Hi Tom, could you please tell us a little about your history and how you got in to Martial Arts?
I started out as a fan of Martial Arts when I was a kid. I was raised on the beach in California and always enjoyed surfing and training on the beach.
I eventually started training in various Martial Arts and then, as I got older, I got into amateur wrestling and weight training. I found myself at a point where I wanted to do something bigger with it all and this led me to Pro Wrestling.
I was never a big fan of the American soap opera style of Pro Wrestling where the wrestlers scream at each other. I preferred the Japanese style where it really looked like a fight but you got to see a lot of cool techniques that you would never see in a real fight.
Once I completed training in wrestling (2 years), I got recruited to wrestle in Mexico on television. I spent 2 years doing that and travelling all over the country until I got a little burned out and returned to the states. I was offered a deal from WWF (now WWE) and toured with them for a year but never really fit into the style.
They kept me under contract and made me an instructor for new talent and I really took a liking to that. That was when I got to train a lot of the MMA guys that were considering doing wrestling like Mark Coleman, Mark Kerr, Kevin Randleman, Kimo and Bas Rutten. I think that’s when I first dreamt of competing in MMA.
So how did you make the move from Pro Wrestling to MMA?
I eventually got an offer to wrestle in Japan and that is where I really found a home for myself. At the time the matches in Japan were MMA style where we wore gloves and went to submission or KO. I spent several years working in Japan and then got recruited to work for K1.
This was at the time when K1 was signing guys from different backgrounds that would bring publicity like Akebono, Don Fry and Gary Goodridge. It was a big jump because I didn’t take the traditional route of doing a ton of amateur matches and working my way up. My first match was the big New Years Eve show in front of something like 60,000 live fans with nearly half the country watching at home on TV.
I had an eight fight contract and spent the next two years collecting a variety of stitches, staples and lovely new scars doing both stand up and MMA. It was a very humbling experience to say the least.
Are you looking forward to fighting on Cage Rage for the first time? What attracted you to competing in the UK?
I am excited to see the U.K. and meet the people as I have only really been once on a layover at Heathrow on the way to South Africa. I have heard some great things about Cage Rage and it sounds like a top notch organization, so I am honored to be able to compete for them. I look forward to making them proud.
Your opponent will be Tom Blackledge. What do you know about him?
I have heard nothing but good things about him. He’s a solid overall fighter and a class act. I am looking forward to a real battle out there. This should be a great test of all my training and hard work.
How are you preparing for the fight?
I own a dojo in Dallas, Texas so I am lucky enough to be in the training environment all the time. I am trying to spend as much time as I can, doing stand up sparring during the day and ground work at night. I have finally learned to relax and enjoy myself instead of going out there and using so much strength and energy right away.
I look back on all of the fights that I have lost and realize that I generally went out and manhandled my opponents in the beginning and then kind of got tired and fell apart. As they say, you learn the most from your losses, so I have done some serious learning. That was a huge obstacle to overcome.
You competed several times in both K-1, MMA and Kick Boxing. How was your time competing for the promotion?
K1 is true Martial Arts with all of the principles of honor, respect and discipline held in the highest regard. The fighters and staff are such high level people that I learned a lot just from just being around them. It was truly an honor.
Will you be fighting more in 2007?
I think I have a little different view of life than most fighters. I like to do a little bit of everything. There were so many goals that I had – wrestling, fighting, teaching, movies, TV, stunt work, owning gyms/dojo’s, traveling, family – I have been fortunate enough to do a little bit of all of it and realized that I don’t necessarily have the desire – which equates to discipline – to make it to the top of any of them.
I guess my journey may be to be more of a jack of all trades and master of none. I am working towards the big picture goal of balance in all that I do, and there are so many more things that I want to do in life.
Is there anything you would like to add for the MMA Universe readers?
If there is anything I have learned from my crazy ride through life it would be to follow your heart and dreams. There is a quote from Theodore Roosevelt that I particularly like that goes:
"It is not the critic who counts; nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at the worst if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."
Now to me, this applies to everyone, what ever your passions and dreams may be, make it happen!
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MMA Universe
