| VISIT THE REST OF OUR SITE BY CLICKING THESE LINKS | |||||
| SUBSCRIBE | FCF SHOP | HOME | PICTURES | VIDEOS | FCF TV SHOW |
|
Wes "Cabbage" Corriera By Loretta Hunt 
Coming in at 6'3" and 265 pounds, Wes "Cabbage" Corriera makes his UFC heavyweight debut following a seven-fight winning streak this past year at the SuperBrawl and Shogun promotions. Representing Grappling Unlimited, the home of spirited fighting brothers Enson and Egan Inoue, it will take nothing short of a knockout or submission to stop the freight train that is Correira. With a style reminiscent of the "old school" brawlers of yesteryear, opponent Tim Sylvia, of Miletich Martial Arts, may have his hands quite full come Friday night. An agreeable and jovial giant, Corriera lets us in on just how his training is going, his thoughts on fellow heavyweight Sylvia, what it means to have BJ Penn as a teammate, and just why he's called "Cabbage."FCF: Thanks for taking the time to talk Wes. As UFC 39 will be your first introduction to many MMA fans out there, I'd like to go back to the beginning and ask how you first got into mixed martial arts? Cabbage: Okay. I used to train a lot of boxing and kickboxing when I was younger, but I never got a chance to compete. I did wrestling for one year in high school and I also used to take judo and became a brown belt. I also took karate for a week before I figured out that it was full of crap. When I turned 18, I started training jiu-jitsu with B.J. [Penn]. I had my first extreme fight when I was twenty years old. It was my first MMA fight and I've loved it ever since then. FCF: All of this training has occurred in your native homeland of Hawaii? Cabbage: Yes, I study with Adrian Silver- he's me and B.J.'s boxing coach over here. With my kickboxing, I've been working with my teammates. Recently, I went to Thailand to study Muay Thai. B.J. and I started jiu-jitsu about the same time about four years ago. We went to high school together. I represent Grappling Unlimited with Egan and Enson Inoue when I fight, but when I come down here, I always have a place to train with B.J. We train in a cage together and I have a lot of technical guys to work out with. When I go to Grappling Unlimited [three islands over from Hilo, Hawaii on Oahu], I've got bigger guys to roll with and beat up a little. They beat me up too. I'll have Egan and Adrian in my corner for the fight- possibly Enson as well. FCF: That 's quite a corner to have. Cabbage: Don't worry. They'll be no Pride reenactments here. FCF: What is it like to train with the Inoue brothers? Cabbage: Egan has focused me as much as I ever could be focused for a fight. I've made myself what I am, but he's helped me get there. When I trained with Enson for his fight with Minotauro [Antonio Rodrigo Nogueria], that's when Enson took me to Thailand and started introducing me to Muay Thai fighters and Japanese fighters. It broadened my whole fighting ability. FCF: What did you bring back from Thailand that has been useful in your MMA game? Cabbage: Their leg conditioning is unbelievable. When I went there the first day and came back that night, I had to ice my legs because they were killing me from kicking soccer balls. FCF: Kicking soccer balls? Cabbage: They make us kick soccer balls like 300 times in one day. On top of that, it's really hot over there and I was there for a month and a half. Talk about conditioning. FCF: As for Brazilian jiu-jitsu, do you formally study it or is it more of a freestyle arrangement? Cabbage: I'm kinda freestyle. I haven't put on the pajamas in a while. FCF: Tim Sylvia, Gan McGee, and yourself will all be weighing towards the larger end of the heavyweight spectrum for UFC 39. What do you predict you'll weigh-in at for this fight? Cabbage: Probably like 264 pounds, maybe lighter. FCF: Will that be the lightest you've ever fought, or do you usually come in at that weight? Cabbage: When I fought Aaron Brink before, I was around 263 and I felt good at that weight. That was the lightest I ever fought. FCF: Speaking of Aaron Brink, you fought him at the inaugural Shogun event last December and created some buzz with your TKO victory. Your thoughts on that fight? Cabbage: It went pretty well. That was the first really big named opponent I ever fought and everybody had warned me that he was going to come out strong. But, I like to get punched in the beginning of my fights. I like them to just hit me in the face. I love it. For me, it fuels my fire. I'll let Tim [Sylvia] punch me in the face as much as he wants and after he sees he can't do anything to me, I'll just beat him up. FCF: With that kind of fearlessness, I have to ask if you have ever been knocked out? Cabbage: No. Never. FCF: How did you get the nickname "Cabbage?" Cabbage: When I was younger, I used to look like a little Cabbage Patch Kid. That nickname just stuck. FCF: Do you still look like those trendsetting yet still lovable dolls from the '80s? Cabbage: No, a lot has changed. I used to be short and have bushy hair. Now, I don't have any hair and I'm a lot taller. I was a runt before. 
FCF: You will be facing Miletich Martial Arts representative Tim Sylvia at your UFC debut. What do you know about him going in? Cabbage: As an opponent, I know that Tim Sylvia has gotten most of his wins from KO or TKO, but I also know his background is wrestling. I've seen him fight a couple of times where he's knocked out his guys and hasn't had to show his wrestling that much. My plan is to just stand-up and brawl with him. FCF: You two were potentially scheduled to meet in the recent SuperBrawl heavyweight tournament, but you had to bow out of the finals with a hand injury, right? Cabbage: I would have loved to fight Tim at the end if I hadn't had hurt my hand, but like he said at the tournament, he wouldn't have wanted to fight me. I hurt all the tendons in my middle finger and the knuckle in my fight with Travis Wuiff. I couldn't close [the hand] for a while. FCF: Who has been your toughest opponent thus far? Cabbage: My toughest opponent would be Travis Wuiff. He was a really strong opponent that tested everything I ever had in me. He's super-strong. I couldn't stop his takedowns. He kept taking me down and beating me up, but the second round and overtime was mine. FCF: How have you been training specifically for this fight with Tim? Cabbage: A lot of cardio. My cardio has gotten me through most of my fights. I've been working my sprawls and working on keeping the fight standing. FCF: You've garnered a reputation as an aggressive stand-up practitioner. What can fans expect of you if the fight goes to the ground? Cabbage: I will be training my jiu-jitsu background, but I've been mostly practicing my sprawl and keeping it standing. I want to keep this fight exciting for the UFC fans. To me, I don't think the current UFC heavyweights are that exciting. They don't move around that much. They just take their opponents down, drop some forearms, and cut the guy open to stop the fight. FCF: What will you bring to UFC that other heavyweights don't have right now? Cabbage: A lot of action. A hell of a lot of action, and I back my words up every time. FCF: What does getting the chance to fight in the UFC mean to you? Cabbage: It's been a childhood dream. I remember I used to watch it when I was younger and thought one day I would like to fight in there. Now it's happening. It's unbelievable. FCF: Have you been to the mainland before? Cabbage: I've been to the mainland. I've been all over. I haven't been too far up the East Coast yet though. FCF: Have you ever considered coming to the mainland to further your MMA training? Cabbage: When I trained for my fight with Brink, I trained at Javier [Mendez] and Frank's [Shamrock] place [the American Kickboxing Academy]. That went great. I learned a whole bunch of new things. I might go back there and I might even go to Las Vegas to train with John Lewis for a while. Big Eric Pele is there. I fought him once and I'd love to go train with him and get the chance to roll around with some big guys. FCF: What do you feel your strengths as a fighter are? Cabbage: My chin, my heart, and my stand-up. FCF: Your bout is a single-fight contract with the UFC, but if things go well, we might see more of you in the Octagon. If you get past Tim Sylvia, whom else wouldn't you mind being paired with in the UFC heavyweight division? Cabbage: When I first saw Josh Barnett fight at SuperBrawl, I always wanted to fight him. I'll fight anybody in the UFC. I'll fight Ricco Rodriguez. I'll fight Randy Couture. I'd love to fight Tank Abbott or Pedro Rizzo because they both like to stand up and brawl. Rizzo's a great boxer. His hands are unreal. FCF: What do you like to do besides MMA? Cabbage: Train with my dog. I like to take my dog Lovie cruising to the beach and running. I try to stay in shape. FCF: What do you hope to accomplish in the world of MMA? Cabbage: I just want to prove that there is talent coming out of Hawaii. I've also told this to everybody-by the end of next year, I want to have a world title under my name, maybe two. The UFC, Pride, the IFC- it doesn't matter. I'll have two belts by the middle of this upcoming year. FCF: For the fans that no little about you, is there anything you'd like them to know about yourself? Cabbage: You can just tell them that they're going to see one crazy hairdo when I go into the ring. I'm going to liven things up with my hair. I'm definitely going to spice things up! Tomorrow we talk to the other half of this mammoth match-up. Tim Sylvia enters the Octagon for the first time with an impeccable professional record of 15-0. The resident "big guy" for one of the most successful MMA teams to date, Sylvia is confident his time spent with Miletich Martial Arts will pay-off in spades. Sylvia takes us through his humble beginnings in MMA, his thoughts on upcoming opponent Cabbage, and let's us know which prominent heavyweight he's been drawing guidance from these past two weeks. Will the Miletich legacy spill over into the heavyweight division? |
| © All materials contained in the Full Contact Fighter web site are protected by copyright and to be used only for personal and noncommercial uses. Public display or copying for sale or public distribution of any of these materials is strictly prohibited. |