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[budo_dollyo]

Herring Headed To K-1
by Mick Hammond

As things continue to take shape over the upcoming battle between K-1 and Pride for New Year’s Eve ratings, K-1 continues to its assault on Pride’s roster. Heath Herring now joins Royce Gracie as former Pride fighters who have signed with K-1 to appear on their Premium Dynamite 2004 show in Osaka, Japan on December 31st. MMA Weekly’s Mick Hammond spoke to Herring from his home in Las Vegas about how the deal came about and what it’s like to be leaving the company he’s been with since 2000.

“I’ve signed a deal with K-1 that’s a multi-fight deal which begins with a fight on New Year’s against Sam Greco with MMA rules,” said Herring, “I’m really excited to be working with them.”

The deal essentially ends Herring’s career with Pride at least for the time being after a 4-year, 17-fight run with the company. Herring said about how the offer came about, “After my last fight (at Pride’s High Octane show against Hirotaka Yokoi) my contract was up. They had a month to come up with an offer and came back with a ridiculous offer. It was a two-year deal at about half the money they’d been paying me before.”

Herring continued, “(Being a free agent) I had companies soliciting me and even the UFC called, but K-1 seemed to be the best fit. I’m a good draw in Japan where they do the majority of their promotion, plus with Frank (Mir, Herring’s Las Vegas Combat Club teammate) in the UFC it just made sense for me to go to K-1.”

The situation seems very bittersweet to Herring, while excited about his new deal, he is also solemn about the end of such a long standing relationship with Pride, “I’m happy to be with K-1. They have a lot of stuff they are working on here in the States as well as in Japan. They do shows all over and they told me that they’ve got licensed in California and they also do the shows here in Vegas and told me I could be a part of those shows, I’ll know more about that after New Year’s, so I’m excited. It’s kind of sad too, “ said Herring. “I’ve been with Pride a long time and I think I did well for them. I know everyone there and I hate to go, but Pride has been acting kind of weird lately. They don’t seem to want to take care of the people that have been loyal to them the last few years. I don’t want to seem like I’m down on Pride, they did a lot for me, but it’s kind of shocking what happened especially after my last fight, I am astounded.”

Talk then turned towards Herring’s preparations for Greco; “Everything is going great. Cor Hemmers came over and he’s been here for about two months working with me on my striking. We are trying to get a symbiosis going with all the games; Ricardo (Pires) and Sergio (Penha) are working well together with Cor. My BJJ is coming along, I actually put a gi on for the first time other day, it was more for a joke than anything, my bread and butter is still the ground n pound with the stand up.”

Herring has experienced something of a rebirth since joining the LVCC earlier this year. He’s been much sharper in the ring than he had been in recent years and has shown a determination of late that was reminiscent of the time when he was a top contender for the Pride Heavyweight Championship.

Herring is quick to give his instructors at the LVCC credit for his renewed vigor and confidence, “ Sergio and Ricardo are really good instructors. They don’t try to force anything. They know what kind of fighter I am, I’m very unorthodox, I do a lot of stuff that I shouldn’t do on the ground. They are open to accepting the fact that I do things I shouldn’t do and work with me on my style rather than try to change me. That means a lot to me, they are great guys.”

Herring concluded, “Change is for the better. I’m back in the States, I get to see my daughter more and am closer to my family. It feels like I’m on vacation, I feel better than I have in a long time, I wish I had done it sooner. I really enjoyed fighting in Pride. I have a few years left in me, for the upcoming time period I’ll be in K-1 and we’ll see what happens from there.”

[budo_tarciu]

Ale lipa... Pride straciło świetnego i efektownie walczącego zawodnika.

[budo_administrator]

powodzenia

[budo_zly]

k-1 mma ma nie pewna przyszlosc. ja bym tam z pridu nie zwiewal.

[budo_olaff]

wg mnie Herring ma większe szanse w PRIDE niż w K1