Cage Fighting Comes to Tucson

by Yael Grauer


Former K1 champ Rick Roufus (right) talking smack to Joey Rivera

Closed-fist fighting finally came to Tucson on April 25th, courtesy of Mixed Martial Arts Proving Ground promoter Veon McCarrell. The event, billed Cage Rumble Cage Fighting, featured four amateur kickboxing bouts, six MMA battles and one MMA exhibition match, all taking place at the Tucson Convention Center. Here's our play-by-play:

Kickboxing

Jesse "James" Lane from American Karate Kickboxing School engaged in battle with Josh "Mr. Grin" Bossardet from Fortitude University. Although Bossardet clearly was the better fighter that night, Jesse Lane was very polished and demonstrated some impressive skills. He landed a huge kick to the head at the end of the 3rd round. Bossardet won the bout by unanimous decision.

Fighting out of Roxy Fight Club, Nic Vigil appeared to be completely outclassed by a crisper opponent. Sun Devil Combat Sports' Alec Martinez simply shook off any punishment Vigil handed him while dishing out even more of his own. Martinez won by unanimous decision.

Luis Romero from Ultima engaged in three rounds of battle with Davis Lions from Roxy Fight Club. Although Lions got an early takedown, Romero seemed to have a slight edge and won by split decision.

In the co-main event, Bobby Lane from American Karate-Kickboxing School faced off against Messer Resen from Rosales Kickboxing in Albuquerque. At times looking like a seasoned MMA fighter who could easily transition into smooth throws or takedowns, Lane dished out a steady stream of inside leg kicks and some great head kicks. Arguably the most polished fighter of the night, Lane won the bout by unanimous decision.


Bobby Lane celebrating his decision win over Messer Resen

MMA

Dustin Sanders from Golden Cobra in Camp Verde stepped out to fight Jeff "Raptor" Santos. Santos trains at Southwest MMA, which is Drew Fickett's camp. Sanders ended up on bottom and was the victim of some vicious ground and pound from mount. Santos won by unanimous decision.

Tim Worth, also from Southwest MMA, went toe-to-toe with Nick Smith from Sun Devil Combat Sports. In the first round, Worth got an immediate takedown, passed into half guard and then guard and got mount. He finished the round with another slam after a failed armbar attempt. Smith had a nice guillotine attempt before losing by an
armbar in the second round.

Tim Worth celebrating his submission win over Nick Smith

Andy Perez from Tres Amigos Fight Club competed in a bout against AKS MMA's Rick Nicholas. Perez came out swinging, got some good takedowns and eventually was able to advance to side control, and then mount. Rick escaped from an armbar at the end of the first round. Both fighters again came out swinging wildly in the 2nd round and Nicholas landed a hard slam. Again he got put in an armbar, and spun around with his arm still trapped. Andy Perez took this fight in the 2nd round by armbar.

Manny "Mr. Fresh" Morales (Tres Amigos Fight Club) faced Sabian "the Joker" Curtis (the guy with the Hatchman tattoo). Morales scored a quick takedown and then dished out some not-quite-an-armbar move. Much to Curtis' dismay, the ref stopped the bout at 1 minute and 12 seconds into the first round, claiming that the technique could have led to a dislocated shoulder. The event promoter Veon McCarell told the booing audience that they should sign up to fight.

Jesse "Outlaw" Tucker was set to fight Everett Dorsey from Rosales MMA in Albuquerque. Tucker was armed with two of Tucson's star fighters, George Roop and Ed West, in his corner. He got an early takedown and some shots to the body and survived an omaplata attempt by Dorsey. In the second round, Tucker followed a nice leg kick with an easy takedown and again survived an omaplata attempt, advancing from guard to mount to side mount and sinking in a Darce choke. Jesse Tucker won by submission (Darce choke) in the second round.

Felipe "the Tank" Pablo fought Brock Lesnar lookalike Joey Yager. Yager scored some decent takedowns and dished out some vicious ground and pound from rear mount, and ultimately won by unanimous decision.

And the main event of the evening was an exhibition match, where Joey Rivera from APEX MMA set out to fight Rick Roufus from the Lab in Glendale. Sporting a 15-5 record in MMA (and an extensive boxing and kickboxing record as well), former K1 champ Roufus weighed in at 214 lbs. I give Rivera a lot of props for even taking the fight, since he came in at 179 lbs. Rivera, a 2-0 MMA fighter with a lot of judo under his belt, held his own in the first round and managed to get an early takedown in round number 2. From there he got side control and secured a rear naked choke. Roufus' reaction was unclear and looked like he was attempting some punches in the face and missing, but the referee determined that this was a tap and called a stop to the fight, declaring Joey Rivera the winner by submission (RNC).

Joey "Boom Boom" Rivera, Apex Mixed Martial Arts

The next Cage Rumble Cage Fighting event will take place at the Tucson Expo Center on June 27, 2009. For more information, check out http://www.CageRumbleAZ.com.

(Todd Butkowski also contributed to this article.)

A Day of Reckoning: Interview with Josh Barnett

Josh Barnett may very well be the most underrated heavyweight fighter in the United States. A former UFC Heavyweight title holder, the Baby-Faced Assassin holds a stunning MMA record of 23-5-0. His last three fights include a knock-out win against Pedro Rizzo at Affliction: Banned on July 19th and back-to-back wins at Sengoku; a unanimous decision against Jeff Monson and a submission win using a heel hook against Hidehiko Yoshida. Barnett will be fighting ay Affliction: Day of Reckoning on January 24 in Anaheim, California.

Yael - Tell us about your next opponent.

Josh Barnett - I’ll be fighting Gilbert Yvel, who’s a Dutch kickboxer. He’s been fighting MMA for quite some time and has a little over 40 fights right now.

Yael - Yvel has had fights disqualified for biting an opponent, he knocked out a ref and he also eye gouged Don Frye.

Josh Barnett - Yeah. He had some DQs a few times in his career, that’s true, but it’s been quite some time since he’s had any problems. Anyway, I don’t care about that. All I care about is that I have a fight.

Yael - How did he even get cleared to fight?

Josh Barnett - I guess he’s not entirely cleared to fight, but it’s looking like there’s a strong possibility.

Yael - You’re ranked 3rd in the heavyweight division, under Arlovski and Fedor who are fighting each other on the same card. Are you going to fight the winner of that bout?

Josh Barnett - I guess that could happen. The only fight that matters to me is the fight that’s in front of me. Rankings certainly down at the lower half of things change very frequently. I don’t care about rankings anyway.

Yael - Right, but that’s the fight that the fans really want to see.

Josh Barnett - Well, it’s not really within my power.

Yael - So let’s talk about your upcoming fight. Weren’t you also supposed to fight Brett Rogers?

Josh Barnett - Yes, that was talked about and I was okay with fighting him, but I guess you’d really have to ask Affliction why it didn’t happen. I believe the problems with Elite XC owning the contracts could be part of it.

Yael - You knocked Randy Couture out back in 2002 when he was still in his prime, and about a year ago called him a paper champion. Do you think Brock Lesnar is a paper champion?

Josh Barnett - Uh, well, I guess if I had to go back to when I said that I guess it has to stick. I don’t know. Mainly that was said in response to the usual obscenity-filled tirades by Dana White at the time when he proclaimed that Randy was unbeatable, that nobody could beat this guy. This was in a press conference when I was actually in the room and I had to speak up and he ignored me but the media was paying attention and ran with it.

Obviously Randy is a fine fighter and is doing things most people wouldn’t even dream of at his age, but Brock logically shouldn’t be at a title fight this early on in his career. But I think it’s something commendable that he could succeed this early on… Belts, well, I wouldn’t say that they’re worthless because they are worth 7 grand I hear, but there are a lot of people that have belts that really shouldn’t have them. I’ve always said that Brock should have beaten Randy style-wise. Anyways, there’s a possibility he could lose to Mir, and that’s really got to do with the way they match up.

Yael - 7 grand huh? Belts are pretty heavy.

Josh Barnett - Yeah, but Brock will have a good 20 lbs on Mir anyway, or more, it depends on the size of sandwich he eats earlier that day.

Yael - Mir really looked good in his last fight.

Josh Barnett - Yeah, but I think what is shocking is how, not good, Nougeira looked. I’m sure Mir is sick of hearing how Nog is washed up instead of how Mir performed well, but it’s the biggest victory he has to date, and anyone who’s followed Nog and seen him fight in the past knows that he just looked so terrible.

Yael - Would you want to fight Nog a 3rd time?

Josh Barnett – Absolutely. I don’t care if he’s washed up I just want to beat the crap out of him.

Yael - Do you have any other dream matches?

Josh Barnett - I’ve always wanted to fight Alexander Karelin, the many-time Olympic gold medalist and Greco wrestler, but he’s not a fighter. At one time he was thought of as the most impressive athlete on the planet. Now he’s got to be kind of long in the tooth, too, so maybe I can kick his walker out from under him one day.

Yael - Any chance you’ll ever fight in UFC again? There were some rumors about a year ago about them potentially signing you.

Josh Barnett - Maybe when I was a free agent from Pride, but they never really made me an offer so I guess they weren’t interested. To be honest, I don’t really know what Dana White’s problem with me is, but when he makes blanket statements like saying Randy Couture is the best fighter in the world, if I’m a fellow heavyweight and I’ve already beaten him, I’m going to say something. Say what you mean, Dana, don’t just spout whatever. I just don’t let people get away with running their mouths, especially when I’m in a rival organization and he’s going to say something about the company I work for. But I’m a business man; I don’t really have to like anybody in the fight business. I just need to do my job and do my job better than anyone else.

Yael - When can we expect your next installment of catch wrestling instructionals?

Josh Barnett - Well, I’m not exactly sure because it’s hard to find the time to get in there and get the stuff shot, but also Scientific Wrestling with Jake Shannon moved to Utah which makes that even more difficult. But there’s some plans to maybe have me come to Utah to do a seminar and shoot the next DVD instructional which will be all on armlocks. My intention was the series to be a primer for catch as catch can, just an introduction, but the basics I’ve always found is what wins the most. And there’s stuff covered even people of an advanced nature will be interested in.

It all starts with amateur wrestling. The couple DVDs I’ve put out so far all have to do with being on top, but my opinion is why fight on the bottom if you can be on top? Certainly it looked like Forrest Griffin had a better bottom game than Rashad from what we’ve seen so far, but it didn’t really matter when he got knocked out.

Yael - That was a good fight.

Josh Barnett - Forest’s incredibly tough. He had a game plan, but it just takes one shot. When you’re on top, you’re the one throwing punches, not the guy on the bottom.

Yael - Unless you’re from Team Bison.

Josh Barnett - There is that! Still I’d rather be on top.

Yael - Anything else you want to add?

Josh Barnett - Just that I’m really hoping that women’s MMA gets a nice platform to work off of. It’s been pretty depressing not to watch a bunch of women’s fights, and for the girls I work with not to have the opportunity to fight. But at least there’s the G-Fight Summit coming up, that’s one show and a lot of women.

There are just not that many opportunities for girls to fight, not to mention when you have someone like Megumi Fujii who’s 17-0. How to you get someone to fight them and where do you find someone to give them enough money considering she’s arguably the best female fighter on the planet

Yael - What would help women’s MMA grow?

Josh Barnett - Any company that picks up MMA needs to name themselves a little bit, start slow and start with interesting personalities, not who is the best looking or even the best fighter but people who capture the interest and attention of people who watch because otherwise nobody’s watching and nobody’s got nothing. But I think there’s no shortage of women fighters who can put on bar burner fights or fight of the night deals. It just takes someone with the know-how, money and ability to package it in a way that a network or someone will be interested in picking it up. I guess it’s not that easy. But some of these companies that have established promotions already can integrate a women’s program. And the thing is that there’s no direct competition

Yael - Are you talking all-women’s cards or just adding a few women’s fights onto the fight card?

Josh Barnett - All-women is very, very difficult; it’s easier to add women’s fights to an already-established promotion, be it locally or nationally. I’m not necessarily saying UFC, there are promotions on the other side of things that could do that and would have a better possibility to do that, like Strikeforce.

Yael - They’ve had women’s fights in the past.

Josh Barnett - They have had women’s fights, but it’s so infrequent and so random. They need 2-3 a show and legitimately build up into women’s personalities and have people wanting to watch the women fighters specifically.

Yael - Part of the problem might be that there’s so few places ranking female fighters, and so many women fight at two or three different weights just to get fights… Do you think part of the problem is that promoters don’t know where to look?

Josh Barnett - It’s not really that difficult. Find those that are willing to go out and fight at 125, 135, 145. It’s no problem to find people that can legitimately make those fights. It’s up to them whether they want to fight or not. When men first started fighting half the time we didn’t even have weight classes so at least women don’t have to deal with that fighting open weight all the time. We didn’t even have promotions.

A promotion just needs to get some solid people in the company and let them work it out first. People can be upset if people not in their top 5 worked their way into a championship fight in an organization but the proof will be in the pudding and the right fight will end up in the promotion eventually. It just always works that way.

Yael - Other than Megumi Fuji, who you’ve said is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, who are your favorite female fighters?

Josh Barnett - Well there’s Shayna Baszler and Ginele Marquez who I work with. Windy Tomomi…

Yael - The only Tomomi fight I saw was when she battled Rosi Sexton on Bodog and dislocated her leg…

Josh Barnett - Yeah, that was pretty gross, but not worse than separating a drumstick from a thigh. It’s not causing her any problems now. To show you how tough she is, she was actually asking for a rematch when we loaded her up in the van to take her to the hospital.

Yael - Yeah, female fighters are tough as nails! Thanks for sitting down with 8 Count News.

Check out Josh Barnett’s next fight on Affliction: Day of Reckoning on January 24th, and catch him on the web at http://www.joshbarnett.tv

MMA's Rising Stars: Chevelle Hallback

Chevelle "Fists of Steel" Hallback started boxing in 1997 and amassed an impressive record of 27-5-2. Add some BJJ and wrestling to the mix and you've got an all-out brawler! The starring running back and linebacker for pro female football league Tampa Bay Force, Hallback trains at XFC in Tampa.

Hallback recently showcased her vicious ground and pound when she defeated Melissa "Catkiller" Vasquez via TKO in just 41 seconds in round 1 at XFC 6 "Clash of the Continents." While the 37-year-old WBA and IBA 130 lb. world champion is still boxing, she's been having trouble finding fights. Her next MMA bout is scheduled for February 20 at the Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tennessee. Keep an eye out for this star!

Check out Chevelle's fight video and more at http://www.mmaxfc.com/

MMA's Rising Stars: Ryan Beauregard

A judo brown belt and successful high school wrestler with a state championship under his belt, Ryan Beauregard took his game to the next level when he began training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu under BJJ black belt Demetrius Ramos at the Tucson Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Academy in December 2004. Amassing over 100 BJJ victories, Beauregard is a Pan Am Finalist, a three-time winner of the Arizona State Champion and a three-time California state champion. He is the current Brazilian Jiu Jitsu lightweight world champion, fighting under the Carlson Gracie team. He recently opened his own academy in Phoenix, where he teaches BJJ to men, women and children of all skill levels.

Beauregard began his MMA career with a stunning unanimous decision win (all three judges scored the bout 27-30) over Aric Nelson at Shark Fights on October 24th. Expect more of the same for this up-and-comer!

Check out Ryan’s website at http://www.ryanbeauregard.com

Interview with UFC fighter Joe Lauzon

Former WFL Grand Prix Champion Joe Lauzon turned heads and made headlines in September 2006 in his upset win over former UFC Lightweight Champion Jens Pulver. He knocked Pulver out in only 48 seconds. Lauzon holds a professional MMA record of 16-4, with all of his wins coming by submission or knock-out.

After losing a bout to Kenny Florian, Lauzon accrued another TKO victory over Team Voodoo's Kyle Bradley this past September at UFC Fight Night 15. Joe Lauzon will be fighting former WEC champion Hermes Franca on the main event of UFC Fight Night in Tampa, Florida on February 7th.

Yael-Of all the opponents offered to you, you picked a top tier fighter who’s only lost by decision. Why did you pick him to fight?

Joe Lauzon-I thought it’d be a good fight! I think it’d be an exciting fight. He definitely beat a lot of good guys. I mean, he beat Jamie Varner; he went to a decision with Sean Sherk... He’s a top fighter, but I think I definitely can do certain things that could prevent him from winning. It would be nice to fight a guy that beat Nate Diaz. It would be nice to fight a guy that went for the title. I want to fight the best guys out there.

Yael-Your last loss was to Kenny Florian, who was ranked pretty close to you going in but is now ranked way higher.

Joe Lauzon-I felt that he was ranked a bit better than me going in. but I was told that this was the fight that the UFC really wanted, so I stepped up. I did lose. but I think I definitely could’ve won. But I don’t care about ranks anyway. It’s all about the fight at hand.

Yael-Were you upset by that elbow to the back of the head?

Joe Lauzon-At the time, I wasn’t upset. I thought they were going to stop the fight, and when I realized they weren’t going to stop it I was really excited. It was a clearly illegal blow. It was like someone hit me in the back of the head with an ax. If you watch the video you can even see my glove is completely red. I was bleeding like crazy from that cut. So at the time I was pretty excited because I thought that they were going to stop the fight and they didn’t, but looking back at it, I think we should’ve gotten some time to recover and deal with the cut.

Yael-I know there are accidents; CB Dollaway for example says it’s hard to hit a moving target… But Kenny Florian seems to elbow on the back of the head a lot. Do you think he did it on purpose?

Joe Lauzon-I think it was definitely intentional. Kenny was arguing with the ref, saying that it should have been okay. The official rule is supposed to be a 1 or 2” strip from the base of your skill right out the center. Anything that is outside that strip is okay. But the way that the ref explained it to us in the locker room was “no hitting behind the ears.” When I was in Kenny’s guard, I was burying my head the entire time so that he wouldn’t hit me in the head. Then he hit me in the back of the head. I lost my takedown when they stood us up and I definitely felt rushed the entire time. I don’t understand it at all. I don’t understand why I get fouled and the referee takes away my advantage. I hit Cole Miller in the back of the head and I can say it was 100% an accident. I was in half guard and it was unintentional. When Kenny hit me he was pushing down on my head. I don’t think it was accidental in the slightest bit. I think it was intentional. I don’t understand how I can get fouled, clear as day, the fighter was clearly trying to do it, the referee understands it’s a problem, the referee stands us up, I figure the fight’s gonna be over and I turn around and the fight was restarted. I don’t understand why I wasn’t given back my position. I don’t understand why they didn’t call the doctor in to look at the cut that was clearly from an illegal blow. I don’t understand why he didn’t take a point away. I just don’t understand any of it at all.

Yael-Do you think it was intentional on the part of Herb Dean?

Joe Lauzon-No, not at all. I think it just happened really quickly. He stood us up for a reason and then he didn’t know what to do so he just said, “Let’s fight.” But he’s definitely not on my favorites list right now because of that.

Yael-You went to Hawaii to train with BJ Penn. Why did you decide to go back to Massachusetts?

Joe Lauzon-I was out in Hawaii training with BJ Penn, and it was really great. I had an awesome time, and I got to hang with Urijah Faber who is super cool, and the rest of the team. But Hawaii is kind of isolated, and I didn’t have a car when I was out there. I was staying at the fighter house. I felt like I couldn’t control very much, and I’m a bit of a control freak. Also I started really missing the guys at my gym. So now I’m back home, and I get to see the guys at my gym, and I’ve got my car, and it’s good to be back.

Yael-Your brother Dan is also a fighter with a 10-2 record. Did you two beat each other up a lot when you were growing up?

Joe Lauzon-Oh yeah, all the time. We used to always wrestle and then we got a trampoline and it was out of control. I can’t even tell you how many times people were dumped on their head and it ended in tears.

Yael-You were on season 5 of the Ultimate Fighter, which was being coached by Jens Pulver and BJ Penn. Was it weird being on the show after winning a bout against coach Jens Pulver?

Joe Lauzon-It would have been, except that the night that I fought Jens we hung out for an hour waiting around for the press conference talking about video games. Jens is really great; he gets along with absolutely everybody.

Yael-You spent a lot of time doing some training camps in Iraq, can you talk about that?

Joe Lauzon-Yeah, I went out there with Heath Herring and Jorge Rivera who did the stand up, and I showed some ground stuff; it was really great. There were so many guys there with varying levels of experience—some had no experience at all and some had already done some amateur fights.

Yael-You were a guest instructor at one of the training camps for Tony Blauer, what was that like?

Joe Lauzon-It was great. It was the biggest training facility I’ve ever been in. They are teaming up with Crossfit right now. I really like the gear he uses. You can really hit full-force, get a lot of elbows in without worrying about cutting somebody up… a really hard elbow feels like a good jab. So you can really go all-out. It is really helpful in my training.

Yael-So you are actually still a white belt in Jiu-Jitsu right?

Joe Lauzon-Yeah, I’ve actually mostly trained in no-gi submission grappling; I think I’ve only put a gi on maybe about twenty times, mostly in Hilo with BJ. I can usually hang with most anyone though.

Yael-So what’s the deal with BJ Penn wanting to fight you?

Joe Lauzon-Oh, he didn’t say he wanted to fight me. He just said if I beat Kenny Florian and I had a chance at a title shot, he would make me fight him. He just didn’t want me to pass up something like a title shot because he wants me to fulfill my dreams.

Yael-So I heard you were going to fight Karo Parisyan. J And the Easter Bunny was going to be the ref.

Joe Lauzon-Yeah, that was a rumor that got started on the MMA Underground, and for some reason everyone ran with it and nobody read beyond the first paragraph. I also said I was going to fight at 170 lbs in the welterweight division with Reggie Warren Jr. as a trainer, with the Kool Aid Man in my corner and that the Easter Bunny was going to be the referee. I’m not really sure how anybody actually believed any of that. Then I was a guest on Tagg Radio and I said “yeah, I’m fighting Parisyan and the Easter Bunny is reffing” and everybody continued to run with that too. It was the funniest thing to me because I could have said the sky is green and people would have believed me.

Yael-Thanks for the interview!

Watch Joe Lauzon battle Hermes Franca on UFC Fight Night on February 7th!

Train with Joe at Lauzon MMA.

Interview: Ryan "Darth" Bader

Ryan "Darth" Bader is a mixed martial arts sensation fighting out of Arizona Combat Sports in Tempe. A 2001 graduate of McQueen High School in Reno, Bader won two Nevada state wrestling championships and was named Nevada wrestler of the year before becoming a two-time All American wrestler at Arizona State University. Bader was a cast member on The Ultimate Fighter season 8, where he defeated Kyle Kingsbury by submission and knocked out Tom Lawlor to make it to the semi-finals. Bader then used his wrestling skills to squeak out a decision win against former Ring of Fire champion Eliot Marshall. Bader will be fighting Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt Vinicius "Vinny" Magalhães in the Ultimate Fighter (R) Finale this Saturday.

Yael - Your opponent Vinny Magalhaes has a really active guard, great rubber guard, and his stand-up's not so bad either. What's your game plan to counter his Jiu Jitsu?

Ryan Bader - I am going into this fight and am going to try and keep it standing. I respect Vinny's Jiu Jitsu and am not trying to give him many chances to be successful. I will use my wrestling to counter any of his takedowns or his guard pulls. If we end up on the ground, I will be very active from the top, landing blows to his face so he is not thinking about his Jiu Jitsu.

Yael- You’re planning on keeping things standing?

Ryan Bader- Yes, that is the game plan. He has mentioned that he also wants to keep it standing so we definitely invite him to do so. I have been working hard on my kickboxing at Arizona Combat Sports with the Lally brothers. I will be fine wherever the fight goes. I am not going to be too worried about his game; I will be trying to implement mine.

Yael- In your MMA career, you've won all but one of your fights by way of submission or knockout. What happened last time?

Ryan Bader- My last fight with Eliot was just an off day for me. I felt flat and respected his Jiu Jitsu way too much and just needed to open up and impose my will on him. Sometimes it happens. You can’t always be there 100%, and I had to grind out the win. I am looking to really open up this fight and show some of the results of the hard work I put in after the show.

Yael- As was made patently obvious by the latest Elite XC debacle but was already common knowledge in MMA circles, a lot of good wrestlers and grapplers have been passed over for fights because promoters are convinced fans only want to see a lot of stand-up. Do you feel any pressure to fight a certain way for the crowd or the promoters? How do you think this affects the sport?

Ryan Bader- You always have pressure to be exciting, but it is not a kickboxing fight. It is mixed martial arts and "mixed" meaning there is so much more than just stand up. There are other ways to be exciting than just being a good stand up fighter. Hypothetically with me being a Division 1 All American wrestler, why would I try to stand with an accomplished striker? It would not be in my best interest to do that. I hear a lot of fighters say, "I just want to stand and bang with him," when that is the worst thing that they could possibly do to win. There is a fine line with being exciting and also making sure you get the win, and I work to achieve both every day.

Yael- Are you feeling more focused coming into this fight now that you've gotten to train outside of the TUF house drama?

Ryan Bader- Yes, definitely; it’s nice to be home and with my gym at Arizona Combat Sports. Also a lot of the unnecessary house drama is gone from the situation, so that allows me to focus 100% on my fight. It’s also nice just being in your normal routine, sleeping in your own bed…

Yael- Tell us a little about Arizona Combat Sports. How did training there help you transition from wrestling to MMA?

Ryan Bader- Arizona Combat Sports is a great gym for fighters. We came in with our wrestling credentials and they really submerged us in the stand up game. We worked a ton on just straight stand up and Jiu Jitsu. When we were somewhat proficient, we put it all together. Arizona Combat Sports is first and foremost a striking gym. Myself, CB Dollaway, Aaron Simpson, and a couple others brought the wrestling in. So it is nice having that focus on striking to round out our game. We spar more than any other gym I have been to and that has really helped with our progress.

Yael- How do you keep your head clear amidst a lot of drama, as you did in all the TUF 8 episodes?

Ryan Bader- I just focused on my goals, and those were to win each fight in front of me and make it to the finale. I didn't let the petty house drama get in the way of that. I also was not going to get sucked into a confrontation in where I could be sent home (much like the pool incident with Juni). I am a pretty laid back guy to begin with, so it wasn't too hard for me to go with the flow and focus on what I came there to do.

Yael- Thank you very much for the interview!

Team Bison Tears It Up

Although Kelly Kobold is best known for her decision loss to Gina Carano on October 4th’s Elite XC Heat fight card, the girl’s got more wins than Gina’s had fights. Kobold has been fighting professionally since July 2002, and her 16-3-1 record includes notable wins over two of MMA’s top tier fighters, Adrienna “AJ” Jenkins and Shayna Baszler.

Kobold trains at Team Bison, along with many of the Twin Cities’ top fighters such as Mike Bjork, Cory Walmsley, Brandon Foxworth, Sammy Morgan, Paul Giegorff and the undefeated Brett Rogers. Team Bison has over 400 wins in the cage, 25 regional titles and has fought all over the world. Since I was in Minnesota for the holidays, I decided to stop by the gym and check it out.

Team Bison rents space from a boxing gym in St. Paul, Minnesota. I showed up on a Friday night and asked owner and head instructor Mike Reilly why the women of Team Bison are so good. He said, “Because most MMA gyms where women go they’re treated like princesses; like they’re made of glass. We don’t do that. When Kelly walked in when she was 18 the first thing I did was smack her in the mouth.”

Team Bison certainly does have a reputation for their take-no-prisoners approach to training MMA. As their website states, “The Bison approach is show up or shut up. We work and train as a team. Everyone teaches, everyone learns and everyone rolls. We have members of all sizes and skill levels. Anyone is welcome to come and work out with us. However, not everyone is allowed back. Bring a good attitude, a sense of humor, a willingness to learn and a desire to contribute. About 50% of practice time is dedicated to sparring and live gos. Fighting is not required to train with the team; however, fighting, competition is our focus.”

Reilly, who started grappling as a kid and trained in wrestling, judo, jiu jitsu, has been coaching for over 20 years. He teaches grappling for MMA, which is pared down. “I don’t try to submit people,” he said, “I hurt people until they give me a submission and then I take what they give me.” Although I showed up in a sweater and jeans, I’d been experiencing jiu jitsu withdrawal from being away from my own gym for over a week. Reilly asked the girls at his gym if any of them had extra clothes. Kelly let me borrow an extra pair of shorts and Shana Olsen donned down to UnderArmour, lending me her t-shirt.

If jiu jitsu is like a game of chess, rolling with Kelly Kobold was like playing a game of checkers in which I did not know the rules. It felt like I was making the same dozen mistakes over and over again, which she was responding to in the exact same ways each time. Occasionally she’d stop and teach me what to do from the positions I kept winding up in…clearly stated and demonstrated so I could incorporate it right away… not that it helped much. Kobold is ranked second at 145 lbs and is looking to fight at 125. Although she walks around at 135 lbs, it was the strongest 135 lbs. I’ve rolled with, male or female, once she sunk into position. This was a nice, easy roll for her, and part of the time she was carrying on a conversation with another teammate.

Reilly asked if he could step in to show me some grappling for MMA basics. He asked Joe Lynch to come over and showed me one way to assure somebody could not roll towards me when I have side control. He also told me to stay on my toes. “We have a saying here at this gym,” he said. “There’s only two types of girls you find on their knees: Good Catholic girls and bad Catholic girls.” I adjusted my position.

I asked Reilly what Team Bison is best known for, noting that their team has a vicious ground and pound. “Our ground and pound is better than most places,” he said, “but our fighters are known for their heart.” When I asked Joe Lynch why he trained at Team Bison he said, “Because it’s the best. Because there’s strong guys here. Because of the ethic: hard training and hard fighting. I’ve only heard good things about it.”

The direction of Team Bison’s competitive fighters is largely contingent on the fate of Elite XC. However, Tat Romero, Rico Washington and Naomi Merth are competing on January 9th at Brutaal. Zack Jensen, Rico Washington and Shane Dezee are competing on the 21st in La Crosse, Wisconsin and Team Bison will be holding smokers on January 17th. As for Kelly Kobold, she currently has two fight offers on the table—one against Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos at 145 lbs, and one with Tonya Evinger at 125 lbs.

Keep an eye out for Team Bison—Minnesota’s busiest little team.

Check out Team Bison’s webpage:

http://www.bisons.net/

Also, here’s an excellent video of the girls of Team Bison!