Issue 036
April 2008
Text & photo: Hywel Teague
You’ve seen him in the ring with some of the greatest names in the business. He is one of the most important members of a fighter’s team, and can hold the balance of a fight in his hands.
His name is ‘Stitch’, and he is one of the greatest cutmen around. He is one of the main cutmen in MMA, but is equally as renowned in the boxing and K-1 world, having worked in the industry since 1985. His involvement with professional fighting actually came about due to his own martial arts training. “In 1974 what got me going into this was I was in the United States Air Force and they stationed me in Thailand during the Vietnam war, and not knowing what Thailand was, much less Muay Thai, I went down with some friends to the fights and saw my first Muay Thai fight. I liked it, and the following Monday I started training. At that time for the American GI’s there was Tae Kwon Do, but once the Korean instructor left the Thais came in and converted us to Muay Thai.”
Upon retuning to the United States, he sent up his own kickboxing school and began to run a stable of fighters, opening a school in California. “I got back and kickboxing was just getting going in the States. I incorporated boxing with Muay Thai and ended up having some good fighters, and by training fighters that’s how I learned to be a cutman.”
Aside from training, managing and promoting the fighters, Stitch found he had to quickly learn how to deal with cuts, but found it a far from easy skill to acquire. I had to learn to be a cutman and I started studying the old cutmen in the old days. Believe it or not these old guys wouldn’t give you any information. They learned their secrets from their masters and they’d take it to the grave, and trying to get information from them was kind of impossible. So I did my own research and I read books on blood and veins and arteries and bone structures and just kind of observed some of the veteran cutmen and tried to mimic what they did.
“I made my own adjustments and have been pretty successful since then. The thing that I learned from those old guys not to do was to give information out.” Bucking the trend, Stitch employs a totally different philosophy and is very much about giving something back to the sport he loves so much. “When someone asked me things about a cutman, I’d be more than happy to answer any questions because the way I look at it is my job is to teach. Especially in the game of MMA, it’s growing so fast and worldwide, and nobody teaches a trainer how to be a cutman. Even wrapping hands, if somebody asks me I always spend the time and give them attention and that’s based on me not getting that kind of respect when I wanted to learn, so that’s something I will pass on to them.”
Passing that information on is one of Stitch’s upcoming projects, as he plans to release a DVD later this year on how to become a cutman. “It’s called ‘Cuts, Cornermen and Confidence’, and it’s going to show how to wrap hands properly, how to work cuts and how to work a corner. My job is to give back to the game, I’m here for the safety of the fighters, that’s always my number one thing. And if no one teaches these guys how to look after the fighters, the game is not going to evolve. Not a lot of people in my position are willing to step forward and make this available to the trainers and the fighters.”
The DVD will feature actual footage from fights in the UFC and some of Stitch’s professional boxing experience (“I’ve been talking to Oscar De La Hoya’s people, and we’ll be including some of the high level boxers and I think Oscar’s going to be one of them.”), something he still is very active in. The next day after this interview took place, he was due to fly out to Germany for a heavyweight fight between two top contenders, with a bout booked with Wladimir Klitschko the week after in New York. “I’m on the road all the time, but if that’s the worst thing that could happen to me, I think I’m doing okay!”
With all these high profile jobs, you might be forgiven for thinking Stitch touts his services to increase his exposure. In fact, it is the complete opposite. “I’ve always said that of my accomplishments in my career as a cutman is that from day one until this point, I’ve never asked for one job. I’m a very proud person and I don’t like to kiss nobodies ass, you know? So I may have missed opportunities by not coming forward but I’ve always relied on somebody calling me, and that’s always been the case and I’ll continue to do that.”
It was a personal request from Dana White that saw Stitch enter the world of MMA, of which he has been a part of since UFC 32. “Dana White asked me if I’d be the second cutman on board along with Leon Tabbs, and I jumped on it. I’m glad to be involved with such a big organisation who are so up and coming.” Though Stitch sometimes has to miss a UFC due to other commitments (“If I’m booked for a high profile boxing event like Wladimir Klitschko, that’s a priority because of the economics.”) he says he loves UFC and works every event he can.
“I’m privileged to be the guy that is preparing the fighters for battle. I’m totally honoured on that and I’ve been doing this since UFC 32, but every time I see these guys fight I’m in awe of what true gladiators they are. They’re modern day warriors. Like BJ Penn says to me, ‘You give me confidence’. For me to wrap that fighters hands and make them like a brick and knowing their hands are protected and they know I’m at ringside in case something happens, to me it’s an honour to have these gladiators say ‘Stitch is in my corner.’”
With so many years of experience under his belt, there are plenty of stories to tell (“I’ve got a whole list of them that when we sit down and have some beers we talk about it.”) but two recent stories involve UFC stars. “The latest one was Forrest Griffin when he fought Shogun. That was a big old gash on his forehead and I went to work on it. There are three medicines that are authorised for us to use here in the United States and one of them is Avitene. Not many cutmen work with it because it’s expensive and it’s difficult to work with. I was in Forrest’s corner and I knew it was a gargantuan cut, so I pulled out the Avitene and applied the adrenaline to constrict the blood vessels and then I kind of flooded the cut up with the Avitene and then I covered it up with a mixture of adrenaline chloride and Vaseline. Lo and behold, he didn’t bleed! He ended up tapping out Shogun so that was a big moment in my life.”
Though he is always happy to pass on his knowledge to aspiring trainers and cutmen, Stitch is definitely old school in the sense that he represents a proud tradition, and that means a lot to him. “I tell these people you don’t do it for the money, you do it for the love of the game, and if you do it for the money, you’re doing it for the wrong reasons.”
