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Post by LWPD on May 9, 2006 18:10:05 GMT -5
Interview with TUF 3 Team Ortiz Submission Coach and Jiu Jitsu Champion Dean Lister
Courtesy of adcc.com
Dean Lister on his UFC Debut!
Submitted by: MMA Observer
Posted On 05/09/2006
You can see Dean Lister every Thursday night on Spike TV as he helps Team Ortiz with their Jui-Jistu. When he is not separating Tito Ortiz from Ken Shamrock, he is training for his UFC debut on May 27, 2006 when Matt Hughes takes on UFC legend, Royce Gracie. Lister's opponent, the Legionnaire, Alessio Sakara is a dangerous striker. Where does Lister want this fight to go? Find out as he talks to ADCC News.
ADCC: Most fans recognize you from this season’s Ultimate Fighter reality show. I know you can’t discuss the show due to legal obligations but what was the experience like, training people with cameras surrounding you?
DEAN: The experience was awesome, a lot of hard work, actually on the show you can't really see how much work really went into the whole thing. I really trained hard with those guys and really tried to help them in their game. It wasn't hard with the cameras because I wasn't acting, I was just being myself.
ADCC: You were picked to teach jiu-jitsu by Coach Tito Ortiz. Can you explain your relationship with Ortiz?
DEAN: Me and Tito have been friends for a while. He told me he wanted the best submission guy around with the best teaching style so he chose me. He also knows he can trust me and I am a training partner so we worked out a lot while filming the show. We are basically good friends. Also his knee, it is my fault. I kept it a secret and he still wanted to fight but I had a single leg on him and he was trying to escape the take down, twisting his knee, a freak accident but real. Anyhow, just in case anyone wanted to know.
ADCC: A lot of hardcore fans followed your career through King of the Cage, ADCC, and Pride. What are some of your accomplishments in competition that standout in your career?
DEAN: Mainly my ADCC wins, especially my ADCC 2003 showing in Brazil where I set Absolute division records and won. My ADCC Super fight victory against Jean Jeaque Machado was also a great day. Winning the King of the Cage Middleweight belt a few years ago and appearing in Pride at one time in front of 80,000 people.
ADCC: What was your experience like in Japan and fighting for Pride?
DEAN: I loved fighting in Japan; the people really appreciate the warrior mentality and have a lot of respect. The feeling I had when I fought over there is something that will never be forgotten.
ADCC: Your last fight in Pride was a decision loss to Ricardo Arona in April of 2005. What was it like to fight a man like that you once prepared to battle in submission grappling?
DEAN: We were supposed to have a fight in ADCC but it fell through and instead I faced Jean Jeaque Machado in 2005. Arona actually used to be my friend but as fate would have it we would one day face each other in the ring.
ADCC: Dean, you will be making your UFC debut at Hughes vs. Gracie. How intense is it for you to start your UFC career at such a huge event in the Staples Center in Los Angeles?
DEAN: I look forward to it. This is what I live for win or lose.
ADCC: Being a fighter from San Diego, how does it feel to have mixed martial arts and the UFC finally sanctioned in California?
DEAN: It is great and a huge step forward for the sport being sanctioned here in California.
ADCC: On May 27, 2006, you will be taking on hard hitting Alessio Sakara. What is your assessment of him as a fighter?
DEAN: He is very aggressive and likes to punch people a lot. I have been practicing getting hit a lot so hopefully the training helps me a little. I would be surprised if he was so aggressive facing me because my style would make it easier to take him down. We'll see I'm sure he has something special he's planning for me in a venue this big.
ADCC: Your are known for having great jiu-jitsu and he is known for having excellent striking, where will this fight end up, standing or on the ground?
DEAN: Hopefully on the ground. I'm sure he's been preparing for the ground as well so either way it will be a competitive fight.
ADCC: Prediction of the fight?
DEAN: No prediction, I focus on the performance, the fight not the result. The result is in God's hands I only have to show up and fight.
ADCC: All of your wins have come by submission, will you try to knock out Sakara to show that you do have sufficient stand up skills as well?
DEAN: I am a specialist in Jiu Jitsu and everyone knows that. There’s no hiding that I want to be on the ground. I've been working a lot to at least make my punches hurt so you never know what will happen.
ADCC: Before we let you go, we have to ask your prediction on the Matt Hughes for Royce Gracie fight. Who do you like to win?
DEAN: No comment other than I think it will be cool. I've trained with Royce before and I wish him the best.
ADCC: Anything to say to your fans and sponsors?
DEAN: Thanks to Xyience for supporting me. Also thanks to Throwdown Fight Industries and those who have always believed in me. Also, I would like to credit my gym, 'The Boxing Club', and everyone there
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Post by LWPD on May 13, 2006 6:46:27 GMT -5
The following is a lengthy article on TUF 3 competitor Mike Nichols. Can the heavily tattooed Pan Am BJJ Champion stop Golden Boy Wrestling Machine Matt Hamill in their impending fight for a semi-final spot? Time will tell soon enough.
Courtesy of westword.com
No Pain, No Gain
Mike Nickels aims to knock out the competition.
By Luke Turf
Mike Nickels was closing up shop when he saw a crack deal going down right outside the door.
"I can't have drug deals going on out there," says Nickels, owner of the Twisted Sol tattoo shop at 1405 Ogden Street. "I've got soccer moms bringing their sixteen-year-old daughters down here for belly-button rings."
As the dealer headed north on Ogden, Nickels grabbed him by both shoulders and told him to take his bullshit elsewhere. He knew the dealer could have had a knife, could have had a gun.
But no way did the dealer know that Nickels is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu expert, that he wrestles, kickboxes and has won grappling competitions that are all part of the sports phenomenon known as mixed martial arts. Nickels can take care of himself. He takes care of his neighborhood, too.
Tattoos cover nearly all of Nickels's 6'4" body, and today the 200-plus-pounder is not only an impressive sight on Capitol Hill, but on Spike TV every Thursday night. The day after he ran that dealer off of Odgen, Nickels made his debut as one of sixteen tough guys on The Ultimate Fighter, the third season of a reality show that follows fighters as they try to knock each other out of the competition for a six-digit contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship -- the major league of mixed martial arts in the United States (see story, page 24).
Of about a thousand would-be contenders who sent videos to Spike and the UFC, Nickels was one of the few who had what it takes to be both a winning fighter and a TV star. "He's got a great personality, and he's a good fighter," says UFC president Dana White. "That's what we were looking for."
This round of The Ultimate Fighter premiered on Thursday, April 6. On that show, Nickels was the first tough guy to walk through the door of the Las Vegas house where the sixteen men lived together for six weeks in January and February. Those six weeks were turned into a twelve-episode series that will culminate on Saturday, June 24, when the final four face off.
While they were living in the house, the participants were cut off from the outside world, unable to talk to the folks at home. At first Nickels thought the isolation would be good for his focus. But it turned out to be a distraction, too, as he imagined the worst happening with his family and business. "What if something happens while I'm gone and I'm not there to protect my family for this stupid fucking show?" he remembers thinking. "Is it worth it?"
On that first episode, the second night in the house, a lanky scrapper from Hawaii named Kendall decided it was time for the boys to do some drinking. "Nobody wanted to take shots right off the bat, man. Everybody was like, 'Oh, I don't want to take a shot,' you know," Nickels told the camera in an interview that introduced the 2.5 million-viewer audience to Denver's contender, a light heavyweight who's no lightweight. "I was ready to stop four shots into it," he added, "but Kendall decided to keep going."
Kendall got belligerent, spitting and talking shit -- then passed out cold. "He's so passed out that we could shave off his eyebrows and he wouldn't know," Nickels told a fellow fighter who'd flown in from Great Britain to be on the show.
"You're right," the Brit responded.
"Hey, I've got clippers in my bag," Nickels said, with a smile full of drunken mischief.
"Well, let's do it."
After some bleeped curse words, Nickels ordered, "I'll get the right one, you get the left one."
"Quite happily," the Brit replied.
In the following scene, Kendall woke up with his own blood all over him.
"I'm sorry, man, you got to have a sense of humor," viewers heard Nickels tell him. "He was upset mostly because I think I cut his eyelid with the clippers, 'cause I was pretty drunk, too. But he's all right."
"Vengeance is sweet," Kendall vowed.
Nickels started out fighting, delivered prematurely via C-section when doctors determined that his heartbeat was fading.
That was almost 35 years ago, but the death-defying bouts didn't stop. When he was a toddler, he tried to turn off a fan by pulling the cable out of the wall with his teeth. The electricity singed one-third of his mouth together, and his lips remained locked on the left side until he turned fourteen, when his face had matured enough for surgery. He was still a little kid when he flirted with disaster again. He was standing on a high dive, fourteen feet in the air, when an older boy shoved him off. He landed not in the pool, but on the concrete, his head split open. He'd suffered a severe concussion, and the doctors kept him in the hospital a few days after stitching his scalp back together.
Nickels's mother, Suzie, split from Mike's father early on. By 1977, she'd remarried, and she and her new husband moved five-year-old Mike and his older brother, Tim, from Florida to Buffalo, Wyoming, where they bought a small business.
The ranch boys played rough. After Tim got picked on at school, their mother showed him some kicks and punches she'd seen on television. Mike paid attention, too, and together with Tim jumped the bullies at the bus the next day.
"We beat the snot out of them," Nickels remembers. "It was great."
In 1984 the family moved to Park City, Utah. A few years later they were off again, this time to Parker. By now, Nickels was getting used to being the new kid on the block, and was willing to fight for his own bit of turf. He was quick to defy authority, too. "I just didn't like being told what to do in school," he remembers. "I couldn't sit still. I was always in trouble. I just didn't feel free in that environment. I liked to do what I liked to do. I was walking to the beat of a different drum."
Just when Nickels was ready to enter high school, his mother and stepfather split up. He moved to Denver with his mom and started out at East High School, where he joined the football team. "It was a whole 'nother world," he says. "I had gone to suburban schools where kids are different than at an inner-city school."
Nickels fell in with a crew of kids who robbed parked cars. Then a black friend on the football team recruited him to sell cocaine -- because both white and black people would rather buy coke from a white dude than a black guy, his friend said. Although Nickels never got caught, he says he was a not-great drug dealer who never got higher than the bottom of the totem pole.
At seventeen, he moved out of the house. For a while he tried to stay in school while working at a now-defunct club, but he soon dropped out. And minimum wage wasn't paying the bills, either, so he kept up the petty crime, "one disaster to the next," he says. He was busted after he rushed out of a department store with a stack of VCRs and was sentenced to probation.
Nickels had met his girlfriend, Samantha, at East. She was a year older, and took him to get his first tattoo. Samantha went first; she came out with a little dragon and Nickels's name fixed to her skin. Then Nickels got the same dragon with Samantha's name.
After Samantha got pregnant, the couple tried living in Florida. They didn't last there for long: Nickels's family members who still lived in the area didn't like it that Samantha was half-black.
Nickels was barely eighteen when his daughter was born. They were all living in a basement apartment in Denver, and Nickels supported his young family by delivering pizzas in Samantha's car, which he'd crashed on two previous occasions. He didn't have a valid driver's license.
"As long as I was with him, I was happy," Samantha remembers.
Then Nickels's mother called with the news that she and her new husband had bought a diner in Florida and wanted him to be the manager. Leaving Samantha and his daughter with Samantha's parents in Colorado, Nickels returned to Florida -- but it turned out the job was more dishwasher than manager.
And that wasn't the only setback. Nickels was crossing the street when he got hit by a car and tossed to the pavement, unconscious. When he got out of the hospital, he started work at another restaurant. There he met a man who'd been traveling with a Renaissance festival for several years. The man talked Nickels into visiting the fair on its local stop. Nickels had a great time, and he soon sold everything and joined the tour.
Elephants became his specialty. He trained them, cleaned up after them and bonded with the intelligent, emotional creatures. Not all of them, though: Once, a pubescent elephant got angry and started stomping on Nickels. He barely escaped, scurrying away on all fours. By now, Nickels had grown to accept danger as a part of life -- but that close encounter with death was different from being zapped by electricity, shoved off a high-dive or hit by a car, he says: It taught him what it meant to be hunted.
Nickels stayed with the fair, working two-day shifts and then getting five days off to explore whatever city it had landed in. He enjoyed the life, enjoyed conversing with all of the creative, modern-day gypsies who traveled alongside him.
During the three months each year that the Colorado Renaissance Festival crew camped in Larkspur, Nickels got to see his daughter. But just as the two would start getting close again, it would be time to take the show on the road. On one Colorado stop, Nickels met a woman who taught him how to pierce. The next time the tour came to Colorado, she convinced Nickels to take up tattooing.
Back in Florida, Nickels scraped together enough money to buy a tattoo machine and started practicing. Too nervous to affix a permanent design to human skin, he tattooed pieces of chicken and cantaloupes.
In 1994, Nickels traveled with the Renaissance fair back to Colorado. And this time, when the tour moved on, he stayed behind to work. Although Nickels had settled down during his years with the fair, in Denver his inner wild child let loose once again. Nickels started rolling with a rowdy group of tattoo artists who soon decorated his arms with sleeves. The artists would trade tattoos with each other and then trade with customers for bikes, snowboards, guns, drugs or whatever they had. They also liked to fight, and if you fought one, you were soon fighting them all.
After a year in Denver, Nickels had a falling-out with the woman he was working for, and he sent portfolios off to five tattoo shops across the country. Tigers in Dallas was the first to respond, and Nickels moved there in 1995. He worked non-stop at the shop from noon until 2:30 a.m. or later, and made a lot of money -- enough to return to Denver and open Twisted Sol with a partner, Alicia Cardenas, in 1997.
Mike Nickels soon made his mark in Capitol Hill -- and not just at the tattoo shop. He and other Twisted Sol artists became neighborhood vigilantes, chasing the crackheads off their corner and settling drunken bar disputes. While Nickels admits he's done his weight in drugs, he says that his experience was more of an exploration of boundaries -- and that crack and meth rob people of their souls.
Nickels made his mark in court, too. Most of the records from his rowdy days have been destroyed -- like the case he caught in 1997 for threats to person/property and disturbing the peace, which was eventually dismissed. He caught another disturbing the peace/assault charge about a month later, pleaded no contest and received ninety days' suspended jail time. And just a few weeks later, Nickels was again arrested for disturbing the peace and trespassing; he pleaded guilty to the latter, and the first charge was dismissed.
In 1998, Nickels was charged with third-degree assault and violation of a restraining order, but those charges were also dismissed by the court. "I was always getting in fights with people who were pickin' on smaller people or pushing a girl around, always some John Wayne shit," Nickels says. "Even now, with crackheads, it's righteous."
Less righteous was his 2001 arrest by Glendale police for larceny, a bogus dine-and-dash case that was dropped, according to Nickels. Later that year he was arrested in Denver for destruction of private property and disturbing the peace after a cop found him near a fresh graffiti tag, holding a felt-tip marker. Nickels pleaded guilty to disturbing the peace, the destruction charge was dismissed, and he was fined $100.
That fall, a girl named DeVoyn walked into Twisted Sol. She wanted a tattoo of her ex-boyfriend's name covered up, and Nickels was happy to oblige -- then asked her out. At nineteen, DeVoyn was ten years younger than Nickels, and he limited their first date to a friendly movie. But for their second date, he picked her up in Highlands Ranch and took her to Boulder's Pearl Street Mall. After they caught the sunset, it was back to LoDo and Vesta Dipping Grill, where the staff all knew Nickels from Twisted Sol. "Big Mike," as he's often called, got the "Tony Soprano treatment," DeVoyn remembers.
The two fell in love. Their son, Esiah Sol Nickels, was born July 23, 2003.
A couple of months later, Nickels told DeVoyn that he wanted to start fighting jiu-jitsu competitively, just to get that experience under his belt while he was still young. A half-dozen years before, he'd done some training in kung fu, but he'd lost interest in that fighting style while going for his brown belt.
Once he'd started jiu-jitsu training, though, it held his interest. And in March 2004, Nickels won a competition in submission grappling -- a type of ground fighting in which you try to put your opponent in a submissive position by bending joints against themselves or choking off his blood or oxygen supply. Within a few months, Nickels was taking submission grappling so seriously that he decided to expand into mixed martial arts and began training at the Colorado Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy with a former UFC fighter.
Although he still had few stand-up skills aside from his talents at street fighting and bar brawling, on September 14, 2004, Nickels emerged victorious in the Ring of Fire, a Colorado promotion that gives amateur fighters a shot at pro bouts and prize money. Two months later, Nickels again won the Ring of Fire.
"Of all the hobbies to get into, I picked the one where the downside is getting your ass kicked in a cage by a trained animal," Nickels sighs. "I could've picked golf. I could've picked tennis. It's like jumping out of a plane. It's a thrill, it's a rush, but once you get past that thrill and the rush, it's technique, it's being able to stay calm and control all those emotions and that anxiety and perform to where you're dictating the direction the fight goes with your technique -- your submission grappling, your takedowns, your boxing, your kicks.
"In boxing, you're just standing here," he continues. "In mixed martial arts, you've got takedowns, joint locks, chokes, knees, elbows, standing up and on the ground. It's such a 360 martial-art experience, it's just something else. There's mathematics in each martial art, and I thrive on those mathematics. I'm constantly trying to get better and faster and more fluid, to be able to put all those together at one time and put them together when it counts."
Nickels had told DeVoyn that he'd fight until he lost -- and then fight until he won again, so that he could go out on a high note. He lost in the Ring of Fire on February 12, 2005, but that April, Nickels won the Pan American Jiu-Jitsu competition in Los Angeles. And he didn't stop there. He won another Ring of Fire bout in September 2005, then took the gold medal at Grapplers Quest in Nevada in November.
After that, there was no stopping him.
"It's never easy to watch anyone you love get punched in the face," DeVoyn says. "But I love him enough to support whatever he's doing, and I hope he'd love me enough to support whatever I'm doing."
Sven Bean, the promoter behind Ring of Fire, thought that Nickels was not just a talented fighter, but marketable. He sent some of Nickels's martial-arts fight footage to Spike TV, whose first season of The Ultimate Fighter had met with unexpected success. "It was brought to us with the reality-show component, and that's when we were like, 'Yeah, we're going to jump on this,'" remembers David Schwarz, Spike's senior director of communications. "The great thing with a reality show is that our audience gets to know the guys. Almost from day one, it has been a hit on our network. For all three seasons, it has been one of the highest-rated shows on cable for men aged 18 to 34."
But Spike passed on Nickels for the second season, partly because he was submitted as a heavyweight opponent but was on the light side of the 205-pound minimum.
Nickels was perfect for the light-heavyweight division featured in season three, though. "It seems like everything in life has a residual effect on who you are, what you think is important and what's not important," Nickels says. "Life is a kaleidoscope of experiences for me -- from the elephant training to the ultimate fighting to the travel, it's all in relation to who I am to the world."
And more of the world is about to find out just who Mike Nickels is.
Once again, Nickels finds himself fighting for his life -- the life he's built in Denver.
He got his first taste of real fame last month, when the UFC flew him to California for a promotional appearance at a pay-per-view bout. After just a few weeks on Spike, Nickels was swarmed by fans. Many were drunken rowdies asking him to pose for a picture with their wives, but there were also little kids who looked up at him, wide-eyed.
While he was living in the Vegas house, though, Nickels was right to worry about what was happening back home. Over the last few years, he'd bought about a dozen buildings -- but Nickels recently had to sign them over to their original owner because he hasn't made enough money to cover the interest on his loans. He may have to give up Twisted Sol's home, too, but he hopes the shop will be able to stay in the same location.
Few people know about Nickels's business problems. At his regular gym in Denver, fellow fighters gather around with questions about the other characters on the show who look so tough. It's weird living and training with people he could end up fighting, Nickels tells them. The contenders get to know each other -- their senses of humor, their strengths and weaknesses -- and realize that any one of them could stand in the way of a six-digit contract. There's a fight every episode, and so far, six fighters have been sent home. Nickels's first bout has yet to air -- and he's not saying what happened.
He will say that filming the show was a "tornado of feelings and emotions." Day after day, the contestants would eat, train, eat, train, eat, sleep, eat, train. They'd roll around on the mats, kicking, punching, kneeing, elbowing and strangling. While one guy lay on his back, eight fresh men would rotate in to work him for two minutes. And afterward, the guy would thank them for beating the shit out of him.
When the episode featuring his fight airs, Nickels promises, it will show him relaxed in the ring, thinking how best to massage his opponent into gentle submission. "I don't fight with any animosity or anger," says the avowed ground fighter. "Once I'm in a ring or a cage, it's all about technique. But if you can't get the guy to the ground, you're in for a long fight."
While he waits for the fight to air, more and more people -- including the man who delivers mail to Twisted Sol -- recognize him from the series' early episodes.
"I saw you on my TV this weekend," the mailman tells Nickels one day. "That's the first time I ever watched any of that ultimate fighting. I sort of like it. It's like a real fight. Those guys look pretty nice, but they're nasty. You have to be ready to rip someone's eyeballs out and stomp on them."
Then he asks the $5 million question, a question that could cost Nickels just that amount if he answers: "Do you win?"
"I can't tell you," Nickels replies. "I'm under contract. But I can tell you it's the bloodiest fight of the season."
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Post by LWPD on May 18, 2006 17:16:12 GMT -5
Courtesy of Wrestling Observer
Solomon Hutcherson Interview
Conducted by Jason Milloff on May 15, 2006
Question: Who were some of your early influences in the sport of Mixed Martial Arts?
Solomon Hutcherson: “Before I started competing, I was fan of the early pioneers of the sport. Ken Shamrock, Royce Gracie, and Tank Abbott were some of the fighters that influenced me early on. My first match was in 2002. That same year I saw BJ Penn in action. He really impressed me because he was such a complete fighter. His Jui Jitsu and standup skills were amazing. As I became more involved in Mixed Martial Arts, I began to appreciate the cross-trained fighters who excelled in all aspects of the game. I wanted to pattern myself after them.”
Question: Coming into the show, which coach did you want to train under; Ken Shamrock or Tito Ortiz?
Solomon Hutcherson: “Believe it or not, I came in wanting to be coached by Ken Shamrock. He’s an icon in this sport. I had complete confidence in him as a coach. That confidence quickly faded away though. I was shocked when he announced that he didn’t know any Jui Jitsu. It was disappointing that he neglected to bring in another coach who could have worked with us on that aspect of our game. I came in wanting to work on my cardio and Jui Jitsu skills. When all was said and done, I don’t feel like I improved much in those areas.”
Question: Everyone on the show had a lot of respect for your wrestling skills. Were you the strongest wrestler in your weight class this season? What is your background in regards to wrestling?
Solomon Hutcherson: “I know I was the strongest wrestler there. I smoked all those guys when we drilled wrestling during the practices. I’ve wrestled freestyle and folkstyle since 1988. I wrestled for Racine Park High school where I qualified for the state tournament during my sophomore, junior, and senior years. Jason and Matt Case both wrestled for that school. They would later go on to found the Real Pro Wrestling League. I placed 6th in the state (Wisconsin) during my senior year. After high school I wrestled for Triton Junior College in River Grove, Illinois. My daughter was born in 1991 so I ended up leaving school in the middle of the year. That was it for my wrestling career.”
Question: What was it about Rory Singer that caused so much friction between the two of you?
Solomon Hutcherson: “Tito Ortiz made Rory his first middleweight pick. That right there rubbed me the wrong way because I felt like I could crush him. There were a lot of things about Rory that rubbed me the wrong way. He gave off the impression that he could walk through me and everyone else on the show. Rory had the attitude that he was above everything going on around him.”
Question: What was your game plan going into your fight against Rory?
Solomon Hutcherson: “My plan going in was to just basically crush him. His wrestling skills were way under par compared to mine. He kept saying that I wouldn’t be able to take him down. As we saw, he couldn’t stop my takedowns during that whole 1st round.
You always end up learning from a loss. I had never gone into any of my prior fights taking things so personally. I was in the position of living out a dream. I have been watching the UFC ever since I was a kid. I finally had the chance to get inside the Octagon. That really got to me on an emotional level.
I think I listened to Ken Shamrock a little too much during the fight. His instructions while working my corner turned a lot of comfortable situations into uncomfortable situations for me. I was real confident fighting from the top but Ken was concerned that Rory was going to catch me in a submission from the bottom. I could have taken Rory down at will during that fight. When I began to tire out I should have stood back up and caught my breath. I had the ability to control where I wanted the fight to take place. My conditioning wasn’t where it should have been. That’s what lost the fight for me.
I exerted more energy than I thought I did in that first round. I saw the high-kick coming and tried to shoot for a single leg takedown. Rory was able to adjust and I ended up ducking right into his knee. I guess it was just a classic mistake that wrestlers sometimes make. I have asked Rory for a rematch and he has declined the offer. We’ll see what happens with that because I definitely want a rematch with him.”
Question: Despite being on opposing teams, you and Kendall Groves became real good friends. Did that ever become an issue with your teammates? Are you and Kendall going to continue training with each other?
Solomon Hutcherson: “My friendship with Kendall was never an issue because we pretty much kept it on the down low. Our goal was to go to the finals together. I definitely see us training with each other in the future.”
Question: I know that Kendall Groves recently helped Tito Ortiz prepare for his fight with Forest Griffin. Who are some of the fighters that you are currently training with?
Solomon Hutcherson: “I train with Dave Strasser and Nick Agallar at the Freestyle Academy located in Kenosha, Wisconsin. This week I’m going to Milwaukee to work out with Duke Roufus. I’m really looking forward to that.”
Question: What did you think about Noah Inhafer leaving the show the way he did?
Solomon Hutcherson: (Laughing) “Wow! That was something I couldn’t even fathom. , If you’re a fighter this show can open up so many doors for you. I guess his girlfriend cracked the whip on him pretty hard or something. I would have had to say later for her.”
Question: I know all the fighters were pretty much cut off from the outside world during the taping of the show. Were you allowed to receive letters? If not, why do you think Noah received one?
Solomon Hutcherson: “I was told there wouldn’t be any contact allowed to the outside world unless it was a dire situation. I’m guessing she must have labeled the letter in a way to indicate an emergency. It got though to him so she must be pretty crafty”
Question: How do you view your overall experience on the show?
Solomon Hutcherson: “I consider myself a laidback, personable, type of guy. A lot of us out here in the Midwest have that type of personality. The whole experience was totally new to me. I never had to live under the same roof with a group of guys who might end up being my opponent the next day. If I came off as being depicted differently it was just because I was in a different situation and surrounding than what I’m used to.
The level of competition surprised me. I thought the cast was going to be made up of fighters who didn’t have a whole lot of experience. I thought the premise of the show was to assemble a group of guys new to the fight game and have them learn from the veteran coaches. A lot of the fighters who were chosen came in with strong credentials already. Rory Singer trains other fighters and operates his own gyms. Ed Herman has been training with Team Quest for awhile now.
Being able to hold my own and do well against the other fighters on the show really bolstered my confidence. It let me know that I am ready and capable of taking my fighting career to the next level.”
Question: Have you gotten any word on your status for this season’s finale? Have you been offered a fight on the card?
Solomon Hutcherson: I don’t think I can comment on that yet. I’ll just say to keep your eyes out for me. I’ll be there and I’ll be in real good shape.”
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Post by LWPD on May 28, 2006 18:22:53 GMT -5
Courtesy of Wrestling Observer
Tait Fletcher Interview
Conducted by Jason Milloff on May 25, 2006
Question: How long have you been competing in Mixed Martial Arts? What motivated you to become a professional fighter?
Tait Fletcher: I’ve been competing professionally for three years. I started out training in Santa Fe, New Mexico under one of the original founders of the Dog Brothers stickfighting group. Once I began to realize most fights end up going to the ground, I decided to add Jui Jitsu to my training regiment. The first fight I ever competed in was basically Vale Tudo with sticks. That made the transitions to Mixed Martial Arts a little less dramatic for me.
Question: What fight teams are you currently affiliated with?
Tait Fletcher: My Jui Jitsu coach is Eddie Bravo at “10th Planet Jui Jitsu.” My MMA coach is Greg Jackson at “Jackson’s Gaidojutsu” in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I try to go back and forth every six to eight weeks between the two schools. If I’m preparing for a fight, I train exclusively with Greg Jackson. There is always a deep pool of talented fighters to train with there. It works out real well because someone is always there training for an upcoming fight. Keith Jardine, Diego Sanchez, Joey Villasenor; a lot of great fighters train at “Jackson’s.”
Question: Coming in to “The Ultimate Fighter”, did you have a preference as to which coach you wanted to train under?
Tait Fletcher: Fuck yeah man! I wanted to be coached by Tito Ortiz. I knew how he worked. I knew what his conditioning was like. I was familiar with Saul Soliz because he actually trained one of my trainers named Jason Cordova. He brought in Dean Lister as a Jui Jitsu coach. When you have the type of work ethic Tito brings to the table, you know he is going to naturally surround himself with the best the sport has to offer.
Question: When the teams were selected, you ended up being the last fighter chosen. Did that bother you on any level?
Tait Fletcher: There were a lot of things that happened during the show that the audience watching at home didn’t see. I had originally been picked to be on Tito’s team but he ended up choosing too many light heavyweights so they had to redo everything over. The whole process ended up taking a couple hours to get done. You could probably saw me chuckling at the lunacy of it all in the background. It seemed like the coaches ended up making some haphazard picks. Ed Herman was one of the last guys chosen and he was definitely looked upon as one the strongest fighters coming in. Knowing what the circumstances were, it didn’t bother me at all.
Question: You ended up being coached by Ken Shamrock. It was apparent that you two didn’t get along during the course of the show. What were some of the issues that caused problems?
Tait Fletcher: Ken just didn’t want be there. I would ask him if he had somewhere else he would rather be. He acted like he had an appointment with a hooker or something. He brought in Dan Freeman and called him the team’s nutrionalist. He didn’t give a shit about what type of training we were receiving. That was just Ken wanting his buddy there along with him. There was no level of trust between the fighters and the coaches. When you have guys giving it their all and the coach their supposed to be fighter under makes it clear he could care less, it ends up taking trust out of the picture. He didn’t want to be there. He should have stuck with that and stayed home.
I haven’t seen all the episodes yet. From what I’ve seen, a few things were switched around during the editing process. Ken and I got into that argument, where we were yelling in each others face’s, after it was announced that I would be fighting Josh Haynes. He had told me to skip practice and go home. I told him he should leave because whether he’s there or not makes no difference anyways. We had a practice later that night. That’s when he tried to get on board. It’s all flash and no substance with Ken. I’ve only seen the 2nd round of my fight with Josh. From what I’ve seen, I would have rather had Ed Herman and Kalib Starnes working my corner. I would have rather had them coaching me up until that point. If that was the case, there probably would have been a definitive finish to the fight.
Question: What was the atmosphere like during the altercations between Ken Shamrock and Tito Ortiz?
Tait Fletcher: It was a joke. It was comedy. Again, you could probably see me laughing in the background. Tito would just laugh it off because it was a joke to him as well. When Ken goes off into his Pro Wrestling/WWE mode, does he really expect anyone to take him seriously? That’s kind of hard to do.
Question: How do feel your fight with Josh Haynes should have been scored?
Tait Fletcher: Come on dude. I beat that ass! What do you think? They need to get away from using these old ass boxing judges.
Question: Do you think that appointed judges lack the knowledge to score a Mixed Martial Arts fight when the action goes to the ground?
Tait Fletcher: I don’t think that was even an issue in this particular fight. I don’t feel like I was really relying on my Jui Jitsu and ground game. I was pushing the action while the fight was standing. I was coming forward, throwing knees, closing the distance, and it was me crushing him against the fence. Then there was a supposed low blow that was actually me hitting him with a direct liver shot. If the fight wasn’t halted, the next knee would have been to his chin and that would have been the end of the fight. Sure, I have a background in Jui Jitsu but I don’t think I relied on using it. I know someone that tallied the punch count to that fight and I actually landed more shots. Josh threw more punches but I landed more. I feel like I controlled the fight and showed more ring generalship. To be honest, I don’t think Josh is in my league. I definitely feel like I’m the better fighter.
Question: What’s your opinion of Noah Inhafer leaving the show the way he did?
Tait Fletcher: Everybody has to make their own choices. I advised him to wait a couple of days and not make a rash decision. Making a definitive decision when you’re having an emotional response isn’t the way to go. I thought he should have stuck around and talked to some of the older guys in the house who have been through similar things like that in life. He was just dead-set on leaving. All you can really say at that point is see ya.
Everybody had different opinions on it. A lot of the guys thought he left because he was scared. They were saying he was getting roughed up pretty good during practices. Fuck, I don’t know. I have no idea what was going on inside his head. It was a strange circumstance living in that house during the show. I don’t know what was going on with him but I’m sure he regrets it to this day. That’s his life. It doesn’t really matter to me.
Question: How did you feel when Jesse Forbes was given a semifinal slot in the competition after he was already eliminated?
Tait Fletcher: They had already invested some airtime with Jesse. I’m sure they wanted to build some characters for the show and Jesse is one hell of a character. You’ll see that in the upcoming episodes. Under the circumstances it made since that he was the fighter chosen to come back but at the same time, for me, it wouldn’t feel good to be brought back under those conditions.
Question: If you visit any of the major MMA message boards on the internet, you’ll probably see your name brought up a lot in a negative manner. Why are these fans so critical towards you?
Tait Fletcher: What? I haven’t noticed (laughing.) I don’t know. That’s all kind of a new world to me. Maybe it’s because I called Noah a dummy. I guess a lot of the fans visiting those boards can emphasize with that. They’ve probably been called that a lot during their lives by people smarter than them.
I don’t know. I think a lot of kids get online and like to talk shit. If they get a response, they get all excited and throw their fist up in the air while sitting on their mother’s coach at home. It’s just all so new to me. I’m not used to people talking that way about me. It’s a weird place to be in for sure. It’s odd that people can have such strong opinions based off of small, edited, clips of what they see on television. You never know. They could flip-flop two weeks later and everyone will love me. All of a sudden they will have a whole different criteria of what they believe in and what they live there lives by.
Question: Recently, a lot of new MMA organizations have started promoting cards such as Strikeforce, the IFL, and the WFA. Among the fighters, is the UFC still considered the place to be?
Tait Fletcher: Well, the UFC is the place to get exposure. It’s true that a lot of the fighters are getting better purses at some of these other shows going on. None of those shows carry the prestige that the UFC has though. Who knows what’s going to happen in the future. I’m sure a lot of these new promotions are going to fall out. I have a friend who just took a beating trying to promote fights. A lot of these groups are offering the fighters what they are worth but they don’t have the bank accounts to back it up yet. It’s definitely good to have competition in this type of business. The whole thing is a process. A lot of these groups are going to end up going away. Hopefully, there are a few that remain solid and become strong alternatives during the process.
Question: What factors do you think are most important when it comes to running a successful MMA organization? Is it obtaining television airtime? Cultivating the fighters as marketable characters? What do you think?
Tait Fletcher: I look at it as twofold. You have to keep the budget in line to ensure there is going to be another event taking place for the fighters to be on. On the other hand, the fighters want to be paid what their worth. Once the salaries begin increasing, there is going to be a huge influx of talent entering the picture. More athletes will choose to pursue a career in MMA, over maybe football or basketball, if they realize they can make a decent living from the sport. I think amateur wrestlers are some of the best athletes in the world. They are looking for an outlet to compete in after college. If they can make more money fighting rather than selling real estate, you’ll see more of them coming over.
Question: Is there anything you would like to say to your fans to close out this interview?
Tait Fletcher: Yeah, I guess it all goes back to what we were talking about earlier. Don’t let your character or your ideals rise and fall based on what other people think of you. With perseverance you can accomplish anything. I look at my life ten years ago and wonder how I got to where I am now. It doesn’t make sense. I just tried to remain persistent and uphold some form of righteousness. I’m not any special type of guy. I just kept trying and wouldn’t quit. That’s available to anyone who is out there.
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IPPON!!