6 odpowiedzi w tym temacie

[budo_dollyo]

Interview with Guy Mezger - Ready for Tito Ortiz!
Reported By: Boxing Insider - 10.13.2004 12:38 AM

The Folloiwing interview is sponosred by Lions Den Clothing found at KenShamrock.com

Boxinginsider.com: So. Guy -- how has your preparation for your upcoming fight with Tito Ortiz been going?

Guy Mezger: It's been going good. You know, I've been working with Ken Shamrock and Battalia Balamoundo and Erik Paulson and it's been good. I'm not going to kid you -- it's been tough, but we definitely had to have it tough. You can't take Tito for granted. He's an unbelievable athelete, so you've got to train like an unbelievable athelete to beat him. That's what we're doing.

Boxinginsider.com: You had only one fight in the past two years. Do you think there will be any ring rust -- do you think that will be a factor?

Guy Mezger: Who knows? I look at it as mainly being a kind of a rest and I'm pretty much going to shake it off doing my training. I feel like things are sharp -- my punching's sharp, my wrestling condition -- I really feel that kind of suffers is the conditioning and that's easily handled in the training.

Boxinginsider.com: What are you doing specifically now with Erik and Battallia that you weren't doing in the past? How has having Erik Paulson and Battalia Balamoundo in the equation changed the line of training?

Guy Mezger: It's put a lot more emphasis on conditioning, a lot more emphasis on being a little bit more direct, and the type of training you're doing. You avoid injuries, you avoid over-training and stuff like that.

Boxinginsider.com: As one of the game's most experienced veterans, do you think your experience will come into play?

Guy Mezger: Absolutely. I think it comes into play every time I get in the ring. What happens to me is: I don't kid myself. I'm not your best athelete out there. There are guys who are a lot better atheletes. But I have three things going for me: (i) I've got a lot more experience. I can always figure out soemthing to come up with and figure out ways to beat a guy. (ii) The fact that I won't quit, I won't lay down, and (iii) I really feel that I am smarter than most people I fight.

I'm a pretty smart guy and I'm not only a student of the game, but I study all angles of the game -- and I think that comes into play too. I figure a way out to beat somebody. Take it all together -- the brains, the experience, and the strong desire not to lose -- put that together and you have a pretty formidable opponent.

Boxinginsider.com: What is your public response to Tito Ortiz's tee shirt that he likes to wear that says, "Mezger is my bitch"?

Guy Mezger: To tell you the truth, it doesn't deserve a response. I mean, it is immature. At this point in our careers, at this point of the sophistication of what the UFC has gotten to, we are not a bunch of barroom brawlers, we are not a bunch of punks, we are a bunch of athletes, so we should act like it. Somewhere down the line Tito thinks that that type of behavior is appropriate and cool. I think he thinks it helps his image. I think it doesn't.

As I said before, someone ought to give him a hug because somewhere down the line he ain't feeling the love that he needs to, and I think he thinks he's going to get it with that kind of behavior. It's too bad. It might sell more tickets, but it is really too bad because it is really not what the UFC is about any more.

Boxinginsider.com: Now the feud between you and Tito has been heating up for years. For those out there who may not already know, can you give us some background how this whole feud started?

Guy Mezger: "Feud" may be a strong term for it. I think the terminology --
Boxinginsider.com: The third match, though.

Guy Mezger: Yes, I think there is some heat there between us mainly because I beat Tito in UFC13, then Tito beat me in UFC19. Then after the fight, instead of shaking hands and that kind of thing he puts on this shirt that says, "Guy Mezger is my bitch". It just infuriated Ken, and I didn't even realize it until later on. I didn't read his shirt. I didn't know what it was until later on. It was embarrassing. I didn't even see his shirt, you know. I was walking up to shake his hand and wishing him well for beating me -- because he did beat me that night. Then later on I see he's wearing this shirt.

Anyway, that's where it started, and it's escalated up. Ken and Tito have had words and they've had their fights, and all that kind of stuff. Like I said, for me this is about getting back in the ring. I've been retired, and the only reason I came back is to fight Tito. Tito is the one fight that I had, that last fight I had, where I really felt like -- and not taking away from Tito's effort and everything -- but the fact is that I thought I beat myself. I thought that the fight was stopped too soon. I felt like he wasn't hurting me. I felt like I really kind of beat myself out there, and that lost fights. I have been submitted a couple of times. Out of 145 fights I have been submitted three times. I've been knocked out four times. And up to now, I've lost a couple of really bullshit decisions. And Tito is the only time that I got beat where I've really thought I could beat myself.

So this is really my time to come back. I wanted this fight four or five years ago, but seeing that didn't happen, it happens now.

So I have come out of a time. This is about me. This is about what Guy Mezger wants to do to answer a question about himself. Tito just happens to be the outlet for that.

Boxinginsider.com: How much of Ken Shamrock and Ken Shamrock's ego is wrapped up in your fight with Tito, being that you were beaten by Tito the last time you fought and that there was talk of a Ken-Tito rematch which ended up becoming the Guy Mezger-Tito Ortiz rematch that we're discussing now? How much of this is personal for Ken? How much is he involved?

Guy Mezger: You'd have to talk to Ken more about that. I look at it like this: Ken and everybody in there -- these guys are warriors. They settle their differences like warriors. Does Ken want me to win? Absolutely. One of the things I love about Ken the most is that the thing he rejoices more about than him winning is that his friends and students and fighters and co-fighters are winning.

So, is this about us getting even with Tito? You have to talk to Ken about that. To me, it's about Guy Mezger finding out something about himself -- and in the process, if it makes Ken feel extra special for doing that, then great.

Boxinginsider.com: Tito's been on a losing streak lately and some are saying that you're merely a tune-up opponent for Tito to get back into the main event with Randy Couture or Chuck Liddell again. How does that make you feel?

Guy Mezger: At this point, whatever it takes to get the fight. It's a big mistake. I mean, yeah, do I think I'm expected to come here and lose? Absolutely. I feel that that's what they want me to do here. Is that what I'm going to do? No. I'm going to go after this guy and I'm going to win. I've got to take my opportunities -- as I said, I've been retired almost three years and I'm basically just keeping my feet wet with a couple of fights here and there to keep from losing my edge -- in case an opportunity comes. And an opportunity comes.

If they want me to be an opponent to put Tito back into the top ten or the top five or something like that, OK I'll take it. Does it make me feel good that I'm like that? You know what, I'm beyond that right now, to be honest. I'm totally beyond that. I'm here to do a job, and if Tito looks past me -- huge mistake on Tito's part.

Boxinginsider.com: Now Tito has been rumored to have been training wrestling with Randy Couture. How does that change anything?

Guy Mezger: Tito was a good wrestler before Randy ever came in, so I'm not concerned about it.

Boxinginsider.com: Now you've got a reality show that people have been talking about, if you could tell us a little bit about that.

Guy Mezger: It's called "Bad Ass" and it's a fun show. It's a reality TV show where we give the opportunity for tough guys to see how they really measure up. The concept kind of goes down where three guys step in there and we have different challenges for them and different games and different things where they get to win points. Some of it is a skills test. We have a physical fitness test, and we have where we'll do something fun like one of those hit a ball, see how hard you hit it. We do some other gimmicks, and a lot of it is fun -- challenging but fun -- and they win points. We always throw one big monkey wrench in it for these guys.

It's one of those things where it's not about skills or anything, it's about having balls enough to be willing to risk being made fun of. So it's really cool. So what happens is the guys get awarded points for how well they did, and get awarded money and stuff for different deals that they do. So what they do is whoever wins the contest he gets to choose first.

The choices are simple: one, he can choose to fight one of our pro fighters and if he wins he gets $25,000 -- and then there are pros and cons to doing it -- or he can choose to fight one of the other contestants, or he can fight one of our contestant champions, one of our contestants who won from the previous week. You get a different amount of money for each -- if you fight a challenger you get the least amount of money, if you fight one of the contenders you get more money, if you fight one of the pros and win then you get the most -- $25,000, and you make more money if you win than if you lose.

One of the advantages is that you want to make yourself available to get to the tournament because the tournament at the end of the year is where they make their big money. That's how it works. So far we have shot six shows and we've had to put it on hold because I'm up here training, then we'll finish the rest of the first part of the season, which is 12. So we have six more to do when I get back

Boxinginsider.com: Do you have a TV outlet lined up yet for the show?

Guy Mezger: We have a couple of different ones. The thing that we are trying to do, to be honest, is we want to put a lot of the show on ourselves. We want a bigger say in it than what most of the networks want to give us.

Boxinginsider.com: Are you a little disillusioned with how the Oscar De La Hoya show turned out with Fox pulling it and moving it to the Sports Net?

Guy Mezger: Actually I didn't even know that they did that. I'll be honest, I've been so wrapped up in the fight that I haven't even followed it. They funny part is, I got involved in TV and I hadn't watched TV in eight years. I didn't have a TV until I got married. So I've only been watching TV again for eight years because I just got so tired of watching TV and I didn't even bother having a TV -- and now I'm in the business.

Part of it is fun because I don't know how most of this stuff happens, so when people say, "It can't work this way", I'm going, "Why not?" When we first started doing this we had all these experts and this producer guy who makes movies and everything, and Dallas and all this. They came in and put this whole strategy together where they will have not even a pilot, just a promo, within four months. I'm like, "What? that's ridiculous."

I went to this Executive Producer and said we can produce it in less than a month, and they're like "Oh, yeah, sure". We ended up doing it in less than two and a half weeks. Of course they're like "This promo's crap", and then, of course everybody we show it to absolutely falls in love with it.

So we're kind of being a little bit mavericky about the way we are going about doing it. That's why we are kind of holding off with some of the networks because they come in and kind of tell us how to do it, so to speak. The problem with that is that they all change up the idea, and most of their ideas, to be honest, are stupid.

So we are going to go ahead and do the episodes ourselves then have them like it or dislike it. So far we have test marketed the first six episodes, and people just love it. That's funny because we have had guys talking all sorts of shit. One guy actually said he was going to the restroom and put on his gear and took off running. We've had gus drink the milk, which is an old boxing saying -- you know, you're milk-fed. So we've had guys do that. We've had guys pick on pros. In fact, the last three episodes we shot every single one of the guys who won the contests decided to fight a pro. None of them really lasted long with the pros, but they showed they've got some balls. So it's pretty entertaining.

The best-looking fights, the most entertaining, are obviously the fights between the different contestants. The show is funny because we're getting all these guys who would never have the real balls -- like we get a lot of these martial arts guys, who are the funny guys, doing a little Brazilian jujitsu and all this kind of stuff who would never have the balls to do a real fight, but want to take on these guys who have no experience. It's funny. We had one guy like that who got his ass kicked. It was actually pretty entertaining. This is not like a springboard to UFC. Do you remember the show American Gladiators?

Boxinginsider.com: Yes.

Guy Mezger: This is very much like that. It is an idea where normal guys come in and they get an opportunity to go against real athletes. That is really what it is about. We've got some shit-talking guys, and it's funny. We had some rednecks from east Texas, and there was, "Oh my goodness", but it was more entertainment than anything.

So we have all kinds of guys step up and fight. I think it's going to be a real entertaining show. We'll obviously find out in the near future.

Boxinginsider.com: We will definitely talk about that in the future. Now coming back to the fight, what is your prediction? How do you see this fight ending?

Guy Mezger: I look at it like this. The fight is going to end in one of two ways. I'm either going to catch him and knock him out within the three rounds or it's going to go to a decision and I'm going to win the decision. I'm going to keep pushing the fight and pushing the fight.

Boxinginsider.com: What are your thoughts on the recent revival of The Lion's Den?

Guy Mezger: I don't notice any more people. You say "the recent revival". The Lion's Den has been producing athletes ever since day one -- we've been doing it. Have we been in the UFC a whole bunch? No, but the UFC is a small outlet. The UFC only has X amount of slots, so there is not a lot of opportunity for everybody. The UFC is one of the very few organisations that produce athletes from absolutely nothing.

A lot of the different teams they start off with guys who are world champion wrestlers or Olympic caliber wrestlers or stuff like that, whereas in UFC we were starting off with guys who are college students and electrical engineers and computer engineers and getting them in there to fight. We have produced athletes not just in mixed martial arts. We have produced athletes in boxing, kickboxing, full contact karate, and mixed martial arts. So we are a little bit more widespread.

Last year we had three United States amateur full contact karate champions. We have had one amateur United States kick boxing champion. We have had four pro boxers who have been successful last year and the year before. So we have a lot of different athletes. For people to say "a revival", it is not really. We just haven't been in the UFC a whole bunch until recently.

Boxinginsider.com: I think what the fans are saying is that in the last couple of years the Miletich team and Team Quest have become, in most fans' eyes, the dominator of mixed martial arts teams where indeed at one time that was The Lion's Den. So in your opinion do you think, looking at those parameters, that The Lion's Den could be the dominant force that it once was?

Guy Mezger: I think so. I think that more than anything we have got to go like Miletich, like what Pat does. Pat's real smart. He produces young athletes and stuff like that. That is what The Lion's Den is doing too. We are getting a bunch of new guys that are coming up, that are doing well. Again, you have got to remember it is a very short-lived sport for most of us. Fighting as long as me and Ken have is a rarity in this sport. So we are in the process of putting more guys on. We look to be back at the head of the king of the jungle again.

Boxinginsider.com: Do you have any final thoughts or anything you'd like to say before we wrap up this interview?

Guy Mezger: I just want to thank everyone. This has been a really great experience for me, just the training and everything, because all my friends and all my old training partners and everybody has really stepped up to make this successful for me. That has really touched my heart. If you ever really want to be humble, when you have to make big decisions in your life the people are there next to you making those decisions with you helping you make these decisions. It has been very touching for me.

I run two businesses, too, on top of this, and I've had to count on my Managers and General Managers and Directors Operations to step up like nobody's business and take over. It's been great. It's been exciting for me. It's been a great feeling for me to get back in training with Ken.

The only drag, I'll be honest, is I've been four weeks away from my wife and, at the risk of sounding like a real woos, I've got a wonderful woman and I hate not being with her, but it's going to be worthwhile because I'm going to be able to go up there and do my very best and win this fight, and all will be well.

Finally, I'd Like to thank my sponsors, Lions Den Clothing found at [link widoczny dla zalogowanych Użytkowników] Cobb28 Clothing, and Sprawl fight shorts.

Boxinginsider.com: Thank you very much. Good Luck.

[budo_marcin954]

jakies dziewieć lat temu walczył z Tito i wygrał, chyba jako pierwszy z Lion Den, czyzby miał być rewanż ze strony Tito ?

[budo_jerz]

Ale jak z nim walczył ostatnio to dostał w dupe:
Loss Tito Ortiz TKO (Strikes) UFC 19-Ultimate Young Guns 3/5/1999
a wygrał przedtem:
Win Tito Ortiz Submission (Guillotine Choke) UFC 13-The Ultimate Force 5/30/1997

[budo_faust]

jakies dziewieć lat temu walczył z Tito i wygrał, chyba jako pierwszy z Lion Den, czyzby miał być rewanż ze strony Tito ?

Wygrał. Fakt ! Ale generalnie Tito dominował .. po ostrym oklepie w parterze sedzia przerywa walke ...opatrują poobijaną głowę Mezgera ...poczym walka jest wznawiana od nowa i wtedy Tito daje sie złapać na duszenie. Moim zdaniem bardzo dziwna wygrana ...

[budo_dusza]

tych kontrowersyjnych wygranych to mozna by troche naliczyc ale tej walki bym do tego nie zaliczyl skonczyla sie przed czasem...chociaz yoshida vs royce terz przed czasem sie zakonczyla ale to chyba ina historia ...

[budo_faust]

Nie nie Dusza> Nie to miałem na myśli. Werdykt walki Royce vs Yoschida był rzeczywiście kontrowersyjny. Natomiast w walce Mezger vs Tito niczego takiego nie było ..... Mezger wygrał bo zadusił Ortiza ale ja zwróciłem uwagę na to, że Ortiz : po pierwsze dominował zanim doszło do tej gilotynki ( ? ) po drugie Mezger miał szanse toz robić ponieważ sedzia przerwał walkę w momencie gdy on zbierał potężne kopy kolanem w głowe .... a nastepnie gdyw alkę wznowiono - zawodnicy zaczęli od walki w stójce a nie od tej samej pozycji która była 100 % korzystna dla Tito .

[budo_scoti]

Myślę, że każdy kto widział tę walkę zgodzi sie, że Tito maił wygraną w kieszeni do momentu kiedy wjroczył sędzia. Faktem jest natomiast że to Guy wygrał.