Issue 088
May 2012
Ahead of his UFC debut in Sweden, the sensational 16-2-1 Norwegian grappler says he believes he might have Diego Sanchez’s number
You’ve been successful on the European circuit for a very long time, around six years. How does it feel to finally be a UFC fighter?
“It’s been a big goal for me for several years now. To finally get there feels very nice. A couple of days before Christmas, my manager, Alex at UKMMA1, phoned me and asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I told him that he knew what I wanted and he told me, ‘You got it!’”
What did you get him in return?
“I told him I’d get him a win (laughs).”
Is there anyone in the UFC you’ve been waiting to fight?
“There used to be a couple of guys but now they’re gone. Diego Sanchez I can probably beat, I’m quite sure.”
The UFC has an abundance of wrestlers. How do you think your grappling skill set is going to fare against theirs?
“Actually I’m getting help from one of the best wrestlers in Norway, Mads Rolssom. He’s training me once every week to improve my wrestling, so we’ll see – I’m already improving. My submission grappling game is good so I’m not very worried about being taken down, but I will try to defend the takedown to tire them out, reverse them and get on top.”
For those who don’t know, how popular is MMA in Norway?
“It’s been standing still for several years. Legally, you’re not allowed to arrange pro fights. The law is that you’re not allowed to hold fights where the knockout is the goal. That’s why pro fights are not legal. Pro boxing, pro MMA and pro kickboxing are difficult. They have arranged a couple of pro kickboxing fights but with headgear. Apart from that, I think the sport is growing in popularity very well actually. I didn’t know so many people knew about the UFC in Norway, but since I’ve been signed to the UFC I’m getting phone calls all the time.”
What effect do you think the UFC will have on the sport in Scandinavia because of the event in Sweden?
“It’s going to be very big. I heard the tickets were sold out in less than three hours. I’ve done a radio interview with one of the biggest radio stations in Norway. Things are going to improve but in the end it’s the politicians who decide.”
As MMA has a low profile in Norway, how did you get to find it in the first place?
“I was training kickboxing and some of the guys at the gym were training submission wrestling. I tried a couple of sparring sessions with them, and then after a year of training my grappling skills I had an amateur fight in Malmö, Sweden. It went very well and after that I moved to Oslo where I started training with Joachim Hansen (Pride, Dream vet). His trainer told me I was good enough to go pro and I told him, ‘Yeah, why not?’”
Could you explain why your nickname is ‘The Grin’?
“It came very early when I was training in my home town. My original trainer he was always telling me I was grinning in training, because I always thought it was fun learning submission wrestling, so he just started calling me that.”
When did you first see a mixed martial arts event?
“A friend of mine was very obsessed about Wanderlei Silva in Pride. So back in 2003 or something he showed me all of Wanderlei’s fights, and I was like, ‘What?!’ Because his Pride fights are so brutal, using soccer kicks and stomps.”
Did that not give you second thoughts about starting out in MMA? Did it scare you or excite you?
“A bit of both (laughs). I was thinking it looked tough but was probably one of the biggest challenges you can ever take.”
How did you come to train for a spell with Mark Munoz in California?
“After I fought in the summer last year I needed a vacation but I didn’t want to just have a regular vacation, I wanted to go to the States and just find out how I measure up to some of the American guys and train with them. Mark Munoz at Reign MMA is a really nice guy and he has a very special way of training. There were other people there like Jake Ellenberger too, so I learned a lot. After being there, it I gave me a lot of confidence. I felt I could compete with elite guys at my weight.”
There’s a video online of you rolling with a Norwegian journalist, and he didn’t look like he was having a great deal of fun. What’s it like to be getting that kind of recognition now?
“(Laughs) He wanted to have a two-hour session before that to prepare. It’s very different to start getting recognition. Only one year ago, only people who were very interested in MMA knew who I was. Now, people are recognizing me in the street because some of the newspaper articles. Personally, it’s making me a little bit uncomfortable, at least for now. But, I want to be one of the guys who builds up the sport in Norway so I have to get used to it.”
