Jackson’s outside of training? Tom Watson is the guy I’m the closest to. Tom is fantastic, and we have a great friendship. Aside from the talent he possesses in the various realms of the sport, he’s just very, very tough, one of the toughest I’ve ever trained with. At that point of exhaustion in training, when you have to draw from your deepest resources, Tom will continue. He’s the only other guy I know who will train as hard as myself. We are both known for overdoing it, actually.
Yes, Tom has attributed some of his previous injuries to overtraining. Well, Tom trains really hard, and he also fights as often as possible. He’ll take a kickboxing fight, and sign up for an MMA bout two weeks later. Three weeks later, he’ll take another kickboxing fight. The guy doesn’t care who he fights, doesn’t care about his opponent’s record or reputation, or whether he’s supposed to lose. I share his attitude, and these are the kinds of people I really like. Some people underestimate Tom’s ground game, but he’s improved significantly in his wrestling and BJJ, as evidenced by his last few fights. I believe he could fight anybody in the top ten of the middleweight division. He’d pose serious problems to them all, and could beat most of them. He belongs in the top ten.
That’s great to hear, especially as an English MMA fan. I noticed that you appeared in a recent video by Isaac Kesington, aka Genghis Con. I’m a fan of his work. Have you ever seen his stuff? Ah yes, I’m aware of Genghis Con, because he produced an episode on Jorge Santiago, who I fought last year. I always want to know my enemy. And not to say that my opponent is my enemy, but it’s just a term used in other facets of life. I want to know what kind of guy my opponent is. Is he the kind of person that works real hard all the time, and doesn’t require anybody to motivate him, or is he more of a quiet person? What kind of stuff is he doing in training? Even if footage can only provide me with a glance at something, I might be able to find an advantage. I thought the videos were very well put together, and a great portrayal of who Jorge is, his background, his skill-set and his lifestyle. And Genghis manages to capture the intensity of emotion involved in a fight, in the build-up, during, and the aftermath.
What does the UFC’s support of the U.S. armed forces — through their Fight for the Troops events and other charitable efforts — mean to you personally? The UFC’s support of the U.S. military is fantastic and I’m very proud to be a part of the promotion. Being a guy that is very involved with veteran charities, it means a lot to me to be part of an organization that understands and rewards the sacrifices of those men and women. Obviously, when the UFC stages a Fight for the Troops, they send me to the bases so I’m always present at these functions, but in all honesty, these things come from the leadership of the company, the Fertittas and Dana White, who are extraordinarily patriotic and grateful for the sacrifices of these men and women.
Would you like to headline one of the Fight for the Troops events? I imagine that would be pretty emotional for you. Oh yeah, I’d love to. It would be a great honor and a lot of fun. I was supposed to headline the [first] Fight for the Troops out in North Carolina, but I broke my foot so I had to withdraw. And for the most recent Fight for the Troops, I had just fought Chris Leben so the timing didn’t quite work out. But I was there with the soldiers all week attending all the different events.
Back when you were in the WEC, was it always your ambition to fight in the UFC? Not really. I was honestly just taking one fight at a time, really until 2011. I knew I was going to leave the military because I didn’t want to continue leaving my kids behind for periods of time when I was deployed. I was looking into various career options, including returning to school and numerous federal agencies. In sports, a career is precarious, and can be curtailed by injury. It’s the same in the NFL where you can be cut, or in baseball where you can be sent to the minors. So, I’ve always had several backup plans, even when I was brought over to the UFC, in the event that it didn’t work out. I mean the UFC is the elite. These guys are the best. I have kids, so I can’t afford to be cut by the UFC, and then go to fight for peanuts on a smaller promotion in the hope that I make it back. So I have to have other things in place, because I just want better for my family. I’ve kept a parallel career as the President of Hire Heroes USA, a national non-profit organisation that helps heroes to secure work, and I have my own martial arts gym in Alpharetta, Georgia, so I have my fingers in a bunch of different avenues to be prepared for when fighting is over, and to build my resume in other areas besides professional sports.
One last question regarding your biography, Heart for the Fight: A Marine Hero’s Journey from the Battlefields of Iraq to Mixed Martial Arts Champion. How did this book come about and why would you recommend it to people? It actually took a lot of convincing to get me to do this project. It was a difficult process. I wasn’t prepared for everything that’s involved in writing a book; having to revisit and recount so many different stories and times in your life, on top of having to deal with a publishing company that generally has opinions on the style of the book, how it’s written, chapter placements, etc. It wasn’t just a case of producing a book exactly to my liking, because there were other people who have a say. For the most part though, I was happy with the end product. I didn’t go into this expecting to make a lot of money, but rather to put out a quality book for my family and the Marines that served under me. It was written for them to read, and I feel that it was an honest portrayal of certain aspects of my life. Once the book was written, I sent it to a bunch of my Marines, and they really enjoyed it, as did my family. They were all able to take something from it. At the end of the day, that’s all I could ask for.
It’s not a book in which I spend time praising my achievements. In fact, I spend a lot of time vividly recalling my mistakes and the lessons learned, and that’s really the theme of the book. Going through life as a leader of Marines and making mistakes, going through life as a professional athlete and making mistakes, coming back from those mistakes, and understanding how they can help you learn about yourself and life. There’s a Russian expression that states, “a smart man learns from his own mistakes, a wise man learns from those made by others.” So maybe some people will learn from my mistakes and be wise.
(Well, at least the guy knows how to go out in style.)
After a year long prison sentence training camp helped propel John KoppenhaverWar Machine to a brilliant third round TKO over Roger Huerta last November, it saddened the world to find out that the former UFC fighter, TUF 6 star, and short lived pornstar would headed back to jail for another year, despite already being released some 8 months ago.
The unfortunate announcement came shortly after War Machine snagged a place in Bellator’s season 6 welterweight tournament, and appeared to be at least attempting to turn his life around. Needless to say, War Machine was pissed.
And now that War Machine’s days are truly numbered, he decided to sit down with MMA Uncensored Livefor a lengthy interview, which will air this Thursday at 11 p.m. on Spike TV.
Check out a video preview of the interview after the jump.
(Well, at least the guy knows how to go out in style.)
After a year long prison sentence training camp helped propel John KoppenhaverWar Machine to a brilliant third round TKO over Roger Huerta last November, it saddened the world to find out that the former UFC fighter, TUF 6 star, and short lived pornstar would headed back to jail for another year, despite already being released some 8 months ago.
The unfortunate announcement came shortly after War Machine snagged a place in Bellator’s season 6 welterweight tournament, and appeared to be at least attempting to turn his life around. Needless to say, War Machine was pissed.
And now that War Machine’s days are truly numbered, he decided to sit down with MMA Uncensored Livefor a lengthy interview, which will air this Thursday at 11 p.m. on Spike TV.
Check out a video preview of the interview below.
A few highlights:
“There’s fight or flight. My nature is to fight, you know, I don’t flight.” [If we’ve preached one thing to you, War Machine, it’s proper grammar and syntax. Come on man!]
“I’m a professional fighter, but I’m still a human.” [True. Your name, however, states otherwise.]
“I’m not a monster.” [Again, the name.]
“Every time I’ve ever been in trouble, to be honest, I still think I did the right thing, every time. [We feel you there.]
