Issue 070
December 2010
22-year-old Dutch UFC heavyweight Stefan Struve (20-4) talks comeback wins and bloody battles. Good thing 6’11” ‘Skyscraper’ has a strong stomach.
There are loads of tough guys in the UFC heavyweight division. Is there anyone you think you match-up well against?
Stefan: “Well, I’ve always liked Nogueira. I’ve been watching his fights since I was 12 or something. He’s in the UFC and I’m in the UFC but I still look up to him. I’m not sure if he’s around in a couple of years but it would be an honor to fight him some day. Hopefully in the next couple of years because he’s still really good now. It would be a big, big honor.”
What would your game plan be against someone like that?
“Just fight, like I always do. Fight and see. You’ve always got a game plan but you try to use your own strengths and take advantage of his weaknesses. But for the most part my game plan is always just to fight. Sometimes I should fight a little smarter, but people enjoy my style. I always come to finish my fights. I’ve got 20 wins and 19 finishes, you know. Paul Buentello was my only decision win and it felt like a loss after that.”
Obviously Alistair Overeem, a fellow Dutch heavyweight, is doing really well. Would you two Dutch guys in a world-title fight be exciting?
“I think that would be exciting but give me some time. I’m 22 and Alistair is on the peak of his career right now, he’s doing really good. I enjoy watching his fights; the guy is a monster. In my opinion he’s top three in the world right now.”
It looks like you take a lot of punishment in your fights. How much are you hurt? It looks bad but you always seem fine. Does it just look worse than it is?
“Yeah, for sure. In my last fight, [Christian Morecraft] hit me with a couple of good shots and he cut my lip open, but one hour before the fight I got sick, I threw up and I got dizzy. During the fight it seemed like his ground ‘n’ pound affected me, it looked like I was really hurt but I really had no power in my body because I got sick. That was the main reason the first round was so bad.”
Your fight with Denis Stojnic [at UFC 99 in Germany] was crazy with the amount of blood in the end. What keeps you going in that kind of fight when you’re covered in blood?
“Of course the will to win. My contract was at stake; if I would have lost that fight I would have lost my UFC deal. For me, when I was on his back I didn’t notice it was that bad, I didn’t notice there was that much blood on the floor and on both of us. But when I looked at the tape I was like, ‘Ooh, man, it was bloody.’ But it was slippery as hell because I couldn’t get the choke in; it was hard. It’s fun to see those fights back; those are good fights to see.”
In the UK you had quite a notorious fight with UFC veteran Colin Robertson. They called the fight off in your favor but he protested because some cage padding came down during the finish. You agreed to restart the fight when most people would just take the win. How come you decided to go at it again?
“Well it was my first title fight and I really wanted that belt. I was like, ‘I don’t want to have the belt with what he’s saying.’ You know? So I was like, ‘Let’s kick his ass again and I’ll win twice. It’s better.’ The first stoppage, the padding came loose but that had nothing to do with the stoppage. I was pounding on him and he had no chance.”
You started fighting MMA at 17. How come you began your career at such a young age?
“Well I started training when I was 14. My brother took me to a session – he was already fighting then – I liked it and from there on I kept training at that gym. When I was 16 I had three amateur fights, and because I was that tall back then already I weighed in at 185lb so nobody wanted to fight me. That’s why I decided to go pro at 17; so they couldn’t refuse the fights.”
Contrary to your Wikipedia page you only have one kickboxing fight. Was that just on the side to keep you fresh?
“I was fighting a lot before I fought for the UFC – I fought like nine times a year. It was in the summer and there was a tournament in Greece, the fight is on YouTube actually, and because there are a lot of Dutch people going on holiday there they wanted a Dutch fighter. They put an Octagon up near the beach in the open air. They told me, ‘If you fight for us there, we’ll give you a vacation for two weeks.’ So I took it. It was a good holiday. I knocked the guy out in like two minutes.”
So you didn’t get too messed up either?
“No, but I got messed up before the fight. We got a couple of quad bikes and I slammed my face into the concrete two days before the fight. So I was all messed up before I even started fighting – but I knocked him out anyway.”
