Benji Radach is a fighter who's career could have been cut short on numerous occasions. But he's managed to maneuver through numerous obstacles and made his way into the IFL this year with the Los Angeles Anacondas. Now Radach is getting ready to fight Gerald Harris in the IFL semifinals coming up on August 2nd. Radach took some time to talk to 411Mania.com about everything from his bout to his career and everything in between in this exclusive interview.
Looking at your career so far you have a very impressive record at 15-3 but you have a three-year gap in your career from 2004 until the beginning of 2007. Explain the layoff to our readers that started after your loss to Chris Leben at Sportfight in 2004.
It started out when I had a spider bite in my calf that ate a golf ball size hole in my leg. I ended up getting a bad staph infection from it. I had to pack two or three feet of gauze in there every night and spray a bunch of brown iodine in there to make sure it was clean. I was just trying to get over that when I took the fight with Chris. I ended up going into the fight and I knew I could just tough it out and probably win the fight anyway. I was doing a good job and then I got caught in the last round and broke my jaw. It broke in two spots, there was a section of bone and molar about an inch or two inches long that ripped the gums. There was this dark purple blood coming out and the referee saw that and he called the fight. After that I started heeling up from that and rolling around a little bit to stay in shape. I decided to take a fight up in the Tacoma Dome in Washington State. I was training with a bunch of guys at American Top Team West and I had been having this pain in my traps and my back and shoulder and arm for about two years.
Finally one night training for this fight it got really painful and my tricep swelled up. It was painful as hell. The next morning I tried to get up out of bed and I couldn't even get up. I couldn't get up, do a push-up, I couldn't even flex my pec or my right tricep. I waited two months because I working as an electrician full time at the time. I was wiring this big job at the time and I was the only guy on the job so I waited two months until I got surgery so I could finish the job. In those two months I lost my right pec and right tricep clear to the bone. There was no muscle there at all. So I got the surgery and it's still not back all the way but it's coming along.
Then I got this deal with American Top Team, Ricardo Liborio called me and asked if I wanted to teach wrestling to the competition team. I was like, "Hell yea." He paid me a salary and my housing to come out and heal up, get in shape and start teaching wrestling and get back into the fight game. Everything was going great then about six months into it I tore my meniscus. I already had a torn ACL in my right leg. I got that racing dirt bikes when I was 10. I never got that fixed because I was too young and I guess the tendon they were going to put in my leg wouldn't grow with my body. So I went and had the surgery, they put a cadaver Achilles tendon in for my ACL and fixed my meniscus. Well, about two weeks later it exploded. My knee was twice the size of my thigh.
It was the worst pain I ever had in my life. It was this totally intense pain I can't even explain it. It wasn't even a throb. It was just so intense. It took me three months to recover. I had a catheter in my arm all the way to my heart. A nurse came to my house to take blood and give me antibiotics twice a day. So I made it through that and now I'm back on track and I jumped into the IFL. Everything is coming along and I've been successful so far and I've been winning every fight so far and I've got another one coming.
Wow. I mean how did you deal with all this mentally with that long layoff and how are you still impacted by all this?
I think it built character in me. It made me almost give up a couple of times. I kept wondering if there was some higher power that kept telling me that this is not what I'm meant to do. All these thoughts kept going through my head that were horrible. But I just kept good spirits and tried to keep a good attitude through the whole thing and moved forward. I'm pretty happy that I did because everything seems to be working out the way I wanted to.
What motivated you to keep going?
Just the love of the sport. I don't know really. A lot of people asked me that and it's kind of hard to explain. It's something that's just in you.
You're first fight back came in February of this year as part of the LA Anacondas with the IFL. You ended up beating Ryan McGivern by TKO in the first but were there any nerves leading up to that fight and how did you end up joining the Anacondas to begin with?
Oh, total nerves. My first fight out I was fighting one of the best guys in the league at the time. Ryan is a tough opponent for anybody. I wanted a couple of tune-up fights to knock the dust off but it didn't happen. In one way it's great because it said, "Here's Benji, he's back." The first fight back I won and I finished him, so it was pretty cool. The other question was how I got on the team. Bas Rutten was a friend of mine for a long time and he actually asked me in Japan to be on the team before IFL had even started. I was still dealing with some of the injuries trying to heal up. I still had hardly any muscle in my right tricep and right pec. I told him I'd love to but just give me some time. So he hired Mike Pyle for the spot and he went through one year before leaving for the Showtime deal. So the spot came open and he called me asked me if I wanted the spot. I jumped on and it's been a great trip so far.
At the start of the season you had "El Guapo" Bas Rutten as your coach on the Anacondas then after the March event he left that spot and Shawn Tompkins took over. I know everyone's said they haven't really missed a beat so what have been some of the differences between Bas's coaching style and Shawn's?
The thing with Bas is he teaches a little more MMA, Shawn is more straight kickboxing in my mind. Bas is a little more versatile in the MMA situation. It doesn't hurt me too much because I need more kickboxing. I hardly ever kick. I just throw my hands and use my wrestling and do what I need to do ground and pound. Another thing with Bas too is when he's teaching it hurts badly. All the submissions he teaches are meant to hurt you and break something. They're both great coaches though, I'm pretty happy.
Can I get you to tell us which coach you like better?
Bas is a better friend but I love them both, they're both great. I think that a lot of guys need the help; there bodies can't absorb the abuse so they choose to use a little bit in their training.
Before we get to your fight and the team bout, I want to touch on the big MMA news. Both Sean Sherk and Hermes Franca tested positive for steroids after their lightweight title fight at UFC 73: Stacked. I know you fought Sherk during your stint in the UFC. What are your thoughts on what's quickly turning into an epidemic with all these fighters testing positive for performance enhancing drugs?
I think everyone has their own ideas about that kind of stuff. I think there's a majority of fighters out there who train with some kind of testosterone or something sometimes. I think that a lot of guys need the help; there bodies can't absorb the abuse so they choose to use a little bit in their training. It's unfortunate they use them when they go in to compete. You're going to get tested and you're going to fail. It's something that everybody knows. You should figure it out and stop. So it's a bummer that they chose to do that and it's going to hinder a wonderful performance they both had. They're going to look bad in the public eye. They're still great athletes but its like (Barry) Bonds, he's one of the best athletes in the world and they're all trying to take it away from him because he had some kind of testosterone in his body.
What impact do you think this is going to have on the sport as a whole?
This is going to have absolutely no impact on the sport just because the sport is the sport. It's a sport that's not chess. It's not tennis. It's a rough battle; guys are out there to mash each other up. It's just a little different than every other sport so I think it absolutely does not hurt the sport at all. I think it's going to continue to get bigger and bigger like it is. It hasn't even reached the top yet. It's pretty exciting to see the sport go this way. The steroid thing is always horrible but I don't think it's going to have any impact on the sport.
While Sherk has yet to comment on the positive test, Franca came out in a statement apologizing for taking steroids saying it was something he felt he had to do. You come away from reading his statement understanding the pressures he was under. As a fighter, do you feel these pressures that you NEED to fight?
Yea. I mean you have the pressure not to do steroids but the pressure to do your best and perform well. You're representing your team, you're representing your family and you're representing all these things. So you want to do your best and perform well especially when you're up against someone like Sean Sherk. He's going to grind you out to a decision or pound your face in. He's really aggressive and has tons of cardio. So I could understand his quote on that one.
Taking a look now at the semifinals coming up, you're slated to fight Gerald Harris. How's your training going and what do you know about this guy?
What I know about him is he's a great wrestler, he's explosive and he hits hard. That's about it. I think he's pretty new to the sport. He doesn't have much for submissions and this and that. I think I should have more to bring to the table. I think he could catch me with a big punch and maybe knock me out but I think the majority of the fight is going to go my way. I think my wrestling is good enough to where he's going to have trouble with it and I'm going to hit him hard. Let's see how he reacts to that.
Talk about the difference between facing a Gerald Harris who has very little tape out there on him to facing Ryan McGivern who you beat earlier this year and who has 15 fights to his name?
There's one video (of Harris) I watched with Fabio Leopoldo. He pretty much dismantled Fabio and Fabio is one of the best guys at 185. Watching that win he looked really good. He powered out of all the submissions and landed huge punches. It's a big difference being able to watch tons of video because you can see habits a guy has and he won't get rid of. You can pick him apart that way. I mean I just saw that (Leopoldo) fight and I know what I'm up against. He's a tough wrestler with a hard punch. I'm going to try and defend his takedowns and make him frustrated and make him stand up. I think the odds are in my favor. I'm just going to be ready for a very tough fight. He's going to be on his A-game ready to go three rounds hard. I need to be there as well. Training hasn't been the greatest for some reason because our team hasn't been together this time. We're not the team we have been in the past because we lost a couple of guys (Chris Horodecki and Jay Hieron) so we're hurting in a couple of areas.
You just led me into my next question. The big story with this team match-up so far is who won't be fighting and for you guys it's two huge losses in lightweight Chris Horodecki and welterweight Jay Hieron. Talk about what those losses do to this team.
It's big. It's just so hard to say because it's MMA and fights could go either way. In my mind I think we had an ace in the hole at 155 and Jay Hieron is one of the best guys in his weight class at 170. We had that 1, 2. To lose those guys, it's hard to replace them. Those guys are a big part of the team and them dropping out could be brutal.
What about their replacements, Adam DiSabato (lightweight) and Chris Clements (welterweight)? I know Shawn Tompkins spoke highly of both fighters. What can you tell us about them and what they bring to the table?
I don't know a whole lot about them at all and I haven't trained with them at all this time. I can't really comment on that. I got mixed feelings. We had an opportunity to grab Brad Blackburn and put him at 170 and that was my choice but I'm not the coach. I have to agree with my coach and go with his choice so we'll see.
It seems like you're a bit uneasy about these two lighter weight bouts. You want to elaborate on that a bit?
I just don't know them enough. To beat the guys that we're up against we need top quality world-class fighters and I don't think these guys have the background to prove that to me.
Taking a look at the team bout overall, the Anacondas come in as the top seed. But you're facing the defending champion Quad Cities Silverbacks? Do you feel as if this is your bout to lose or are you looking at this like you're the underdogs?
In my mind I think we are because of the guys we lost. I think if we had our team together we'd go in comfortable. Now I feel like I'm walking on thin ice. It's going to be a battle. I think this team that we're fighting is the #2 team in the league besides us. We're fighting them in the semis because we beat them first and they made it all the way back through. I think if they were on the other side of the bracket we'd be meeting in the finals.
Now it wouldn't be right if I didn't ask you to give a prediction for your bout and the team bout.
I could give one on the heavyweight, light-heavyweight and mine. I hope to win. I can't go talking smack because it doesn't do anything good for you. Training hasn't been the best for me but I'm going to do my best and see what happens. Hopefully I could come out with a "w." Our heavyweight, Krzysztof Soszynski, he's going to do well. He keeps surprising me every time. He's really training hard down in Temecula in Dan Henderson's camp, which we did last time. From when he fought Ben the first time he keeps improving in every single fight. He's come a long way and he's got great cardio. I'm really excited for that fight and I think he has a chance to win. I think Alex Schoenauer, if he's in great shape, can pull it off as well. His first fight with Mike C (Mike Ciesnolevicz) was really close. I think he (Alex) would have had the fight if he had pushed it a little more at the end. It seemed like he gave up and was ok with losing.
One last question before we wrap up. Where did your nickname "Razor" come from?
Dennis Hallman gave that to me a long time ago. It was because of my fighting style and I cut people.
Is there anything else you'd like to add before we wrap this up?
I'd like to thank my sponsor Light Force Greens
Thanks a lot for joining us Benji.
Thanks a bunch.
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MMA Universe)
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