Issue 154

The UFC’s top middleweight contender talks rap stars, psychology and... playing with dolls?

Q:: You’ve been doing this for a long time, what was your relationship with fighting when you were younger? Did you start early? 

A: “I started when I was 15 years old. I watched the UFC and saw how it was straightforward, without all the politics of other sports and knew it was for me. I wanted to be like Royce Gracie.

When I first started training it was because I wanted to be an MMA fighter so I started learning ground fighting and kickboxing mixed with karate.”

Q: You’re managed by ‘80s star MC Hammer’s company Alchemist, what’s it like working with him?

A: “It’s been awesome. Alchemist has really worked hard for me so far and they seem to be the best management around.

He’s a great guy. We did a video shoot for his music video in Denver and he’s such fun to hang out with and I really look up to him.”

Q: What do you think is the most essential martial art in MMA for kids to take up nowadays?

A: “I think the best thing to do is a couple: go wrestle at your high school or college and then on the off-season do boxing, Muay Thai or jiu-jitsu to develop a more rounded game.”

Q: Anderson Silva has proclaimed you to be the next middleweight champion. What tactics would you use to beat him?

A: “I would fight him with everything I have. Chael Sonnen had the right approach. Go at him, get your hands on him and rough him up.

He’s so dangerous that you just have to go for broke.”

Q: Where do you stand on trash talk?

A: “I don’t care one way or the other. If they want to talk, they can talk. Some of the guys build up their confidence and get under their opponent’s skin by trashing a lot. It’s part of the game.

Even Mohammed Ali admitted he didn’t think he was the greatest at the beginning, he just said it over and over until he truly believed he was the greatest. I keep my feelings inside because I want to save it for the fight. I have my confidence. I don’t need to build it up.

Everything that Mohammed Ali said out loud I say in my head. I don’t need to make a fool out of my opponent.”

Q: What’s more important for a fighter, short sprints or long distance running?

A: “From a physiological standpoint the sprints are going to be closer to the kind of conditioning MMA fighters need because they develop your cardio intervals and explosive power. Yet the long grueling practices are always good for developing mental toughness.”

Q: You must’ve had some pretty epic running sessions at your training camp in Albuquerque.

A: “Yeah, there’s two main runs that I do that are just brutal. One’s at 10,000ft and is a couple of miles long. It finishes with a set of stairs that are like 40ft and really steep. We have to sprint up and down them seven times. It just absolutely wears your body out.

Another one I do is up sand hills that are about 80 yards from top to bottom. When you run up it your feet just sink, so you get a super lactic acid burn in your legs by the time you’re around three quarters of the way up. It’s mental conditioning more than anything.”

Q: What do you do to take your mind off work?

A: “Playing dolls with my daughters! [laughs] Seriously, family time is the best relaxation. I can forget all about MMA and just be with the people I love.”

Q: One minute you’re highly respected, the next under criticism. How do you deal with that seemingly fickle dynamic?

A: “That’s just it. My true fans will always be there and so will the critics. I am my biggest critic and don’t need to hear from Joe Schmo about what he thinks. I will get back into the gym and fix the mistakes with my coaches.”

Q: For your fight with Yushin Okami, do you feel you could have done better?

A: “I watched the fight. I don’t feel I lost it. It was close but the reason it was close was because I let it. I understand why the judges perceived his Octagon control was the reason he won the fight. That’s something I have to work on.”

Q: What advice do you give for aspiring fighters on handling losses?

A: “You gotta analyze your loss and work on bettering yourself, then you forgot about it. Throw it in the recycle bin in your head and move on. Fix the mistakes and improve. I do take it hard when I lose but that’s what makes me train so hard. I want to better myself and correct any mistakes and focus on the win in the future.”