A week away from his encounter with Fedor Emelianenko at Fight For Japan: Genki Desu Ka Omisoka 2011, it seems like not many people are giving 2008 Olympic Games Gold Medalist Satoshi Ishii a chance to get his hand raised at the Saitama Super Arena. After all, Ishii will be entering just his seventh professional MMA bout, as he currently holds a record of 4-1-1.
However, Ishii’s career decisions speak for themselves. The 25-year-old Judo phenom left his comfort zone in Japan to pursue a full-time Mixed Martial Arts career in the U.S. Ishii become a student of the game by training under Muay Thai extraordinaire Ed Buckley, and touring between some of the most famous gyms on the west coast.
Ishii could easily be labeled one of the most high-profile martial artists currently competing in the sport. The fight with Fedor could serve as a turning point for the decorated Judoka, who has set himself a clear goal of becoming one of the best MMA fighters on the planet. It’s an opportunity Satoshi Ishii will take full advantage of, especially when fighting on his home turf in Japan.
We had an opportunity to speak to Satoshi Ishii, who shared his thoughts about the December 31st date with “The Last Emperor,” and his preparations coming up to the fight…
A week away from his encounter with Fedor Emelianenko at Fight For Japan: Genki Desu Ka Omisoka 2011, it seems like not many people are giving 2008 Olympic Games Gold Medalist Satoshi Ishii a chance to get his hand raised at the Saitama Super Arena. After all, Ishii will be entering just his seventh professional MMA bout, as he currently holds a record of 4-1-1.
However, Ishii’s career decisions speak for themselves. The 25-year-old Judo phenom left his comfort zone in Japan to pursue a full-time Mixed Martial Arts career in the U.S. Ishii become a student of the game by training under Muay Thai extraordinaire Ed Buckley, and touring between some of the most famous gyms on the west coast.
Ishii could easily be labeled one of the most high-profile martial artists currently competing in the sport. The fight with Fedor could serve as a turning point for the decorated Judoka, who has set himself a clear goal of becoming one of the best MMA fighters on the planet. It’s an opportunity Satoshi Ishii will take full advantage of, especially when fighting on his home turf in Japan.
We had an opportunity to speak to Satoshi Ishii, who shared his thoughts about the December 31st date with “The Last Emperor,” and his preparations coming up to the fight…
This weekend, Ovince St. Preux will step inside the Strikeforce cage to face the former Light Heavyweight Champion Gegard Mousasi as part of the stacked Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Masvidal fight card in San Diego, California. Representing Knoxville Martial Arts Academy, 11-4 St. Preux will look to prove a point about his future as one of the best 205’ers on the planet.
Twenty-eight year old Ovince St. Preux turned his career around after fighting six times (!) in 2010, improving his MMA record from 3-4 to a more appropriate 9-4. In 2011, St. Preux recorded two important victories against Abongo Humphrey and Joe Cason that eventually solidified his place on the Light Heavyweight landscape.
Speaking in an interview to LowKick.com, St. Preux gave Gegard Mousasi the credit for being the biggest name he ever faced inside the cage or ring. The Haiti-born fighter expects a well-rounded game from Mousasi, who he considers as one of the 10 best Light Heavyweights in MMA.
This weekend, Ovince St. Preux will step inside the Strikeforce cage to face the former Light Heavyweight Champion Gegard Mousasi as part of the stacked Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Masvidal fight card in San Diego, California. Representing Knoxville Martial Arts Academy, 11-4 St. Preux will look to prove a point about his future as one of the best 205′ers on the planet.
Twenty-eight year old Ovince St. Preux turned his career around after fighting six times (!) in 2010, improving his MMA record from 3-4 to a more appropriate 9-4. In 2011, St. Preux recorded two important victories against Abongo Humphrey and Joe Cason that eventually solidified his place on the Light Heavyweight landscape.
Speaking in an interview to LowKick.com, St. Preux gave Gegard Mousasi the credit for being the biggest name he ever faced inside the cage or ring. The Haiti-born fighter expects a well-rounded game from Mousasi, who he considers as one of the 10 best Light Heavyweights in MMA.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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)
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.
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.”
(“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.)
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.
(“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.)
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.
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.
On being Mr. Cool in high school: “I had a lot of acne growing up…I was really insecure throughout high school. I was never really popular or anything. Like, I sung in jazz choir. But I just hung in there. And now…everything’s changed.”
[Ed. note: CagePotato.com will pay $50 for exclusive footage of Jon Jones singing in jazz choir. No questions asked.]
On pathetic fanboys and their replica belts: “I hate when people come up to me with a belt that looks exactly like mine and ask me to sign it. It’s like, excuse me, I worked out three times a day for three years to get this belt, and now you have one that looks just like mine? Are you serious? I never sign them. I’m like, dude, it’s personal. I sign absolutely anything anybody ever asks me except belts. I sign shoes, shirts…boobs.”
Read the rest of MadeMan’s interview with Jon Jones right here…
On being Mr. Cool in high school: “I had a lot of acne growing up…I was really insecure throughout high school. I was never really popular or anything. Like, I sung in jazz choir. But I just hung in there. And now…everything’s changed.”
[Ed. note: CagePotato.com will pay $50 for exclusive footage of Jon Jones singing in jazz choir. No questions asked.]
On pathetic fanboys and their replica belts: “I hate when people come up to me with a belt that looks exactly like mine and ask me to sign it. It’s like, excuse me, I worked out three times a day for three years to get this belt, and now you have one that looks just like mine? Are you serious? I never sign them. I’m like, dude, it’s personal. I sign absolutely anything anybody ever asks me except belts. I sign shoes, shirts…boobs.”
Read the rest of MadeMan’s interview with Jon Jones right here…
