By: Kal Thompson of boxinginsider.com
Kal: With whom have you been training for your
upcoming Pride match?
Rampage: I’ve been training a little but with Tiki
Ghosn, Antonio McKee, and with Randy Couture for a few
days. There are also some more guys that aren’t as
well known.
Kal: How long have you been in training for your
upcoming Pride fight with Dong Sik Yoon?
Rampage: Not that long. I’ve put in about 6 weeks.
Kal: Are you training differently for this specific
opponent?
Rampage: No. Not really. I’ve pretty much been doing
the same thing. This guy has got Judo and everything,
so I’ve been standing up with guys wearing a gi, but
I’ve also done that before.
Kal: What are your personal thoughts of Yoon? Have
you reviewed his prior fights?
Rampage: I saw him fight a couple of times. I don’t
think he has as much mma experience as most of the
other fighters.
Kal: Would you say that inexperience is his biggest
weakness?
Rampage: Yeah, he’s probably a good judo guy. But he
hasn’t had much experience in mixed martial arts.
Kal: With his background in Judo, are you going to
work a specific game plan in this fight; or are you
going into this match as you would any other?
Rampage: I’m going in to do my thing. I’m going in to
fight my fight.
Kal: Can we expect any big slams?
Rampage: I mostly slam people when they make
mistakes. If he makes a mistake, then most likely you
will see that.
Kal: What were your thoughts on the Ricardo Arona vs.
Vanderlei Silva 205 lbs. Pride Championship match….
and it’s outcome?
Rampage: I thought Arona dropped the ball. He clearly
has the skills to beat Vanderlei. After all, Arona
beat him in the Grand Prix. He just didn’t do like he
did in their first fight. Had Arona done that, he
probably would have won the fight. I think Arona
still could have won this fight if Vanderlei didn’t
have the referees fighting for him. You can clearly
remember that when Arona was beating him up on the
ground, they did the same thing to Arona that they did
to me. They stood the fighters up. They gave Vanderlei
a yellow card. What’s that going to do? Why are you
going to give the guy a yellow card, but then stand
them up? They don’t do that to other fighters.
Standing the fighters up was just a like a reward for
Vanderlei. If you are going to give the fighter a
yellow card and punish him, then take away the 10 %
(from the fighter’s purse) and then put them back on
the ground in the same position. It obvious that they
wanted Vanderlei to still be their champion. Let’s
face it, Vanderlei is a lot more exciting that Arona,
but that doesn’t mean that you have to treat a fighter
like that. Arona is not that exciting, granted, but he
was clearly beating Vanderlei. If you’re going to
have fighters like Arona fighting for you, there is a
chance that they will win the championship. If you
aren’t going to be fair and allow those fighters to
fight and be your champion, then just don’t put them
in the fight at all.
Kal: In the most recent UFC 205 lbs. Championship
match, former champ Randy Couture faced off against
the current belt holder Chuck Liddell for the third
time. What were your thoughts on this fight?
Rampage: Liddell looked pretty good. He fought the
same as he did in their second fight. I wish Randy
would have retired as champion.
Kal: With your upcoming fight being the last on your
current contract with Pride, are there any specific
mma organizations at which you are looking for a new
contact?
Rampage: I’m looking at a lot of different
organizations. I’m looking for an organization that
wants to promote me and pay me what I’m worth. If
Pride can promote me that way I want to be promoted
and pay me what I’m worth, then I could stay there. I
just want to fight for an organization that will treat
me fair. I’m not the type of fighter who has a lot of
crazy demands. I just want people to treat me fair. I
want to be treated the way they would want to be
treated if they were a fighter. I don’t think that’s
too much to ask for.
Kal: Have you given any thoughts of possibly signing
with the UFC if they offered a contract?
Rampage: I’ve thought about it, but I don’t know if
the UFC wants to promote me, or if they just want me
to go and get “knocked the hell” by Chuck and then
throw me away.
Kal: Being that you completely dominated Chuck
Liddell in your fight with him, do you think that
would really be much of an obstacle?
Rampage: Chuck is a tough guy. I don’t think I’d have
a problem with Chuck, but in a fight, anything can
happen. Chuck Liddell is a Kempo fighter. A lot of
people don’t know about Kempo, but I do. I know that
Kempo uses head-butts and thumbs and fingers in the
eyes. Chuck has been using “Kempo” a lot. Chuck
Liddell has been sticking a lot of people in the eye
lately. Anything can happen in a fight. If Chuck
thumbed me in my eye, I’m sorry to say it, but I’d
thumb him right back in his. I like Chuck a lot, but
that could cause you to lose the fight. I never
underestimate a man’s will to win and be champion.
Chuck has wanted to be champion for a long time. He
deserves it and everything, but with thumbing….a guy
could lose an eye. How would you feel then?
Kal: When you beat Chuck Liddell in the fight between
the two of you, did you experience any problems with
thumbs or fingers in the eye?
Rampage: No, he wasn’t on that tip back then. It
after that when he started using those tactics.
Kal: Are there any certain fighters in the 205 lb.
division that you would like to fight?
Rampage: I would like to fight every fighter whose
has beaten me. If God was willing, and I could come in
100%, I’d like to see how I could do against those
fighters who have beaten me. Only the Lord knows that
I was not 100% when I fought those people. That’s my
only thing. I want to get a crack at Vanderlei first
and then Shogun, because I think Shogun is tougher
than Vanderlei. I’d like to take out Vanderlei first,
then Shogun. Then I’d like to work my way on back down
to Sakuraba and go on to Marvin Eastman. If I could
choose, that would be the order.
Kal: Is there anything that you would like to add
before we conclude the interview?
Rampage: I want to ask everyone to put God first in
their lives. You can’t go wrong once you’ve done
that. If you truly seek the kingdom of Heaven first,
all of your hearts desires will be added upon you.
That is true, because I am living it now. This is
real. God has blessed me a lot.
Also, y’all look out for me on that myspace.com tip
and also on my web page, rampagemma.com. The website
and my clothing line are getting revamped. I’m going
to have some cool stuff for y’all. I’ve just got to
bare down and get my little brother going. He’s one of
my employees and he’s kind of lazy, so I’ve got to
bare down on him and get him going.
God bless all my fans. I love y’all. Who knows what
the future holds? I want to fight in America. I want
to see how it goes. I just feel that I haven’t been
getting treated the way I want to be treated. Who
doesn’t want to be treated right? Raise your hand if
you don’t want to be treated right. I bet you that
nobody has got their hand raised. I just want to let
all y’all know what’s real.
