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Can you give us a highlight of your wrestling career.
I wrestled since I was six years old and won every national championship in United States, ten under, twelve under, fourteen under, and so on, including the NCAA championship from University of Iowa which is the number one wrestling school in the US under my coach Dan Gabriel who's the most famous wrestler and wrestling coach in the US. I was a US freestyle champion, a national champion, on the US national team for four years, and a world cup freestyle wrestling champion. That's it far as wrestling goes.
How did you start competing in Mixed Martial Arts?
I never competed. I just train people.
Why did you start MMA?
I started because my friend showed me a video tape of one of the first
UFC. I could see anyone who had little wrestling experience could do very well. They got into positions spending a lot of energy, positions that for wrestling it was very easy. But I realized you had to learn something else beside wrestling because wrestling is basically a sport where it's done under a conservative set of rules where it restricts a lot of things because of the sporting. Point of MMA sport is to end the fight versus, while in wrestling it was to pin the guy or score many points as possible. So, in MMA, you have to learn submission, striking, and things like that. These elements intrigued me because I've done wrestling for my whole life, and it was interesting to do other things. Also, I liked MMA because there are no rules, there's no referee, there's no points or anything. You have a chance to definitively end it, you're not going to lose because of an arbitrary decision by a judge or a referee.
Were you familiar with any type of pro wrestling?
Yes, I followed it as a kid. I used to go to pro wrestling matches in
Baltimore where I grew up. I know a lot about it (smile). But as an
amateur wrestler, I looked down on pro wrestling. But me as a person, I just enjoy the spectacle and entertainment value of it. Other people take it seriously, and I don't take it like that.
You liked MMA and got into the business, right?
I was living in New York City at the time when I saw the UFC. A friend of mine brought over a guy who wanted to show us Jiu-Jitsu after wrestling training, and I was very intrigued by it. It's just wrestling with 10-15% that they never show you with added dimension of being on your back. From there, he took me around to a bunch of different jiu-jitsu dojos around NYC to find me a good teacher and also wanted me to beat up all these jiu-jitsu guys (smile).
Who is he?
Bruce Hulse, he's a famous fashion model. He's not a fighter but has
been practising many types of martial arts. He's like a Buddha; he does martial arts for the spiritual aspect of it and stuff like that.
Continued to the next page --> Other Interviews |
