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Part
2 “I’m Ready to Go”
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Marc Wickert On
December 27, 2008, ‘Bad’ Brad Blackburn will be mixing it up with
Ryo ‘Piranha’ Chonan (15-6-0) at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas,
for UFC 92: The Ultimate 2008. Brad,
a former IFL star, gave UFC fans a sneak preview of his skills at Fight
Night 14, when he defeated James Giboo via a leaping knee, followed by
other miscellaneous strikes. Unfortunately, Brad sustained some
injuries during the fight, but he says he’s now right to go for UFC
92. “I’ve
been doing good. Of course I had to have my thumb connected back
to my hand, so I had a cast on for a while. Then I fractured my
right hand, which resulted in my having two messed up hands in the last
fight. But everything’s right now: I’m ready to go,” says
Blackburn. At
the time of this interview Brad is in Seattle talking to Knucklepit.com
between workouts. “I had my first session at 10 this morning,
when I did a couple of rounds of just wrestling, went over some ground
technique, and then did circuit training. I will start again
somewhere between five and seven this evening. I run Monday,
Wednesday and Friday; Tuesday and Thursday mornings I do wrestling and
circuit training.” When
we last spoke with Brad he was in the Tigersharks and being coached by
Maurice Smith, but that is all in the past. “I train with Dennis
Hallman, Carlos Fernandez – my boxing coach, and Reese Andy at West
Coast Fitness. But I train with quite a few people. I bounce
around gyms; however, for the most part those are the people I train
with consistently. “Drew
Fickett still comes up here every once in a while… He hasn’t been
here for a while, but I’m trying to get him to come up again… He
comes up every couple of months and he’ll stay for about a month.” Brad,
what’s it like not having to fight every two months or so the way you
did in the IFL? “I
like it better because you get burnt out fighting too regularly. You
fight every two months and it’s like there are no breaks at all.
You’re body needs a break and you can’t take one because you’ve
got to fight in two months. You’re constantly fighting and
training through injuries, and I don’t think it’s good. I
think about three times a year is good to take a fight.” What
things do you miss about the IFL? “I
don’t miss much. The people who were my friends are still my
friends, and I have a similar training atmosphere to what I did then.
Actually, my training situation continues to get better here and I still
train with the same people as in the IFL, so I don’t miss much. “IFL
wasn’t my cup of tea. I’m a professional fighter and
ultimately it’s an individual sport and you have to do what’s best
for your career. IFL went down, but then I got another opportunity
with UFC so I’m fine. I like the fact that I don’t have to
fight every two months.” Going
from four-minute rounds to five-minute rounds won’t be a problem? “No,
because I’m training properly now. I’ll definitely be ready
for the five-minute rounds. I think the biggest adjustment for IFL
fighters, which isn’t that big of a deal, is we didn’t throw elbows
on the ground – that’s the only thing. I train for whatever
I’m going to do, so I’ll be fine. That’s probably the
biggest difference between IFL and other organizations. “Also,
I do like the cage a lot. I think the cage is better and safer for
fighters. They say it’s easier for people to watch the ring if
they are accustomed to doing so, but the ring also gets in the way of
the fight. If somebody’s going to take you down and you get all
twisted up in the ropes… But you know the cage is always there.
If you’re going backwards into the cage you know it’s going to be
there, it doesn’t mess up your fight – you can keep going, so I do
like it better in the cage.” You
and Reese Andy are both on the UFC 92 card. Are we likely to see
Shad Lierley or any other former Tiger Sharks competing in the UFC? “I
know Shad has applied to go on the next TUF; we’ll see what happens
there.” When
we last talked, you said you wanted to be recognized as being one of the
best fighters in the world. Do you see your debut at UFC 92 as
being another step towards achieving that recognition? “I do. My goal in Fight Night 14 was to dominate and that is what happened. Of course, in my next fight with Ryo Chonan, I know he’s a top opponent, but I want to make it look like he shouldn’t even be in there with me. That’s my plan – I mean I respect him as a fighter, but… Things don’t always go to plan; however my plan is to overwhelm him. And people will think, ‘Hey, what is this? Was that luck? Did Brad just get lucky?’ I want to beat him so bad that people will just wonder if I got lucky or not.”
At
UFC 92, do you think there could be a lot of fans who won’t be aware
of your extensive MMA background? “I
do think there will be a lot of people – a lot of UFC and Pride fans.
I think a lot of people will be solely going off my record and not on
how I’ve been performing, hence they’ll be expecting Chonan to walk
through me and have an easy fight. Probably half the people will
have an idea who I am, but I think a lot still won’t know ’cause
they didn’t air my last fight either. If they’d aired my last
fight then that would be totally different.” When
Chris Wilson made his UFC debut, it was like he came in off the street
– they didn’t know of his extensive background either. “Yeah;
same thing. People were going, ‘Oh, I’m surprised Chris Wilson
did so good with Fitch.’ I’m like, ‘Why?’ I thought he
could have done better: I honestly wasn’t happy with Chris’s
performance in the second and third rounds. It looked to me like
Chris was happy to be there in the ring with Jon Fitch; it didn’t look
to me like Chris fought to his ability. I expected more out of
him, but he did well in his last fight with Bruno.” Even
if fans go off your 12-9-1 record, that doesn’t cover all your MMA
fights, does it? “No,
I’ve had about eight fights that aren’t on there.” What
do you know about Ryo Chonan? “I
know Chonan is a good fighter; he’s unpredictable; he’ll do tricky
stuff here and there, so you gotta stay on your toes. He might do
stuff you’ve never seen before… I think he’s good everywhere but
not great anywhere, but that’s what makes him good: being well
rounded. And he’ll take it to you. He’s not afraid to
exchange, he’s not afraid to grapple, he’s a game fighter. If
you’re not on your toes he’ll take you out.” You’ve
touched on my next question: Chonan defeated a less experienced Anderson
Silva by flying scissor heel-hook. Will you be on the lookout for
some of his weird techniques, or will you just treat him like any other
opponent? “Well,
I am going to treat him like any other opponent, but I’m probably
going to be a little more alert and on my toes with all his tricky crap.
He came out of nowhere when he did that to Anderson Silva. I’ll
try to be more alert and I probably won’t be doing high-risk maneuvers,
like say if I hurt him I probably won’t jump on him too quickly
because he’s real tricky.” You’ve
been boxing since you were 22 and have outstanding jabs and KO rights.
Will Ryo’s plan be to take you down straight away? “I
would expect him to mix it up and ultimately, I think, most likely… Of
course, things don’t always go as planned: Fighters are always
developing and he’s training with a good camp, so I can’t guarantee
what he’s going to do or how he’s going to perform… But I think
most likely, he’s going to try to exchange, and after a few exchanges
he’s going to want to take it down. “I
plan on keeping it on the feet and just making it a kickboxing match,
and I’ve been wrestling a lot so that I can do that.” Although
you have outstanding hands, you’re not a slacker with your ground
game, are you? “No,
my ground game is really good. It’s just that I feel my best
chance of winning is on the feet, so I keep it there. But my
wrestling is good, my jiu jitsu is good. I’m comfortable if it
does go down and I’m confident that I will get back up.” You
had exceptional cardio in the IFL. Will that be a problem for him? “In
the IFL I had cardio; before that I didn’t have cardio. If you
look before the IFL, any of my losses happened after the first round,
and my wins were in the first round. That was just because of
being exhausted: It had nothing to do with skills or anything like
that.” But
now, against Chonan, do you expect your cardio to be a problem for him? “I
hope so. I know he’s training with Dan Henderson and Dan knows
me, so he’s not going to be going off my record – Dan knows I’m a
good fighter and I think he’s going to have Chonan ready to go.
But I do hope my cardio is going to be an advantage for me. “I
want this to be a fight, because right now I’m going to be in the best
shape. I’m right on track to be in the best shape I’ve ever
been in for a fight. If we’re not fighting, I won’t get to use
my conditioning as an advantage; therefore I’m going to try to make
this a fight and stay busy the whole time. Then towards the end,
I’m going to make my cardio be an advantage for me. So when that
bell rings, I’m going.” Brad
Blackburn’s sponsors? “www.cagefreak.com.” Brad,
is there anything you’d like to add? “When that bell goes I’m going to be ready to go: I’m fighting. I’m not going to be bouncing around my opponent.”
BRAD BLACKBURN A Good Laugh With a Bad, Bad Man
©
Marc Wickert photos
© IFL For
a top welterweight, known as ‘Bad’ Brad Blackburn, this IFL fighter
sure knows how to have a good laugh. And his laugh is infectious,
because Brad’s born to party - whether he’s inside or outside the
ring, he’s just a happy guy. And he makes everyone around him feel
good – with maybe the exception of his opponents. Brad
has just arrived home at the time of this interview. “I was out
practicing – doing full-contact sparring with Dennis Hallman, Drew
Fickett, Wesley Welsh, and Joey Guel,” says Blackburn. Fighting
for the IFL means Brad’s fights go for four-minute rounds rather than
the five-minute rounds that many other MMA events such as UFC employ.
Blackburn believes the main difference is that the four-minute round
generates more jam-packed action. “Well
when you’re watching them you can’t really tell the difference. And
when you’re fighting, of course it’s going to have a little more
action, because in the back of your mind you know you’re fighting for
four minutes – not five, but no matter what, you go. Like if somebody
tells you you’ve got a twenty-minute round, you’re not going to be a
firecracker the whole time – you know you’ve got twenty minutes. So
it probably gives a little more action, I would say.” Brad
normally goes for a run at six in the morning, but he missed today’s
outing because he has a match coming up on the weekend. And he only runs
on a couple of days during fight week, as the activity is not his main
conditioning preparation for a bout. “Your
muscles and body have to be conditioned for what you are doing. I’m
not getting ready for a track meet – I’m getting ready for a fight
and for going to the ground. You get a kickboxer and you grapple with
him for three minutes, and he’s done. You get a wrestler and you make
him stand up for three minutes, and he’s done. You’ve got to be
conditioned for everything in this sport. “What
I did today was… when I wrestle and grapple I go rounds… They did
‘iron man’ on me – they took turns wearing me out. I got a fresh
guy every two minutes.” Lucky
you, Brad. “I
didn’t feel lucky. It was the absolute worst damn practice I’ve had
since I started training for this fight. I felt kinda bad today.” How
many days a week do you do weights? “On
average, I do weights four days a week.” Do
you concentrate more on high reps or poundage? “Higher
reps and explosive. I do poundage for deadlifts and squats, but for
everything else, I do higher reps.” Boxing
was your first fighting art. What made you make the switch to MMA? “When
MMA guys trained at the same gym and I practiced with them for one day
and I felt like a little girl, I figured I was in the wrong sport,”
laughs Brad. “I was like, ‘Damn,’ because I’m a good boxer.
‘Man, you guys kicked my butt. I’m in the wrong sport.’ I started
training with them ever since that happened.” How
did you get your ground skills? “From
MMA – practicing with wrestling and jiu jitsu guys. I don’t have a
wrestling background; I started boxing when I was twenty-two; nothing
before that. I didn’t even do sports when I was in high school.” Your fighting system is listed as pankration on the IFL site. Have you competed in pankration or is that just the style you work in? “That’s
just the style. To my knowledge, the word means ‘all power’, and I
try to be strong in all avenues of the sport.” Although
you’re a true mixed martial artist, do you prefer to stand and bang? “I do prefer to bang: Whether it be on the ground or on the feet, I prefer to hit. Honestly, if there’s a submission there I’ll go for it, but I’d rather just hold position and hit.”
Against Rory Markham, you won the first round. Did you literally drop your guard in the second round and come out too eager to finish him off? “You
know what, I just came out flat-footed. I do feel in that fight that I
was okay when the ref stopped it. I wish the ref did not stop it. When I
first fell I was rattled. But by the time the ref stopped it I was okay.
I could have continued. “But
I just came out to a slow start: I don’t know, it’s hard to explain,
I just came out flat-footed. You can see at the start of the round that
I was fixing the string on my shorts… I don’t know, man, I don’t
really have an answer for that one except
- shit happens.” I noticed when the ref did stop it, you weren’t happy about the stoppage – you wanted to bat on. But you can’t change that now, of course. “No,
and that’s why I didn’t complain when it was all over. But right
when the ref stopped it, I said, ‘What are you doing? This is MMA: You
don’t stop it like a boxing match when I fall. Let him get on me and
start hitting me a few times before you stop it. I trained two months
for this damn fight’.” Are you likely to get a rematch through a Tiger Sharks vs. Silverbacks meeting down the track? “Yes.
I’d like a rematch: I felt that it was unfinished business. But I’m
not denying that I got caught. I was rattled, but by the time the ref
stopped it I was okay. So yes, I’m definitely looking forward to a
rematch. That would have been the difference in my team winning, too.” So
the team aspect is important to you guys?
Brad, I’ll just quote you here from the IFL site… Your approach to this game is: “I want to be recognized as one of the best fighters in the world, and I want to fight the best fighters in the world.” Is that correct? “That’s
correct. That’s my motto. I want people to think I’m one of the best
– belts come and go – I just want to fight the best and be
recognized as being one of the best. And hopefully the money’s
there.” Are
your most lethal weapons your overhand right and your powerful jab? “With
my jab, now – with this thing Maurice’s got me doing. I’ve got to
give Maurice credit for getting me to pump that jab out there. He did
get me to add that to my stand-up game. But my right hand has always
been a little sneaky – I’ve had several knockouts with it that they
don’t have on Sherdog.” Against Gusto Machado, you seemed disappointed that it was a split decision. Do you think it should have been unanimous? “Well
that was the first decision I ever won in my career. Right when they
said split decision, I was like, ‘Oh, gees, I lost,’ because I
can’t seem to win a decision to save my life. So I thought, ‘Here we
go again.’ That was the first decision I ever won.” What’s
it like having Maurice Smith as your team coach? “Well,
ha ha, Maurice is definitely somebody who can definitely improve my
stand-up game and make it stronger – tighten everything up. He has a
lot of experience; he helps me with conditioning which I feel was my
biggest downfall, because every fight I’ve lost – except for my last
one with Rory – was through conditioning. And when I fought Machado
that was the first time I actually fought for three rounds in
twenty-three fights. And I felt good for the three rounds. So Maurice
helped me with that too.” When
is your next fight? “This
Saturday, September 9. I’m fighting Chris Wilson.” Are
you looking forward to it? “Yeah,
it should be a good fight. He’s a good striker; he likes to strike;
he’s tall; and he has good jiu jitsu… So, it sounds like the makings
of an exciting fight. It doesn’t sound like I’m going to have any
easy ones in the IFL.” You said you wanted to fight the best. “I sure did, and I sure do,” laughs Brad again.
Brad
Blackburn’s stats: Nickname:
Bad MMA
record: 16-8-1 Division:
Welterweight Stance:
Orthodox Height:
5’10” Date
of birth: 25 May ’77 Birthplace:
Los Angeles Training
out of: Seattle’s West Coast Fitness Center Home:
Olympia, Washington Team:
Tiger Sharks. Coach: Maurice Smith
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