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Set to Make His Own Sudden Impact at UFC 42 It's as simple as this. Since the age of fourteen, Rich Crunkilton has wanted to be in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Now 23 years old, and with thirteen professional bouts [all wins] behind him, this Florida native is on the brink of realizing his dream-- and in front of a hometown crowd at that. Making his UFC premiere against fellow first-timer Hermes Franca at UFC 42: Sudden Impact this Friday, April 25th, Crunkilton will get his chance to make the all-important first impression. A versatile lightweight that has both submitted and knocked out the likes of Victor Estrada and Bao Quach, Crunkilton's name has floated about the fighting circles for quite a few months as a fierce up-and-comer. Let's take a look at the UFC's latest lightweight addition. FCF: For some reason your nickname is not an obvious one to me. Why are you called "Cleat?" RC: Cleat is a name my dad calls me -- kind of all the guys in our family call each other that. When my dad was younger, that is what they called all the athletes in the school. Growing up, him and all his brothers would call each other Cleat, so then it was passed on to me. FCF: Let's find out a bit about your career thus far. Who has been your toughest opponent to date? RC: I believe my toughest was a guy named Zviad [Abuseridze from WEF:Rumble at the Rodeo 2]. He was a Russian fighter. That's just the toughest fight I can remember. FCF: Have your other fights been less memorable and not as difficult? Some of your other fights have gone the distance. RC: Yeah, but I don't think they were that hard. That's the one I remember being the hardest. For those other fights, they were good opponents and -- [pause] I never really was in shape for those fights. None of those fights were under "Crazy" Bob. FCF: When did you start training under "Crazy" Bob Cook and the American Kickboxing Academy team? RC: It was a little over a year ago. I came out to California to visit my [then] fiancee and I was looking around for fights. I was asking around town if anybody knew about fights going on, because I wanted to make some money. I was looking up "no holds barred" and "karate" and "fighting." I was living in Fresno and eventually got hooked up with Team Fresno [Terry Dole and Phillip Perez] there. "Crazy" Bob came by and wrestled with me a bit and then invited me to come up to San Jose. I ended up moving to San Jose a week later. FCF: "Visitng" your fiancee? How were you two separated? RC: I had met her at college. She was going to college with me in Florida at Pennsicola Christian College. Then, she went back to her family in Washington, but she had relatives in California. FCF: What did you study at Pennsicola? RC: Biology, but my main reason for going there was wrestling. It was the only [college] wrestling team in Florida at the time. FCF: How had your wrestling career gone up to that point? RC: I was a Greco and Freestyle state champion four or five times outside of the high school season. You know-- USA Wrestling. It's the major amateur wrestling association. Because of Title 9, there's a lot of politics right now and all the college wrestling schools dropped their programs years ago. I went to Pennsicola for two years and then it became too much for me to handle. It's a fundamental Baptist college and it's really strict. FCF: What kind of strict are we talking about? RC: The rules basically. They don't allow us to watch any movies or have any music or go out past 10 o'clock on the weekends. The male and female students aren't allowed to talk off-campus without a chaperone or they'll get expelled. FCF: No movies? So, I guess popping in a tape of the UFC was out of the question. RC: Right. Actually, for my first pro fight I had to lie and say I was going to my parent's house. It was in New Orleans so I drove about seven hours from Pennsicola to do this fight. If they had found out, I would have been expelled. FCF: It sounds like you were really determined to become a fighter. RC: Yeah, I must have seen UFC 2 or 3 on pay-per-view. I was really young, but I wanted to be in it one day. Ever since I first saw the UFC, I was on a mission to get in there. FCF: What was this first fight like for you? How were you prepared? RC: I was just a college wrestler. That's it. I just winged it and tried to beat him up. I had watched a lot of fights and did a lot of kicks from karate, but it was basically point karate. FCF: You had studied karate as well? RC: Yeah. I took Chun Kuk Do karate for three or four years on and off. It's the system Chuck Norris is affiliated with. FCF: Were you a big Chuck Norris fan? RC: Yeah [with a laugh]. I guess. FCF: Luckily for the fans, you eventually ended up in California with the AKA team. Tell us about your training there now. RC: My training with AKA has made me a much better fighter. I never really did any kind of conditioning before I came out here. I train with Bob and Javier Mendez and Frank Shamrock and the all of the fighters out here and they've really sharpened me up in a lot of areas. I do boxing, kickboxing, wrestling, submissions-- everything basically. I do a lot of work with Frank -- wrestling and sparring. If I'm uninjured, I train five to six days a week with two to three sessions a day. FCF: You also have another up and coming lightweight on the AKA team to train with in Josh "The Punk" Thomson. Josh was originally slated to fight Genki Sudo on this UFC card as well before he succumbed to an injury. RC: We train together and we're friends. I wouldn't see us fighting each other anytime soon, if at all. FCF: Tell us about Rich Crunkilton the Ultimate Fighter. RC: I like to do a lot of throws. I use a mixture of wrestling and judo. I studied judo for six or seven years and have a black belt in it. I'm very universal. I like to do a lot striking, a lot of high altitude throws... FCF: And it seems a few of your fights have ended in submissions. RC: I train there, but any fights I've had by submission I kinda just fell into. I can do submission holds, but I'd much rather stand and fight--kickboxing, boxing, Muay Thai-- I like it all. FCF: Let's talk about your upcoming opponent Hermes Franca. What do you know about him? RC: I know he's from American Top Team and that's a really good group. I know he's a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. I haven't really seen any of his fights yet, but I've heard he has pretty good stand-up and really good submissions. FCF: Knowing that he is a BJJ specialist, what are you anticipating in this fight? RC: I think he's going to try and hit me with every kind of triangle choke, arm lock--all that kind of stuff. I really want to try and avoid the takedown and keep the fight on its feet and see how it goes that way. I think that [stand-up] is one of my stronger points right now and something I've really been working on. I'd rather go out there and win the fight fast. FCF: Is this a one-fight deal for you? RC: Yes. FCF: So, the pressure must be there to turn it up and make it an especially exciting fight. RC: Yeah, yeah. Definitely. FCF: Why do think you got the "big call" from the UFC? RC: I took Javier Vasquez's place [in the show]. He hurt is knee and... [pauses] I don't know. I guess they'd heard of me from Bob and others. I think they had wanted me to fight a little while before, but at the time I was just moving back into town and not training. I needed more time. FCF: What do you think Rich Crunkilton has to offer the UFC lightweight class that the fans haven't seen before? RC: A lot of unconventional stuff. A lot of excitement. I like to do spinning kicks and whatever I can hit the guy with--just a really fast pace, not a lot of resting and laying around. FCF: What would you say your strengths are as a fighter? RC: I have a lot of heart. I don't like to quit. Good wrestling. I do it all. FCF: What are your weaknesses as a fighter? RC: I don't know. Anything that I consider to be a weakness, that's what I'll train on the most. FCF: What do you train the most? RC: Probably submissions [chuckling], but I don't really consider that area a weakness because I've been working on it a lot. FCF: What are you goals in mixed martial arts? RC: My goals are to do the best that I can do and go as far as I can go with it. I really like this sport and I enjoy training and competing in it. FCF: When your time as a professional fighter has come and gone, do you foresee yourself staying involved in MMA in some way? RC: I'll probably be working the family business, which is a jewelry store and a pawn shop. There's also construction. My dad has a lot of businesses going. I'll probably end up having a small dojo to teach and train people. FCF: What does fighting in the UFC mean to you? RC: I'm really excited. I can't wait. This will be a really big step getting in there and I look forward to it. |
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