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Tony "The Savage" DeSouza By Michael Onzuka - Mike@onzuka.com 
Tony DeSouza made an exciting debut in the UFC against the Midwest terror, Steve Berger. DeSouza showed excellent wrestling skills and good defense against the submission attempts of Berger. Apparently, the UFC was equally impressed with Tony enough to invite him back to face "the spoiler" Paul Rodriguez. Rodriguez brings in a lot of experience and major wins against the best in the 170-pound division. For those who have not seen "The Savage" yet, he is probably best described as a talented wrestler with some submission skills and he will bang a bit standing. I bumped into Tony while meeting with BJ Penn at the American Kickboxing Academy on June 20, 2001. He is in full swing with his preparation for the UFC.FCF: I'm here with Tony DeSouza prior to his second fight in the UFC. How did your first fight against Steve Berger go in your opinion? Tony DeSouza: It was a good experience you know. I went in there and tried my best. By the end of the third round, I was disappointed with my showing, but I've been training a lot harder this time. I'm a lot more prepared. I'm not as nervous. I just feel very confident about this next time going in the octagon. FCF: What did you know of Steve Berger prior to the fight? TD: I saw a few of his fights. I studied them. I did my homework. I knew exactly what he was going to do. I trained exactly to get the takedown, to keep the jab out there, etcetera so I had him pretty figured out before I went in there. FCF: You pretty much dominated the stand up early in the match. Was this a primary objective of yours knowing that his stand up is part of his bread and butter? TD: Exactly, I wanted to take all the confidence out of him. Show him that I could fight with him wherever and I could take it wherever I wanted it to go. FCF: How have you modified your training to perform better in your next fight coming up against Paul Rodriguez? TD: I just did a lot of different workouts you know. I did a lot more ground and pound, a lot more vale-tudo training, instead of Jiu-Jitsu and then boxing, etcetera. I combined them both a lot more this time. I trained with BJ [Penn] this whole time so it was like we both push each other. FCF: How much do you know about your upcoming opponent? TD: I know he's got a really strong right hand and I know he's got a good kick with his right leg and a high kick with his right leg. He doesn't seem to jab at all. He goes to the ground all the time so if it goes to the ground…I feel confident either way. I've been training for both. FCF: He won his last fight off his back and your last match was with you basically on top for the majority of the fight. Are you worried about his skill off his back? TD: Same thing with Berger. He had a good triangle. He had a good arm bar, just keep away from that. I mean, it's so predictable. It's just keeping your mind in tune with the fight and not letting your limbs be out. FCF: How much do you feel that experience will be a factor in the fight? TD: I think experience has a little to count on it, but I'm confident in my skills and that I'll prevail. FCF: Have the UFC talked about anything after this fight with you? TD: Resting for a while. That's what's on my mind at this point. FCF: Have they pushed you to fight so soon after your initial fight or was this something that you wanted to do? TD: It was like they asked me if I wanted to do it and since I was here already [in Santa Clara] training with BJ for Din Thomas, I'm like, "Why not? Let's do it." 
FCF: Let's quickly go through your background. Tell where you grew up and how you got in to wrestling.TD: I grew up in Lima, Peru. I came to this country when I was 13. My Uncle Cesar introduced me to wrestling. He used to wrestle for the Peruvian team in South America. I started wresting when I was 13 years old in Chaffy High School. From there, I went to college, Cal-State Bakersfield. I was the Pac-10 champ over there. We placed third in the NCAA as a team in 1996. I had a really good time wrestling in college, but I wasn't really too happy about the outcome of my wrestling career. So like, two years afterwards, I was doing sales and stuff like that, decided to start training again. From one day, came to two days, then to three days, then to a whole week. I live in the gym now. FCF: What brought you to John Lewis' school? TD: It was the best thing around in Vegas. I was living in Vegas at the time. I just wanted to work out. I wanted to get back in shape. I was weighing like 195. I was really pudgy and I just didn't feel comfortable with the way my conditioning was. I just wanted to get a little bit of shape. FCF: What weight were you wrestling at? TD: I was wrestling at 150's in college. I wrestled 134's, 142's, 150's, and 158's, but my senior year, I wrestled 150's. FCF: Since everyone is training in wrestling now, do you feel that it will be a major disadvantage to you to fight another wrestler? TD: To tell you the truth, I'd rather fight wrestlers because I know exactly what they are going to do. I've been submission wrestling for a long time. My type of wrestling was going to my butt and trying to choke people out so I'm used to wrestling wrestlers. I think it would be to my advantage. FCF: When you trained Jiu-Jitsu, did you train with the gi or without? TD: I trained in both. Right now, there's no gi involved because we're just concentrating on fighting, but off-season, I really enjoy wrestling with the gi. It gets your game a lot sharper. If you can get out of thing with the gi, without the gi, it's a lot easier. FCF: Is that where you met BJ, at John Lewis' school? TD: Yes, I met BJ there, like two months in to my training. Actually, the first time I wrestled with a gi, I wrestled with him. He left like four marks around my neck from chokes. I was really upset. I came back that night. I ate a really good dinner, good lunch, took a shower, and it's like no gi at night and I came back and he kicked my ass again so that was what actually made me realize that if your going to do this, you might as well do it full-time. So then, I quit working, just concentrated on doing this full-time. FCF: How do you finance your fighting career? TD: I live in gyms. I live wherever. I do privates [classes] here and there, you know, just charge $60/hour and eat. I got no bills. I live off my car pretty much. Wherever I want to go, I just pack up and go. FCF: How long have you been here in San Jose? TD: I've been here for a month, a month today. FCF: Have you come specifically to help BJ and train yourself? TD: Specifically, I came to help BJ out. I was just going to be here a couple weeks, but when John [Lewis] said I was going to fight, I just didn't want to drive all the way back to Vegas. I was pretty comfortable with the training here. Since BJ and I pretty much doing everything together at this point. He pushes me on the cardio. I push him, kind of like a friendly rivalry going on there. Who's going to push each other more? FCF: Who are you looking to fight in your weight class? TD: To tell you the truth, I don't look at that. I look at every opponent. I study everybody's game. I'm a really big fan of mixed martial arts. I love watching tapes. I love learning techniques and that's why, mainly, I'm in it. I love the sport. FCF: Have you ever thought of entering submission grappling events or gi tournaments? TD: I did already. I did a couple of gi tournaments before. I also did the Grappler's Quest in Las Vegas. FCF: What actually made you want to take it from grappling to fighting? TD: I've always like fighting. Even in college, I guess I think I'm a tough guy [laughs]. FCF: Where you in the same class as Stephen Neal, the standout NCAA wrestling champion from Cal-State Bakersfield? TD: I actually recruited Stephen Neal to go to Cal-State Bakersfield from San Diego High School. They came down and coach gave him to me for the recruiting trip and I showed him a good time and came to Bakersfield. FCF: He basically put Cal-State Bakersfield wrestling on the map. TD: He did. He's an awesome guy. He's real focused you know. I look at people like him and go, "You know what? We were at exactly the same level in college," and he just surpassed me. I'm like, it's all mental. That's when I really realized that fighting, wrestling, any type of competition, it's all mental. I mean, of course, it has to do about getting ready, but it's mainly mental, trying to keep it all together. FCF: What's your opinion of the new UFC as far as their set up, production, and how they treat their fighters? TD: They're doing great things. I don't have any complaints. They take care of me. I just want to keep doing this. FCF: Are you fighting exclusively for the UFC? TD: To tell you the truth, I don't know. I mean, whatever comes up. I guess in my contract, it says that I can fight in other shows and stuff like that so of course, I would like to fight in other shows. I'd like to go to Japan. I'd like to go to Pride, Shooto, whatever. I just want to fight. There's plenty of organizations, but whoever gives me the best fighters and the best deal. It's still a business. FCF: Congratulations on your initial victory and good luck in your upcoming fight. TD: Thank you very much. |
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