What are your thoughts on the fight with Krzysztof?

I think it was ok. Watching it I’m not pleased with my performance really. He didn’t really impress me much in that fight either. I think he made some mistakes too. I’m not taking anything away from his win. He threw me around and did better than me striking. We both have some gaping holes in our game. I think he went back to trying to fix the grappling aspects. I’ve definitely fixed getting caught in kimuras. I hope. I’m just tired of being the little 205er. I’m going to make sure that doesn’t happen again.

Didn’t you say one of the cameramen say something about you being a light 205er?

Yeah, he said they always put a 185er on the show. I told him he was full of it but it turns out he was right (laughs).

You did well striking against Krzysztof.

On his feet where he did a better job of me was head movement. Alot of the punches that should’ve landed for me he slightly slipped and he winded up killing a large majority of my striking advantage. The punched I should’ve landed I didn’t land. It’s frustrating as a striker and as a fighter in general when everything you throw at a guy misses. He did a good job of frustrating me.

He rocked me right from the start. I was seeing stars for a few minutes. On the ground he never really engaged me that much. He tried no sbmissions off his back. In the first round he locked up the kimura I wasn’t in any danger but in the second round I was in pretty bad danger, come to find out. He did a good job finishing. It was a submission I hadn’t seen. I got to look at it and pick it apart later. My hats off to him. He did a good job.

What’s your status with the UFC?


They released me and said get some experience. I was technically 1-0. I’m 1-1 now. It’s better for me anyway. It gave me a chance to get some experience and get my name out there. From there it’s just a matter of me doing what I need to do to make sure my next stint in the UFC is a dominant one.

When are you looking to fight again?

I’ll probably fight again three or four times this year. I’m trying to put together a couple. It’s not going to be the same kind of money that the UFC pays. I’ve got to get some money together to do what I need to do. I may have to bunch up a couple of fights closer than I would like. I’d like to 6 to 8 fights in the next few years and get back in the UFC.

How did you get on The Ultimate Fighther?

I got on because I had five amateur fights and my manager is in with the TUF crew. I got an interview and tricked them into liking me and it worked.

Did you think you would have to fight Tom Lawlor again?

I went in thinking I would. There was some unfinished business there. With the DQ I never counted it as a win. I think the fight was even. some say I was winning some say he was winning. I had the advantage striking and he had the advantage wrestling. On the ground we were close to even. I had him in a traingle which he picked me up on. I should’ve finished him. He had me in a darce for a second. Overall it was an even fight. It was only two and half minutes. It was going to be a three round war until someone slipped up big. We thought we’d have to fight but they wanted to match us up with other people.

Tom mentioned in his blog that he might have to fight you.

Tom and I talked about it during the show. We wanted to fight each other again. I had nothing against the guy.

We took the fight on 48 hours notice. I had trained with him a week before. He took my striking class and he worked on some wrestling with me. Five days later I get a call and they said a fighter dropped out we got a guy named Tom Lawlor. I said hell, I’ll fight Tom I need the money. I called Tom and he said it was fine and instead of fighting at 205 we should do a catch weight at 210 because neither of us wanted to go hardocore cutting weight. He did the pictures at the weigh in with a cigarette in his mouth.

What did you think of the pranks in the house?

I thought it was great. We were bored. I knew most of them in advance from Krzysztof. He wouldn’t always tell me what they were but I knew they were coming. Some guys got pissed about it but I was trying to make sure it was getting to out of hand. The fish stuff was a little out there.

What was your favorite prank?

The tombstone was great with Jules. I was asking for little stuff. Krzysztof asked for a body bag and a tombstone and I can’t even get a bundt cake. That’s some bullshit (laughs).

What is your thoughts on Junie and his antics?

He was no doubt kind of reckless on the show. He was short tempered and drunk a lot of the time. We got along really well though. When he got mad it was a three second outburst of him being pissed off. Ten minutes later he apologized because I chased him around. That happened a few days before we left. I didn’t have any problems with him. When I saw it I though man he was trying to hurt me. Actually when I saw it was the weigh-ins on the screen I said “Damn, Junie, you were really trying to hurt me.” Junie said “yeah”.

But apparently if I’m sitting in a chair my head movement is phenomenal. I might be in the wrong sport. Is there any kind of boxing where you can just sit down.

Wheel chair boxing?

I don’t think they’ll just let me into that.

You could cut one of your legs off.

Nice (laughs)

What was the best fight on the show?

I liked watching Powlakowski fight. He’s a warrior. Also Delgado tested Junie in some places Junie wasn’t expecting. That was interesting.

I wasn’t overly excited about some of the fights. I was watching the fights for strategy not for enjoyment. I wanted to figure out a way to beat the guys you are competing against.

What do you think about all the hype surrounding Phillipe Nover?

He’s a solid guy. He’s got great striking and great jiu jitsu but you can’t compare Phillipe to Anderson Silva that quicky. The guys Phillipe has beaten and the guys Silva has beaten are totally different. It put a lot of expectations on the guy. I don’t think it was deserved. Is Phillipe going to be a great fighter? He already is a great fighter. To put him in the same category as the pound for pound best guy you can’t do that. He got outwrestled.

Efrain is a tough guy. They trained together for 6 weeks and that’s how that sparring match usually went. Efrain could take Phillipe down and there’s not much Phillipe could do about it. Efrain has great submission defense. It’s hard to submit him from the guard. It’s going to be three rounds of Efrain all over you if you can’t finish him.

What are your thoughts on the fight with Eliot?

I thought it was a terrible fight. I think they should delete that from the UFC library. I made a really bad mistake right off the bat. I tried a Superman punch with intent to get in the clinch and when I did i flared my elbows. I came in with a bad gameplan. I wasn’t sure how to approach a fight with a better grappler than me. It hadn’t been very common in my fights before. I was thrown off my game. I didn’t map out a good strategy. It wound up biting me in the ass. You can’t give up mount the first ten seconds in the fight and expect to win.

Didn’t you know who he was coming onto the show?

Yes, he was the one I knew the most about. I knew he was a jiu jitsu guy. I didn’t know where his MMA grappling game would be. He is a very good black belt. If you have a great guard or not he’s going to beat your ass.

Weren’t you teammates wit Brian McLaughlin?

He’s under Rob Kahn but he’s from New York. I don’t get train with him much but I had met him a few times. We were distant teammates and I was rooting for him.

I was crushed for him when he had to leave. He did well in that fight. He dominated it. He got sent home for catching a knee and he was almost up but he was down. To get sent home after you win a fight is horrible.

Do you think Karn beat Eliot?

I think the judges thought Karn was Eliot. I don’t understand it.

Did you know you were going to fight when you got there?

I had no doubt. There’s no way they would do it the previous and not do it again.

What was your thoughts about being matched up with McConnell?

To get on the show I would’ve fought my mom. I didn’t care. I knew nothing about McConnell. Coming up with a gameplan was impossible. I found out he didn’t want to stand with me at all. He went for a single leg and played my jiu jitsu game. He made some early mistakes and it cost him.

Did you have a preference as to who your coach would be?

I really wanted Noguiera. He’s right down the road from me. He’s a legend. He’s fought the best guys in the world. I definitely wanted to train with him. Nothing against Mir but if I was on his team I would’ve like to work with Robert Drysdale as an assistant coach. His jiu jitsu is awesome.

What are your thoughts on the Mir-Noguiera fight?

Mir looked really good. Some people say it was an early stoppage. It would’ve been an early stoppage if it was anybody but Noguiera. I think Mir deserved it. I spoke to him at the Finale and he said it was the hardest he’s ever trained for a fight. Hat’s off to him. Anytime you work that hard you deserve whatever happens.

How did you get started in MMA?

I was planning on going into the military. I was doing some boxing and muay thai stuff. I wanted to do some jiu jitsu because that’s what the military had gone to for their hand to hand combat program. I started doing it in Tennessee and I wasn’t bad at it. I picked up on it fairly quickly. I decided it was something I wanted to do. I decided to not go into the military and do this full time.

What did your parents say when you told them you were going to do it professionally?

They were excited. They didn’t want me to go overseas.

Instead of going overseas you stay home and get punched in the face.

Yeah but from a parents standpoint it beats getting shot at. My mom goes to all my fights but she keeps her eyes closed. She finds out what happened by listening to people talk.

Is there anything else you’d like to say to the fans?

Yeah, Malice clothing, emveclothingco.com. They are run by a really good guy. Rob Kahn and Bamboo have been a great. Bamboo’s jiu jitsu it sick. He’s got some submissions that guys won’t see coming. I won’t say what they are because that’ll mess him up. He submits me more than anyone except Rob, but that’s a given.

But you can take them if you were boxing in while sitting in a chair?

I can kick anyone’s ass boxing in chair. If you get techinical I’m 1-0. Show me another guy who is undefeated like me.

Actually it was a no contest.

No, the ref stopped it. He didn’t respond so the ref jumped in. He started throwing stuff at me too so he should’ve been disqualified. It was kind of a kickboxing match too because I hit him with the most beautiful push kick of all time.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 14th, 2009 at 11:18 am and is filed under News, TDT Commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.