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"Big" Eric Pele By Chris Onzuka 
FCF: Let's start off with your background...EP: I started fighting around 2000. I started with jiu-jitsu, boxing and then started doing MMA. But before that I had experience in high school wrestling and a little in junior college, but that is about it. When I first started, I trained with John Lewis and I pretty much stayed with him for my brief career. It was John Lewis or Marc Laimon who I trained with or who cornered me. Currently I am freelancing it. I am going to Xyience [training center]. I am going to Marc Laimon's and John Lewis' J-Sect [academy] and getting more information that is out there. I think it is just a better way for me to do it right now. This way I can stay out of all the politics. FCF: You are scheduled to fight at X-1, here in Hawaii. This is actually your second fight in Hawaii. Tell us about your first fight, which happened to be your debut. EP: Yeah, my first fight in Hawaii was actually my very first fight. It was great to fight in Hawaii. Oh my God, I can't wait to get on the plane and get back to Hawaii to fight there again. The first time it was in the RINGS tournament B [block]. I fought Cabbage first and won by arm bar and then I fought Roger Neff to a decision. That was fun. I always wanted to come back. I talked to the Hawaii promoters, but could never hook that up. JD [Penn] was one of my first instructors and taught me so much jiu-jitsu. He is the one that, after everyone blew me off, was the one that showed me the fundamentals. We couldn't get anything going because I wasn't sure what was going on in my life at the time. Anyways, the Blaisdell was where it all started for me. It has been a while since coming back. I got all my Uso's over there you know? [laughs] There is a bunch of people that I haven't seen in a while. FCF: After that tournament, you went on to fight in KOTC and fought some notable opponents, being very active from 2000-2002. After a loss to Dan Bobish, you took some time off, what happened? EP: To be honest, I was really depressed. I came in there and pretty much gave him that fight. I am not taking anything away from Dan. At that time, he was on his game and I came in half assed. That is the first time that I weighed 380lbs. I normally fight at 320-330lbs and for some reason, I don't want to mention any names, but some people talked me into the fight. I took it and I paid the price for it. After that fight, I was really depressed because not only did I gain all this weight, but I missed the next opportunity. Dan went off to fight in Pride and I felt that it should have been me. That is the way it goes, Dan was ready and I came in half-assed. The reason why I started slowing down was I was really making some good money. The company was making money and I didn't have confidence in myself so I was just picking fights here and there. Then I finally was making enough for my training and stuff, but it is tough to change diapers when you are trying to train, you know? I always wanted to get back to fighting, but just never got to it. That is pretty much what happened there. FCF: You came back from possibly the lowest point in your fighting career to winning the KOTC title, how did that feel? EP: That was fun. Dan [Christison] was a replacement. I can't remember who was my original opponent…fighting a tall fighter was weird, but it was great. Like I said I was still trying to keep my weight down and it worked out, in front of my home town and all. I felt great. It was fun. FCF: After that fight, you fought Travis Fulton and then rematched Bobby Hoffman, what was the reason for this break? EP: With the show Inked and all that, I was really making a lot of money, you know what I mean? Fighting just kind of fell on the back burner and I started getting the itch to fight. Things were going really good, but I still got the itch to fight. [laughs] Of course, I wanted Bobby bad. He beat me the first time and I thought that it [the fight] should have gone to overtime, but he was in his home town and they gave him the nod and I just thought that was an unjust fight. FCF: Talking about the shop. I was surprised to see you on the Inked television program. EP: I am not shooting with them anymore. I have my own shop, basically I am doing my own thing right now, a possible show for myself. We did some filming. I just had to punch out with those guys. You know when money and all that shit comes along, people change. The thing about me is that I have so much loyalty. And people jack me around…it is just my fault that I put myself out there. I fell so much into it that I had to get my own thing going. I convinced myself to take this fight and that is the direction that I am going. I like being in the direction of my own life. FCF: Now that you have gotten your personal life in order and that itch to fight, and I guess it doesn't hurt to fight in Hawaii again huh? EP: Aw, man! When they said Hawaii, I was like, hell yeah! It doesn't take much to get me to come to Hawaii. It is the closest thing to Samoa, you know? [laughs] I haven't made it there yet, but anytime I can get to Hawaii. I am there. The guys that hired me and wanted me to fight, I appreciate their offer. They have been nothing but cordial, awesome and so professional and I hope that I can build a relationship with these guys and come back. That is like my home away from home. I used to hang out with the old school guys out there. Back in '88, I came to Hawaii for the whole summer and I used to stay in Laie. I worked at Cilly's, an old school club in Waikiki. That was great. That was my first time being in Hawaii and there was a lot of love. There were some good times. I didn't want to leave, but I had to, but it was great. FCF: Cilly's really is old school. [Note: Cilly's was the most popular club in Honolulu in the mid to late 80's, but has since closed down in the early '90s.] EP: That was the shit back then. I'm from California and over there, at that time, all the Tongans and all the Samoans beefed all the time. But in Hawaii, we were working with a bunch of Tongans, a bunch of Fijians. All I ever experienced was the way the Polynesians treated each other on the mainland. But when I was there, Man, there was so much love. When I first started, I was like, "damn, there are some Tongan guys here." But the guy that I was working with told me, it is not like that over here. I don't know how it is now, but back then it was cool. He said over here, we don't trip like that. And I was like, "right on." That was one of the best times of my life was that summer. It only took me two weeks to learn the lingo. You know, talking to the girls…[laughs] FCF: Your opponent has changed to Vince Lucero? EP: Myles [Tynanes, Eric Pele's originally scheduled opponent] got hurt, so they threw out Vince. I don't give a fuck who they give me, as long as it is not a local boy. I rather not fight a local boy. I would rather be on the other side of that coin. I don't know much about Vince. I know that he has twenty something fights, but it doesn't matter, I have been training hard and dropping a lot of weight. I got up to 447lbs, that was my highest. So now I am down to 315lbs. I feel great, my body feels great. Of course I hurt from training, but my body feels great, cardio-wise because I am not carrying that much weight. I don't want to lose too much weight before the fight, but I want to get down to 310 or so. FCF: Isn't that your lightest fight weight? EP: Yeah, that is. My very first fight was 340lbs. When I fought Sean Alvarez, I think I was about 322lbs and now I am 315lbs. You know how it is, you are from Hawaii. There is a lot of big islanders down there. We love to eat! [laughs] When I was 447lbs, I was like, "fuck that!" I am going to do something about that, so I did. Now my cholesterol and blood pressure are great. We got to take care of ourselves, especially being islanders. We are strong warriors, but we have the number one obesity rate out of all the ethnic groups. We just have to take care of ourselves. FCF: Not looking past this fight, but what are your plans after this fight? Is this marking your return to the ring regularly? EP: Yeah, yeah. I have done some good stuff with my money and when I left, my intent was to come back because I wanted to see what my potential is. I feel good right now and I have some stuff put away so I can just work on the weekends. My main goal is to see if I can make…the talk is that the next Ultimate Fighter show is going to be heavyweight again and see if I can get a spot on there and see where I stand. And then go from there, but that is a long time from now. I may end up fighting a couple of times and then say "aw, fuck it." [laughs] That is pretty much my long term plans. I don't know, if I have a great relationship with these guys [X-1's promoters], then maybe I will just stay with them. I would love to fight regularly in Hawaii. FCF: Any words to the people of Hawaii? EP: I am coming back! You guys won't be disappointed. I'll be in good shape and I am going to bring it. My old teammate, Mayhem, hopefully is out there somewhere. [laughs] It's been a long time, but I'm coming back. So everybody that is out there, come out and have a drink. |
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