Issue 084
January 2012
The outstanding North Carolina middleweight is taking Strikeforce by storm – not bad for a former cheerleader!
Tell us a little about your background, when did you start training and what art did you start off training in?
“I’ve been training full-time MMA now for about a year and half, but my background is in college wrestling. I wrestled four years at the University of North Carolina and a year at high school before that.”
You’ve been on a tear inside the cage since you switched to MMA. Surely you must have been something of an all-round athlete even before you started to wrestle?
“Actually, I wasn’t. Don’t get me wrong, in my senior year I ran track, played football and wrestled, but before that I didn’t do too much at all. I was pretty much just hanging and enjoying tossing girls in the air!”
Wait, what? Back up. So you were
a cheerleader?
“Yeah, man, I was a cheerleader. I used to throw girls in the air and bounce around doing flips and stuff. Those were good times for a boy, believe me.”
So what got you into training mixed martial arts?
“At college I was a three-time Division II All-American wrestler and then I worked for about three years at the college before I slowly started to get the urge to compete again. So I started looking to wrestle again but a couple of guys at the gym were training mixed martial arts, and they said, ‘You should try mixed martial arts.’ So one day I joined in and then next thing I’m training MMA.”
Where was that, still in North Carolina?
“Yeah, I started out back home in Wilmington, that’s correct, at Evolution MMA based at Port City Sports Performance. I started there studying jiu-jitsu with Jeremy Owens, who is a black belt under the Nova Uniao, and we focused on submission, how to hold them and how to work them. And my old high-school wrestling coach actually owned the gym itself so I was doing my wrestling and strength and conditioning there too, so I had everything. I also had a boxing coach there too, Andre Thompson, who had me on the pads three times a week.”
So what instigated the move to Greg Jackson’s gym in Albuquerque, New Mexico?
“I like to think that I’m the type of guy that thinks things through and does his research and before I even started out in MMA, before I started training, I looked into the sport and investigate who the best trainers were and where they were based too. At that time Greg Jackson
had the highest win percentage in the sport so I set my sights on one day coming down here and training with him. And the rest is history, I’ve been down here since.”
What’s that experience like for a young fighter, training there each day with Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn and the array of talent that’s there?
“It’s a great atmosphere. The coaches lead by example. They actually train with us and spar, they run in the mountains with us. They’re really part of the team and, as I’ve said, they lead by example. There are also a lot of good role models here too. A lot of guys who have fought in the UFC, Strikeforce, all the big promotions and it makes for a great training atmosphere.”
Who is your favorite training partner out there?
“I would have to say Carlos Condit, man, but that’s a tricky question. That guy’s a goat, he’s so tricky on his feet and has so many different tools to work with. Yeah, probably Carlos Condit I would say.”
You’ve been fighting in Strikeforce for a little while now, what have your experiences been like under the promotion?
“I feel like I’m improving with every fight, and right now I’m loving the ride. This last fight was my first after a full camp with Winkeljohn which was awesome too. I’ve always worked with Greg Jackson, so it was good to start working full-time with Mike too as he is the resident striking coach and I feel like 2012 is going to get even better for me. I have so many tools now and things are only getting better. I definitely want to keep moving up the rankings and building up the level of my opponents.”
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