Ed West MMA UFC Ultimate Fighter Don Frye IFL

ED WEST

“I Look Forward to Putting on Some More Good Fights”

21 Sept. ’06, photos © IFL

Although Ed’s first International Fight League bout was awarded to his opponent, Chris Horodecki, after having to be decided by the judges, the pair put on a tough battle at IFL: Portland that received the thumbs-up from the crowd, and was awarded Fight of the Night.

Now back in Tucson, Arizona, Ed West is at home in his kitchen, preparing a meal with his brother, when he’s interrupted for an interview – the price of being an MMA star!

Ed generously puts the banquet on hold to retell the story of how he grew up in Alongapo: “My dad was in the services there when I was born. I attended kindergarten and first grade in the Philippines, before I moved to the States with Mom and Dad when I was six,” says West.

A few years after arriving in America, Ed became involved in the fighting arts. “There was nothing better to do for a kid who grew up watching Van Damme movies and playing video games: It was just the natural course to take. I was always athletic and I got into very generic martial arts when I was about nine years old and kept going from there.”

Then at sixteen, Ed happened to cross paths with a guy who told him he was a cage fighter. This led to West traveling down the road of mixed martial arts. “I had only been doing, like I said, the more generic styles like karate, tae kwon do, kung fu…you know, crap like that…It was just when UFC was getting noticed. And the guy said: ‘I’m a cage fighter.’ I said, ‘Really? I’ve gotta see this.’ I got my ass beat and I’ve been doing MMA ever since.

“My first fight was in March of ’03. I’d trained for a couple of years and I decided to jump in there. I’d seen it on TV and I always wanted to do it.”

West is currently studying at Pima Community College in Tucson, which, as a fighter and athlete, was also a natural course for him to take. “I’m doing nutrition and sports medicine: I kinda just chose it to help myself out more than anything.”

Ed, you’ve won the Rage In The Cage and Desert Quest lightweight championships. Did the IFL recruit you while you were competing in one of those competitions?

“No, I did Rage in the Cage a couple of months ago and another grappling tournament, and I’m always on the lookout for when my next fight is going to be. Then a buddy of mine called and told me they were putting a team together for the IFL, and was wondering if I was interested. IFL – that’s the big league, so I had to say yes. I’d be a fool to say no.”

What are your hobbies outside of MMA?

“Outside of MMA? I’m probably a dull, boring guy. I play lots of video games… No, I play tons of video games. Other than that I hang out with my friends and watch TV. I like to relax. I work out all the time and it’s kinda stressful – whether I’m doing cardio, or strength training, or whatever I’m doing on that day, so with any of my hobbies, I like to relax and kick back without expending too much energy.”

What’s it like having Ken Yasuda as your coach?

“I had never met Ken before the fight. I wasn’t sure who would be my coach, or who was going to be in my corner, or anything. But I found out later that Ken is a big bodybuilder in Japan, so it was good to talk to him and get his inside on training, because he had a lot of good things to tell me as far as nutrition, and conditioning… because he’s a really good bodybuilder. So it was good to talk to him and to get his aspects from a training standpoint. It turned out to be pretty beneficial.”

Did he help you from the fighting side or was he more involved in the conditioning?

“As far as the fighting goes, I don’t know if anybody in my corner was a fighter. I know that Ken has experience as a fighter, and he knows what he is doing, so I’d definitely listen to him if he had something to tell me, but I never trained with him. I hadn’t met him before that fight.”

So who do you train with? Do you have a trainer?

“For the most part I train myself or with a couple of my buddies. Another guy who was on that same card – he was in The Ultimate Fighter and his name’s Shane Johnson – he also fought that night and he won by knockout. I train with him a lot and we’re good friends. Also Amos Sotelo was on that card. The three of us are from Tucson and we get to work out together and have our own little team down here and train real hard, fighting in the local shows down here: Rage in the Cage and stuff.

“We didn’t get to train with the Sabres. The rest of the guys on the team – like Tom Howard, John Cole, and Kazuhiro Hamanaka – those guys we’d never worked out with. We took pictures with them, but I was told we made the team because a couple of their guys dropped out. But we never trained with them, except for the week of the fight, at the hotel. That was really it.”

What’s next for you?

“I really don’t know, but I would love to go back to the IFL. As far as the Sabres go, we just signed for that one fight. But I got to display my skills and I feel really good about it. I know Don Frye, who I’ve trained with here in Tucson, is putting a team together, and he asked Shane and me what we were doing as far as the IFL goes. We definitely want to fight in the IFL again.”

Then there’s a possibility something could be happening with Don’s team?

“I know he’s putting a team together – the Scorpions or whatever – and they want them ready for the ’07 season. Don’s talked to Shane and me, but…”

Was your bout in Portland a close one?

“It was closer once I saw the tape. It did look good. We got Fight of the Night and they told me they’d have me back. But even then I didn’t know how it looked. Everybody told me it was a good fight, but I didn’t get a chance to watch it till the other night, and it did look like a pretty good fight.”

And it was close?

“I like to think it was. I could have done more, and I’m sure everyone says that after they watch their fights. But the crowd seemed to like it.”

Ed, is there anything you’d like to add?

“I had a blast, I hope I was entertaining, and I look forward to putting on some more good fights.”

Your sponsors?

“Running with Scissors.”