| VISIT THE REST OF OUR SITE BY CLICKING THESE LINKS | |||||
| SUBSCRIBE | FCF SHOP | HOME | PICTURES | VIDEOS | FCF TV SHOW |
|
By Jim Genia
FCF: Rich, tell me about yourself. RF: Well, I live here in Cincinnati, Ohio. I train here and I grew up all over Cincinnati. I've been training in martial arts probably about 10 years now. I started off in the traditional forms but as things progressed I got into Muay Thai kickboxing. Then I saw a couple UFCs, and one thing led to another and I decided to do a small show out in Indiana. I did pretty well in that show, had a couple amateur fights, and happened to be in the right place at the right time and picked up Monte Cox as my manager. Next thing you know, I find myself fighting in the UFC. FCF: What prompted you to start competing? RF: I played sports in high school, and if you actually saw pictures of me in high school - which I really wouldn't want to show because it's embarrassing that I was so thin - I wasn't gifted physically to continue playing ball at a college level, which is what I really wanted to do. I was just looking for something competitive to do outside of high school to keep me active, and I got into the martial arts not really for the competitive aspect, but more so to know how to defend myself. One thing led to another and here I am. FCF: Tell me about your training right now. RF: It's been pretty difficult. I've was originally getting ready for Mike Van Arsdale for the UFC, but that switched to Evan Tanner. But we're training. A typical day for me: I usually get to the gym from nine in the morning and I lift from nine to 10:15, then we get started training at about 11, and we usually train from 11 to one. And each day we work something different. A certain day of the week we come in and work on our kickboxing, a certain day of the week it'll be kickboxing with takedowns, a certain day we might do wrestling - so on and so forth… For the UFC I've been doing double sessions, and I'll come back at night. I'll get back to the gym at seven o'clock and I'll roll from seven to nine with Jorge [Gurgel's] jiu-jitsu class. FCF: So you're training with the Meat Truck guys and you're not training with the Miletich guys? RF: Meat Truck Incorporated has been my team, and Kerry [Schall] and I and Josh Rafferty, we were living on the west side of Cincinnati, and our school was actually shut down - we were having trouble keeping training partners. So we moved up to the north side of Cincinnati, closer to Dayton, and started training with Jorge Gurgel at his jiu-jitsu academy up there. I have him and all his students to train with. But right now I'm on my way to Iowa to train with the Miletich guys for a week. The base of my training, everything is done in Cincinnati. I just go there occasionally, a week here and a week there, just to pick up some new things and work with different guys. FCF: What's the toughest part about getting ready for a fight? RF: Probably, the day in and day out stuff. You're training, especially when you're getting ready for a big fight and you start doing double sessions. You start getting sore. You get to the point where your body is fatigued all the time. You just have to keep pushing through it and pushing through it, because you know that once the fight's over you can relax a little bit. Plus there's the whole mentality of doing the fight, the anxiety building up to it and everything like that. FCF: When you're about to get into the ring, how do you feel? RF: Usually, when I'm sitting back in my locker room or the couple days before the fight, when I'm at the hotel or sitting at weigh-ins, a lot of times when you're sitting around the arena waiting for your fight, there's a big feeling of anxiety there. Like, you're a little bit nervous perhaps, but you also want to get the fight started and get it over with. A lot of the times I wish I was the first bout on the card so I could get my fight out of the way and then enjoy watching the rest of the show. That feeling is in you maybe until about 15 or 20 minutes before your fight, and then you just finally hit that point where you tell yourself: "Yeah, I'm ready to go." For myself, there's a sense of calm. Kind of like: "Okay, let's just go ahead and do this." FCF: I was there at the World Fighting Alliance show when you armbarred Marvin Eastman, and you looked pretty calm. RF: Well, for me especially - not to say that I'm not calm - everybody keeps telling me that I appear to be a calm person when I'm at the fight. I appear to be a calm person on just a normal, daily basis. Sometimes, maybe I'll be putting off more of a calm look than I may be feeling on the inside.
FCF: So you're fooling everybody is what you're saying? RF: (chuckles) Not to say that I'm peeing my pants or anything, but you know, you always have to keep your game face on. FCF: Okay. I heard you're a teacher. Is that right? RF: Yeah, actually I used to be a high school math teacher. FCF: Math, huh? RF: Yeah. Everybody expects me to say physical education or something. FCF: What's that like? I mean, obviously you don't like it enough to keep doing it 'cause you're fighting, right? RF: That's comparing apples and oranges. Fighting, for me, is something that maybe I can do for the next five or ten years and then I'm out of the game. Teaching's something I can do for the next ten, 20, 30, 40 years before I'm unable to teach anymore. I enjoy teaching - don't get me wrong. But if I could continue fighting and make money, then I would not go back to my teaching career because I love my life now. I get up and I work out, and I get paid to work out. If I were teaching, I'd still be working out, but I wouldn't be getting paid to work out. I enjoy my job teaching and love working with kids, but this is kind of dream I can pursue for now. FCF: Your students, did they know what you do? RF: Oh yeah. The school district, everybody knew. Actually, last year was the last year I taught - I had to resign for this year. I tried to take a one-year sabbatical, but the school district told me I had to resign from my position. They were very supportive about me resigning and everything… It's amazing the kind of support I got from the school district. They said to me: "Go ahead and pursue this and if you're looking for a job in a year or five years or ten years or whatever, as long we have a position here for you, you'll have a place to work." And I do part-time work with that school district still. FCF: You're fighting in the UFC. Do you feel any pressure because it's the "big show"? RF: You know, not like I thought I would, honestly. I've had more people calling me, wanting to interview me, and there's just a little bit more hype about it. But other than that, it's just another fight and another fighter. I've trained for this show just like I've trained for every other show in my life. I never underestimate anybody and I always train as if I'm going to fight the best. FCF: Your thoughts on Evan Tanner as an opponent? RF: It's going to be a tough fight for me. I really like Evan Tanner and I respect him a lot as a fighter. I can remember seeing him fight in some of the earlier UFCs and I remember interviews with him talking about how he was a self-made fighter, and how earlier in his career everything he did was done basically on his own. Because of that, he earned a lot of respect from me. That's basically the same path that I took at the beginning of my mixed martial arts career. Before I hooked up with Monte Cox, before I had the Miletich guys to fall back on and I hadn't really developed a team. The team that I have now, we're here in Cincinnati and it's just us. Evan Tanner, I think he and I have similar fighting styles, so I think we're going to match up real well. It's going to be an interesting fight. FCF: For all those people who haven't seen you fight yet, what would you describe your fighting style as? RF: I would describe it as a well-rounded, hybrid style. It's no secret that I'm not a great wrestler or anything, but I have decent standup and I'm definitely not shy to stand up and bang with somebody on the feet. But if the fight goes to the ground, I'm comfortable fighting on the ground. It makes no difference to me. FCF: Any words for the fans out there? RF: Keep your eyes open for this fight, 'cause it could be one of those fights that ends really quick. Then again, Evan and I could negate each other and it'll be a long, boring fight. Keep your eyes peeled in case there's a quick knockout. FCF: All right, Rich. Thanks, and good luck. RF: Thank you. |
| © 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. |