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| ‘MMA Live’ on ESPN.com episode 7 video Posted: 27 Jun 2008 08:45 AM CDT x x x |
| Ready or not: MMAmania.com exclusive interview with Josh Thomson Posted: 27 Jun 2008 08:12 AM CDT
On the eve of perhaps the biggest fight of his career, Josh “The Punk” Thomson (14-2) took the time out of his busy schedule to sit down and talk with MMAmania.com about his Strikeforce lightweight title fight against his good friend and champion, Gilbert Melendez. We focused our conversation on the fight, which is the main event of tonight’s show being aired live from his hometown of San Jose, Calif., on HDNet. It’s one that has been in the works for a very long time, pitting two of the top 155-pound fighters in the world against one another for possibly 25 minutes. And despite what some people may think of him because of his nickname, Josh is a really nice guy and a true professional. Even after a hectic day of cutting weight, drug testing and all of the other madness that takes place right before a major championship bout he still made the time for a late night interview with us. Here it is:
James Iannotti (MMAmania.com): What’s up, Josh? Heard there was some drama at the weigh-ins today. Did you have any problems hitting 155? Josh Thomson: You know, the weight came right off. We had problems at the weigh-in with the scale. I don’t know what the hell their deal was. I checked my weight on the same scale probably like twenty minutes before they actually moved it up onto the desk, and I was right on with my underwear on. Then when I got up onto the scale and weighed in, I was a pound over, so I had to drop my drawers and step on. It just didn’t seem good, but then I broke right there, so it was good. I mean, as long as I make the weight the first time, we weren’t going have to leave anywhere to go cut weight. James Iannotti (MMAmania.com): You and Gilbert are pretty good friends. What’s it going to be like fighting somebody you actually like? Josh Thomson: I think we’re kind of over it now, you know? Weigh-ins have been done. We talked about the friendship and stuff throughout the training camp, so I think now we’re ready to just get it on. We know what reality is now. I think after seeing each other at weigh-ins and stuff, and it’s here now, so it’s like, just rest and go and just get it done and get it over with, and then just move on with the next chapter of our life, you know? James Iannotti (MMAmania.com): Right, well you guys aren’t just friends, you’re also training partners. I’ve actually heard from a couple different people that he said when you guys do spar, he usually gets the better of the exchanges. Is there any truth to that, and do you want to maybe tell your side? Josh Thomson: No, you know, it comes down to really who can do what. I mean, whoever got the better day that day. I mean, that's really what it comes down to. If I come in and have a good day then I’m going to take it to him. If he comes in and has a good day, he’s going take it to me. It’s just one of those things, when you have two top guys, that’s what happens. I mean, if that’s what he wants to say, that’s fine. It doesn’t rub me the wrong way. Some fighters tell themselves that just to make themselves feel better. You never know. James Iannotti (MMAmania.com): You guys were supposed to fight originally on the “Shamrock vs Le” card, but you had the shoulder injury. Can you talk a little bit about where that injury came from? Josh Thomson: I was training like a week after a fight, and with a bigger guy. We got caught up into something and he was just trying to muscle me around, and he tweaked my arm a little bit too much and tore my labrum. Got done with that and the doctor said I could rehab it, so I rehabbed it up until January. Then I went down to help Rob McCullough train, and it just so happened to tear out of the socket when I started in on a double leg. I decided to just forget it, and I scheduled the surgery right away. James Iannotti (MMAmania.com): So are you completely healed up from that injury now? Josh Thomson: Yeah, you know, I’m completely healed up, but it takes a little bit longer than four months to be a hundred percent. We’re constantly working on trying to get it better, and stuff, and the range of motion, and trying to build the strength back up. James Iannotti (MMAmania.com): Did you feel any pressure from anybody to take this fight sooner than you were ready for it? Josh Thomson: Um, you know, maybe. I think that comes from both of us, you know? I think we’re both talking about that. We were hoping for both of us to get one or two more fights in there before we fought each other. We were hoping to fight each other maybe in November. The HP Pavilion and Strikeforce really wanted to get the fight on and get it over with. I think they wanted to strike while the iron was hot, right after the Cung Le and Frank fight, and hoping to pull a big crowd from that. The thing is, knowing that we’re the two top lightweights in the Bay area, you would think we’d put fans in the stands and stuff, but they really don’t showcase the lightweights all that much in any organization. So you have a hard time selling lightweights in general. But we’ll see what happens tomorrow night. I couldn’t think of a better show to have two lightweights fight at, especially since we’re both from there, so we’ll see. James Iannotti (MMAmania.com): You’ve been out for a while since the injury happened. Do you think the long layoff has been a good thing or a bad thing coming into this fight? Josh Thomson: I don’t know, we’ll find out with the out come tomorrow (laughs). You know, I really don’t know, it’s hard to say. James Iannotti (MMAmania.com): Has it hampered you in training at all? Have you been able to go full force in practice? Josh Thomson: You make little adjustments to your game. I think naturally it makes you feel a little, not really weak or whatever, but just mentally you’re worried about hurting it again, especially with such a big fight on the line. Other than that I wouldn’t say it hampered me all that much. What it did do was take me out of training for a while. So the rest of my body had to get re-adjusted to the impact and the training again. Other little injuries popped up, but nothing really kept me from training obviously. James Iannotti (MMAmania.com): Being a championship fight and obviously five rounds, do you think the injury is going to cause the advantage to shift towards him as the fight goes into the later rounds? Josh Thomson: No, I think conditioning wise we’re both pretty good. I think it’s going to be a good fight, you know? I don’t see any other way around it. I don’t see how it can’t be a good fight. He’s got good wrestling, a big right hand, good ground and pound. The key for me is to make him work for everything he does and not let him get away with anything free. If I do that, then I’m going to win this fight. James Iannotti (MMAmania.com): I know this fight is obviously for the lightweight championship, but you’re listed as the Strikefore U.S. lightweight champion. I wasn’t aware there were two different titles. Is this a unification bout? Josh Thomson: He has the world title, I have the U.S. title. What it is is Gilbert got hurt or something along the line. So they were talking about doing like an interim title, and I didn’t feel alright doing that. So they did a U.S. title for me and Duane Ludwig to fight for. They were talking about Duane and me fighting for like an interim title, and fighting Gilbert when he got better. I was like, you know, I train with Gilbert, I really don’t give a shit you know? It doesn’t make my pay go up any money, so what’s the point? Eventually down the line, you know, if you want to put a title on it, put a title on it, I really don’t care. A fight is a fight, you know? I don’t look at fights for the belt. I look at it for what I can prove to myself. I see Gilbert, and I think Gilbert is going to bring out the best in me, and I think that’s what’s going happen. I think we’re going to bring out the best in each other. We know that we’ve trained together, we’ve fought together before, and now we’re basically just going to get paid to do what we do in the gym. James Iannotti (MMAmania.com): You mentioned earlier that you guys are both from the San Jose area. Who do you think the crowd will favor tomorrow night? Josh Thomson: You know, I don’t know. We’ll find out tomorrow night. Honestly with it being in San Jose, he has a different last name than me, you know? The area is a little bit more predominately Mexican. I’m half Mexican, but I have a different last name, you know? So, you never know, you really never know until you show up and fight. But I don’t really…it’s good that the crowd is involved. From what I’ve read, from what I’ve understood, people have been telling me that I’m a pretty big underdog. I guess, what other way to get amped up, you know, and get excited about something like that. Things like that don’t bother me. I’ve fought in Japan where the crowd doesn’t make any noise. That’s something that probably disturbs you a little bit more, you know (laughs). I don’t really think the crowd should affect me all that much if it does happen. James Iannotti (MMAmania.com): This is going to be your seventh fight with Strikeforce. Are you pretty much fighting exclusively for them, and do you see yourself staying with them for the long term? Josh Thomson: Yeah, I signed another contract with them, but they allow us to, you know, I mean look at Gilbert, he fought in Japan, he’s fighting in other places. I fought in Japan originally my first fight with them. I mean, it doesn’t really bother me. They allow us to fight, you know, and like I said before, I’m willing to take on all comers. Anybody that wants to fight with another organization, you know, that doesn’t really bother me. And I think after this fight, they’re either going to want to avoid me or fight me. You never know. James Iannotti (MMAmania.com): I know you and Gilbert normally help each other train for fights. Obviously that wasn’t the case for this one. Your home gym is AKA. Does that mean guys like Jon Fitch, Josh Koshcheck, Mike Swick and others have been mainly helping you out for this fight? Josh Thomson: Yeah, don’t get me wrong, those guys are always there helping me out, but when Gilbert’s there, it’s nice to get the sparring in with someone your size, someone your weight, and somebody kind of your level. That's the whole situation. James Iannotti (MMAmania.com): What’s it mean for your progression as a top fighter to be mixing it up with guys of that caliber on a daily basis? Josh Thomson: You really can’t, I mean, people sometimes don’t understand why and it’s goofy, but honestly sometimes it can ruin your mental and sometimes it can increase your mental. Each day is different. If you show up and you’re having a bad day, it can wreck your mental. If you show up and you’re having a good day, it can boost you up and make you feel good. It’s a daily thing, you know, it’s not a, oh I trained with that camp and I felt great, you know, it doesn’t work like that. It changes on a daily basis. The other thing as well is that it can hinder you as well. If you’re just getting stuck on bottom all the time, you’re either used to being stuck on bottom trying to hit submissions off your back or you’re used to trying to get up. So there’s different ways you can look at it. James Iannotti (MMAmania.com): I watched Gilbert’s only loss against Ishida, and Ishida used a lot of takedowns and a strong wrestling attack in that fight to score the win. Did you take anything from that fight, meaning are you going to use a similar strategy, and have you been using some of the stronger wrestlers in your gym to help you implore that type of strategy? Josh Thomson: I work with those guys everyday, you know? There’s really nothing different. What did I take from the Ishida fight and the way he beat Gilbert? You know, I don’t fight that way, so I didn’t really get anything from it. I have good wrestling, but it’s not like I’m just going to just go out there and shoot five or six times in a round and just try and hold somebody and squeak somebody, you know? That’s just not my style. I don’t fight that way. To be honest with you, I thought that fight was kind of boring. Gilbert kind of made that fight more exciting. James Iannotti (MMAmania.com): I agree. In what areas do you think you hold the advantages in over Gilbert in this fight, and in what areas do you think Gilbert holds the advantages over you? Josh Thomson: I think technically my stand up is better, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t be aware of his right hand, you know? I use more of my weapons. He’s going to taste and he’s going to see a lot of my knees and a lot of my push kicks and my elbows, along with my punching and kicking. He’s going see a lot of that. I think he remembers also that my submission game is real tight, and he needs to respect that. Don’t get me wrong, I know he grapples with Jake and a lot of the jiu-jitsu guys, you know, Nick Diaz and Nate Diaz, but if you grapple with the same people over and over you get used to their game. Don’t get me wrong we’ve trained before and we know each other, but I think that I can catch him at any time, and he’s got to be aware of that. James Iannotti (MMAmania.com): Do you want to make a prediction for the fight? Josh Thomson: Naw, I don’t really give predictions, but I can predict that it’s going to be a good fight. No matter how you slice it, one of us is going to end up, you know, we’re both going end up beat up and damaged. James Iannotti (MMAmania.com): Cool man. I know it’s late and you want to get out of here. Is there anybody you want to thank? Josh Thomson: Yeah, I always want to say thanks to Loaded Energy Drink, Tapout, KnoxxGear.com, and Cung Le Martial Arts. James Iannotti (MMAmania.com): Cool, thank you so much for your time bro. I know you’ve had a hectic day, we appreciate you taking the time out to talk with us. Good luck tomorrow night and in the future. Josh Thomson: Alright, bye. |
| Strikeforce weigh-in results for ‘Melendez vs Thomson’ Posted: 27 Jun 2008 12:25 AM CDT
The weigh-ins for Strikeforce: “Melendez vs Thomson” are in the books. And eventually, after one fighter (Riggs) was told he would not be cleared to fight, and others took multiple attempts to cut a few extra pounds, everybody finally made weight. After what has been a hectic day for some of the fighters on this card, we’re now through with the last of the formalities and a matter of hours away from show time. The under card bouts will begin around 9:30 p.m. ET (6:30 p.m local) at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif. HDNet will begin its broadcast an hour later at 10:30 p.m ET (7:30 p.m local) and the main card action will begin about a half hour later. Here are the final weights for each of the fighters competing tomorrow night:
Note: fighters are allowed one extra pound in non-title fights for clothing It should be an action packed night of fights tomorrow night from San Jose. We’ll have all the updates and results for you right here on MMAmania.com before, during and after the show. Check in early and often. Thanks as always to Tracy Lee at CombatLifestyle.com for the weigh-in pics. To check out the entire gallery click here. |
| Jeff Shamrock a Strikeforce fighter Posted: 26 Jun 2008 11:33 PM CDT
Jeff Shamrock — nephew or UFC hall of famer Ken Shamrock and another member of the famous family of fighters — recently inked a deal with Strikeforce to compete in its welterweight division. The 18-year-old member of Ken Shamrock’s Lion’s Den Elite Fight Team will make his debut for the organization on its next event, which has yet to be announced. Here’s what the youngster had to say about the major step in his career:
His uncle and head trainer added this:
In his amateur debut, Jeff was victorious with a first round submission win over Kyle Davey. |
| Drew Fickett replaces Joe Riggs against Luke Stewart at Strikeforce Posted: 26 Jun 2008 11:22 PM CDT
This latest news comes on the eve of the event and it is the second time in less than two weeks that his opponent has been switched. Stewart was originally set to mix it up with Shonie Carter, but after “Mr. International” shattered his knuckle in training, Strikeforce announced Joe “Diesel” Riggs as the replacement. There were some questions about Riggs’ health after his last fight in ended prematurely because he re-aggravated a prior back injury. Today, the California State Athletic Commision (CSAC) decided it wasn’t going to allow Riggs to compete tomorrow night. According to Riggs’ agent, Ken Pavia via MMARated.com, however, the back injury was not the reason for this decision. Rather, it was because Riggs took a prescribed percocet three days ago. Instead of taking the chance of it just not showing up on the drug test, Riggs decided to come clean and inform the CSAC. So with little time to find a replacement, Strikeforce pulled a rabbit out of its hat named Drew Fickett, who will be step in on super short notice. This is a mind-boggling replacement. Fickett was supposed to fight Jake Shields on June 14 in Hawaii for the Elite XC welterweight title, but informed the company he injured his knee and could not go through with the fight. Elite XC later learned that Fickett had accepted two other fights right around the same time he was supposed to fight Shields instead. Needless to say, Elite XC was not happy with Fickett deceiving them, and he was believed to be dropped from its roster. This is just another episode in the soap opera that is Drew Fickett these days. Nonetheless, he will, in fact, fight Luke Stewart tomorrow night at Strikeforce: “Melendez vs. Thomson” at a catchweight of 185 pounds. Stylistically, a bout between Fickett and Stewart looks to be a very entertaining jiu-jitsu match. It’s just a shame for Stewart that he once again will have to adjust his gameplan for this fight. He’s coming off his first loss as a professional mixed martial artist, and this is just more adversity being thrown his way in what has proven to be a bizarre chain of events. |
| Forrest Griffin: ‘He hits hard. I don’t have the best chin in the world’ Posted: 26 Jun 2008 10:09 PM CDT |
| UFC 87 video trailer for ‘Seek and Destroy’ Posted: 26 Jun 2008 09:51 PM CDT |
| The juice is worth the squeeze: MMAmania.com exclusive interview with Strikeforces Anthony Ruiz Posted: 26 Jun 2008 09:44 PM CDT
Anthony Ruiz (20-10) has the biggest fight of his career coming up on Friday, June 26 at Strikeforce: “Melendez vs Thomson” as he looks to defeat Bobby Southworth for the second time. This time , however, it’s for the Strikeforce light heavyweight championship. With 30 professional fights to his creidt, “El Toro” has proven his dedication to mixed martial arts. He’s worked extremely hard to get to where he’s at in this sport and is ready for it to finally to pay off. Winning a world championship on an HDNet televised event would be the highlight of his career to date, but he doesn’t plan on stopping there. I caught up with the Team Voodoo member and talked a little bit with him about his upcoming title fight, his life as a California fire fighter, his hardcore training techniques, and his thoughts on some of the other top 205-pound fighters in the sport today, including his prediction on the UFC 86 main event between Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Forrest Griffin. Let’s get to it: James Iannotti (MMAmania.com): How’s it going brother? Anthony Ruiz: Oh, just sitting here waiting to fight. James Iannotti (MMAmania.com): So how are you feeling a little more than 48 hours away from a world title fight? Anthony Ruiz: I actually feel more prepared than I’ve ever felt going into a fight. My mind, I’m mentally there. I’m physically there. There’s no way I could be more physically prepared. I think I’ve peaked perfect. After 30 fights I’ve learned to peak about perfect, and I’m mentally there, you know? So, I’m feeling good right now man. I just wish we could get the show on the road and get it over with. James Iannotti (MMAmania.com): So your weight is good and there’s no nagging injuries or anything like that? Anthony Ruiz: Actually I walk around about 201 or 202 now. I think it has something to do with it being the summer time, and picking up the training, and getting my diet down. I’ve got a nutritionist now. Everything is just falling into place perfect. That just adds extra stress to a fight sometimes, having to make sure you make weight. And I’m injury free man, I have no injuries right now. James Iannotti (MMAmania.com): I’m assuming this is the biggest fight of your carreer. Anthony Ruiz: Yes, definitely the biggest fight of my career. James Iannotti (MMAmania.com): Talk a little bit about your training for this fight. I know you train with Team Voodoo, which is a local gym there in California. Who are some of the guys you train with there? Anthony Ruiz: There’s a guy on my team that has the Cage Combat belt. His name is Jeremiah Metcalf. He’s fighting the same night. Having him fight on the same card has actually been perfect, because our peaking situation is perfect. So when it was time to step up the training and do it hard, we were able to do it together. He’s pretty skilled on stand up and on the ground. He’s one of my biggest training partners. We have about five other guys that aren’t really well known that we get a lot of sparring time with. James Iannotti (MMAmania.com): There’s probably a lot of fans on the east coast who don’t know much about you. Give our readers a little bit of a background on you, like what got you into fighting professional MMA. Anthony Ruiz: Well, I know Ted Williams with Gladiator Challenge. Basically I never wrestled in college. I did wrestle in high school. I graduated in 1996, and that was about the time the sport started coming out. Then back in 2002 I got my first fight fighting in Gladiator Challenge. Ted Williams basically called me about two weeks out and said they needed a guy to fill a spot. I lost that fight, but I did really well. After that I came out and won five in a row. But basically I’m from central California. I live in a town called Coarsegold. I’m also a seasonal fireman. I work for Cal-fire. They’re behind me 100 percent. It’s actually kind of nice. At the station I get a lot of cardio work in. I can train up to three times a day there. I get the best food there, and I also get the best sleep there. I got two kids, one of them is about one year old, so he’s kind of in our bed still, so I get to sleep good at the station. I work three days on and four days off, so I catch up on sleep when I go to the station believe it or not. Yeah, I traded a shift with a guy there and ended up getting 11 days off, which is the same time all the fires broke out in California, so I actually got kind of lucky. James Iannotti (MMAmania.com): I’d say so. Those wildfires can be pretty brutal. That’s actually pretty cool that you can do a lot of training while you’re at the fire house, especially since, like you said, you guys are three days on and four days off. Anthony Ruiz: Yeah man, we have a house that used to be the actual fire house, but they’ve upgraded and built a new one. So this old house is what we’ve made our gym out of. I actually have a wrestling mat in there, I have bags in there, a speed bag, a heavy bag, and so I’ve kind of set it up to where it’s kind of my own gym. I’ve brought in all my own stuff from home. James Iannotti (MMAmania.com): Let’s talk a little bit about your opponent, Bobby Southworth. You fought and beat him last November in a non-title fight. For some of our readers that didn’t get a chance to see that fight, can you tell us a little bit about what happened that night? Anthony Ruiz: Yeah, well we came out, I’m more or less of a … it kind of takes me a round to get started sometimes. I think he’s kind of the same way. The first round was kind of slow. He got me down on my back within probably the first 15 seconds, and then I ended up reversing it and I had him on his back for a while. He ended up getting out of it. I was able to connect two solid standing elbows with the clinch up against the cage. Both of them landed really well, and then the round was pretty much over with. He’s not too known for his cardio and conditioning. Then the second round came out and I caught him with a four punch combo that split his left eye, and I kind of followed it with a take down and I had him up against the side of the cage and I was trying to finish him off, and meanwhile the ref stopped it because of the cut and there was blood everywhere, and then the doctor stopped it. James Iannotti (MMAmania.com): You mentioned that he was able to take you down within the first 15 seconds. I noticed on your record that you have eight losses by submission. Do you think that after Southworth kind of felt your power in the stand up last time, that he’s going to try to take you down and make this a ground fight? Anthony Ruiz: Well, I threw a kick and he caught it, and then threw an overhand right at the same time. So, me trying to move away from his overhand right kind of set up the takedown for him. So no, I’ve actually heard that he’s been working on his stand up, so I think that he’s going to want to bang with me. I think that he thinks that I’m confident enough now to stand up, so thats why he’s been working on that. I think we’re going to get out there and bang. James Iannotti (MMAmania.com): You’ve won 11 of your last 13 fights. It’s hard enough to get one win in MMA today. What do you think has been the biggest factor in you being so successful over the last couple years? Anthony Ruiz: I do some hardcore training. I try to put my body through things that make the fight easier. I pull a sled for two miles with two 45 pound plates on asphalt. I’ll do it in the dead of heat. In the hottest part of the day, with sweats on, just to put my body through abuse. I’ll go on hikes carrying a log over my back. It almost sounds crazy. James Iannotti (MMAmania.com): Rocky IV style. Anthony Ruiz: Exactly. Most people aren’t doing that, and I live in the mountains, so I’m in high elevation. These hardcore things that you can’t do in the gym have just slowly built my body to be tough. I would say I’m tougher than most because of that. I also think growing up, my parents made me work my ass off. We had a farm. My parents made me put in the time. They taught me that hard work pays off. Third would be my heart. I fight with all heart. Sometimes that can be a downfall, I’m working on my mind. You got to have both. You have to out smart the guy and have heart. So, basically I can take a punch and just keep coming. They’ll hit me and drop me and I’ll just keep coming and coming. It eventually frustrates my opponents. So, I have a lot of heart and I’m just mentally tough. James Iannotti (MMAmania.com): You’ve fought in a ton of different organizations. This is your third fight with Strikeforce. What’s your contract status with them, and if you become the champ are you going to be more exclusively fighting with them? Anthony Ruiz: I’m on a six fight contract right now. This will be the first of those six. So, no matter what I’m pretty exclusive with them. Winning this fight will bump up my pay a little bit each time. If I lose it stays the same. James Iannotti (MMAmania.com): Are there any other 205 pounders in Strikeforce you’ve got your eye on fighting if you win the belt? Anthony Ruiz: I don’t know of too many. The last time I did an interview with you guys, they were talking like they had Babalu and Vitor Belfort. I feel like I match up well with those guys. Babalu isn’t as mentally tough as I am. Like I said, my cardio and conditioning are always a step up, so that’s what I rely on to win. Some of these other guys like Babalu are good on the ground, Vitor Belfort are good standing up, so they rely on those things to win. I rely on conditioning. So now I can take a punch and eventually wear my opponent out. They get mentally drained and physically drained because they keep hitting me, but nothing is happening. So I think I have an advantage there. Both of those fights are ones I would love to take. I’m relentless. I just keep it coming and I wear you out. My biggest thing is just getting you on your back up against the cage and just slowly taking the life out of you. James Iannotti (MMAmania.com): You were supposed to fight David Heath at UFC 81 back in February. What happened there? Anthony Ruiz: Well, UFC offered a four fight contract with the first one being with David Heath. Strikeforce offered a six fight contract with the first one being for the belt. And then the fifth and sixth fight would be more than $30,000 a fight, which is a lot of money for me, not for some people, but for me it is. So, that’s kind of why I went with Strikeforce. One for the belt, and two the two extra fights. And I think Strikeforce will help me grow a little bit more rather than just put me in there and feed me to the wolves and use me as a stepping stone for someone else. For Strikeforce, they’ll let me be their golden boy almost. James Iannotti (MMAmania.com): When you say Strikeforce will help you grow, does that mean you want to test the waters in the UFC one day? Anthony Ruiz: Sure, exactly. Yeah, just because I didn’t accept their offer this time doesn’t mean I will never go there, you know? I’m taking it slow and being patient and working my way up as necessary. The UFC is where everyone wants to be. It was a really hard decision, but I think Strikeforce is better for me right now. James Iannotti (MMAmania.com): Who are you taking out of Forrest and Rampage? Anthony Ruiz: I think Rampage is gonna kill Forrest. I’ve trained with Rampage before in Irvine. He’s pretty relentless. He hits hard, he trains hard, he prepares hard. Three months before the fight, he’s not touching a drop of alcohol. The guy is just a professional, and he’s gonna have the belt for a long time. James Iannotti (MMAmania.com): Interesting. El Toro is a pretty cool nickname. What’s the story behind that? Anthony Ruiz: Well, right when I started I would more or less just come out and charge people. I’ve grown out of that now, but the name has stuck. Being young, as a fighter, as soon as you get in the cage you have a one track mind, you know? You’re just straight ahead. That’s where that came from. Now it’s a mental game as well. That was because I would just come out and charge a guy and take him down and ground and pound him. James Iannotti (MMAmania.com): Before I let you out of here, do you want to make a prediction for the fight on Friday? Anthony Ruiz: Well, yeah, I think it’s gonna end pretty much the same way, without the cut. Second round ground and pound. James Iannotti (MMAmania.com): Right on man. Anybody you want to thank or any sponsors you want to plug? Anthony Ruiz: Yeah man. I’ve got Toe2Toe, Cageside MMA, RESPEK Fightwear, House of Pain, Diamond MMA, KO Dynasty, and my Team Voodoo. James Iannotti (MMAmania.com): Thank you so much for your time bro. Good luck to you Friday and in the future. Anthony Ruiz: Right on, thanks man. |
| Elite XC tickets for CBS ‘Unfinished Business’ Stockton show on sale Friday Posted: 26 Jun 2008 08:00 PM CDT
Tickets will start at $35 and can be purchased at the Stockton Arena Box Office, which is open Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. Tickets can also be ordered by phone at (209) 373-1700 and (866) 373-7088 (toll free) or online at Stocktontickets.com. Douglas DeLuca, Executive Chairman of Pro Elite Inc. had this to say:
These are the fights confirmed thus far for “Unfinished Business:”
Stay dialed-in to MMAmania.com for more news, fight announcement and updates regarding this card. |
| WEC 35 card takes shape with addition of two more fights Posted: 26 Jun 2008 02:13 PM CDT
Micah Miller (9-1) will battle up-and-comer Josh Grispi (8-1) in a featherweight showdown and undefeated bantamweight Brian Bowles (5-0) will tangle with Tapout reality show fan favorite Damacio Page (10-3). The announcement is expected to complete the entire televised card for WEC 35, which is headlined by three world title fights. Miller will look to put together back-to-back wins since suffering his first professional defeat against Cub Swanson at WEC 32. Miller rebounded from that defeat with a bang, knocking out Chance Farrar in the first round at WEC 33 in February. His opponent, Grispi, will also look to tack on two straight in the WEC. He is fresh off his first round submission victory over rugged WEC vet Mark Hominick. Bowles will attempt to ride his momentum since a unanimous decision victory over Charlie Valencia at WEC 34. Bowles, 28, has only been in the sport for little more than two years; however, he is on quite a roll in his young career, going 5-0 and 2-0 in the WEC. Page — also known as the “Angel of Death” — shined in his WEC debut wheb he stepped in for an injured Jesse Moreng to defeat Scott Jorgensen at WEC 33 in exciting fashion. Both fights have the potential to be show stoppers, which will be hard to do in such amazing company. WEC is truly a night of champions — Brian Stann, Jamie Varner and Carlos Condit will all defend their straps and be in action at “The Joint” in the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. And you can take it all in for FREE on Versus at 9 p.m. ET on August 3. |
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