Issue 122
December 2014
The former UFC welterweight champion reviews how BJJ and MMA changed his life.
You are the last guy to beat Georges St-Pierre. What are your memories of the victory, and your iconic celebration?
“It was like, ‘Hey, look what I got!’ We joke around like that a lot. I was ecstatic. It was almost a surreal moment. It is something that will be with me forever that’s for sure.”
Speaking of semi-retired GSP, what did you think of his last fight against Johny Hendricks?
“Everybody is talking about how he didn’t win the fight or he got beat up or whatever. Personally, if you look at the fight for damage obviously Hendricks looks to have won. But the fight is scored round-by-round and in that sense it’s much closer than most people are giving credit for. Even watching it live, I thought it might have come down to that fifth round and GSP won the fifth. It was closer than most people are saying.
“Give Johny Hendricks props, man. He has the perfect style to beat GSP. But not many people are giving Georges the credit he deserves for being a freakin’ warrior.
He took hard shots, he had rounds he lost and he came back and won that fifth round. He fought with the heart of a champion that night.”
What would your life have been like had you never found Brazilian jiu-jitsu and Renzo Gracie?
“It would have been an extremely blue-collar life. I would have been in the rat race every morning, going to a job I didn’t like. Ever since I saw the first Gracies in Action video back in the day all I wanted to do was jiu-jitsu.
“The first time I found a mat I knew that’s what I wanted to do. And I am very fortunate to be aligned with Renzo Gracie and a disciple of his. I am forever grateful, like I tell him constantly.”
You were the first American to receive your black belt from Renzo. Can you talk about that moment and that honor of being the first?
“It was great, man. My roommate at the time was Rodrigo Gracie and I was getting ready for a prize fight that never happened. There were 50-plus people at the academy that day. He had me and Rodrigo do a 10-minute match.
“He got me down at the beginning then tried to pass, then I got him back and tried to pass. It was a very even match. Thank God, because right then and there Renzo threw out the black belts.
“It was very special to get it from Renzo, but to get it with Rodrigo too made it a very sentimental moment. Don’t make me get all blubbery over here.”
What was it like, training BJJ with Renzo in the early days?
“Back in the day, at Renzo’s, my brother and I were the top guys in there. We were the highest ranking. Back in the mid to late ‘90s, we had knuckleheads come in all the time and Renzo had me and my brother as enforcers.
“Guys would come in with a bad attitude doing everything but eye gouging. It wasn’t quite the Gracie Challenge but it was pretty funky. If I did that stuff nowadays I would be afraid I would get sued. I would have to pop an elbow here and there because these guys were so nasty and aggressive. They wanted to test the legitimacy of jiu-jitsu.”
What’s the craziest thing about MMA then and now?
“When I think back to UFC 31, we had the weigh-ins in a room with 50 people. Now they are in the arenas with 5,000–6,000 people. It’s just insane. I watched that 20th anniversary special the other day and, holy memory lane man, it was great. I was there for all that stuff. Afterwards I felt old and depressed but it was amazing.”
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