On January 24, UFC vetern and alumni of The Ultimate Fighter Season 1, will be fighting Jonathan Ivey at Cage Fighting Championship’s Urban Rumble III. I had a chance to talk with Sam about his upcoming fight, his life in Houston and what he wants to accomplish in the sport of MMA.

FTG: Growing up, you lived in Panama, then Alaska, then you moved to Louisiana to go to school. That’s quite a jump from Alaska. Why did you choose LSU?

Hoger: LSU is a good school and I got a scholarship. Ya gotta go to where the money is.

FTG: When did you decide to pursue fighting professionally?

2002. I went up to Iowa to try out for Miletich Fighting Systems. I starting fighting amateur and then turned pro.

FTG: What did you think about getting selected for the first season of The Ultimate Fighter?

Hoger: My manager got contacted five months before filming. They spent a lot time going through people and they chose the best candidates. I was thinking it was a great opportunity to help build up MMA as sport and it would be good for me.

FTG: When did you start training with the Militech camp? What prompted the move to Iowa?

Hoger: Started in 02. In 03, I was full time over there.

FTG: You run the Militech school in Houston, Texas. How did you end up in that position?

Hoger: It was the right time and right place. I also had a girlfriend who was down there, so that was a motivation. I moved down to be with her. I needed way to support to her, if I was gonna be with her. I asked Pat [Miletich] and he said, “Yes.”

FTG: What do you enjoy more, teaching or fighting?

Hoger: I like teaching and fighting in different ways. I Like seeing students get better and helping them grow and fighting is exciting. It’s the difference between sex and a BJ. You like them both, but for different reasons.

FTG: How has teaching enhanced your game as opposed to just training?

Hoger: You get a more technical respect for the game. Teaching that stuff to another person definitely enhances the technical aspects of your game.

FTG: When did you first start talking to the WCF about fighting for them back in September?

Hoger: I got a call from Joe Cavallaro and he said he was interested. It came with the right figures and estimate, so I said, “Lets do it.”

FTG: Before that, you hadn’t fought for 16 months. Why did you wait so long between fights?

Hoger: I was so busy with the school. I gotta support my girl. At times I’d get the itch to fight and then it finally just overtook. Now that I’ve completed my goal: to go to the UFC and win a fight, I’m fighting because I love it and its a great time and I enjoy doing it. Its a passion. For the love of the sport.

FTG: You fought Jason Dolloff last September and finished him in 0:17 of round 1. Did you do anything different to prepare for that fight?

Hoger: It was totally different. I don’t have don’t have the Miletich guys around me in Houston. I had personal trainers that only focused on me, as opposed to training as part of a big group of other guys who are training. It made a huge difference.

FTG: You are fighting for Cage Fighting Championship’s Urban Rumble III on January 24. When did you start getting ready for that fight?

Hoger: I got a call from them two or three months ago and started the preparation.

FTG: Do you know much about your opponent, Jonathan Ivey? Have you seen him fight?

Hoger: He’s a gamer, he likes to get out there. He’s Fought a lot of guys, a lot of big names, ex UFC champs and stuff. He’s fought everybody. I’ve got my hands full. I’m looking to walk into fire and come out unscathed.

FTG: Are there any specific areas of your fight game that you’re working on right now? Is there anything special you’re doing to prepare for Jonathan Ivey?

Hoger: A lot of studying of his fights. He’s got a lot of fights on YouTube. He knocked out a UFC vet in 8 seconds. He’s no joke. This is the kind of stuff I like.

FTG: What does a typical day for you look like? What is your training schedule?

Hoger: Wake up, conditioning, meet with speed and conditioning coach, come back to the gym, meet with the strategist, do some sparing, live grappling, go to bed.

FTG: What do you feel like you have that Ivey doesn’t? And vice versa?

Hoger: I think I”ll have some speed on him. He’ll have strength on me. I think I’m a little more technical and I’ve taken preparation a little more seriously.

FTG: Do you have a prediction for the fight? Round? How will it end?

Hoger: Hopefully, a knockout. Hopefully I’ll hit him with one punch and he’ll fall asleep. I’m trying to be like Mike Tyson back in the 80’s. Be a crushing force that has devastating power.

FTG: Is there anyone you would like to fight after Ivey?

Hoger: I’ll fight whoever’s next. Whoever makes sense. Its a passion you must indulge.

Ya know what really inspired me to get back into fighting? I was looking at records on Sherdog Fight Finder. I found Travis Fulton. He’s had 189 fights! I wanna be the kinda guy that when I’m older I can say to some kid that I’ve fought 100 men. When I started thinking that, I said I wanna get to at least 100. Its a passion. Its all for the love of the sport.

I’m also working on building a kids program in Houston. I wanna provide a great area where kids can come and train. If parents can’t afford it, lets charge a quarter a month and get the kids off the streets and away from gangs and drugs, give them a chance to succeed by giving them good role models here at the gym. I’ll do anything I can to get kids off the streets. Politicians talk a lot about doing things, but I’m really doing it. I’ll do anything for the kids.

FTG: When is the kids program going to start?

Hoger: The kids program is already up and running. We have about eight kids in here right now. I’ll have to start going to some impoverished neighborhoods visit families and get kids off the street. They need a positive place where they can find that inspiration, that goodness, that hope, that family that will give them everything they need to become successful people.

Would you ever go back to the UFC?

Hoger: It’d have to be the right price. I’m doing my thing right now. I like what I’m doing and how I’m doing it. Over here in Texas, I’ve sold over $20,000 worth of tickets. Its amazing to see what you can do. I’ve got a lot of guys and we’re enjoying what we do. So we’ll see. As long as I’m not Machida I’ll be alright! [laughs] I’d put everybody to sleep!

FTG: Speaking of Machida, he has a fight on card for UFC 94, as does another guy you fought, Stephan Bonnar. Do you have any thoughts about those fights?

Hoger: I got thoughts [laughs]. Man, I wonder how boring this will be! Ya know, I gotta stop hating on him [Machida]. He’s a very technical fighter. He’s good at what he does. Its just boring as hell. I’ve never been so bored, even in a fight. in a fight. And Bonnar, he’s my boy. My boy’s nuts!

FTG: Having fought both Griffin and Rashad Evans, what did you think about Griffin’s loss?

Hoger: I think Griffin underestimated Rashad. He’s a tough dude. When he wants to get in your tail he gets in your tail. I think the best thing was [Rashad's] move with Greg Jackson. Jackson’s done miracles for him.

FTG: Well Sam, thanks for the interview. Is there anything else you’d like to say?

Hoger: I’d like to thank my sponsors,  Nutrition Depot, New Business Groups, Miletich, Elite Miletich Fighting Systems Houston, Pat Miletich, my manager and girlfriend-Erica Dugger, my family, and God. Also, Shawn Machado and his strip club hotties in Houston on Westpark.

This Saturday, the Worcester Palladium will host the first CageFX event, Wartown Beatdown. The headlinging fight will feature veteran fighter and owner of the BoneYard, Mike Littlefield versus fighter who has firmly established himself in the local circuit, Rigo Dominicci. I had a chance to talk with Littlefield about his upcoming fight and his step back into the cage after a two year hiatus.

FTG: From 1999-2006 you maintained a very consistent fight schedule. You rarely took more than six months off between fights and averaged 2-3 fights per year. Now, its been over two years since your last fight against Tamden McCrory. Why did you take so much time off? Did you just decide to take a break or were there unforeseen circumstances?

Littlefield: It was a few things that piled up. First was my shoulder. Going into the fight with Tamden I severely injured my neck and shoulder on a really bad take down. I was getting cortisone injections just to be able to not drop out of the fight. I needed surgery, so after the fight I did that and took some time to heal.

Second was the amount of new students that were coming to The Boneyard. With the recent popularity of MMA, I had a bunch of new students signing up and a lot of them were getting to the point of being good enough to compete as amateurs. This ties in with another issue, Full Force Productions. Since we introduced the amateur circuit to local MMA, I really wanted to focus on some of my young talent and help get them ready for competition. Training a dozen or more guys takes up a lot of your time. Thankfully I have Bobby Dias, who is an incredible trainer and is 100% dedicated to our students. He and I talked and we agreed to invest our time and knowledge into these new guys and see what they could do. We have not been disappointed.

Lastly was my full time job. I’d worked there for 20 years. I made good money, had a desk, didn’t have to do any real labor but I hated it. I hated it so much that is was darkening my life. It depressed me, so I recently quit. I’m poor but happy and that’s a more fulfilling life than well-off and miserable.

FTG: Did you always plan on getting back into the cage?

Littlefield: I answered the first part of this question above, but as far as planning on getting back into the cage, I’m not sure. There was a time when I said to myself and possibly to others, “I’m done, I’m too old, My body can’t take it,” etc. But fighting is something that I really enjoy. I’ve never done it for money reasons. I’ve never done it to be a popular guy or get chicks or any of those reasons. I just really love to get punched in the face and punch other people in the face. There’s something so simple and pure about that. So I guess I always hoped I’d have the chance to be healed up and compete again.

FTG: Before the McCrory fight you were coming off of a six fight win streak. What was your training like then as compared to your current training for the fight on January 17?

Littlefield: Well, if you saw the fight with Tamden you can probably figure out that my training suffered. I took a really bad throw in training and landed badly. On top of that I got cut over my right eye and had to get 8 stitches in my eyebrow and I bit part of my tongue off. So I had a rough time training for that fight and due to those things I had to stop for a while which severely affected my cardio. “Fatigue makes cowards out of men,” is the saying and it couldn’t be more true. I was so confident going into the fight with McRory that I basically overestimated myself. I thought that my skills would get me through, which they did until I gassed out. I was mounted on him and I was so tired I couldn’t throw a punch. It sucked. That taught me a valuable lesson. So I’ve been focusing on my cardio as well as my skill.

FTG: When offered that fight, had you planned on fighting anytime soon? Had you been training? Or did you feel like you had to polish things up for the CageFX event?

Littlefield: Well, I had thrown my name out to a few different promotions to find me a fight. I’d been training alot with my own fight team. It’s different when you’re that guy that is the primary focus of the training though. I certainly had to do some polishing. Not so much on mu Jiu Jitsu and MMAa but on my cardio. I was about 190lb.

FTG: What do you know about Rigo Dominicci? Had you seen him fight before?

Littlefield: Like I said, I know Rigo. I think he’s a solid dude. He’s fought for me before at Untamed. Ya, he’s an exciting guy who likes to swap punches. He’s a perfect fight for me. I’ve lost fights before, so I know what it’s like to lose. I’m over that fear. I just want to have fun and get that adrenaline that comes with getting hit. I think Rigo is my guy.

FTG: What do you think you have in your skill set that Rigo doesn’t? And vice versa? What are you bringing to the cage that will give you the advantage?

Littlefield: I’ve been told my ground game is better than his and his stand up game is better than mine. I don’t really listen to all that. I don’t necessarily think that I have an advantage over Rigo. He’s been actively fighting and he’s been training for a fight for about 5 months because his last two opponents dropped out due to injury, so I know he’s ready. It all depends on who the best MMA fighter is on Saturday night. If we fought 10 times there could be 10 different outcomes. His left hook might be better than my triangle on one of those times and vice versa.

FTG: Do you see the fight staying on up on the feet or going to the ground?

Littlefield: I’ve seen both. I try to visualize all the ways that I can win. I can’t say I plan on standing and I can’t say I’m shooting on him. I don’t know. I’ll see when it happens. My body goes into autopilot sometimes when I fight. I just hope I drilled the right things enough to do them automatically when the time comes.

FTG: Mark Dellagrotte is your Muay Thai coach. What has training with him brought to your game?

Littlefield: I started training with Mark after my fight with Thiago Alves. I realized that I needed some legitimate Muay Thai training to make my overall game effective. Thiago was able to pick me apart with kicks and combos that I had never encountered before. Mark and I were friendly with each other. Our teams used to compete against each other in MMA events but we were always cordial and respectful and on several occasions he offered to swap training. So I finally took him up on it and now Sityodtong and Boneyard are like family. We made a pact years ago not to compete in MMA against each other. Myself, Bobby Dias and several of our fighters get our Muay Thai from Sityodtong.

Mark doesn’t need my endorsement to credit his coaching ability. He’s got Goldie, Rogan and every magazine in the country doing that for him. It’s all true though, the kid is a genius when it comes to mixing MMA with Muay Thai. He’s very knowledgeable and he’s a true friend to me.

FTG: Do you have a prediction for the fight?

Littlefield: Sorry man. I’m not the shit talking type. I hope the fight goes long enough to enjoy it but I also hope it doesn’t go to decision.

FTG: When did you open The Boneyard?

Littlefield: 1999.

FTG: Do you have any news about the school you’d like to share? Programs, classes, etc.?

Littlefield: I’m doing it full time now so I’ve started day classes and classes for kids. We expanded to the second floor and made a grappling room for our no-gi and gi classes.

FTG: What is your background in jiujitsu? Do you offer belts in your gi classes or is it more geared toward competition training?

Littlefield: I began training BJJ in ‘96 with Roberto Maia at Boston Brazilian, then in Watertown Ma. I used to be a gi guy until the MMA bug bit me in ’99. After that I started doing a lot of no-gi and MMA type grappling but I still competed in the Pan Am’s every year a did some gi training. I won the gold in 2002 or 2003 as a blue belt and was promoted to purple shortly after. I competed once more as a purple in the Pan Ams and lost. That was the last time I put a gi on for years. I went totally no-gi/MMA. I recruited one of the Boston BJJ guys to teach gi at my school. Tomas Malave, who is an old training partner of mine from our blue belt days is now a black belt and is the Boneyard gi instructor. Once our students are ready, Tomas brings them to Roberto for their promotion. It’s all done under Gracie Barra, so it’s a legit promotion that the guys (and girls) can be proud of. I also teach a gi class at the school, as I have once again put my pj’s back on. It’s as much for me as it is for the guys I instruct. Teaching is the best way to learn in my opinion. I also train with Mat Santos in both gi and no-gi. Mat and I have been pals since the early days. He’s a very talented guy who has an answer (and a joke) for every situation.

FTG: Who are some of the top fighters you have at the school? What makes them stand out?

Littlefield: Matt Fletcher is the top guy at the school hands down. He’s not that active because of his family commitments but he could fight any 170lbr on the planet. Matt is easily a brown belt level in terms of Jiu Jitsu skill although he doesn’t wear a gi. His wrestling is off the chain and at 170lb he hits like a heavyweight and moves like a feather weight. If he ever decides to actively compete and really focus on his MMA the welter weight division will be in trouble.

Lance Everson is another one. I don’t have to describe Lance to anyone that follows local MMA. He has all the tools to be at the next level. He just needs a little more consistency.

Littlefield: Lance is fighting Woody Weatherby at Untamed 26 on Feb 28 in Westport (ding!) as well as a bunch of other Boneyard guys: Joe Dechaves, Jed Tinlin, Justin Corneglia, Mark Rodriguez, Graeme Prue, Kevin Camara and Sam Elliott.

FTG: Anything else you would like to share?
Littlefield: Did I leave anything out? I’d like to thank Mat Santos who’s been helping me with my Jits and Mark Dellagrotte who is my Muay Thai coach. Also, Bobby Dias and Graeme Prue have helped me tremendously as well as the rest of my Boneyard brothers and my beautiful wife Stacey for all her help and support.

Never shy to speak his mind, top jiu-jitsu instructor and Cobra Kai Jiu-Jitsu founder, Marc Laimon, shares his insight about a wide variety of topics, including, how he became interested in jiu-jitsu; what he thinks it takes to become a champion in the sport of MMA; who he thinks will win the upcoming fight between Nogueira and Mir; who the world’s best grapplers are and much more.

JR: How did you get your start in jiu-jitsu? What got you interested in it?

ML: I saw the first Ultimate Fighting Championship and saw jiu-jitsu and I dropped out of college with a 3.7 grade point average and moved to California and dedicated my life to it. By January 22, 2008, it will have been 13 years since I’ve been doing it.

JR: Did you start in traditional “Gi” jiu-jitsu?

ML: I started under Royce and Rorion Gracie in January 22, 1996.

JR: Did you finish college?

ML: No. I’ve been pretty much doing this [jiu-jitsu]; that’s all I do, and playing video games. That’s one of my passions in life.

JR: So you pretty much received your Masters and Doctorate in Brazilian jiu-jitsu?

ML: Something like that.

JR: Why did you decide to open up your own school?

ML: That’s about the only way to make money doing jiu-jitsu and having your own gym. I thought the time was right. I really do enjoy teaching a lot. I had lot of guys that I helped train out here in Vegas, and at that time, it was the right time to for things to happen; I was starting to get old and was looking out for the future.

So I decided to open up a gym. You can only go so far in submission wrestling. There’s nothing that really pays you a lot of money to live on so teaching and studying the knowledge is about the only way to sustain a living at it.

JR: Did the competitive nature necessary to do well in the grappling tournament environment come natural to you? Or was it something that took some getting used to?

ML: I was a pretty decent competitor and I just wanted to test myself and kind of build my name a little bit so when I opened a gym, people would know who I was and wasn’t a fraud or anything. It was just a good way to test myself and put into effect all the training I was doing and it gave me good short-term goals to try to accomplish.

It was real beneficial. Competition is good because you get to see what you’re made of under fire and duress and it kind of teaches you a lot about yourself and you start to formulate different techniques and deal with whatever problems you’re having in competition. It’s not for everybody and not everyone has to do it but you learn something about yourself win or lose. Overall, it’s a valuable tool for learning about one’s self.

JR: How did you decide on the name Cobra Kai?

ML: I think people take themselves way too seriously in martial arts and if you can’t laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at? A lot of people hate me in jiu-jitsu and I’m just kind of used to being the bad guy. So I wanted Cobra Kai to be a joke and it just kind of stuck and here we are today.

JR: Your students seem to be some of the most well-prepared competitors at grappling tournaments. What do you attribute that to?

ML: They just show up to class every day and a lot of the guys stay after class to work on their technique. They are a lot of like-minded individuals that like to test themselves and I think it’s more on them than anything else… they enjoy it and they’re going to do it to the best of their ability. And they get lucky too.

JR: I remember seeing a lot of your guys at Best of the West in Long Beach in 2006 and they just seemed to have an edge on a lot of the competitors.

ML: I think a lot of our guys focus on a few techniques and everybody is different but we work on a few techniques that if we get those techniques on people there’s a pretty good chance it’s going to get finished and that’s what we try to do and it seems to be working pretty well so far.

JR: That day one of your guys was competing in a Superfight against one of the Gracies’ and I remember you being quite outspoken against one of the calls the referee made.

ML: It wasn’t one of my guys but there was one guy who was fighting one of the Gracie’s. But I remember there was one guy fighting Ryron Gracie, his name was Rick McCauley, and the referee blew a call on Rick’s sweep from half-guard. And I don’t care what your last name is; it should be a fair level playing field for everyone. But a lot of times the refs are like “oh-my-G-d, I can’t do anything against the Gracies’.” Get over the name man, it’s two human being out there competing under the same set of rules. Call it down the line and quit giving favoritism for a person’s last name.

He ended up getting submitted but he had to play a different strategy because he was down on points and depending on what the points are determines how you have to play and sometimes you get forced into doing things that you wouldn’t normally do and I think he fell victim to that.

JR: Thanks for the feedback. I was always wondering what you were thinking during that situation.

ML: He’s [Rick McCauley] just a guy that I think has a good half guard and has very good leg locks and I like the guys who are up-and-comers and I’ve been watching him for a while and I just wanted it to be fair and everyone else was rooting against him. And I like guys that go out there and compete and put everything on the line and he was just getting dicked over on the points and everyone was afraid to say something and I’m not afraid to speak out for what’s right. What’s right is right and he was getting the shaft and somebody had to say something and I did.

JR: Here’s kind of an interesting question—I asked Travis Lutter this once: Do you think MMA is changing the way students are promoted in jiu-jitsu? There are many MMA fighters that do not compete in grappling tournaments and yet they still get promoted? What factors does a jiu-jitsu instructor use to determine whether a promotion is warranted if the student is learning jiu-jitsu for MMA and not for pure jiu-jitsu?

ML: You can still compete in jiu-jitsu, so long as the competition is not too close to one of your upcoming fights. The UFC for example, doesn’t want you to get injured. I have my guys compete as much as humanly possible.

The guys I’m working with right now are the “Team Takedown” guys, who are very high level wrestlers. I think it’s very important for them to do jiu-jitsu tournaments, so they get used to squeezing. They’re good at taking people down but they have to get good at passing people’s guard—you know things that are important for MMA. Tournaments are a good way for them to go out there and not damage their professional record and experiment with technique. Competing is a very valuable tool for them.

What I can kind of gather from your question is I think a lot of people are getting promoted based on “No-Gi” things and there’s really no point in giving a guy a belt if he’s not competing in a gi because the belt is what’s holding your gi together. If you’re just training in shorts and a t-shirt, what do you need a belt for? You’re either good or you’re not. I think people need a way to make money with their martial arts thing but I think a lot of these people are diluting what belt they’re at.

There’s been various things on the internet where people have been getting promoted from white belt to brown belt to black in less than two years and it’s absolutely ridiculous. I think the standard has fallen a bit. I don’t do that. The only fighter that I have that’s a blue belt is Johny Hendricks; he got promoted a little while ago. He’s been training in a gi and he’s been tapping a lot of guys in the gi with gi moves, and he actually understands the gi and he enjoys it. It’s a break from his normal training and he’s actually taken quite well to it.

But these other guys could give two shits what their belt is. He thinks it’s cool because he’s got his gi and his blue belt and he’s actually going to do some gi competitions. It’s something else he can do that will benefit him but it’s not his main focus in life like winning the UFC championship. That’s what these guys’ goal is, to win UFC gold, that’s what everyone wants, that’s the pinnacle of the sport. That’s what people should strive for if you’re competing in MMA.

The grappling on the other hand is something good to get involved in, but that’s not what these guys are focusing on. But I think a lot of people are getting promoted rather quickly… A lot of guys are being promoted rather quickly and they might be able to tap people but I think one of the things that’s important if you’re getting promoted in jiu-jitsu is being able to transfer that knowledge to the next generation. A lot of these guys that I see that are getting promoted are missing a lot of key details in their teaching. It’s kind of getting to be like a Tae Kwon Do thing.

Back-in-the-day, it meant something just to be a purple belt. Nowadays, everybody has a purple belt and these guys are getting their black belts handed to them like you can find in a Cracker Jacks box or like you can get in a Happy Meal at McDonalds. I don’t do that with my students—I have a pretty high standard for promoting guys and I don’t just hand things out. But that’s just me. Other people are also pretty stingy with their promotions and others are just giving them [belts] away.

And for me, it’s also based on the individual: If you have a forty-five-year-old guy that  doesn’t compete but he’s in the gym every day trying to better his game and he’s still giving guys a good, solid training session, I think that’s a lot different than a talented twenty-one or twenty-two-year-old guy. Guys like that should be competing and testing themselves and that’s a real good way to get promoted. Everyone is different and people are at different stages in life.

If you’re a UFC fighter and that’s your goal, I don’t think being promoted is very important. But it’s really important to work on getting those fundamentals down and considering what’s going to apply to MMA.

JR: Thank you for your response and I completely respect your perspective on this issue. One thing in particular that comes to mind for me is the difference in passing the guard when you have MMA weapons at your disposal in contrast to pure grappling techniques.

ML: That’s definitely true, but I’ve seen a lot of black belts that fight MMA that once they get on top of someone they go into straight jiu-jitsu mode and I don’t think that’s the best thing to do; I think it’s better to blend your punches with the passes and really making it real mixed martial arts, not just where you are fighting in one mode of combat.

It’s called mixed martial arts for a reason and the guys that are successful have a real good blend of it, like George St. Pierre. I think his passing is real good because he mixes it with punches. Also, his takedowns are really good because he sets them up with his punches. There’s a lot to mixing the martial arts to make it as effective as possible.

JR: Who are some of your top students?

ML: Do you mean in jiu-jitsu competition or fighters?

JR: Guys that have trained under your system and have become successful in either grappling tournaments or MMA?

ML: Sim Go, he’s a Filipino kid that started when he was 15 years old. I’ve pretty much worked with him every day, he’s very dedicated. I can’t take credit for his stuff, I mean I helped him but he’s the one in the gym every day, training. Scott Bieri started with me when I was in Hawaii and he’s real good; both of those guys have won a lot of tournaments. Sean Spangler, Sonny Nohara, Aqueel Quadree, and Chris Holdsworth, moved out here a couple of years ago and he’s been training with me a lot. I’ve got a few up-and-comers like Adrian Ramirez and he’s real tough.

As far as MMA guys go, I’ve worked with a lot of people in the past. I kind of got burnt out on it because everybody I was dealing with never quite had it; something was always lacking—they always wanted to go out and party. They’re into fighting because they want to become famous. They’re lazy fucks and they don’t have what it takes or they don’t listen. I’ve run the gamut of guys that have problems.

Fortunately for me, this year I started working with some guys that I truly believe in and are totally dedicated. They’re not fighting to be famous, but to be the best in the world. And I can guarantee that they’ll be holding world titles in the near future.

I’ve got Jake Rosholt at 185 lbs who is a beast; he’s a three-time Division One National Champion wrestler. He doesn’t like to party. The only thing he enjoys doing outside of fighting is hunting; he’s a hunting nerd, and that’s what he loves to do and he just happens to be a very gifted wrestler and he’s one of the quickest rising stars in MMA.

I have Johnny Hendricks who’s a two-time NCAA National Champ in wrestling and he’s going to be fighting in the next WEC on December 3rd, and Shane Roller will also be fighting on that same card. All of these guys are very dedicated athletes that are paid to train. They are set up to succeed, they have a great management team—“Team Takedown”—behind them. I’m real dedicated to their progress, they get privates from me and I’m overseeing their entire mixed martial arts training.

These guys are going to be the future of the sport. The guys that are fighting to be famous are a dying breed… It’s going to be this new generation. We saw Brock Lesnar come in who’s a real athlete; you’ve got guys like Mo Lawal over in Japan who’s a sick athlete… accomplished collegiate wrestler; and then you’ve got these guys from “Team Takedown” that are just very high level guys that are going to start crushing the competition.

They are the future, they are the people that are going to be ushering in the new generation of MMA. And a lot of people are getting real hurt and sad when they have to see their heroes lose, but they should really be happy because it’s the new generation that’s going to make the fights more exciting for the fans.

Instead of seeing guys that aren’t very athletic, you get to see higher level athletes coming in here that are born to fight. And it’s very exciting to see high level athletes competing at the sport’s highest level; to coach guys like that is an honor.

JR: Who do you think will win the Nogueira v Mir fight? Why?

ML: Anything can happen in a fight, but I think Frank’s only chance of winning would be if he gets a knock out or a submission very early in the match.

Nogueira has shown a few signs of being susceptible to leg locks in MMA and grappling and Frank is pretty good at leg locks. Nogueira has a better overall MMA skill set—I think he’s a better striker.

Frank has shown a tendency of not being able to bounce back very well when the fight isn’t going his way; he doesn’t do very well when faced with adversity. Also, Frank’s conditioning has always been suspect; I don’t think he can go five rounds.

Nogueira, on the other hand, is on the opposite end of the spectrum in terms of facing adversity. He’s shown a remarkable ability to come back in numerous fights when he’s faced with adversity, whether it’s being power-bombed on his head by Bob Sapp or getting kicked in the head by Heath Herring and coming back to win.

If I had to bet, I’d bet on Nogueira.

Also, Frank’s conditioning has always been suspect; I don’t think he can go five rounds. In contrast, looking at the way Nogueira fights, I think he’s shown good conditioning and I think he can go five rounds.

JR: Do you think Frank’s kicking ability will be a factor at all, considering he has a Karate background, and has flexible and powerful legs; that coupled with Nogueira not being known for throwing many kicks?

ML: I don’t think so—I mean it could, he could knock him out with a head kick. But if you’re betting on fights, which includes playing the odds, I don’t see that as being a very big factor. The likelihood of that happening is low.

I do think Nogueira’s hands are much better than Frank’s.

JR: Do you think Mir has the ability to go into the fight and chop down Nogueira’s legs with kicks?

ML: No, I don’t. If Frank goes out there and tries to kick his legs… If you’ve ever seen Nogueira fight Sanae Kikuta, he was trying to leg kick Nogueira’s, Nogueira caught his leg kick and threw a straight punch right down the pipe and knocked him out!

And I think the same thing could happen to Frank, or I tend to think Nogueira could catch it and put him down and if Nogueira puts him down, it’s pretty much game-over from there; he puts a lot of pressure on the pass.

I didn’t think Nogueira was that big until I actually saw him and he’s actually a pretty big dude, and I don’t think Frank’s going to be able to muscle Nogueira. And I just think Nogueira’s jiu-jitsu is much better than Frank’s; if it hits the mat, I think Nogueira will take advantage of him from there. He would get a dominant position and either pound him out or finish him with a submission.

JR: During Season 8 of the “The Ultimate Fighter,” there was some debate about Nogueira’s level of jiu-jitsu. The issue broiled into an argument between Nogueira and Team Mir member, Vinny Magalhaes What are your thoughts on that?

ML: Nogueira and his brother were doing pretty well back-in-the-day, around 1999-2000. At that time they were still pretty active competitors and they were still fighting MMA.

I think Vinny’s jiu-jitsu is really top notch; he’s right up there; he’s got multiple world titles to his credit; he’s really good. But I think Nogueira’s also really good, they were just competing at different times.

I think Nogueira’s focus shifted from being a jiu-jitsu practitioner to being an MMA fighter. He then went over to Japan and found a lot of success in Rings and then went into Pride and went on quite a tear, just beating everybody and tapping them.

There’s no telling where his jiu-jitsu would be if his focus hadn’t shifted to fighting. And what’s Vinny’s record in MMA—2-2? Just because you’re good at jiu-jitsu doesn’t mean you’re going to be a good MMA fighter.

I like Nogueira’s attributes—his heart and his belief in his ability to win is right up there with some of the best guys and that’s one of those intangible qualities that you don’t see in the statistics sheet.

JR: Who do you think will win the Penn v Florian fight?

ML: I think B.J. will win. There’s such a big difference between number one and number two in that division that it’s kind of like how it is for Anderson at 185 lbs and kind of like it’s been for GSP at 170 lbs.

You know, I think Thiago Alves is going to be an interesting fight with GSP. But B.J. is so much better than everyone else at 155 lbs, it’s really amazing.

If you look at the UFC roster at 185 lbs, Anderson is just head-and-shoulders above everyone else in that division. These guys [B.J., GSP, and Anderson Silva] are just so much ahead of the game that they have to go up in weight divisions to find people to challenge themselves.

I just don’t see Florian being able to beat B.J. I mean anything can happen in a fight, but if I had to bet, I’d bet on B.J. for sure.

Penn’s MMA guard-passing is the sickest shit on the planet; and it’s been like eight years now since he’s been doing it and still no one mimics what he does. He’s got the sickest passing, his hands are real good, his wrestling is good, his counter-wrestling is real good—if he puts Florian down, I think he’s going to be passed, mounted, and either being on his back choking him or pounding him out from a dominant position.

JR: We see applications of the rubber guard in MMA. Why don’t we see more fighters employing a larger part of the rubber guard system in their fights? In theory, the system seems very effective if used properly.

ML: I think you’re starting to see some fighters use it, but a lot of guys don’t dedicate a lot of time to practicing it, plus you don’t have a lot of real good teachers teaching it. It’s going to take time for Bravo to get his system out there… to get competent teachers.

Back when I was training there weren’t that many good American teachers, but nowadays you’ve got a lot of guys that have gone through the steps to get their black belt. And now there are a lot of good teachers out there; a lot more than when I was coming up. I just think you need some good teachers; you need some guys that are going to listen and believe in it.

I think it has it’s time and place in its use for MMA, but I definitely think you need a certain body type and certain level of flexibility to properly apply some of those techniques. I think it works for a lot of people, but certain people, it’s not going to be the best suited thing for them.

JR: Do you teach students rubber guard techniques at Cobra Kai?

I teach certain aspects of it. But, you know, everyone is different. The biggest thing is I don’t have a mold that people have to fit into. I see what people have, I see what attributes they bring to the table and I try to custom make a game for them.

It’s like if you’re looking for clothes, you can go to Wal-Mart and everyone can buy the same clothes. But at the highest level of fashion, you go and have custom clothes made for you and your body type. And that’s what I try to do; I’m kind of like a high-end tailor that is looking at what you have and what you bring to the table and how I can maximize what you have.

The real difficulty as a coach is not trying to get people to conform to you but trying to conform to them and work with their strengths and weaknesses and tailor-make a system for them.

JR: Injuries are common place in martial arts training, have you suffered any serious injuries on the mat? If so, did any of your injuries affect your jiu-jitsu game?

ML: Yeah, I hurt my back a couple of years ago and it’s still never healed. It’s kind of limited my ability to train consistently and that’s why I’m kind of a fat fuck right now.

I also have a real bad toe injury that’s been going on over a year and it’s never healed. I get it worked on a lot—I guess it’s like Turf Toe or something—and it is a very painful injury.

I used to laugh at toe injuries and after I got this one… it is very painful. It doesn’t really stop me from training but I have to make alterations in how I place my foot and what not. But my back is something I can’t quite get around. I still train, but I don’t get to train at as high a level as I used to.

It’s been a very painful ordeal—I’m in pain almost every day of my life; I kind of walk funny… for me to put on a pair of shorts is a little bit of an ordeal. But I deal with it; I do the best that I can. Fortunately, my competition is behind me; I’m not trying to prove anything to anybody else or myself. I feel like I’ve accomplished what I wanted. Of course, there are some titles I would have liked to won but I’m not going to get hung up on that.

My goal right now is to produce the best students for jiu-jitsu and MMA as humanly possible and that’s my passion in life and that’s what I’m driven to do. I kind of live vicariously through their accomplishments. I’m not trying to do anything myself—I want to focus on them and that’s what I think a teacher should do.

JR: How important is flexibility training for jiu-jitsu practitioners? Do you practice a lot of stretching and do you stress the importance of stretching to your students?

ML: Certain types of flexibility are important like getting your hips flexible, but I never stretch anyone out. You can get more flexible, but you either got it or you don’t. You can improve it to a degree, but some of my guys are so tight in their hips and back… I work on some stretches.

But when I get them in a room, I’m not trying to wear them out with stretching and calisthenics; they do that on their own time. I kind of let their personal trainer work with them on that aspect. When I get them I’m focused on getting them to understand technique and working on them getting to apply it under duress. That’s kind of what my facet of training involves.

JR: Who do you think is the best jiu-jitsu practitioner out there today?

ML: In MMA or in general?

JR: In general.

ML: That would be B.J. Penn and Marcelo Garcia. I guess you could say Roger Gracie, but I’ve never trained with Roger, I’ve trained with Marcelo and B.J. and those guys are just head-and-shoulders above everybody else. They have different style games, but when you’re wrestling with them, you know that there’s something special.

JR: How do you think Fedor would fair against Lesnar?

ML: I think right now, I think Fedor could beat him just because he’s more complete.

After Brock fought Frank Mir, I said within a year, Brock will be the UFC heavyweight champion. And I’m not very good with predictions but that one did come true. And I think if you give Brock some more time to work his guard-passing and controlling an individual, I think he could beat Fedor.

I think right now Fedor’s hands are pretty sick, but I think Fedor’s weakness is going to be if he gets taken down and gets controlled on the mat and gets his guard passed and mounted… we saw Mark Coleman do that to him. Once you get a guy who can establish that kind of control and understands the importance of those positions… I think Lesnar has a potential recipe to beat Fedor in the near future.

I can’t give you an exact time frame, but I think with enough training… that guy is pretty dedicated and I’m just going on assumptions here, but I think he’s definitely got potential to beat him. But right now…? If you put them in a ring tomorrow, I think Fedor would have his number. Six months-to-a-year from now, I think Brock has a much greater chance of beating Fedor. And two years from now, almost guaranteed, Brock would beat him.

The thing about these wrestlers is they have such a good work ethic, they are totally dedicated and the only thing they know is to win; they’re used to being alone on that island out there; that hard work is bred into them at an early age. And that guy is a Division One NCAA wrestling champion and that’s an accomplishment. He’s super talented and has a great work ethic—guys like that are going to be moving the sport in the near future.

Jacob Regar is a law school graduate and is the independent lead writer for American Stand Up. He is also a practicing martial artist with a blue belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu. Presently, he co-writes a weekly blog for MMAJunkie.com about Ken Hahn’s experience as an assistant coach for “Team Mir” on Spike TV’s “TUF8.”

September 24, 2008

In this exclusive interview, brought to you by FromTheGut.us, Travis “The Serial Killer” Lutter discusses his fights with Anderson Silva and Rich Franklin. He shares his opinions about the UFC’s 4-man heavyweight tournament. Also included is the entertaining story behind his famous nickname and much more for MMA enthusiasts.

Jacob Regar: Which MMA organization are you presently contracted with?

Travis Lutter: I’m not contracted with anybody right now. I’m still looking and weighing options.

JR: Any plans to fight for the UFC again?

TL: I guess. I really think I’m going to fight for the UFC again. I’d be disappointed if I didn’t get a chance to fight in the UFC again.

JR: Have you spoken with Affliction, EliteXC, Dream, or HDNet Fights about possibly fighting in any of their organizations?

TL: Yeah, of course. We’ve talked to them. I’m not real sure but I think I need to ask my manager to find out why I haven’t signed with anybody yet. But I’ve basically been letting him do his job… not bothering him too much and letting him fill me in.

JR: There was a recent rumor circulating that you were going to face Joe Doerksen. Where do you think that rumor originated?

TL: It was a rumor. I’ve heard all kinds of things like I asked to fight him. None of that’s true. Then I think the rumor spun into we were going to fight here in Texas. I have no problem fighting Joe and maybe we will end up fighting eventually, but the rumor isn’t true.

JR: You are a very talented fighter and you spend a lot of time training and teaching, are you a fan of the sport? Do you enjoy watching MMA fights?

TL: Yeah, of course I’m a huge MMA fan. I don’t really follow very many other sports. I loosely follow a few. But I watch MMA religiously. And not just for watching the 185 lbs division. I just like watching fights.

JR: Which non-UFC organization do you enjoy watching the most?

TL: Probably Affliction. They put on a great card, their last one. I was very disappointed that they had to postpone their next event that they had coming up until January. You know, that last card had a lot of talent on it and the second one looked even better.

JR: Which fighters are your favorite to watch?

Man, I like watching GSP. I enjoy GSP right now. B.J. Penn is sick. He’s a crazy athlete. Randy Couture, I always watch anyone that Randy’s fighting. Man, just everyone. I just like watching fights.

JR: GSP v Penn rematch, who takes it?

TL: It’s hard to bet against GSP. It’s hard to bet against B.J. but his cardio is still improving and he’s a small 170 pounder. GSP’s a big 170 pounder and his wrestling is just freaking crazy. I think Penn has him beat in the standing department. But if GSP puts him on his back I think he can probably win a decision.

JR: I think GSP would probably be able to put Penn on his back where he could get offensive with his GnP. If so, he would force Penn to constantly be on the defensive in addition to working an active guard so he could work submissions or sweeps. Either way, that level of activity could have the effect of tiring Penn on the bottom. And that style of fight seems like it would favor GSP.

TL: Yeah, I think so too. GSP just keeps improving, improving, improving. He looked really tough against Fitch. You know, B.J.’s got knock out power at 155 lbs, but not as much at 170 lbs. He puts his punches together really well. But I don’t think he’s knocked out anyone at 170 lbs. But I could be wrong too.

JR: Penn definitely dazed GSP when they first fought, but he wasn’t really close to knocking him out.

TL: GSP does have a suspect chin. I think Fitch hurt him, but he hurt Fitch back. Fitch definitely doesn’t have the hands of B.J. But it’s still size. And I just see GSP taking the fight to the ground. I would guess he’s pretty confidant right now with his jiu jitsu defense and his wrestling is just sick.

JR: Who do you think would win an MMA fight between Nick Diaz and Shinya Aoki?

TL: I don’t know. That’s kind of a weird style match-up. I guess if I was betting I’d probably bet on Diaz.

JR: What other sports are you a fan of and why?

TL: I’ve never been a huge watching sports- kind-of-guy. I like to do stuff. I didn’t grow up watching football or anything. I’ve probably followed tennis the closest. I’ve never played or anything, I just enjoy it. Those guys are really good.

JR: As an experienced jiu jitsu instructor what do you think is the most challenging submission for students to learn (typically)?

TL: I don’t know if it would be submissions. I guess there are different submissions and all of that in terms of degree of difficulty. But it really depends on the individual. You know, a wrestler usually has problems from his back, so he’s going to have problems doing armbars and triangles from his back. And a great big guy is going to have problems from his back just because of his size. But I think everybody is different.

JR: Most difficult submission you’ve ever tried to pull off in competition and a fight, regardless of whether you nailed it?

TL: I’ve tried for a couple of kneebars in competition but never gotten one, so I should probably quit doing that (laughs). It’s just slippery and low percentage, especially in competition. It’s probably best to just move on.

In MMA, I keep it simple. I really try to keep it high percentage. The most frustrating one is Rich [Franklin] getting out of that armbar. I finished that armbar a whole bunch of times. I think for a little bit I was bending it backwards. I’m still surprised that he got out of that.

JR: Who is your favorite submission artist? Why?

TL: Probably B.J. He has sick flexibility, crazy technical; he plays kind of a weird game. It almost looks instinctual sometimes. He’s just fun to watch because you just don’t know which direction he’s going to go sometimes.

JR: Prior to MMA becoming mainstream, it seemed like BJJ practitioners needed to do well in submission tournaments to advance in their art. Now, it seems many fighters that practice jiu jitsu as part of their fight training program seem to get promoted simply by training and fighting and showcasing improved jiu jitsu in the ring, without competing in purely submission formats. Would you agree with that assessment? And if so, what affect do you think that has on jiu jitsu as a whole?

TL: Yeah, I would agree with that. You know, I’m not going to rank someone (give them belts for their participation in MMA)… They’re going to have to have skills with the gi before I give them props for their no-gi expertise. But, you don’t have to. That’s the thing, MMA is changing things. A lot of people just don’t care about belts.

But the only guys that I really care about what their belt rank is, are my guys and that’s from competing in jiu jitsu.

JR: What are your thoughts on the p4p rankings? Do you take stock in them?

TL: I don’t take much stock in it. You know these guys are good fighters in their divisions but how do you compare these guys across divisions? You know B.J. fighting in the upper echelon of two weight divisions. You could argue that. Would GSP have that success? Probably, he’d probably do really well at 185 lbs. And then to go with Fedor, I mean he’s huge and he’s probably not going to make 205 lbs any time soon. You know, I don’t really look at the p4p.

JR: Who do you consider to be a top MMA prospect for the fans to look out for? Any prospects coming out of your school?

TL: As far as in the smaller shows, I don’t know. That’s a good question. I don’t know who’s going to be the guy that comes out of the blue and surprises people. I don’t know, that’s a good question. I don’t know that answer.

It’s too early to tell with the guys coming out of my school. All my guys are real young right now, so it’s too early to tell who’s going to do well in MMA and who’s not going to do well. So we’ll just have to wait and see.

JR: When you’re preparing for a fight, do you train with any camps? Any camps you would like to train with in the future?

TL: What I do is I make my own camp in Forth Worth, Texas, here at my school. We have guys that that show up at certain times, and they’re there to motivate me and they all have different jobs. So I don’t go some other place for a camp, I stay here in Forth Worth and train my ass off.

Some people think I really should train with other camps and some think I shouldn’t. But the only guy that’s going to make that decision is me. If I moved up to 205 lbs, I think I’d have to, just simply cause I’d have to fight another style. But I think at 185 lbs, fighting the style that I have, I think I can impose my will on a lot of guys. And at 205 lbs, I wouldn’t be able to impose my will, so I think that if I stay at 185 lbs I can keep fighting the same way I do and just let people try to stop it.

JR: What are your thoughts about the UFC’s 4-man HW tournament?

TL: I’m happy to see Randy back. I honestly didn’t think he’d ever fight again. I honestly didn’t think he would ever fight again based on the lawsuit and kind of following all of that noise. So it’s very cool to see Randy coming back.

You know, Nogueira, for a little while probably thought he was the champ for the UFC and now he’s the interim champ, so that kind of sucks for him. But it’s the UFC’s ballgame. They get to be God of that organization, they get to call the shots, whether you like it or not. At the end of the day they’re making money.

JR: Who are you picking for the Couture v Lesnar Fight?

TL: Couture. I just think Lesnar’s huge and stuff like that but I think Randy’s wrestled at a higher level than he did, granted at a different weight class and Lesnar’s huge, but Randy’s a beast, and I’m not betting against Randy.

JR: Who are you picking for the Nogueira v Mir fight?

TL: Nogueira. Nogueira, man, Nogueira’s a beast. Some of his fights in Pride were just crazy. Like the Cro Cop fight, when Cro Cop beat him up pretty good. Cro Cop beat him up before he finally got that takedown. And that Tim Sylvia fight, you know, he was getting beat, you know, and that guy just never quits. That guy never understands the word die. And Mir knows, no disrespect to Mir, but he tends to fade.

I think Nogueira’s jiu jitsu’s better. I think Nogueira’s stand up is better and Mir’s wrestling’s probably better.

JR: Are you watching this season’s “TUF” show?

TL: I will once they get done with all the preliminary fights. I don’t love this format. You know, sometimes the fights aren’t so good. Of course, no disrespect to these guys getting in the Octagon and doing there thing, but sometimes the fighters aren’t so good.

I’ll start to watch once they get down to the final sixteen. The last two seasons I found myself fast-forwarding through a lot of it, because I pre-record it. The first six seasons I didn’t see myself fast-forwarding that much. The last two seasons I really fast forwarded a lot and watched the fights. I don’t know, it’s getting a lit bit stale for me

JR: You fought against Patrick Cote and Anderson Silva, what are your thoughts on their upcoming fight? Who are you picking?

TL: I don’t think that fight goes four minutes. I think Anderson knocks him out pretty quick.

Patrick’s got a pretty good chin, he hits hard, but with that being said, I think Anderson’s chin is better, I think Anderson’s standup is probably two or three times better than Patrick’s. His jiu jitsu is better. I just don’t see how Patrick makes it four minutes into that fight.

I beat him in, not very fast, but pretty fast, but I don’t see him making it very far with Anderson. Anderson’s good.

JR: Which one of your MMA victories is the most important to you?

TL: Probably that one against Patrick because that was the one with the big money on it. It was big money for the time. It had the biggest audience; it was in front of the most people, winning The Ultimate Fighter Finale. So probably that one against Patrick.

JR: How much do your losses affect you?

TL: The last two were pretty tough. You know I was beating Anderson, I was beating Rich. Anderson caught me. I got tired or whatever happened to me in the Rich Franklin fight. I still haven’t decided what I think was wrong with why I got tired. I know I got hit real early, I know I used a lot of energy, but I still don’t understand why I got that tired that fast.

But especially against Anderson, I felt like I was doing what I was supposed to do, but unfortunately, he got lucky.

If there was ever a day that I could get a do-over, it was that day. I’d like to think that I could some day make it into the position to where I could fight him again. But the thing is, he’s really good and I don’t see them [UFC] letting me fight him ever again.

He’s probably going to go the superfight route now. He’ll probably fight at 185 lbs a little bit more but I think he’s probably going to end up fighting more at 205 lbs, then putting together a big payday and then he’ll probably disappear. So I don’t know if I’ll ever get another crack at him. I sure hope I do because I don’t think Anderson can beat me again. But that’s just what I think.

JR: How’s your current physical conditioning? Any injuries?

TL: I had surgery on my knee a week ago. I had my knee scoped. My knee has been giving me problems. I hurt it a few years ago and it was steadily getting worse, so I decided to get it scoped because I didn’t have anything in the near future and this way I can be good for 2009.

My goal for 2009 is to fight at least three times and try to get back in the UFC and if I can’t get back in the UFC try to get in another name show against someone who is good. You know, just let me fight someone.

JR: What specifically was wrong with your knee?

TL: I blew out my ACL five years ago and I didn’t know it until I had surgery. So I fought my whole career basically without an ACL. They didn’t fix my ACL. They just cleaned up my knee. I still don’t have an ACL but me knee is crazy stable, so I don’t think it’s going to be an issue. I’m back working out and lifting and stuff like that and it was only a week ago.

The thing was, I couldn’t run any more and I couldn’t do sprints. I had some testing done after the Franklin fight trying to figure out why I got tired. My VO2 max is down a little bit lower than it should have been probably and you can change that to a degree if you improve it. And I also had a blood test done and it kind of came back a little bit weird. So it would be nice to get both of those things fixed and come back in 2009.

JR: How much longer do you want to fight?

TL: The brain wants to fight forever. You know, it’s fun and I’m as motivated as I think I’ve ever been, right now, this moment, you know, than I have been for at least a little while.

You know after “The Ultimate Fighter” and then fighting six times in that year and then losing to Anderson in the Finale in that sixth match I might have been a little bit burnt out. And now I feel like I haven’t fought very much in the last two years and I’m ready to go. Just trying to work my way back up.

JR: What’s your favorite part about teaching jiu jitsu?

TL: Watching somebody that comes in and isn’t an athlete and isn’t going to be a world champion some day become very, very good and still be able to hold their own. I like to see the transformation. I’ve been teaching jiu jitsu for ten years now. My first student still trains with me; my very first student. It’s kind of cool. I enjoy having the relationships that you have with them. These guys are my friends.

JR: How did you get your nickname, “The Serial Killer?” Did Patrick Cote come up with it on “TUF?”

TL: Yeah, it came from Patrick. I was on the show and that house is like, even with time marching forward, you kind of forget how terrible the house is. The house is just a terrible place to be. And with every day that goes by you kind of forget that part. Living through it is just painful because they take everything away. There’s no magazines, no books, no television, no radio; you’re just talking to sixteen people. As a human, some sort of input, whether it comes from a television or radio or talking to other people, you know, after a few days you grow weary of talking to the same guys over and over again. Basically, you’re just talking to the eight guys on your team.

One day, I was kind of on a rant upstairs of the house and Patrick happened to be in the room and I was like “Fuck this house,” you know, I’m kind of going off on it. And Patrick didn’t speak that good of English and he misunderstood some of the things I said. I was like “it’s like being in jail,” and he thought I said, “it’s like when I was in jail.” And then this goes on for a couple of days- they were trying to figure out what I went to jail for. I’m usually really quiet and I think it kind of freaked some of the guys out because I didn’t say much and then they heard me in a rant. It ended up with Patrick drawing a picture of me and he drew me with a sickle and they named me the “Serial Killer” and that’s how the “Serial Killer” was born.

JR: That’s pretty cool. That’s an awesome story.

TL: Yeah, it’s funny because Patrick was drawing pictures of all of us from the other team and he’d hang them on the refrigerator and we’d come down in the morning- we worked out first in the morning- so that team would usually stay up later than us. And all of a sudden you’d come down stairs and there’d be a new picture. He drew basically our whole team and some of the guys from the other team and that was the picture he drew of me.

JR: Any shout outs?

TL: Warrior Wear. Warrior Wear’s been great to me. They treated me really good for my last fight and they’re still treating me good. And I’d like to thank them.

****

Jacob Regar is a law school graduate and is the independent lead writer for American Stand Up. He is also a practicing martial artist with a blue belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu. Presently, he co-writes a weekly blog for MMAJunkie.com about Ken Hahn’s experience as an assistant coach for “Team Mir” on Spike TV’s “TUF8.”

Mixed martial arts is an ever-expanding sport with new advances in technique and strategy occurring each day. Just as the growth of a child cannot be contained, such is the case with MMA’s development. But thanks to the involvement of true professional trainers, it can be guided in the right direction.

Meet Ken Hahn, a martial artist with over twenty years of experience. He has taught striking skills to UFC champions and he owns and operates Striking Unlimited, a successful MMA gym, located in Las Vegas, Nevada. And most recently, he was an assistant coach for Team Mir, on the eighth installment of Zuffa’s hit reality series, The Ultimate Fighter.

Hahn’s training and fighting resume includes holding a second degree black belt in Tea Kwon Do and Enshin Karate. After attaining such high ranks in two different styles, he decided to test his skills against the world’s best in World Bare Knuckle Knockdown Karate tournaments. In 2000, he became the South American Bare Knuckle Karate Champion and in 2001, the World Bare Knuckle Karate Champion.

Always eager to expand his martial arts base, Hahn chose to learn Muay Thai from the best in the business, Fairtex. While studying at Fairtex, he was privately trained by four different Muay Thai champions and eventually landed in a teacher’s role at their prestigious gym.

He has also taught stand-up striking at Las Vegas’, Kobra Kai gym. In exchange, he received private jiu jitsu instruction from Marc Laimon, the gym’s owner.

In his spare time, he studies and develops martial arts for law enforcement and military applications. This interest is a natural extension of his fundamental belief that “martial arts are the warring arts.”

According to Hahn, once a martial artist has become advanced in one or two styles “it’s easy to understand the strong and weak points” of different fighting systems. That understanding helps him develop specific fight-strategies for his fighters, depending on the physical and technical characteristics of their scheduled opponents.

Hahn’s passion for teaching martial arts is unparalleled. “Winning a world championship in one style shows I have what it takes to be a great trainer” because “I’ve done the groundwork,” says Hahn. His own fighting background provides him with a true fighter’s mindset and it also establishes his credibility among his peers and students.

Though nothing can replace extensive training experience, training MMA’s elite fighters requires a sharp mind. Hahn possesses one of the brightest minds in modern MMA. He believes that any trainer can hold pads for a fighter and call out a “one-two” combination, but he values the ability to relate to his fighters the reasons behind using different technical and strategic applications.

A few of Hahn’s notable virtues include being open-minded, possessing a humble nature, and a high intellect; all of which have enabled him to reach the highest levels of MMA instruction, including time spent at Pat Miletich’s camp, where he helped train former UFC champions, Tim Sylvia, Matt Hughes, and Jens Pulver, in their striking games. And he currently trains UFC heavyweight contender Frank Mir at his Las Vegas, Nevada gym, Striking Unlimited.

Striking Unlimited is a special gym. Hahn describes the gym’s training environment as “cutting edge; a real learning environment.”

His wife, Yoriko Washiyama, also an owner of Striking Unlimited, helps him run the gym. She alone has over twenty years of martial arts training. She grew up in Japan, where female martial artists struggled to receive their due respect. But it’s that type of challenging environment that helped forge her inner-fighting spirit. Yoriko also competed in Bare Knuckle Karate and taught alongside her husband at the Fairtex and Cobra Kai facilities.

One of the reasons behind Hahn’s willingness to coach alongside Frank Mir on TUF 8 was to finally receive his due exposure. Additionally, he wanted to take part in the reality show so he could “expose what MMA lacks.” He was confident that he could help “bridge the gaps” between the different arts and bring “balance” to Team Mir’s training.

According to Hahn, modern MMA involves a lot of “strategy… It’s very analytical now, more so than physical. It’s like chess on steroids. You have to think five to six moves ahead” of your opponent.

Regarding his experience on TUF 8, Hahn stated “I’m not a showbiz kind of guy. I wasn’t there to show animation, I was there to teach. The T.V. producers might have wanted more animation from me, but I have my own reality show every day in my own gym. You have to deal with fighters who have egos and high hopes every day.”

Always a dedicated trainer, Hahn pointed out that during team selections for TUF 8, “there was not a lot of time to figure out each fighter. Very few trainers would be willing to “hold the pads for thirty-two different fighters. I held for every single fighter. I sparred with the guys. I wanted to bring the quality.”

For MMA fans that want more information about the world class training environment surrounding the reality show’s contestants, MMAJunkie.com has the answer. Every Thursday, during season eight’s broadcast; Hahn will offer a first-hand, written account, exclusively on MMAJunkie.com, of details about his coaching experience on Team Mir.

At the core of his training philosophy is the intent to “always seek the truth and expose it.” Similarly, his upcoming weekly MMAJunkie.com contribution is meant to provide TUF fans with “a new perspective that people haven’t seen.”

Fromthegut: You just signed a 5 fight deal with the WEC. Now I’m hearing they
may drop the middleweight and light heavyweight division. If this
happens would that result in you going to the UFC?

Jake Rosholt: I have also heard that they may combine the middleweight and light heavyweight division from the WEC with the UFC. I was told that I should have time for 2-3 fight before there is a possibility of that happening. That would then allow me to renegotiate my contract before I would actually fight for the UFC.

Fromthegut: Any thoughts on your opponent Danillo “Indio” Villefort?

Jake Rosholt: I don’t actually know too much about him. I have just watched a little highlight on him. Looks to be pretty tough.

Fromthegut: How’s training going? Who are you training with?

Jake Rosholt: Training is going great. I just started my camp getting ready for the fight and everything is going great so far. I am very fortunate with my training situation. I get to train with all of the people over at Xtreme Couture which I feel is one of the best places for me to keep getting better with my stand up. And I get to train with Marc Laimon at Cobra Kai, which most people know is one of the better places in the country to establish a great ground game.

Fromthegut: You’ve stated in the past you needed to improve your striking. With
your recent hand injury, how much has that set you back?

Jake Rosholt: I definitly need to improve on my striking as well as every other aspect of the fight game. My hand has really given me a chance to spend a lot of time working with my boxing coach (Brian Clements). Of course I could only really use my left hand but more than that it gave me some time to slow down and go back and learn the fundamentals of boxing. I feel that I have gotten a lot better on my feet and think that it will be shown in my upcoming fights.

Fromthegut: Is the hand 100%?

Jake Rosholt: It took a lot longer than I had hoped but it is back to 100%.

Fromthegut: Do you feel any added pressure with this particular fight, whereas
it will be viewed by a larger audience than your previous fights?

Jake Rosholt: Not more pressure. I am excited about it being viewed by a larger audience. I want to show fight fans what I bring to the table and allow them to see me progress on my journey up this ladder.

Fromthegut: Is there any one fighter who’s style you try to emulate?

Jake Rosholt: Wow. I really don’t know. There are so many great fighters that I try to watch and implement things that they do well into my game. I like to watch BJ Penn, Urijah Faber, George St. Pierre, Chuck Liddel, and Forrest Griffin. But I especially like to watch Anderson Silva fight, I love the calmness and confidence that he brings into the ring.

Fromthegut: Being a member of Team Takedown and having them invest so much in
your career does that add more pressure to you?

Jake Rosholt: No. They are there for me as support and in no way add any pressure to what I do. I strive to be the best and to go out there and perform to the best of my ability every time.

Fromthegut: What are some of the things you enjoy doing when your not training?

Jake Rosholt: Here in Vegas? Not much. It has been a pretty hard transition moving out here. I really enjoy the outdoors. I miss living where I can go hunting and be around horses. But I really like to do anything active. I like to play soccer and sand volleyball, which I do get to do out here.

Fromthegut: Anybody you’d like to thank ie. sponsors/trainers? Anything you’d
like to say to the fans?

Jake Rosholt: I want to definitely say thank you to Team Takedown for giving me this great opportunity. I would also like to thank my family, friends, and fans. Without those people behind me I would not be where I am today.

Fromthegut.us would like to thank Jake for taking the time to answer our questions. My guess is after his September 10th fight we’ll be hearing a lot more about him.

In speaking with Jake I found him to be quite modest but he is not lacking in praise from some of the very best in MMA. Marc Laimon said, “this kids a freak, I wish I could clone him”. Randy Couture has said he may be the” best natural striker” in years to train at his gym and Dave Meltzer publisher of the Wrestling Observer says “Rosholt is in a class above both Brock Lesner and Josh Koscheck”. With all that said Rosholt feels he still has a long way to go. In his last fight he took on Chad Jay whom he took down at will and dominated on the ground, winning by TKO in the 3rd round. I asked Jake about his performance “I feel I dominated the fight but there’s still a lot of things I need to work on, so I’ll go back and watch the film and get back in the gym and start working on the areas I need to get better at. I have to work on my standup and just get more experience”. For a guy making the transition from wrestling to MMA, who better to train with than Couture? “I’ve been lucky enough to work out with Randy quite a bit since I’ve been out here. I’ve never really worked one on one with him, maybe here and there. I’ve asked him questions he’s really good at helping me and answering my questions. He’s a super nice guy”. So with the caliber of trainers he has and his insane work ethic (he trains 3 times a day when preparing for a fight) the middleweight division should take notice. No matter what major organization he ends up in he’s sure to stir things up. I asked Jake if he pays attention to the current middleweights on the big circuit “yeah I do, I hope within the next couple of years that’s where I’m at”. If he keeps up at his current pace it may be a lot sooner than that. Team Takedown’s motto is “Turning Great Wrestlers into Ultimate Fighters” this certainly holds true with Rosholt.

Jake Rosholt vs. Chad Jay – Part One

Jake Rosholt vs. Chad Jay – Part Two

“J-Lau’s” next opponent is also a native Bostonian, Kenny “Ken-Flo” Florian who’s a Black Belt in BJJ and a Muay Thai fighter under Mark Dellegrotte. I asked Joe how he’s planning on dealing with Florian? “Put him on his ass, but I’m not afraid to stand with him either”. Lauzon has showed he can stand in there with a good striker (just ask Jens Pulver), but grappling and submission’s are where he’s most dangerous. Does he feel any added pressure fighting in the Main Event? “ To a certain extent, as far as the media, but I don’t care whether I’m fighting in the first fight or the last fight, I just care about winning”. A win over Florian who has fought for the title (a decision loss to Sean Sherk) would certainly move him closer to a title shot, but Lauzon isn’t concerned with that yet. “ I don’t want to look that far ahead, right now I’m 100% focused on Kenny”.

With the Lightweight Division being so stacked one loss could send him back down the ladder, but Joe doesn’t see it that way. “ There’s so many good guy’s that half of them have to lose, losing a fights not a big deal. If you start dropping a couple in a row then it starts to be a problem”. Going 3-0 in the Octagon (stopping all his opponents) Joe hasn’t had to worry about that. For now he’s only concerned about his next opponent. It’s Lauzon’s focus, determination and sheer will that has gotten him this far. This winning combination will surely enable him to ride the MMA wave all the way to the top.

After being an assistant coach on The Ultimate Fighter for three seasons, his school has grown. “ After the first season attendance spiked”, but Marc says “ there’s more quality than quantity” regarding his fighters. When asked, who are the next big names in MMA he didn’t hesitate. Laimon said, “Pretty soon everybody’s going to know the name Jake Rosholt, when he take’s that belt in the UFC.” That’s a bold statement considering Jakes a middleweight. Does that mean taking the belt from Anderson Silva? “ That’s tough to say, I think there are some other guy’s who could take him out. If Lindland (Matt) was in the UFC I think he would beat Anderson Silva”. Eric Bradley, Johny Hendricks and Shane Roller are some of the other names Marc say’s we’ll be hearing soon.

You can hear the passion Laimon has for the sport as he talks of the next generation of fighters we’ll be seeing. “ The next few years you’re going to see some real athletes. Right now the athleticism is low because there’s no money in it. Once there’s that big payday, you’re going to start drawing the real athletes out, and it’s going to be real exciting, I can’t wait! The Jake’s, Johnnie’s, Shane’s, and Bradley’s are going to really push this sport into the next generation, kind of open peoples eye’s to what real athletes, and real professional MMA fighter’s are”. He also stated that right now “ from 185 and up in MMA, overall is weak, I mean they have some guys, but I don’t think their talent level is there, and the guy’s that do have it are at the tail end of their careers”. So when Rosholt gets there? “He’s gonna mess people up, I mean I wish I could clone this kid and let them fight, the kids a freak”.

Laimon doesn’t just work with up-and-comers, although that’s what he’s been concentrating on, “ I’m really focusing on the up-and-comers, their work ethic is there and I believe in these guys 110 %.” This is not to discredit his work with some of the more seasoned professionals he works with. As a trainer you want to work with the very best and Laimon certainly has the roster Joe “Daddy” Stevenson, Jay Heiron, Kendal “Da Spyda” Grove and Jason “Mayhem” Miller are just a sampling. UFC Heavyweight Heath Herring recently asked, after his fight with Cheik Kongo, if Laimon would have him back. Apparently “ The Texas Crazy Horse” thought he was going to be in a stand-up battle with the French Kickboxer. Turned out most of the action was on the ground and Herring barely took the win. Now he’s looking to Laimon for some help on his ground game. When asked if he would work with Herring again Laimon certainly didn’t rule it out but stated that they had not discussed it. The competition is getting tougher and even the top tier fighters cannot simply get by with a one-dimensional strategy.

There are many getting involved in this sport to just make a buck, Laimon simply wants to see it grow, and only with the very best of athletes. He has a real passion for the new guys—as he should. MMA is just now starting to become mainstream. Athletes from every genre are cross training trying to catch the wave. MMA gyms are popping up from the cities to the suburbs. Eventually they will have to be weeded out. If you are looking for the very best up and comers in this great sport, look no further than the fighters being produced by Marc Laimon at Cobra Kai.