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29-01-2010, 18:50
Melvin Manhoef looks ahead to Strikeforce debut against Lawler
http://i.usatoday.net/communitymanager/_photos/fighting-stances/2010/01/25/melvinmanhoefx-inset-community.jpg (http://i.usatoday.net/communitymanager/_photos/fighting-stances/2010/01/25/melvinmanhoefx-large.jpg)
Statistics only provide the basic outline of what it means to fight like Dutch striker Melvin Manhoef.
Twenty-four wins, including 23 knockouts or technical knockouts. Six losses, four of them submissions.
The numbers fail to capture the extremes of both sides. You have to see Manhoef erupt into his strikes to fully grasp the destructive potential of his fists and feet. You have to watch Manhoef flail around on the mat to understand how rudimentary his grappling game has been.
North America finally gets a chance to see for itself. Manhoef's live debut in this hemisphere is scheduled for Saturday against another celebrated striker, Robbie Lawler, on the main card of Strikeforce's show in Miami (10 p.m. ET, Showtime). Manhoef took the fight less than a month after competing in Japan for Dream despite a major setback in the last couple of months — his main training home, Mike's Gym in Amsterdam, burned down (http://www.k-1.co.jp/en/news/2009/1202_wgp_01.html) in late November.
I talked to Manhoef earlier this month about his upcoming fight with Lawler, his previous fight with Kazuo Misaki, training with American Top Team and his overall career. Excerpts from our conversation:
Q: What was your reaction when you heard you'd be facing Robbie Lawler?
Manhoef: It was pretty awesome. It's very good for me. I heard he is one of the heavy bangers here in America. Me and my team like to fight everyone, even Robbie Lawler. I think it would be a nice fight for all the fans in the audience.
Every fight is a fight and I respect every guy who stands in the ring. I think with two fighters like me and Robbie it's going to be an exciting match for us.
What's Robbie's biggest strength?
His heart. He has heart. He's a fighter. this is his strength.
I heard he has heavy hands and heavy kicks. I think his striking is his plus point.
It's very difficult. Our gym burned down in Holland, so I didn't train properly for the fight on New Year's Eve.
Five days I take rest, and then I come here. I'm now starting to train and it's going good. The guys and everybody, all ATT is helping me very hard. They're pushing me. They want to get me ready for the fight.
I hope it will give the good result that I want.
Who do you have imitating Robbie Lawler in training camp?
Everybody. Everybody stands southpaw. Everybody is doing the things a wrestler loves.
I stand up a lot. You cannot explain how the fight is going to go. You have a game plan, but sometimes you have to change your game plan also. We're going to see what's going to happen.
So they're imitating Robbie. They do stand-up a lot. They do the ground a lot. I'm trying to be prepared on every ground, on every field.
If we bring this fight stand-up, we're going to stand-up. If we bring the fight to the ground, we'll go to the ground; even though my ground skills are not so (great), I'm doing the best I can.
http://www.mmaspot.net/images/uploads/Melvin%20Manhoef%20MED.jpg
You just mentioned that your main gym, Mike's Gym, just burned down recently. What's the status on reopening?
We are basically all ready now. My trainer has a new gym already and I think he already got the key.
He's going to start rebuilding and maybe March we're going to be finished. March or April.
But it's like really awkward, you know? ... We don't have our own place and we travel a lot to train there, there, there, and it's not been the same. But we manage and we do the best what we can.
That's why we came fairly early to American Top Team, because this is my second home.
How did you end up settling on American Top Team as your U.S. home, so to speak?
I've been coming here four years now, because I'm very good friends with JZ Calvan (Gesias Cavalcante). Jorge Santiago I know. Pitbull (Thiago Alves) I know from Holland.
So it's very nice to be here. They treat me good. They're like my friends, my brothers.
How did end up signing with Strikeforce? Did they approach you?
Yeah, they approached me, and we asked K-1 if I could fight here, and they said it's OK.
How many fights do you have on your Strikeforce contract?
I've got two fights each year, but I hope they're going to give me more. I like to fight a lot, so if they want to give me more fights, it's better that I can train longer in American Top Team, to do my ground game and get my ground skills very good.
But for now, I have two fights for three years long. So six fights in total.
What's your relationship with Dream these days?
I have also a lot of fights with Dream. I have like four fights in a year.
So I'm always fighting six, seven fights in one year. And I do also K-1 in between, so this is difficult, you know?
I fight a lot. We fight K-1 rules, then we fight on Dream rules. ... At the moment we still like doing both.
I'm going to try now to do more on the ground, because I have more MMA fights coming up, so I'm going to do more practicing on the ground.
http://www.mmaconvert.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/melvin_manhoef.jpg
Given that you are known as a striker mainly and you enjoy that aspect the most, what do you like about MMA? Why not just do K-1?
Because I started something and it (has gone) good so far. I lost a couple of fights, but this is because I have a lack of the ground, but most fights, still, I won on knockout.
This is why it's called MMA, you know? Everybody can do MMA, because it's mixed martial arts. So a Thai guy can get up and stand there, and trade with a BJJ guy or a wrestler guy, and this is what I want.
For me, it (would be) an honor to win the Dream belt or the Strikeforce belt, because I am a stand-up guy and (would) still win in MMA. And I feel also like an MMA guy because I'm fighting a long time now in MMA.
I only have to get better on the ground.
A couple of years ago after you fought Gegard Mousasi, you said at the time that you would retire from fighting, but your family talked you into going back. What did they say to you that convinced you to take up fighting again?
My father, I had no time for my father and other people in my family. He lost his life and I wasn't there at the moment. There were a lot of things going on in my family life and in my personal life,
And they said even if you stop, you cannot change everything. They said don't do it, because this is what you know, this is what you can (do), so please try to go on. And my father said, I don't like it if you stop (for) my mother and my team and everybody.
Then I started again. Now I'm on track again and I don't want to get distracted any more.
I want to do what I have to do and this is fighting. This is what I am. This is what I can (d0). This is what I do. I live to fight and I fight to live.
You've said that you had offers from UFC in the past and decided not to take them. What does Strikeforce give you that UFC does not?
Strikeforce can let me fight. I can fight in K-1 still and Dream, you understand? And UFC is an exclusive contract.
It's not about nothing or something, but this was for me, in this timing, this is better for me, because I can fight K-1 and Dream and Strikeforce.
Your last fight against Misaki, a lot of people — including me, I must say — felt the stoppage looked a bit early. What did you think? Do you think Misaki could have kept going?
If you saw the fight very closely, the time that I got him with a left hook, his hands were dropping and he was out. And (by) the time he hit the ropes and the canvas, he waked up a little bit again and he was clear again to fight again.
But then I had two clear shots, you know, and if the ref wasn't there, I think I'm going to hit him. Maybe it's going to be like a few more punches, then he was gone for good.
But my trainer also says, if you watch, he also had my leg (for a possible takedown attempt). He still had my leg, you know?
But it doesn't matter. If he finds the stoppage was not OK and we're going to do it over again, that's OK with me.
http://www.mmalinker.com/wiki/images/e/ee/Melvin.jpg
Misaki has fought for Strikeforce in the past. Maybe they can bring him in.
Oh, OK. It's good for Strikeforce if they can bring the good guys in, and he's a good guy. He's got a good name. Misaki (has) wins from a lot of guys: Denis Kang; Dan Henderson; Phil Baroni.
If they say it was an early stoppage and it could continue, this is not my call, you understand? This is the ref's call.
Maybe it was a little bit early, maybe not. Because maybe when I go on, it will be worse for him; the ref also has to protect the fighters.
He has given a complaint, and I'm going to wait for the decision (about) what they're going to do.
Usually before your fights, your trainer is saying something to you at the top of the ramp before you go down to the ring. What's the purpose of that talk?
To get me good on track and everything, and he says special things. It works for me.
He doesn't fire me up. He says kind of magical things. But the magical things is a real secret, so I cannot tell you. (Manhoef laughs)
Jake Shields is the Strikeforce middleweight champion right now. If you're successful in Strikeforce, at some point you're going to fight grappling experts like Shields and some others. How much of a concern is that, given how you've fared against some submission artists in the past?
The fight starts standing up.
(starts listing grapplers he has beaten) Sakuraba is also a good grapple guy. ... Crosley Gracie was a good ground guy. Dae Won Kim was a good ground guy.
So I'm not really scared of them or something like this. It's just a fight. If they have me on the ground, they have a slight advantage. But if I have to put my fists on their chin, I also have a slight advantage.
So if I have to fight those guys, I hope I will be better. I hope I will be better.
I just hope (if) they take me to the ground, I knock them out before I go to the ground.
But we will see. I'm going to practice my ground game very hard. Maybe one day, I can put also a grappler in a triangle choke or guillotine or armbar. It would be very nice, but I don't know how long I could wait on that.
If you put someone in a triangle choke, I think that might make a lot of lists for Submission of the Year.
Yeah. Really. If this happens, I'm going to be like, oh man, dancing all week, I think.
When did you last fight in a cage?
When I fought in Cage Rage. My fight against Ian Freeman, I think.
Do you think there's much of a difference between fighting in a ring or cage? How much does it change your approach?
In the cage, it's bigger. It's harder to close somebody down. To cut the corners, it's harder and everything. But it's still nice.
When the guys push you to the fence, it's different. When they push you into the ring or into the fence, it's totally different.
But I like it. I like the cage and I like the ring. They're both my home, so it's no problem.
Do you have a preference?
At the moment, I have a preference for the ring, because I fought in Dream.
Now it's very difficult (in the cage) because when the guys shoot (on) you and they drive, they're going to drive you (into) the fence and they're going to get their game, you know? Only this is a little bit awkward for me, at the moment.
But I have to get used to it, because I would like to fight here and I want to make the best of it so they invite more two, three times more a year.
-----------------------------------
WAR MANHOEF:thup:
http://i.usatoday.net/communitymanager/_photos/fighting-stances/2010/01/25/melvinmanhoefx-inset-community.jpg (http://i.usatoday.net/communitymanager/_photos/fighting-stances/2010/01/25/melvinmanhoefx-large.jpg)
Statistics only provide the basic outline of what it means to fight like Dutch striker Melvin Manhoef.
Twenty-four wins, including 23 knockouts or technical knockouts. Six losses, four of them submissions.
The numbers fail to capture the extremes of both sides. You have to see Manhoef erupt into his strikes to fully grasp the destructive potential of his fists and feet. You have to watch Manhoef flail around on the mat to understand how rudimentary his grappling game has been.
North America finally gets a chance to see for itself. Manhoef's live debut in this hemisphere is scheduled for Saturday against another celebrated striker, Robbie Lawler, on the main card of Strikeforce's show in Miami (10 p.m. ET, Showtime). Manhoef took the fight less than a month after competing in Japan for Dream despite a major setback in the last couple of months — his main training home, Mike's Gym in Amsterdam, burned down (http://www.k-1.co.jp/en/news/2009/1202_wgp_01.html) in late November.
I talked to Manhoef earlier this month about his upcoming fight with Lawler, his previous fight with Kazuo Misaki, training with American Top Team and his overall career. Excerpts from our conversation:
Q: What was your reaction when you heard you'd be facing Robbie Lawler?
Manhoef: It was pretty awesome. It's very good for me. I heard he is one of the heavy bangers here in America. Me and my team like to fight everyone, even Robbie Lawler. I think it would be a nice fight for all the fans in the audience.
Every fight is a fight and I respect every guy who stands in the ring. I think with two fighters like me and Robbie it's going to be an exciting match for us.
What's Robbie's biggest strength?
His heart. He has heart. He's a fighter. this is his strength.
I heard he has heavy hands and heavy kicks. I think his striking is his plus point.
It's very difficult. Our gym burned down in Holland, so I didn't train properly for the fight on New Year's Eve.
Five days I take rest, and then I come here. I'm now starting to train and it's going good. The guys and everybody, all ATT is helping me very hard. They're pushing me. They want to get me ready for the fight.
I hope it will give the good result that I want.
Who do you have imitating Robbie Lawler in training camp?
Everybody. Everybody stands southpaw. Everybody is doing the things a wrestler loves.
I stand up a lot. You cannot explain how the fight is going to go. You have a game plan, but sometimes you have to change your game plan also. We're going to see what's going to happen.
So they're imitating Robbie. They do stand-up a lot. They do the ground a lot. I'm trying to be prepared on every ground, on every field.
If we bring this fight stand-up, we're going to stand-up. If we bring the fight to the ground, we'll go to the ground; even though my ground skills are not so (great), I'm doing the best I can.
http://www.mmaspot.net/images/uploads/Melvin%20Manhoef%20MED.jpg
You just mentioned that your main gym, Mike's Gym, just burned down recently. What's the status on reopening?
We are basically all ready now. My trainer has a new gym already and I think he already got the key.
He's going to start rebuilding and maybe March we're going to be finished. March or April.
But it's like really awkward, you know? ... We don't have our own place and we travel a lot to train there, there, there, and it's not been the same. But we manage and we do the best what we can.
That's why we came fairly early to American Top Team, because this is my second home.
How did you end up settling on American Top Team as your U.S. home, so to speak?
I've been coming here four years now, because I'm very good friends with JZ Calvan (Gesias Cavalcante). Jorge Santiago I know. Pitbull (Thiago Alves) I know from Holland.
So it's very nice to be here. They treat me good. They're like my friends, my brothers.
How did end up signing with Strikeforce? Did they approach you?
Yeah, they approached me, and we asked K-1 if I could fight here, and they said it's OK.
How many fights do you have on your Strikeforce contract?
I've got two fights each year, but I hope they're going to give me more. I like to fight a lot, so if they want to give me more fights, it's better that I can train longer in American Top Team, to do my ground game and get my ground skills very good.
But for now, I have two fights for three years long. So six fights in total.
What's your relationship with Dream these days?
I have also a lot of fights with Dream. I have like four fights in a year.
So I'm always fighting six, seven fights in one year. And I do also K-1 in between, so this is difficult, you know?
I fight a lot. We fight K-1 rules, then we fight on Dream rules. ... At the moment we still like doing both.
I'm going to try now to do more on the ground, because I have more MMA fights coming up, so I'm going to do more practicing on the ground.
http://www.mmaconvert.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/melvin_manhoef.jpg
Given that you are known as a striker mainly and you enjoy that aspect the most, what do you like about MMA? Why not just do K-1?
Because I started something and it (has gone) good so far. I lost a couple of fights, but this is because I have a lack of the ground, but most fights, still, I won on knockout.
This is why it's called MMA, you know? Everybody can do MMA, because it's mixed martial arts. So a Thai guy can get up and stand there, and trade with a BJJ guy or a wrestler guy, and this is what I want.
For me, it (would be) an honor to win the Dream belt or the Strikeforce belt, because I am a stand-up guy and (would) still win in MMA. And I feel also like an MMA guy because I'm fighting a long time now in MMA.
I only have to get better on the ground.
A couple of years ago after you fought Gegard Mousasi, you said at the time that you would retire from fighting, but your family talked you into going back. What did they say to you that convinced you to take up fighting again?
My father, I had no time for my father and other people in my family. He lost his life and I wasn't there at the moment. There were a lot of things going on in my family life and in my personal life,
And they said even if you stop, you cannot change everything. They said don't do it, because this is what you know, this is what you can (do), so please try to go on. And my father said, I don't like it if you stop (for) my mother and my team and everybody.
Then I started again. Now I'm on track again and I don't want to get distracted any more.
I want to do what I have to do and this is fighting. This is what I am. This is what I can (d0). This is what I do. I live to fight and I fight to live.
You've said that you had offers from UFC in the past and decided not to take them. What does Strikeforce give you that UFC does not?
Strikeforce can let me fight. I can fight in K-1 still and Dream, you understand? And UFC is an exclusive contract.
It's not about nothing or something, but this was for me, in this timing, this is better for me, because I can fight K-1 and Dream and Strikeforce.
Your last fight against Misaki, a lot of people — including me, I must say — felt the stoppage looked a bit early. What did you think? Do you think Misaki could have kept going?
If you saw the fight very closely, the time that I got him with a left hook, his hands were dropping and he was out. And (by) the time he hit the ropes and the canvas, he waked up a little bit again and he was clear again to fight again.
But then I had two clear shots, you know, and if the ref wasn't there, I think I'm going to hit him. Maybe it's going to be like a few more punches, then he was gone for good.
But my trainer also says, if you watch, he also had my leg (for a possible takedown attempt). He still had my leg, you know?
But it doesn't matter. If he finds the stoppage was not OK and we're going to do it over again, that's OK with me.
http://www.mmalinker.com/wiki/images/e/ee/Melvin.jpg
Misaki has fought for Strikeforce in the past. Maybe they can bring him in.
Oh, OK. It's good for Strikeforce if they can bring the good guys in, and he's a good guy. He's got a good name. Misaki (has) wins from a lot of guys: Denis Kang; Dan Henderson; Phil Baroni.
If they say it was an early stoppage and it could continue, this is not my call, you understand? This is the ref's call.
Maybe it was a little bit early, maybe not. Because maybe when I go on, it will be worse for him; the ref also has to protect the fighters.
He has given a complaint, and I'm going to wait for the decision (about) what they're going to do.
Usually before your fights, your trainer is saying something to you at the top of the ramp before you go down to the ring. What's the purpose of that talk?
To get me good on track and everything, and he says special things. It works for me.
He doesn't fire me up. He says kind of magical things. But the magical things is a real secret, so I cannot tell you. (Manhoef laughs)
Jake Shields is the Strikeforce middleweight champion right now. If you're successful in Strikeforce, at some point you're going to fight grappling experts like Shields and some others. How much of a concern is that, given how you've fared against some submission artists in the past?
The fight starts standing up.
(starts listing grapplers he has beaten) Sakuraba is also a good grapple guy. ... Crosley Gracie was a good ground guy. Dae Won Kim was a good ground guy.
So I'm not really scared of them or something like this. It's just a fight. If they have me on the ground, they have a slight advantage. But if I have to put my fists on their chin, I also have a slight advantage.
So if I have to fight those guys, I hope I will be better. I hope I will be better.
I just hope (if) they take me to the ground, I knock them out before I go to the ground.
But we will see. I'm going to practice my ground game very hard. Maybe one day, I can put also a grappler in a triangle choke or guillotine or armbar. It would be very nice, but I don't know how long I could wait on that.
If you put someone in a triangle choke, I think that might make a lot of lists for Submission of the Year.
Yeah. Really. If this happens, I'm going to be like, oh man, dancing all week, I think.
When did you last fight in a cage?
When I fought in Cage Rage. My fight against Ian Freeman, I think.
Do you think there's much of a difference between fighting in a ring or cage? How much does it change your approach?
In the cage, it's bigger. It's harder to close somebody down. To cut the corners, it's harder and everything. But it's still nice.
When the guys push you to the fence, it's different. When they push you into the ring or into the fence, it's totally different.
But I like it. I like the cage and I like the ring. They're both my home, so it's no problem.
Do you have a preference?
At the moment, I have a preference for the ring, because I fought in Dream.
Now it's very difficult (in the cage) because when the guys shoot (on) you and they drive, they're going to drive you (into) the fence and they're going to get their game, you know? Only this is a little bit awkward for me, at the moment.
But I have to get used to it, because I would like to fight here and I want to make the best of it so they invite more two, three times more a year.
-----------------------------------
WAR MANHOEF:thup: