|
GET READY FOR THE REAL DEAL
 AFTER winning the lightweight division in the Ultimate Fighter 9 reality television series, Sunderland's
Ross 'The Real Deal' Pearson (pictured above) makes his full debut in the Ultimate Fighting Championship on November
14 at UFC 105 in Manchester.
Fightnewz.net had a chat with the 25-year-old former self-employed bricklayer (11-3) at
his muay thai trainer Nick Hands' gym in Durham with about a week to go before his fight with experienced American Aaron
Riley, which features on a card filled with British mixed martial arts talent such as Dan Hardy, Paul Kelly and Michael
Bisping.
FIGHTNEWZ.NET: You must be in pretty much peak condition this close
to the fight?
PEARSON: I'm in excellent shape. I'm a little bit tired today, I trained three times
yesterday.
I'm only eating carbs on a morning trying to get my weight down. I've still got about 14 pounds left
to go, so I'm trying to slowly get it down which is taking effect on the morning training.
Getting up early and having
no carbs is hard, but it's what you've got to do isn't it?
FIGHTNEWZ.NET: What have you been
doing specifically in preparation for this fight?
PEARSON: I've been doing a
lot of boxing, muay thai and wrestling.
And basically I haven't focused too much on the jiu jitsu side of things.
I've gone over the basics, like you do for every camp, but I haven't looked at and drilled something specifically
jiu jitsu-wise. I've been doing sweeps and reversals, everything you do anyway, that's been the same.
But I haven't
focused on a gameplan on that side of things, it's been about boxing, muay thai and wrestling.
My conditioning is
through the roof working with Barry Gibson from Grapplefit over in South Shields. I'm the strongest I've ever been.
He has just got a new place now and it's fantastic, he is putting me through hell.
I've done a 15-week training
camp and the first six weeks of that training camp I wouldn't say was killing me because obviously I don't want to
peak too soon, but it was all power and explosion.
Flipping heavy tyres and dead lifting and squatting. All the raw core
strength stuff and I put on weight then. I would think I was walking round at about 83 kilos.
I've stepped up the
conditioning in the last six weeks, more boxing pads and sparring and gradually bringing my weight down.
I feel like
I've brought the strength with me and my body feels like it is just ready to go now.
FIGHTNEWZ.NET:
How important is it to not only win against Riley but also do it impressively? The UFC likes to see something a bit extra
from its fighters.
PEARSON: Definitely. You are at the top of the tree fighting in the UFC. To me personally
I never ever want to get beat, no fighter wants to get beat.
But to win obviously is going to be a massive boost for
my career.
To win impressively is just going to make a statement and put my name up there.
Aaron Riley is no mug.
He has been in there with the likes of Eddie Alvarez and Robbie Lawler, all those types of guys. He has fought some top names
and I want to fight top names.
I don't just want to fight this or that guy, I want to fight people who are names
and hard and tough fights. That's what gets me up on a morning and what gets me out running.
I don't like running
but to think I'm fighting this guy who could beat me up gets me out there.
FIGHTNEWZ.NET: How
do you see the fight developing?
PEARSON: For the last 15 weeks I've been thinking 'this could
happen, that could happen'.
Anything can happen. But I really think - obviously it's the first time I've
been in the bright lights as such.
Obviously I've fought in Las Vegas in The Ultimate Fighter final but it's
like my proper UFC debut.
But I think he is going to try and rush me, come out first thinking that he will catch me with
nerves under the bright lights.
I think he will try and rush me but I'm not worried about that at all, I'm sticking
to my gameplan. I fight better when people come to give me something to attack.
In the Andre Winner fight in the TUF
9 final he didn't really give much for me to fight back to and it was one of those fights that didn't flow. It was
stop-start but like I say, I think it's going to be a fast-paced fight. I think it is going to be up, down, round, in
the clinch and everything.
I'm prepared to go to any lengths to win this fight.
It's back to I don't
know him, he doesn't know me and there is no animosity or bad feelings or anything like that, but I'm there to take
him out at the end of the day. He is there to take money out of my pocket.
FIGHTNEWZ.NET:
What would represent a good UFC career for you?
PEARSON: I'm definitely in it to win titles. In the long
run I've definitely got my eyes set on reaching big things.
I definitely think I've got the potential of doing
it. I've got the heart, the dedication and I definitely think I've got the physical attributes as well.
It's
just getting the right fights at the right time and keeping an eye on my career and where it's going and keep training
wisely.
I'm putting everything into it. I've got one shot at it and if I don't get to title level it won't
be for a lack of trying. The UFC have the top fighters in the world and if you get beat you get beat, but you never ever train
to get beat do you?
I'm definitely in it to improve and go as far as I can in this sport.
It's only down
to you and how much you put into things and then it comes down to talent at the end of the day, genetics and all of those
factors.
But I definitely do believe I've got the potential to go a long way in this sport.
FIGHTNEWZ.NET: What do you think of the lightweight division?
PEARSON: It's stacked. It's
a massive division in the UFC and just in the UK alone. I think lightweight and welterweight are the weight divisions for
the UK guys. There are a lot of good training partners for that weight category and there is a lot of good competition in
those groups and a lot of guys improving fast. It's a deep pool.
FIGHTNEWZ.NET: How
good a night do you see it being for British MMA in Manchester, with so many domestic fighters on the show?
PEARSON: A great night. I think it's going to be fantastic. Everyone has got a tough fight, not one has
been hand picked and there is going to be some good talent on the card.
I'm looking forward to seeing the Paul Taylor-John
Hathaway fight. I like Taylor, I've watched him fight a few times and he is always in a good fight.
FIGHTNEWZ.NET: How do you think you will handle the whole occasion?
PEARSON: Once the cage door
shuts it's business time. I don't know how I'm going to handle it and I was saying the exact same thing when I
was fighting in Vegas.
But it didn't affect me at all, if anything I think I was more relaxed than I've ever
been. I think there was only 3,000 people in The Palms and it's nearer 20,000 at the MEN, but once you are in there you
can't see anything. You just see the other guy and who you are fighting.
FIGHTNEWZ.NET: How
has life changed for you since the Ultimate Fighter? Apart from winning a six-figure UFC contract of course!
PEARSON: Obviously the contract and the experience of being in the house totally changed me as a person. I've
grown from it and learned from it and I've learned how to be a man basically.
I'd never been away from home for
that long. Obviously now that I'm back home after the show I'm a professional athlete. It's a job now, it's
a career and I'm managing myself and my body professionally. I'm not abusing my body by smoking or drinking or anything
like that - I've never smoked. I'm managing my job and my body and my shape. My physique is totally different and
my whole game is totally different. I think that is the only thing that has changed - it's more serious.
FIGHTNEWZ.NET: What was it like being on camera 24/7?
PEARSON: To be honest I enjoyed it.
I thought it was fun. It was a good job that everyone on Team UK who I was with were good friends. We all got on and we all
had a laugh, so that made it a lot easier. If it was the other way and none of us got on, ask me that question and I would
have probably said I hated it.
But the lads definitely made it easier for me because we all had fun and got on with it.
I totally enjoyed the experience. It was weird the first few days getting followed around by cameras all the time and being
under surveillance 24 hours and being locked up.
But to me it was a massive opportunity to be where I wanted to be. I'm
still a very young fighter very early in my career and I got the chance to have an early break. How many fighters get that?
Not many.
FIGHTNEWZ.NET: James Wilks, another British fighter, obviously won the welterweight
division in the show as well. Why was the UK team so effective against the American team?
PEARSON: We were
all there for each other. Good coaching, good training and I think we just bonded better.
I think the fights got picked
right for us. The Stapes (Martin Stapleton) fight obviously didn't go our way, Jeff (Lawson) was ill and Dean
(Amasinger) was unlucky but everyone else just performed.
I think we just went out there with no pressure on us
and everyone expected us to lose, they all underestimated us. I think the whole world did but we just went out with no pressure
and had fun with it and enjoyed it and we had a good team.
FIGHTNEWZ.NET: Rob Browning
became infamous on the show for getting drunk and fooling around throwing eggs. What was he actually like?
PEARSON: A nightmare. Good job he was only in there three days because I don't think I would have been there much
longer. When we got to the house the American team had already been there for a few hours so they had been drinking.
By
the time we got there they were all half-cut and when we first got through the doors everyone from Team America was drinking.
They were all offering us beer but all of the Team UK guys were like 'we aren't drinking, we are here to fight'.
From that minute they got a shock and realised we really were there to fight. Right from the outset we were serious.
We called Rob Browning '15 Minutes' because he just wanted his 15 minutes of fame didn't he? That's all
it was.
His brother Junie has been released from the UFC and I wouldn't care, that would have been a good fight for
me.
I would have enjoyed fighting Junie, I would have beaten him all day long without doubt.
I actually said that
to Rob in the house, they didn't show it on the telly but I did say that.
FIGHTNEWZ.NET: What
are your recollections of beating your fellow Brit Andre Winner on points in the TUF final?
PEARSON: I definitely
think it was the last round and the final knee that won it for me. If that fight had been 20 seconds longer who knows what
could have happened because he was rocked. Taking nothing away from Andre because I train with him at the Rough House gym
in Nottingham.
He is a top fighter and it was hard getting up for a fight where I had to fight one of my friends.
It was just one of those things. I would rather have fought him in the final and both of us got the chance to win the show
than fighting to get on it and one of us knocking each other out.
FIGHTNEWZ.NET: You are
pretty much the torchbearer for MMA in the North East of England with being in the UFC. Does that give you an extra incentive
to do well?
PEARSON: It does a little bit. It's good that people recognise me and follow me and what I'm
doing in my career but I don't feel any extra responsibility.
It's a good thing that people are following me.
There is a lot of good lads in the North East of England and I don't think it gets the respect it deserves.
The North
East is a bit of a fighting community, everyone fights!
FIGHTNEWZ.NET: Ian Freeman is
also from Sunderland and has obviously fought in the UFC. Has he given you any advice?
PEARSON: I used to train
with Ian when I first started out and I moved on and started training with different people. I haven't spoked to him since
I got back actually.
FIGHTNEWZ.NET: Wasn't your first MMA fight quite controversial?
PEARSON: I fought a lad called Steve Dawson from Stockton and it's not even on my record.
I was supposed
to have tapped. It was my first ever MMA fight when I was training with Ian and I was just a boxer then who didn't have
a clue.
We came out and we were fighting and I dropped him and he grabbed hold of me and took me down and mounted me.
I was thinking: 'What's going on here!?' Somehow I managed to get through it and it went all the way to the
third round with 30 seconds to go. He mounted me and hit me and spun me and went for an armbar and I didn't know how to
escape.
I pulled out from it and the referee broke us up and said I'd tapped but I didn't tap.
Obviously
because the referee split us the crowd was going crazy and then our corner got in and shouted at the referee and it was just
one of those things. I still don't know what happened to this day. It was one of those crazy things where nothing happened
at the end of it and no result was announced.
FIGHTNEWZ.NET: Before you went into the
Ultimate Fighter house you fought former Cage Rage champion Abdul Mohamed in Liverpool and lost on a unanimous decision. Some
people thought that was a controversial fight.
PEARSON: Yeah, very. At the time it was for the trials for the
Ultimate Fighter and everyone in the UK was up for Abdul beating me to get into the UFC. All the Wolflslair guys like Rampage
Jackson and everyone were there and to be fair I didn't perform at my best for that fight but I was definitely robbed.
I dropped him twice and hit him with a flying knee on the bell in the second round which put him against the fence.
I
busted up his face and he took me down and basically laid on me. Give him his due, he is a strong fighter and pinned me well
but I was holding him and looking at the referee expecting him to stand us up.
The referee wouldn't stand us up and
they gave him a unanimous decision and I don't know why.
After I fought Abdul I didn't have any injuries and
I think I fought three weeks later against Ian Jones in Doncaster and submitted him in the first round.
I got the phone
call from the UFC literally three or four hours after the fight and they asked me if I wanted to do the Ultimate Fighter so
I went out and did it.
If Abdul got into the UFC I would like to fight him again, without a doubt. I would definitely
like to fight him again and put it right.
I don't think he would go past the first round if I fought him again.
No disrespect to Abdul, he is a tough guy and he has been around the sport a long time but I'm in a different league
now.
I like Abdul, we used to train with Ian and he is a good guy.
He fought two weeks ago against Jason Young and
got beat on a decision but to be fair he dropped Jason Young in the third round and I think it was closer than the unanimous
decision made out. He definitely controlled the fight and took Jason down a few times.
FIGHTNEWZ.NET:
Finally, and going way back to the start for you, what is your background in combat sports?
PEARSON: I’ve
been doing martial arts since about the age of six. I started taekwondo just at a local gym and I got a black belt in taekwondo
when I think I was about 10.
Then I moved into judo and got a brown belt and then from about 13 I boxed all the way through
my teens for Chester Moor amateur boxing club.
I entered the Under-10 Novice Championships but I started fighting MMA
at the same time when I think I was about 17.
Then obviously my boxing coach wasn’t happy that I was fighting MMA
and I just drifted away and went more into MMA. I wish I had gone in the novices and tried for the ABAs in boxing but I didn’t
get there.
FIGHTNEWZ.NET: So what’s the appeal of mixed martial arts over boxing?
PEARSON: It’s the whole aspect of it being as real as it gets. I saw it years ago when I was a kid
and thought ‘man, this is crazy’. I was hooked on it. I’ve watched martial arts films since I was a kid
and said I wanted to be a black belt in every martial art. What better sport is there to be in than mixed martial arts? It
is everything at the end of the day. Fighting in the UFC, you might as well be a black belt in mixed martial arts if there
was a belt.
It’s definitely a dream come true to get there. I’ve appreciated every fight that I’ve
had and even if I’d have got knocked out in my first fight I would never have packed in. I’m not a quitter, not
one bit.
|
