Issue 075

May 2011

A Strikeforce light heavyweight with a 10-4 record, explosive Ovince St Preux never turns down a fight.

You fought three times for Strikeforce in around 49 days. How were you so active, and how hard did you find it?

Ovince: “I’m not going to lie, the last fight, it kind of got me. I remember during the fight in the first round I didn’t feel like my normal self. I was talking to myself during the fight, which I find to be a little uncommon. It’s one of those things where if the opportunity presents itself again I might do it again. I’m not going to say no, but those 49 days were definitely a big rush.”

What was it like to TKO former UFC fighter Jason Day in only eight seconds?

“It meant a lot to me. Going into that fight I was extremely nervous because he was a three-time UFC vet, he’d beaten Alan Belcher, he fought Kendall Grove, Michael Bisping. He definitely had the experience level over me. The minute he came out, he came out in a hurry, which caught me by surprise. I was able to capitalize on that and ended up catching him with a couple good shots, and finished him right in eight seconds.”

How did it feel to win your Strikeforce debut in your home state in only 47 seconds?

“It felt really good. It was one of those deals where you fight in your home state and you get a lot of crowd support, but at the same time it’s kind of scary too just because you don’t want to lose in front of your home town.”

You got a lot of attention in 2009 for winning your fourth fight with a calf slicer. How did you pull off such a rarely-seen submission?

“I practice it all the time in the gym. I remember back in the locker room, before I started, I was practicing it and it just happened to be the same scenario. Before I came out I was like, ‘If I happen to be in this position, I’m just going to go for it.’”

You started off your pro career with two losses. Were you ever tempted to quit fighting?

“Actually two years ago, in 2009 around November, December I thought about just throwing it in. I told myself, ‘I’m just going to give myself 2010 to see what I can do.’ In 2010 I just came out blazing and did exceptionally well. I’m kind of happy I didn’t stop because toward the end of 2009 my record was 3-4.”

Along with standard tattoos you have some unusual scarification-type markings. How come?

“I’ve got two brands [of the Greek symbol for omega] on my left side and one on my right side. I’m just representing my fraternity Omega Psi Phi [a national African American fraternity of which Michael Jordan was a member]. And I’ve got the tattoo on my back. I’ve got angel wings on there and if you look at the middle part it represents the Haitian flag.”

Has mixed martial arts always been able to pay the bills or have you had other jobs on the side?

“I’ve had side jobs. I worked at a juvenile center with teenage boys that have alcohol and drug problems and stuff. But it’s one of those things, when you first get into MMA you have to have your amateur matches then the low-level pro matches. When you first start off you lose more than you gain, but when you actually start fighting bigger shows and stuff and doing real well you end up gaining more than you lose.”

A lot of pro football players are choosing MMA training to sharpen their skills. How do you think you would have benefited from doing the same during your college football career? 

“Most definitely with the cardio aspect. There’ve been times where I go back and work out with the University of Tennessee football team. I remember there was one instance where I ran the stadium for about 30 mins and my legs were shot. When I got through doing that I did a total-body workout, and when I got through that I did a 45-minite agility drill with the football team. I felt perfectly fine afterwards. I was like, ‘Man, if I was in shape like this when I was playing football there’s no telling what I could do.’ The biggest thing about playing football is staying in shape.”

What do you remember about your first fight? 

“My first MMA fight was an amateur fight. I was going into it telling myself, ‘I’m going to do this, I’m going to do that.’ But, you get locked in a cage staring at the guy across the ring from you and you think, ‘This guy’s going to try and rip my head off.’ So I was like, ‘OK, I’ll just keep on working the game plan.’ But whatever the game plan was went out of the window because I forgot everything. The only thing I was going off was instinct and reflexes. I probably had the biggest adrenalin dump I’ve ever had in my life, because an hour after the fight was over, my hands were still shaking.’”

Ovince St Preux spoke with Gary Alexander