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Dan Henderson gets Feijao fight next, Lawler says Lindland was very predictable
By Zach Arnold | December 5, 2010
Before we get to the interview transcripts, I want you to check out this interview Ariel Helwani did with Scott Coker. Not a lot of newsworthy items in the interview, but some of the answers to the questions may catch your eye. I thought he ‘split the baby’ when it came to talking about retirement for both Scott Smith and Matt Lindland. It was a “they need to sit down and have a conversation” answer. However, the fact that he didn’t say ‘no’ to the notion of retirement for either fighter said a lot (to me, anyways).
Josh Gross notes that the Strikeforce show in St. Louis drew 7,146 at the cavernous Scottrade Center. Strikeforce has consistently drawn mediocre numbers for their St. Louis events, but I’m not inclined at all to blame that on St. Louis being cold to MMA. Far from it.
CREDIT TO MMAFighting.com and Ariel Helwani
ARIEL HELWANI: “Robbie, considering Matt Lindland, considering you’re here in St. Louis, can you describe the emotions that you’re feeling right now after such a vicious knockout?”
ROBBIE LAWLER: “Uh, it’s always nice to knock someone out. It’s always nice to get a big win. Uh… Matt just came out and just probably should have wrestled a little more and I was just ready for him to stand with me.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Were you surprised that he did that?”
ROBBIE LAWLER: “No, that was my game plan. I thought this guy thinks he’s going to come out and exchange with me, then look to close the distance and I think I did a good job where I was moving and slipping his punches a little bit and throwing hard leather where he couldn’t just close the distance. But, uh, I expected him to stand.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “By the way, I think the interview’s officially longer than the fight. Pretty amazing, right? I mean, you almost feel like you want to fight again, right? I mean you’re not even tired.”
ROBBIE LAWLER: “Yeah, if this was a tournament, I’d be ready for that second one for sure. Hopefully Matt’s OK and I’m looking forward to training on Monday.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Did you feel as though, um, you know, after what happened in your last fight that you needed an emphatic victory here tonight to sort of reassert yourself at 185 here?”
ROBBIE LAWLER: “No, I don’t really care. I mean, usually when I win it’s usually pretty exciting and it’s usually by knockout. So, that’s how I fight all the time. I don’t press to do anything spectacular. That’s just the way I fight. I go hard, I go to try to finish people, I go to take people’s heads off.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “At this point do you think Matt should, you know, reconsider fighting the top tier guys?”
ROBBIE LAWLER: “Uh, that’s on him. He should go back and talk to his family and that’s on him, I’m not going to make any of those calls for him.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “And how about you? You’re only 28 years old, yet it feels as though you’ve been fighting for 20 years. You know, what do need to do now to just keep improving and to really get back in that title chase?”
ROBBIE LAWLER: “Uh, I’m going to be training with good guys, plain and simple. There’s some guys in Arizona I’m going to be working with that are opening up a new gym. I’m hoping to be a part of that, really good guys, big guys, big strong wrestlers and I’m going to keep wrestling, keep working on my striking and keep working on being faster and stronger.”
Now, onto Dan Henderson’s comments about his fight performance on Saturday night…
CREDIT TO MMAFighting.com and Ariel Helwani
ARIEL HELWANI: “Dan, first off, congratulations on a big win. Your first win since July of 2009. How good does it feel to be back in the win column?”
DAN HENDERSON: “Well, damn. Well, a lot of it is just not having the fights. It’s only my second fight since then, so… you know, it feels great to be back on the winning side but… you know it’s just, win or lose, as long as my body feels good and I’m able and I perform to what I’m capable of, I’m happy with myself so… I felt like I did that tonight. I don’t feel like I did that the last time.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “You said you didn’t feel like yourself the first time you fought in Strikeforce. How did you feel tonight?”
DAN HENDERSON: “I felt great and it’s not like I didn’t feel like myself, I just didn’t feel like I… I performed up to what I know I’m capable of, so you know I felt great tonight and did exactly what I wanted to do, you know, and even if I didn’t catch him I was just going to just be patient and knew eventually I would.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Considering the fact that your debut didn’t go as planned and they did so much work to try to bring you in here and it was very much hyped, your debut on CBS, did you feel a little extra pressure going into this one, that you really needed to perform well?”
DAN HENDERSON: “No. I felt like I had as much pressure as the last time, you know, coming in, my first fight, was a lot of expectations but… you know and then after that loss I had a lot of expectations to win, you know, this time, too. But I didn’t feel… it doesn’t effect me. As long as my body’s feeling good and mentally I’m usually there, just… you know, last time my body wasn’t there, this time I had bullets so I was happy with that.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Getting ready for this fight, did you think it would play out the way it did?”
DAN HENDERSON: “Uh, yeah, maybe not so quick. I figured he would… play the game with me on his feet a little bit and, uh, after I hit him hard I figured he’d try to start taking me down but the first time I hit him hard I guess it was in the right spot and hurt him pretty bad and went after him.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Since you looked so good out there tonight as a Light Heavyweight, safe to assume that you’re not going to be thinking about dropping down to 185 any time soon?”
DAN HENDERSON: “Uh, no, I mean, I’m happy at 205 but, you know… if Coker comes to me and say, hey, we really want you at 185, you know I’ll definitely consider it.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Considering your background as a wrestler, did you ever think you would develop into such a solid striker, lethal striker with that right hand?”
DAN HENDERSON: “Uh, you know, I didn’t know what to expect with my MMA career early on. I knew that I hit hard from the beginning and… liked to throw that punch but it just wasn’t technical enough to land it in the right spot that many times and didn’t have that many knockouts at all. I hurt guys but never knocked anybody out until, you know, maybe my 10th or so fight, 11th fight, so.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “I noticed your say your hand was a little banged up. What happened?”
DAN HENDERSON: “Yeah, I don’t know. My thumb hurts a lot and my (middle) finger hurts. That one…”
ARIEL HELWANI: “From the punch?”
DAN HENDERSON: “Uh, I don’t know. From, yeah, from the fight. I don’t know. I might have jammed both of them.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “You look at the division right now at 205. You think you’re the #1 contender?”
DAN HENDERSON: “Uh, I don’t know, it’s hard to say. Right now? I had a pretty impressive win and if it was one of the other guys that are in that top spot with that kind of a win, you know, possibly they’d be in there but, I don’t know… Who knows? I mean, I feel good. Feijao, you know, took Mo apart pretty well and you know Mo and Mousasi had a pretty tough, close fight so you know I feel any of those guys are right there but I’d be happy fighting any of them.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “When would you like to fight next?”
DAN HENDERSON: “Uh… probably three to four months.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Frank Shamrock went on Jimmy Fallon and predicted a Babalu victory. I saw you guys talk before. Did you sort of rub it in his face that you were able to win that decisively?”
DAN HENDERSON: “Yeah, I said I guess I proved him wrong. Yeah. You know, it’s always fun to prove someone wrong when they go on national TV and pick the other guy. That fueled it up a little, I guess.”
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Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 2 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
whoah whoah whoah, wait a minute. frank shamrock was on jimmy fallon??? i hope they burned the tape afterward
Has Lawler officially left Team Hughes yet? He’s been training with all the ASU guys for a while now…