Apr 04 Anthony Perosh on UFC Down Under

How old were you when you first started fighting?

- Well I was a later bloomer so to speak. I didn't start martial arts  until I was 29. I had my first mma match when I was 31. I was a BJJ black-belt, I had been doing BJJ for 7 years or so.

How did you get into it?

- It was around the time when the UFC started. I needed money, I was at Uni so I thought, “what could I do”? I needed a job so I thought id be a bouncer. Easy. It wasn't easy. So I thought I better learn something. There was a few UFC tapes around and I thought that I want to do this BJJ stuff, so I started from there.

Were you ever bullied in school?

- No. I was kind of a rare breed. I was smart and hung out with the nerds at school but I was also an athlete representing the school in different sports. I was tall in big. I was probably the bully.

How did you get the nickname “the Hippo”?

- When I started BJJ, pretty early on I always wanted to get ontop and stay there and because I was big I developed a really crushing game and the better I got the harder it was to get off. So people started yelling, like my training partners started yelling 'get off me you big fat hippo'. And it kind of stuck from there.

How long and how often do you train?

- For a fight camp I do a eight week camp. I do twice a day everyday for six days. But two thirds would be martial arts, technique skill development sparring and the other third would be the conditioning side so weights, running and sprinting. That sort of thing. And then in the off season nothing. A couple of weeks before I start my training camp i'm doing one session a day. So just to kind of get back in the maintenance level.

What's your opinion on the fights being banned in Victoria?

- Its a little bit silly, because when I first started, New South Wales was the only state where you couldn't do mma. I started in 2003, my first five matches were in either Queensland or Victoria. You couldn't fight in New South Wales, so now its completely reversed. Its legal everywhere but Victoria and i'm thinking mabey its just my conspiracy theory type view there must be some hidden agenda somewhere. Someone doesn't like it enough that has a bit of power to say 'hey don't let them do this down there'.

How did you cope with your first loss?

- It was a good learning experience. Because in my first loss, I lost by decision. I actually took the guy down and ended up in a dominate position, the mount position and had his back as well. So I remember in that match I was already celebrating in my head; 'Ah iv won, i've got him down, Ill finish him soon enough'. But back then I was just too BJJ orientated, I didn't think about mma. I was just grappling rather then grappling and striking and let him scramble up and get an advantage over me again. SO it was a good learning experience, from there I haven't ever celebrated two early, so my last match at the UFC where I took the guy (Tom Blackledge) down, got ontop in a dominate position. I wasn't going to stop until he was either tapping or the referee pulled me off.

Where do you feel the athletic conditioning is in Australia vs where you've seen or heard from other fighters from around the world?

- Its the same conditioning wise. I don't think the personal trainers/conditioning coaches are any better over there then over here. Australia is a very rich sporting country and even though its not big in mma, its big in rugby league, AFL, soccer and like a million other sports, so that's kind of where iv gone as well to see what they're doing to see what they're doing for recovery, and in terms of resources, you can get fit here you don't have to go overseas. There's nothing magical overseas in terms of athletic development.

What difference do you see in the UFC from having fought for them in 2006 and then making it back four years later?

- Believe it or not, back then they were very organised. I run a business now, I have two successful schools and I understand the importance of having good well trained staff and proceed place and they had all that back then. They were running a very tight ship five years ago. Now its just on a bigger scale because its a lot more bigger obviously a lot more staff is needed because their running more shows, but they were running a tight ship then too.

While you may have lost the fight to Cro Cop, you showed extreme heart, did you realise you were that tough?

- I had a couple previous fights where i've gone the distance and I lost that match too. I guess from the beginning i'm a very competitive person and i'm not just going to give up and especially I guess fighting in from of my home crowd against a big name and ontop of that he was Croatian and I have a Croatian background and I guess people in Croatia were watching aswell. I didn't want to give either one a bad name. Australians are good tough fighters and I didn't want to be an exception. I knew I didn't want to quit. I wasn't going to quit.

Have your gyms seen an influx of guys wanting to be the next big mma fighter?

- It comes in waves. Every time there's a UFC show or the Ultimate fighter series or mabey a movie about mma we always get an influx. It usually comes from teenagers like the male teenagers anywhere from fourteen and up. But we keep a pretty good running business. There's always a steady flow of people interested in mma but wouldn't say there's like hundreds, but there's defiantly an influx after each show.

Who do your fighters want to model themselves after?

- Well I hope that they model themselves after me first because I like to stick with the fundamentals you know. Because my strength is grappling, I want to get to the ground, but when I get to the ground I want to stay ontop. I don't like BJJ students who give up the top position and try to fight odd their backs because they get pummelled. Same thing with striking. I bought in my boxing coach. I want my fighters to have good striking where their not afraid to use their strikes to get a take down, like wrestling, to get the person down and then when they get to the ground to stay ontop. Stay ontop, finish ontop, don't loose the position and take your time. I hope they follow because I like to practise what I preach. I don't just tell them to do one thing and then do another thing. I'm hoping they use me as their role model. There's hundreds of fighters they can pick though. Any champion from the UFC or ex-champion.

How are you feeling about your next fight against Krzysztof Soszynski?

- Feeling great. I'm looking forward to it. I'm actually looking forward to starting to train. I want to train now but I am patient and will start in about ten days time when the eight weeks before the fight start. So yeah i'm looking forward to starting training for this fight. He's a step up. He's got five wins under his belt, but he's gone win loss, win loss, win loss in the last six matches or so, so he's not a major major contender, but he's a good step up and if I win this one it will defiantly move me up the rankings.

How many more years or fights do you feel you still have left?

- I guess getting asked that question always reminds me of my age, but i'm not gonna worry about that. I think there's three reasons to quit. 1. You don't like it anymore. If going to training is a chore and it's a struggle finishing the training. I'm actually looking forward to it. I have to stop myself from training. I know if i'm still looking forward to training i'm still looking forward to fighting. 2. You loose more fights then you win. I think its defiently time to quit and i'm not at that point yet. 3. If your body cant keep up its time to quit. I feel great and my body's good. Im 38 but I look better then I was at 21 so im happy with that.

Tags: Anthony Perosh \ Australia \ UFC