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FRANK TRIGG Put Up or Pack Up!
© Marc Wickert www.knucklepit.com All photos copyright 2004
Zuffa LLC "This is the first time in his career…definitely the first time within UFC…that Matt’s going to face someone as well-rounded, and as tough, and as aggressive as I am. "Do I think I’m going to beat the shit out of him? Yes I am. Do I think he’s better than I am? No I don’t. Am I better than he is? Yes I am. "I’m taking you down and I’m going to beat the shit out of you. And I’m going to get up and take your belt. And I’m going to go home and have a drink." Thus spoke Frank Trigg of and to Matt Hughes prior to UFC 45: Revolution. These may seem like highly optimistic words from a man making his debut in the Octagon - especially when Hughes was the then four-time UFC Welterweight Champion – and yet many MMA fans believed Trigg had the goods to take Hughes’s crown. Born May 7, 1972, in Rochester, New York, Frank Trigg took up a fighting art at an early age after a buddy invited him to come along to wrestling sessions. "My family moved to the rural area of Kendall, New York, and one of the guys I was hanging out with said, ‘Hey, when the winter comes around, do you want to try this wrestling thing?’ So I said. ‘Okay, I’ll try it out.’ I was twelve at the time and I just jumped straight into it." Frank says he was too short at 5’9" to play basketball, and that it was mainly due to a lack of things to do that he developed a love for wrestling. Trigg started the sport in sixth grade and continued to wrestle through college in New York State, before he attended Oklahoma State University, training on the US national wrestling team from 1990-1992. In 1994, Frank was named the National Athletic Association’s Wrestling Sportsman of the Year. "That’s basically given to the guy who is the best second-placer of the tournament. It’s kinda the best loser’s award," laughs Trigg. "I didn’t think it was all that big an award at the time. But I still get notices saying, ‘Congratulations: You are one of only so many guys to have ever won this award.’ It’s a lot more prestigious than I actually thought it was. I was kind of upset when they gave it to me, because it meant I was the best loser. It was kinda weird then, but now it’s regarded as a really big award." Whilst wrestling in late 1994, Frank sustained a knee injury which had him mothballed for most of 1995. But the injury wasn’t all bad. "I got a wife and daughter out of it. That’s how I met my wife: she was responsible for rehabbing my knee after the surgery. We started dating, and about two years after that, we got married." In 1996, Frank started training in judo, and was invited by his instructor to compete in Dallas, Texas. "I was pretty broke and needed to make a couple of hundred dollars, and my coach, Patrick Burris, who was a 1972 and ’76 Olympian for the US, said, ‘Do you want to make a couple of hundred bucks for beating somebody up?’ So I said, ‘Sure, let’s go do it.’ We went down there to Dallas and jumped in the fight, and I crushed, absolutely crushed the guy. And it was great." Frank’s martial arts victory in Texas was followed by his success at Oklahoma University in 1997, where he graduated with a BA in public affairs and administration. Also in that year, Trigg joined forces with Rico Chipperelli’s RAW (Real American Wrestling) Team. It wasn’t long before Frank made a name for himself on the No-Holds-Barred and submission circuits, with victories over such big names as Jean Jacques Machado, Marcelo Aguliar, Fabiano Iha, Ray Cooper, Pat Burrell and Joey Gilbert. As well as displaying outstanding grappling skills, Frank developed a signature knee-to-the-head KO technique that ended many of his N-H-B fights brutally.
Other than wrestling and judo, Trigg has been working on his boxing and jiu jitsu. "I’ve been concentrating on my striking for the last year or so. I hired a great boxing coach, Mo Drasin, and I just started getting on to striking at a more technical level. Before I pretty much just threw a bunch of punches, but now I’m actually learning how to throw punches correctly and do things right. "And I’ve been practising jiu jitsu - well not so much traditional jiu jitsu, because we do it without the gi - but I try to learn as much jiu jitsu every chance I get. I’m getting better, and starting to feel more comfortable with it. For a long time I didn’t feel at home on the ground, but now I actually feel comfortable with it down there." On November 21, 2003, Frank Trigg made his Octagon debut at UFC: 45 Revolution against the welterweight champion, Matt Hughes. And rather than being daunted by the proposition of making his first UFC appearance at the ‘deep end’, Frank was topped up with a tank full of unfaltering confidence. Although Hughes did win by rear-naked choke, Trigg did not disgrace himself and is hoping for a rematch. "When you lose because you got beaten, it’s different to losing because you made an error. I’d love to get a rematch with Matt, and hopefully it will be pretty soon." Frank agrees the welterweight class is now a very competitive division with the likes of BJ Penn, Matt Hughes, Georges St. Pierre, Renato Verissimo, Karo Parisyan and himself, and Frank believes the competitiveness of his class is mainly due to the average male falling into this weight category. "It’s just one of those deals. Even when I was wrestling, the welterweight division was the most competitive division, because it’s a bigger pool with more talent to draw from."
At UFC 48: Pay Back on June 19, 2004, Frank will be fighting Dennis Hallman whom Trigg defeated by abandonment on November 23, 2002. "I don’t understand it. There’s really not much to payback in our fight, because I beat him pretty significantly the first time, so I don’t really know what pay back he wants. And he’s not going to win this time either, but it will be interesting to see how it pans out. "Last time I fought him (WFA), I front-kicked him in the lower abdomen, and they gave him five minutes to recover because the kick was below his shorts line, but it wasn’t physically a low blow. He was running away and I was chasing him. And I couldn’t make my feet work fast enough to catch him, so I threw a front kick out there to kinda make him stop for a second, because when you kick somebody they tend to stop moving. "He claimed it was a groin shot, but when they showed the video replay, it was below the belt line, but not into the groin area. They gave him five minutes to recuperate: He said he couldn’t continue, and I was awarded the decision by abandonment." Franks believes, for UFC 48, Dennis Hallman will try to defeat him on the ground. "I’m sure he’ll try to bag me out, try to force me to shoot on him and take him down. And then he’ll work his magic on the ground: He’s a pretty good submission guy. He’s tapped out Matt Hughes twice: That’s his claim to fame. So I’m sure he’ll try to fight on his feet a little bit, try to force me to shoot on him, and try to get a quick submission on me." Trigg is super-confident about the outcome of this fight, believing there’s no room for self-doubt in MMA. "In this sport, you’ve really and truly got to go in there and believe you’re going to kick this guy’s butt, otherwise you’re going to be in danger. You really have to believe you’re going to do it. "But also, you have to be your own biggest critic. You really have to have that passion and that desire to everyday wake up and say, ‘You know what? I didn’t quite get that arm bar yesterday. I’m really going to have to learn how to get this arm bar.’ Or, ‘I really didn’t get that one-two uppercut combination. I’ve got to work on that.’ You have to be hypercritical of yourself, and if you don’t find ways to make yourself become a better athlete, it’s eventually going to catch up with you and you’re going to get hurt. "I’m my own biggest fan, but I’m also my own biggest critic. Openly, I’ll tell you, ‘Oh yeah, I’m going to beat this guy,’ but internally, I’m like, ‘Man, I’ve really got to work on this front kick.’ Or ‘I’ve really got to get my kneeing better.’ You’ve got to work at being a better fighter every day. And if you can’t do that, then you shouldn’t be fighting because you’ll end up getting hurt pretty bad." When will Aussies see Frank Trigg in Australia? "As soon as someone brings me out for a seminar. I’d actually love to come out there and do a couple of seminars. I haven’t had the opportunity yet."
Frank’s prediction for Shamrock v Kimo:
"I’ll give it to Shamrock. He did it the
first time, and he’s a little bit better technically. But it’s a
fight that could go either way. It should be a good fight, and a good
p-p-v draw, bringing a lot of fans to the show. And that’s what I
want: to be on a card like that with a lot of people coming in to
watch the show. More people will see me this time, as opposed to
before, because this time they’ll be coming to the Ken and Kimo
match. But the fight could go either way, and I’m going to give the
edge to Kenny because he’s technically a little bit better. "
Frank’s prediction for Phil Baroni v Evan
Tanner:
"Shit, I’ll give it to Baroni. Tanner was
basically looking for a place to fall down before. He kinda just
locked his way into something against Baroni last time. But I gotta be
honest with you: I don’t think Baroni should be fighting. I don’t
think the suspension should have been lifted. I think he should have
been banned for twenty-four months."
Frank’s prediction for Tim Sylvia v Frank Mir:
"Um, I don’t know. That one’s really
strange, because Sylvia could smack Mir around on his feet, but I’ve
never seen Sylvia on the ground. I’ve never seen him do anything on
the ground, and Mir is pretty soapy on the ground. So it could be
interesting to see what does happen with that one. But Mir’s never
really in good shape, and Sylvia’s never had to go the distance, so
you don’t know."
FRANK TRIGG
Part 2
The MMA DJ
 Frank Trigg expects to KO Renato in round two
© Marc Wickert
www.knucklepit.com
All photos copyright 2004 Zuffa LLC
Photography by Joshua Hedges In his previous interview with knucklepit, Frank Trigg predicted an early night for Dennis Hallman at UFC 48: Payback. Just 4.15 into round one Frank’s prediction became reality after referee MarioYamasaki stopped the fight. Trigg had ground’n’pounded his way to a quick Octagon victory (see UFC 48 review at knucklepit.com), after Hallman attempted a heel-hook submission. Prior to the match, there was a lot of bad blood between Frank and Dennis. And Trigg says the ill will was not resolved through their battle, dismissing any suggestion that they would ever become drinking buddies. But having delivered the goods, Frank was pleased with the result. "I really liked the way the fight went out. I made a couple of mistakes, but I was able to fix them in the middle of the fight, and I think it all went well. I don’t think I let my hands go as freely as I could have. I don’t think I was aggressive when we were on our feet: I could have stepped in and taken him out sooner. And I think I could have countered that heel hook a little better than I did," says Trigg. At UFC 50: The War of ’04, Frank will be competing against Renato Verissimo, and Trigg was able to observe Renato in action against Matt Hughes in an earlier fight on the UFC 48 card. "I thought it was a really good bout, and very close. I thought, depending on the judges, it could have gone either way. Renato is interior and an aggressive guy. He likes to stand and bang, and I think he’s going to give me a tough bout." Frank has been working hard to prepare for UFC 50, but hasn’t made many adjustments to his training for the Verissimo fight, and plans to do battle on his own terms with Renato, rather than focusing on competing against Verissimo’s grappling game. Frank believes it’s his superior, well-rounded skills that will win the fight for him against Renato. "I’m working on my hands a little more than I have, and working on my submission skills a bit more than normal. But other than that, everything is pretty much the go. I don’t really have to have my grappling skills match up with Renato’s. My grappling skills are obviously inferior to his. He’s obviously a better submission guy than I am. But it’s not my grappling skills I’m fighting with. I happen to be able to fight with every aspect of the game. So it’s not just my grappling." Trigg is a highly self-motivated athlete who works tirelessly to become a better fighter. It’s been 11 months since his defeat against Hughes at UFC 45: Revolution. UFC 50 will reveal just how much he has improved since his Octagon debut against Hughes. "It’s hard to tell how I’ve progressed. I’ve only had one fight since I lost to Matt. I’ve only been able to fight Dennis. So it’s going to be interesting to see how I stack up against Renato. We get our bout in a week." Frank has been training with such names as Rico Chipperelli, Boxing coach Mo Drasin, kickboxer and former UFC champ Maurice Smith, and Belarus MMA star Vladmir Matyushenko. Whilst his preparation for UFC 50 has been intense, Trigg says he hasn’t been focusing on a particular fighting style. "The training centre has been abuzz with people coming in and out of here, helping me to get ready. But no, I haven’t been focusing on any one style, just improving my overall style to improve my overall game."
Frank, do you lift weights, powerlifting style? " I do weights three days a week, but mainly weightlifting: snatch and clean and jerk. And we do a lot of squats, but it’s like weightlifting squats: front squats and squats with your butt going all the way to the ground." How’s your fitness level? "I think it’s even better than it was for Dennis (Hallman). I think my fitness has gotten really good. I feel like I’m in better shape. I think I’m more efficient in the fight game than I was before. I’m in better cardio shape and more efficient, so as a result, it makes me even better." Will this be your toughest fight? "I don’t know. I’ll let you know after I’m done." How will you win the fight? "I think I’m going to knock him out in the middle-late of the second." How do you think the Matt Hughes vs Georges St. Pierre fight will go? "Unless St. Pierre hits him early, hits him hard, you know - like as a backup punch, early, I think Matt’s just going to take him down and beat him up relatively easy." Are you still keen on a rematch with Matt Hughes? "Yeah, I sure am. And I hope I’m going to get it after I beat Renato." Frank, is there anything you’d like to add? "No. Only if MMA fans get a chance, listen to the Live Radio Show I do every day now on www.mmaweekly.com. Just click on the radio and they should be able to pull it up."
FRANK TRIGG
© Marc Wickert All photos copyright
2004 Zuffa LLC After another gut-wrenching bout, El Segundo-based fighter Frank Trigg has blasted his way back to number one contention for UFC’s welterweight belt. Frank’s match against battle-proven Renato Verissimo at UFC 50: War of ’04 was expected to be a thorn-coated yardstick for the new, improved skills of Trigg, and he certainly rose to the occasion. At the time of this interview, Frank has just landed back in Las Vegas and is driving to The House of Blues, where he will drop off some of his T-shirts and hats. "A couple of rock groups like my merchandise and I’m actually going to drop some things off while they’re doing their concert today," says Trigg. Frank also delivers the goods in the Octagon, and spreads the UFC word through his Live Radio Show every day at www.mmaweekly.com. Not surprisingly, the MMA DJ has a strong following of young fans who enjoy Trigg’s cool image, which includes a package of tatts, glitter-painted toenails, and a ‘ridin’ the breeze’ personality. "I’m more into hip-hop and R’n’B than I am into rock, but they like my gear so I’m not going to shoo them away." Back to UFC 50, and Frank is very happy with his victory over Renato. "It was a really good fight. It had the ever flow of a perfect fight where it’s almost like a movie. One guy’s kicking over the other guy, then the other guy’s kicking over. And there’s a big move where the whole thing should be over, then the guy escapes that move. Then all of a sudden it’s time…you’ve got this down time…then suddenly you’ve got to start again. It’s almost like Rocky - almost. It was a good fight." Prior to the match, Frank predicted in Knucklepit (Frank Trigg Part 2) that he’d knock out Verissimo "in the middle-late of the second round." His prediction proved to be extremely accurate. "I was within, I think, 15 seconds of that prediction." After his Octagon victory, Trigg celebrated quietly, taking the sweet smell of success in his stride, rather than partying on. "I went upstairs and took a shower, then made a few phone calls. Talked to my brother in Usbekistan for about five minutes. I talked to my son and my dad who were there at the fight. And to a couple of close friends who called me to say congratulations. Then I went back downstairs and my buddy, Dallas, and his girlfriend, Alex, were there. And my girlfriend was there. So we had a late dinner until about 2.30 in the morning, Atlantic City time. "I ate as much food as I could possibly get into my body at one time. And then I was just sitting there, getting ready to go to a club…getting ready to celebrate a little bit…and it was like, ‘I’m done.’ I had one shot of Sambucca and went upstairs to bed. That was my celebrating for the night…kinda quiet and laid back for me." Frank attributes his unexpected tiredness to the time-zone difference and to what he regards as an emotional roller coaster he experienced leading up to the fight. He says he chose to just chill out with his girlfriend for the night rather than going out and celebrating, as many of the other fighters did. "I wanted to spend some time with my girlfriend and just cuddle, and be like a normal couple for a night. And not be a fighter, and not be training, and not having to worry about what I’m eating, and what I’m drinking, and what time I’m sleeping. I just wanted to be normal for basically that six hours of sleep we got." Frank has also taken a week off from training since UFC 50, and expects to start back lightly next week, followed by a week of medium training, then back into the full swing of things. "The first thing I’m going to work on is a few of the mistakes I made - getting caught in the triangle, not letting my hands go a bit sooner, not defending as well as I could on the double-leg shot, not attacking as early as I could – a couple of things I did wrong. I’ll try to improve on those and reinforce the things I did well. And then we’ll start working on some new techniques."
Frank, was Renato as tough as or tougher than you expected? "Um, about as tough as I expected. And of course we had a lot of reports and a lot of tape on him. Many of guys had seen him fight previously…and of course guys from within UFC itself were saying how tough he was. And as you’d imagine, Matt Hughes beat me, and gee, I’ve got this guy who, depending on the judging, would have beat Matt. So I thought, ‘Wow. I’ve got to be cautious.’ And things just worked out for me. He was definitely as tough as I expected, but I expected him to be extremely tough. He was by far the toughest match I’ve ever had in my career." When did you realize you could finish the fight as you’d predicted? "I stood up between rounds, and I was very tired. But I looked over at the other side and I thought, ‘Wow. He’s more tired than I am. He’s exhausted, He’s done.’ And I was wondering how he was going to come out with that same snap and fire that I did in the first round, so I thought, ‘I’m going to push this a little bit and see where his cardio is.’ I started doing my hands. I kept them up a little bit, and we got into a scramble, and I started throwing elbows. And that was it. Basically, I kinda knew at the beginning of the second round. But I really knew when I hit him with that straight left, and it rocked him. I thought, ‘For sure, we’re done.’" You’re an extremely motivated fighter. What drives you? "You know what, I don’t really know what drives me to fight. It’s something that I’m good at, but not only am I good at it, I also enjoy it immensely. And all I want to do every day is get better with my techniques, get better skills, and get to be a better person as the fight world goes. It just drives me every day to be able to get better: to be a little bit stronger, a little bit faster, better defense, better offense. Every morning, I get up and I think, ‘When’s the next time I’m going to train? When am I going to do this? How am I going to figure this out?’ That kind of thing." How many times a day do you train? "Twice a day." And how long before a fight do you start training for that fight? "When we get notice, we prefer an eight-week cycle. But if we only get six, that’s fine. If we only get two weeks, that’s fine. We can basically crank it up enough to get prepared for that fight." Do you expect to be challenging Matt Hughes for the welterweight title at UFC 51 on February 5? "I gotta tell you I think I’m going to fight Matt at UFC 52. I think they’re giving us one fight off, but I’ll fight 51 if that’s what they offer. For sure. But if they’re going to make us wait until 52, then that’s just how it works." Frank, it seems a shame that there’s not going to be a UFC in December as originally planned? "You know, I kinda wish that once the Japanese thing fell apart, they just moved it to Vegas: kept the same card, but just moved it." Does diet play an important part in your fight game? "Absolutely. You try to eat as clean as
possible. I’m a full-time fighter. People don’t understand what’s
involved in it. I fight for a living and it’s a lifestyle for me. So
my eating, my drinking, my lifting, my running… Everything I do is
built around what I have to do as a fighter. And if I think something is
going to cause some kind of hindrance to my fight game, then I’m not
going to do it. It’s just one of those deals where I’m that kind of
guy; I’m a professional fighter." Apart from your fight with Renato Verissimo, what other fight stands out in your mind from UFC 50? "The St. Pierre fight with Matt Hughes stood out, but not as much as the Rich Franklin vs Jorge Rivera fight, because that was just an absolute war of guys just trying to battle each other. But I think St. Pierre was much better than everyone was giving him credit for. He was beating Matt for the entire fight before he got caught in that armbar. He would have won the first round hands down, if he had just waited the four seconds and got out of that armbar. He basically proved to me, and to a lot of other guys, that Matt Hughes is not as good as people think he is." Frank, I was told when they said, "Ten seconds to go", that Georges St. Pierre thought they were saying to break up, because the round was over. And he just let everything go due to a misunderstanding with his English? "I’ll tell you what, St. Pierre tapped out on the armbar way too early and way too fast. Obviously there was some kind of discrepancy between what was happening, and the English translation, and all that stuff. You could tell there was something going on. But I gotta tell you, Matt won that fight fair and square, and there was no cheating or politics in that fight. "But St. Pierre proved Matt is vulnerable and Matt can be beaten in a lot of different spaces. He kicked Matt so hard in the chest that he fell back about five feet into the cage. He took Matt down, and St. Pierre is not known as a good wrestler. He banged Matt out on his feet. He had him running scared of his hands for about two minutes of the first round. It was just one of those days where St. Pierre, with a little more time and energy, would beat up Matt relatively easily. He exposed it for me, and now it’s my turn to go in there and prove that Matt’s reign is almost over.
Frank, is there anything you’d like to add to this article? "I’d just like to thank the fans, and
hopefully everybody can check out www.mmaweekly.com
and www.franktrigg.com " FRANK TRIGG
© Marc Wickert All photos copyright 2004
Zuffa LLC Frank Trigg and Matt Hughes previously faced off in the Octagon at UFC 45: Revolution on November 21, 2003. In that clash, Hughes was victorious when he submitted Trigg by rear-naked choke. But a lot has happened since then, with both men having fought some tough battles in the meantime. Matt had a loss to BJ Penn by rear-naked choke, a win by decision over Renato "Charuto" Verissimo, and a submission victory against Georges St. Pierre. Frank defeated Dennis Hallman by KO, and his second-round win against Renato Verissimo by TKO was more convincing than Matt’s victory over Renato. And Trigg believes he is doing enough to ensure his next bout against Hughes on April 16, 2005, ends differently. "I’ve spent a lot of time working on my submission game, and really concentrating hard on my boxing game. That’s one of the best things that happened to me: losing that bout to Matt the first time, because I had to change my game. I had to rethink about everything, and how I approached the sport. I couldn’t just take for granted the tools that I already had. I needed to really and truly work on them to make sure they were at a world-class level," says Trigg. For Frank, UFC 52 can’t come around fast enough. Since his UFC debut against Matt, Trigg has been focusing his every thought on the opportunity to seize the world welterweight belt, and to make up for his loss to Hughes. "I want this fight very badly. I wanted a rematch that night. I don’t think I put my best foot forward. I don’t think I did everything I could have, and I think I had a lack of focus for that one moment when I got caught in the rear-naked choke. I felt, not only did I let my team down, but I let my family down. That little moment’s lack of concentration cost me not only the bout, but it cost me the belt, and the championship of the world. So I badly wanted to have a rematch with him." Trigg considers Hughes to be a predictable fighter, and regards the lack of variety in Matt's game to be a chink in his armor. "Matt doesn’t change his strategy too much for any one of his bouts. He kinda uses the same strategies: he’s going to take you down, he’s going to pound you out, and hope for a referee stoppage by being in better cardio, stronger, and more physically aggressive. And he’s going to hope to wear you down in the later rounds."  Frank Trigg vs Matt Hughes at UFC 45 When asked what Frank considers to be his main strength in a fight, his answer is simple: "My unpredictability. I mean, he’s not real sure how to handle me. My next fight after I lost to Matt was against Dennis Hallman. I improved my game on the ground and I improved my stand-up game. The fight after that was against Charuto. Once again, I proved that my ground defense and my stand-up were even better. At the same time, I’m actually becoming a more proficient wrestler. I think I’m a more skilled wrestler now than when I tried out for the Olympic Games in 2000. I’m a better competitor as a whole, and that’s one of the things that kinda helped me out: the focus and passion that I brought to help me do this game better." It’s Trigg’s total devotion to his sport of Mixed Martial Arts that has ensured his dramatic progress as a professional athlete. For Frank, none of his victories stands out as being his best, because he considers each fight to be a learning curve and each victory to be an achievement he can dissect and improve on. "They’re all kinda great. I try to look at each fight and learn from it: whether it’s a win or a loss. I can’t really say that I’ve had my greatest fight yet. I think that each one of those fights that I’ve won has been a great bout." With the exception of Maurice Smith, Frank’s training crew has remained pretty much the same over the past few years, with Ricco Chipperelli, Mo Drasin and Vladimir Matyushenko being the backbone of his team. "Maurice Smith hasn’t been coming around too much lately. He’s back up in Seattle. There are a couple of new guys who come in and out of here, but the rest of them are definitely still the same." As well as eating, sleeping and training for battle, Trigg has also taken to studying his opponent’s tapes, to better prepare himself for fights. "Just recently I’ve started doing that. In the past, I wasn’t studying tapes so much, but just now I began doing all that, because I felt it was a part of my game that I wasn’t paying attention to. I really wasn’t concentrating on it, but I got better at it by forcing myself to do a little more tape watching, and kind of scouting my opponent."
Frank, with your home state of California passing a vote to sanction Mixed Martial Arts competitions, does that demonstrate how big your sport is becoming? "It really does. The Ultimate Fighter reality show that’s being aired here in the United States on Spike TV with the UFC, and the great ground swell now in how the sport is growing - it’s amazing that it’s come so far, so quickly. And California has just realized that this is a great way for the state to make some money. In our state of California, the budget has a severe deficit, and it’s an excellent opportunity for the government to counteract some of that deficit with fees brought in by the MMA commission here. And I think it’s a true testament to how the sport has evolved." MMA seems to be sweeping America? "Absolutely. Everywhere you look. I think there are three major shows going on this weekend, and smaller events happening all the time. It’s absolutely amazing how big it’s coming across." Do you think the same crowds are turning up for boxing-only shows now? "No. They’re not. There are events where great boxing champs are fighting, and the arenas are not selling out." You’re obviously a well-rounded fighter, but do you have a preference for a standing or ground fight against Matt? "I don’t have a preference for where it goes, whether it’s standing or on the ground. I want to take it to where it’s at. That’s all I want to do. If he wants to take it to the ground, I want to be better than he is on the ground. If he wants to keep it on our feet, then I want to be better than he is on our feet. I just have to show that no matter where we go, I am better. But with that said, I want to dictate the pace of the match and where we go. I’m going to dictate how this fight unfolds. But then again, I’m not going to spend a ton of my energy keeping him on his feet if he really wants to go to the ground. "I truly believe that my training is better than what he gets. And I think I get more out of every practice than Matt does. I put myself in uncomfortable and very difficult situations every day. The guys I train with have better hand speed and better kicking power than I have, and I stand right in front of them, trying to outbox them. I go with black belts in Jiu Jitsu every day. And I try to out-grapple them. I go with the best wrestlers in Matyushenko and Chipperelli, who outweigh me and are better competitive wrestlers than I ever was. And I strive to take them down and pass their guard. I just put myself in uncomfortable situations that force me to become better every time." You looked so healthy in the audience at UFC 51. "I went through a lot of life changes in this past year. There were a lot of things I had to do. I was a very angry individual eight months ago. I was fighting off anger; fighting with passion, but not with much dedication towards the sport…with more dedication to trying to inflict as much damage on my opponent, without really trying to be an athlete or a fighter: just trying to be a punk, I guess. "But my life changes not only included things that affected how I was going to have myself viewed in the media, by my peers, and people around me…It also meant I had to change my diet, drinking patterns, what I was reading, and my thought process as a whole. So I made a complete life change. As a result, I can train longer and harder because of my diet change, and the way I’ve changed my eating pattern as well as some of my eating habits." How are you going to win this fight? "I am not one for predictions, as far as how I’m going to win. The only thing I’m going to tell you is that it’s not going to go the full five rounds. And like I say, there’s always going to be a finish to these fights. I don’t ever try to tell you I’m going to submit him or knock him out, but we’re definitely not going five rounds. None of my fights have gone the distance, and this one isn’t either." Sponsors? "r1gym.com and mmaweekly.com." To check out the full range of Frank’s Triggonomics clothing, visit www.franktrigg.com For more on Frank Trigg and UFC 52 – www.ufc.tv. FRANK TRIGG A Top-Fuel Fighter
© Marc Wickert All photos copyright 2004
Zuffa LLC As August 20, 2005, rapidly approaches, Frank Trigg has his mind totally focused on what promises to be an historic battle – his war against Georges St. Pierre at UFC 54: Boiling Point. Many MMA fans have already played out this fight over and over in their minds, weighing up what they envisage to be both gladiators’ strengths and weaknesses for this dream match-up. And Frank agrees it was only a matter of time before these two amazing warriors of the world’s greatest fight event locked horns in the Octagon. "Yeah, even if I’d beaten Matt the last time and I had the championship, Georges would probably be number one or two in line, depending on who you look at, so Georges and I were going to fight at some point regardless of how things worked out," says Trigg. Whenever Frank appears at a UFC, the crowd know they are going to witness a swashbuckling performance by one of the most dedicated reality fighters in the game. But for this upcoming bout, Frank sees it as just another fight because for Trigg he always gives everything he has to every battle – both in the pre-fight training and in the actual fight. "I’m excited about every fight I enter in. It’s a great learning process and I’m just as excited for this fight as I am for every fight, but yeah, I’m definitely excited about this one." With the Ultimate Fighting Championship and The Ultimate Fighter events quickly gaining popularity, MMA enthusiasts are also growing in numbers. Fortunately, more people are realising how special these athletes are just to set foot in the Octagon. The relevance of being one of our modern era’s most elite athletes is not lost on Frank. "It’s one of those things that most people will never do or be able to tell their kids they’ve ever done. I can say that I’ve done it four times and this will be my fifth appearance." And he agrees it takes a special kind of mentality just to set foot in the cage. "You have to be highly focused. You have to have a firm belief in your training and everything you’ve done to be completely prepared for this. You have to believe in not only yourself, but your corner mates and everyone who helped you get there – that they’ve done everything they can do to help you get to where you’re at. I mean, that’s it really. When you walk in there, you have to be super, super focused and really be able to concentrate on what you have going on." UFC referee Big John McCarthy has often stated that many competitors get a cold chill down their spine at the unnerving sound of the cage door slamming behind them. Trigg says it’s at this moment a fighter has to have super confidence and believe he is going to take it out. "Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. You have to believe that it’s going to happen - that you are going to do it without any problems. And you really have to know that you are going to take it to them and make it happen."
Frank, will your bout with St.Pierre be a showdown between two of the most dedicated athletes in mixed martial arts? "I don’t know. I know I’m very dedicated. I don’t hang out with him. I don’t know what his camp is like. I don’t know how dedicated he is. I just know that I am, so I can’t really speak for him. At least one half will be one of the most dedicated athletes in MMA." But from the fights you’ve seen of Georges, he does look like he means business, doesn’t he? "Yeah. He’s definitely business when he walks in there. He’s one hundred percent. He’s not taking it lightly by any sense of the word." You’ve said before that none of your fights go the distance, either way. But with this fight, do you reckon it’s likely to last the first round? "Oh, we’re both bangers. We like to have a swing. Both of us are in pretty decent shape and we’ll try to rock’n’roll and make it happen. I really don’t see him trying to change that pattern, and let it go to the second round. I definitely see him trying to end it in the first round and that’s the way I always try to go after it. So I do see this fight ending in the first." You’re both so well rounded, where do Georges’s strengths lie? "His adaptability, his twisting punches, his back fists, his spinning kicks…He never stops moving at any time – he’s always going. He’s just a tremendously gifted athlete as far as being a natural kid. So they’re his strengths." And where do your strengths lie? "Mine are my wisdom - I’ve been in the game a lot longer; my overall strength; my power that I bring into the game. I’m not as quick as Georges, but I’m definitely more powerful than he is. I can move him off a lot and push him around. My wrestling is much better than his. My defence is much better than his in that I’m not scared to mix it up at all. I always have done, so I’m not scared to go in there and mix it up." Will there be room for errors, or will it be a case of the first person to make one will pay the ultimate price? "There’s always room for errors. Every time you fight you make mistakes at some point. The question is, can the other guy capitalise upon that error? I’m hoping that through my training I’ll be able to capitalise upon any mistakes that he comes out with, and I’ll definitely step through it." How are you going to win this fight? "Any way I can. Whatever he gives me, whether it’s a submission, a knockout, or he just quits because of the barrage…however I make him quit." You’re not favouring any one area of the game? "Not particularly. I’ll take whatever he gives me, whatever avenue to get to my spot: you know, to get to my submission." Frank, is there anything you’d like to add? "That’s it really - just that I’ve been doing a lot of different training this time. I’ve been training with John Lewis over at J-Sect Jiu Jitsu in Las Vegas. I spent a week with Randy Couture up in Sacramento preparing for this. I had a week in LA, and I’m about to go back to Vegas to recommence training with John Lewis. So things should be going really well and going in my favour. We’ve changed it a little bit by my travelling around more this time, but other than that, things are go. We’re injury free, healthy, the weight’s good, and we’re ready to go." Your sponsors? "Triggonomics Clothing, mmaweekly.com, R1 Gym, and betoddessa.com."
For more on Frank Trigg – www.franktrigg.com. For more on UFC 54: Boiling Point – www.ufc.tv.
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