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An Exclusive Interview with ESPN's Jay Mohr at the World Fighting Alliance's Level 2 event By Loretta Hunt 
I got the call the morning of Friday, July 5th saying that I'd get five minutes with Jay Mohr. Mohr, the host of ESPN's sports comedy show "Mohr Sports", had arrived into town the night before and I was told that his schedule would be very tight. Mohr was the guest of John Lewis and his World Fighting Alliance show, and had come to record some footage of the MMA event that night for an upcoming show. I was told that only one other mixed martial arts reporter would be granted time with the celebrity, so I knew I had to make my short encounter with him count. Thoughts started to rattle through my head as to just what I would ask him. I was anxious to find out what he knew of the sport and to reveal his intentions, but all the while knew that I would be representing not just myself, but thousands of MMA fans around the world. My words would have to be chosen carefully. As I got off the phone and quickly prepared my questions, I tried to think of a good "icebreaker" for the film, television and stand-up comedy star. His role as a sleazy sports agent opposite Tom Cruise in "Jerry Maguire," although highly entertaining, was too obvious to mention. Everyone had seen that movie. As I gathered my things, I remembered his highly acclaimed yet short lived TV show "Action" and a smile came to my face. I was off. I arrived at the WFA offices to find Jay Mohr, surrounded by assistants and admirers, trying on wardrobe for the evening's festivities. There was a heightened sense of excitement in the room brought on by the celebrity's presence. Jay approached me with an extended hand and gave me the once-over. The first thing I noticed were his piercing blue eyes. The second -- this dude was pretty small. Jay was immediately pleasant and surprisingly anxious to talk to me and as we were guided to a quiet corner, I was again reminded that I had only five minutes (Jay, himself, would later milk it to ten.) He started by explaining that he had been on the sinful streets of Vegas with John Lewis, Frank Shamrock and Jermaine Andre (slated to fight that night) the night before, and his breath might not be up to par. I chuckled and responded that I would keep my distance. Then, with the clock ticking, I took a deep breath and began. FCF: Thank you for taking the time to speak with me Jay and to come out and see this MMA show. How did ESPN and your sports show "Mohr Sports" get involved with this upcoming WFA 2 event? JM: We have pretty good autonomy at "Mohr Sports", so ESPN allows us to go where we go. It wasn't a collaborative effort between myself and the "suits" in Bristol, Connecticut. Vikki Van Hoosen [the WFA's Entertainment Coordinator] randomly e-mailed me at my web site at jaymohrlive.com and suggested that I cover the WFA. It was all very professional. I knew John Huntington from "Club Rubber" was involved and that great fighters would be there. I emailed her back and said "Yeah, okay." I went to the WFA web site and got to know all the fighters. Then, I went to my writers and told them a little bit about it. A couple of their eyes lit up and they couldn't believe I was talking about the WFA, so I knew I was on to something. It was just that random e-mail to my website that got the ball rolling. FCF: Did you have any knowledge of mixed martial arts before the e-mail? JM: I was a fan. I always watched the pay-per-views of the other events. I wasn't particularly familiar with the WFA at first, but when I was doing my research, I saw that the show has all the best guys. I knew of John Lewis and when I spoke to Vikki or [Frank] Shamrock about it, there was no attitude and… effortless is the best way to put it. I've done "remotes" [a remote segment not shot in the studio] with minor league baseball teams, bowling -- and there's always some kind of drama. Here with the WFA, they really rolled out the red carpet and welcomed me, but I think they underestimated how excited I am to be here too. FCF: Could you categorize what type of fan you are? Do you casually watch it? Have you followed the sport through its evolution over the years? JM: I am still learning and I'll take a page from Sid Arthur to say, "I know enough to know nothing." This will be the greatest learning experience for me because I'll be live at the event. I'll be talking to the fighters before they get into the ring along with the fighter's trainers and managers. Spending time with these guys outside the ring -- you don't get that when you're sitting on your couch. FCF: What have you learned about the fighters in the short time you have spent with some of them? JM: What's most impressive about these fighters is that they are bizarrely normal looking men. There was a giant at the bar we went to last night -- 6'6", 300 pounds -- and he was talking about being a professional fighter. The second he met John Lewis... all of that bravado wilted away the moment John Lewis's name was mentioned and I thought "wow." This guy, no joke, looked like Thor and said, "I'm a professional fighter-professional boxer" and I was like, 'Oh, really? Well, this is John Lewis' and he went, "Oh shit. I'm not as good as you guys." John invited the guy to come in and train and he was like, "No, no, no." FCF: Size is not necessarily a factor in this sport. Brazilian jiu-jitsu and the Gracies exemplified that in the beginning. JM: I remember watching Royce Gracie make guys tap out with toeholds and then they'd chase him around the ring. I saw Royce literally grab the guy's pinkie toe on the mat and the guy would tap out and not believe what had just happened. FCF: I hear you were a wrestler back during your high school and college years. JM: Yeah, a non-stellar college wrestler. There's a big difference between high school and college. I went from phenomenal to mediocre. I went to college for baseball and wrestling. FCF: How far did you go in high school wrestling career? Did you go to States? JM: Yeah. District 8 in Verona, New Jersey. I won the North Academy Tournament. I didn't make weight when I was a senior. I was supposed to be at 133. I wasn't even close. They stuck me at 140 and I didn't have a record there, so I was unseeded. They put me at last seed and I ended up wrestling the number one seed first. I felt great because I was two pounds under and rested and had been eating all day because I knew I wasn't going to make weight. I just came out like a fish the first time out and the rest of the day everyone else is cutting weight while I was just hanging out. I wrestled the best guy first and then it got easier -- very weird. My coach was very mad I missed weight, but I was happy because I got a medal. FCF: Where did you wrestle in college? JM: Rutgers University. I went as long as I could before they figured out that I never bought a single book. I was already doing comedy by then for some time. My wrestling was completely unstellar. It's a shame in the presence of these guys to talk about my wrestling. FCF: Wrestling is a big component of MMA though. It's good to know you have some experience with it. JM: Well, if I'm going to fight with "Joe Six Pack" and it goes to the ground, I'll win. But, you'll never see me behind a bar or in a parking lot squaring off against someone. I'm more of the "let me just put this bottle through his mouth" type of person. I do it first -- quickly and silently. 
FCF: When will this MMA show or segment air?JM: I have no idea. [Vikki has confirmed that the segment will run on ESPN on Tuesday, July 16th. Please check local listings for specific air times.] FCF: Is it an entire show? A segment? JM: It will be a segment. It will be about three and a half minutes long. [according to the WFA, Jay's producers said the whole show would be on the WFA] Usually, what we do is we get so much footage, we put one in the vault -- a part two for down the road. We did that with "gay rodeo" and "black barber shop". FCF: Oh boy. JM: No, no. It's good. You gotta touch everyone. There's something for everyone. We'll show a lot of fighters, a lot of their personalities outside of the ring, a lot of comedy. I'm going to be a cornerman with a pot of coffee and some muffins ready in the corner. We have some sketches we're going to shoot with the Club Rubber girls. We had a writing staff that was really in tune with the event and we wanted to bring something to the table -- not just have the cameras rolling and say, "Hey, what's it like to beat that guy up?" The questioning is going to be much more like, "Did you cry when Old Yeller died?" type questions. FCF: This is all happening tonight? You are going to be very busy. JM: We're doing a lot of stuff. We'll be really busy. FCF: What's this with you and the gloves? [Earlier in the conversation, Frank Shamrock dropped a pair of fighting gloves in Jay's lap]. JM: I don't know. They just gave me gloves. I have no idea. FCF: Is it a surprise for tonight? JM: I hope not, 'cause it will be over quickly. I'll be climbing the fence to get out. I'll shake hands and tap out. FCF: Why did your show decide to do a segment on MMA at this time? JM: It's local. It's Vegas and we could drive here. We are on a cable budget and we don't have a lot of "remotes." Everything we've done so far has been kind of local and the fact that everyone's schedule synched up made it perfect timing. Everyone's here -- all the great fighters and trainers, guys that don't even fight anymore are here. FCF: Was there anything to the fact that MMA is starting to grow? For instance, MMA was shown on "The Best Damn Sports Show Period" last week on Fox Sports Network... JM: That's their audience. When you do a sports show, the "suits" always want you to hit the 18 to 36 male demographic, so that was smart of them. But I'm pretty sure ours will be funnier. FCF: Right. It seems you are going to be taking a more comical turn with your piece. JM: Yes, but we bring respect to the table as well. We wouldn't be here unless we respected everyone. We would never do a "remote" for people we didn't love. FCF: What is your impression of the future of MMA? JM: I think it's going to be like the WWF where shows travel from city to city and sell out the Saddle Dome and then you go up to Calgary and then Detroit. I don't see why all the different MMA entities could not just form a giant conglomerate and have it be a traveling show. That would make the most sense to me in my executive producer mode. I know there are a bunch of different entities that are clamoring for the same dollar. They should all join together and make one "mother tournament." And I'm not comparing this to pro-wrestling in any shape and form -- only in a marketing sense. When I was in junior high and high school, it was the AWA, the NWA, the Mid-South, the North Atlantic Conference, the WWF. There was like sixteen different wrestling conferences and then they all just got together. Rick Flair -- I grew up in New Jersey and didn't know who he was. He was a wrestler from the South. It would be nice to see the internal competition, the monetary competition subside. I think this could be a multi-million dollar business if everyone would make one conglomerate and travel that way. FCF: For you personally, what aspect of MMA appeals you? What is your personal attraction to it? JM: I'm fascinated that men put themselves through the training; they put themselves through for five minutes of what could be the worst of their lives. These are in every way, shape, and form -- men. What I like in particular about the WFA are that these guys are really kind and nice guys, the type of guys you'd hang out with. They're not steroided-up, eyes bulging, too much time in the tanning bed freaks. What really draws me to it is the fact that I like to be in the "never been done before business. My career has always been that way. I was a club comic when I did "Jerry Maguire." Everyone wanted that role. Doing standup and still writing my book about "Saturday Night Live" -- I like to do things that have never been done before. You can't just drive somewhere and ask, "Hey, where can I go to watch guys punch the shit out of each other for a half an hour?" This is an actual organized event where everyone's so trained that they sort laugh at a "black belt." That's just a whole another level of killer that nobody's heard of. People don't know these guys are walking around -- they look just like us. Someday, someone's going to say to [Frank] Shamrock at a red light, "You want to get out of the car, buddy?" And Shamrock's going to say, "Okay" and that guy's life will end because he was an asshole. That's what fascinates me about this. I'm as big as half the guys here as well. I'm a skinny dude too, but they would all kick my ass in a nanosecond. FCF: What's next on your busy schedule today? JM: Well, I saw at the sports book that the World Fighting Alliance is listed. They don't have the matches listed yet, but I was going to go get some inside training. Maybe I can get somebody to take a dive for me. FCF: Good luck on that and thank you for your time. I hope you have a great time tonight. JM: Thank you. Reporter's Note -- I did catch up with Jay Mohr later that night during the Brink-Overeem fight. He looked extremely relaxed and when asked, stated that he was enjoying the show tremendously. Jay went on to corner Frank Trigg (with the words "Mohr Sports" temporarily tattooed on his back) in his bout against Jason Medina. |
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