Hi Dave, thanks for taking part in this interview. How’s training and coaching going?
Training is going well but I’m only coaching 1 day a week at the minute as I also have to work. To coach, train work is a major juggling act and one will always overtake the other, so coaching is the fall guy for now.
I believe you are competing in a few Wrestling competitions so are you more focused on Wrestling rather than MMA?
The reason for doing more grappling competitions is due to not getting the right fights coming my way. If I train for a month or more, which I now pay for, and fight for less the £1000, it’s not worth it. I work weekends and if I get injured I’m off work longer, so more money lost. I was offered to fight for £4000 in Ireland, which I jumped at, but when the contract came through it said £400!? Needless to say I didn’t take it. I’ve got a ton of accolades so I’m not fighting for pride; I’m fighting to take my kids to Universal Studios! LPW is the best competition out their, only top quality opponents and its professional so you get paid! It’s fought under catch rules so you actually have to be able to wrestle!
What does a typical weeks training consist of for you when preparing for a fight?
Two days power lifting & fat burning, two days MMA Sparring, at least 8 5 minute rounds each day, and a mixture of any fighting style that I want I feel like doing!
What do you find to be the most challenging thing about being a full time martial artist?
Missing out on time with the kids is the most difficult part….nothing physical could ever match the emotional side for testing one’s soul!
What was it like to be on the 9th season of the Ultimate Fighter?
Now this is a big one…being on TUF 9 was both extremely positive and destructively negative! The short version is it was phenomenal to earn the opportunity but also devastating to have it stolen from me by illness, and then again later by politics!
Did you feel a lot of pressure on the show knowing you was the favourite to win going in?
There was not much pressure as I was full of confidence at the time! In all honesty, the only American who could of gave me a legitimate fight was Jason Pierce! He was 11-0 at the time and he fought in a solid part of America. Luckily for me is staph infection was affecting him quicker than my staph infection was and he told he wouldn’t be fighting me, after that I had free reign, but unlucky for me, when the time came to fight I should have been in a hospital bed, not a cage!
What was Mike Bisping like as a coach and are you still in contact with him?
Bisping was ok as a couch but Mario Sukata & Dave Jones done most of the coaching. Mike kept trying to give us Rocky speeches and causing issues with the Americans. The last contact I had with Mike was on Twitter, he offered me to come to the U.S. To train so I sent him my address and asked him to “send the money over and I’ll be there in a jiffy”, but I got no reply….
What’s your favourite combination/signature move?
My favourite combinations/moves change daily but I’m left footed and I don’t think there’s anybody who trained with me who’s never tasted my toenails
What’s your best advice for novice fighters the day before/the day of a fight?
The best advice I could give for first time fighters is to to always remember why you’re doing this, and to look at it as a sparring session, don’t get hyped, and don’t listen to the random woman in the front row screaming “f*€king smash his spine out of his back”
What do you like to do when you’re not training?
I’ve always felt that I got into fighting as way of earning a bit of money and never took it serious, also I never wanted to put myself out there unless everything in my arsenal was perfect, no weaknesses. I’m can tell you that I will never get any better than I am today, that said, I’m spending the next three years taking it a little more serious…so I’m stating here that I’m officially back!!!
Anything else you would like to mention to your fans… If anybody is genuinely interested in what happened in The Ultimate Fighter then I’d like to announce that I am in the middle of writing a book about it! At the minute it’s called “Scouse In The House” so watch this space!
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