Sokoudjou interview

[Judas]

Often in the fight game, fighters are introduced with mega hype. They exceled in single martial arts fields - star wrestler, champion kickboxer, etc. Sometimes though, guys just come out of nowhere. Our latest MMANews.com exclusive interview is with someone who falls under that description.

Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou (4-1) made his PRIDE debut in February of this year with a shocking knockout victory over Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, at the time probably the number one contender in the PRIDE Middleweight (205 lb.) division. It took Sokoudjou a mere 23 seconds to hand the Brazilian submission specialist his first knockout loss in PRIDE. One-hit wonder, right?

Sokoudjou followed up fighting the teammate of "Lil Nog", also highly regarded in the top rankings of PRIDE's Middleweight division, Ricardo Arona. Another knockout victory for Sokoudjou. This time it took him just a tick away from two minutes. With two huge upset wins in only two minutes and 22 seconds of ring time in PRIDE, Sokoudjou has already hit the radar on virtually every MMA top-10 rankings list for the 205 lb. weight-class.

MMANews.com's own Chris Howie recently caught up with the newest sensation in the MMA world, Sokoudjou to discuss a number of topics. Below is a transcript of part one. Make sure to check back at MMANews.com tomorrow for part two of this extensive interview with Sokoudjou.

Chris Howie of MMANews.com: This is Chris Howie with MMANews.com and I’m joined today by the newest sensation in the Light Heavyweight division “The African Assassin” Sokoudjou. How are you doing today man?

Sokoudjou: Good thank you. How are you doing today?

MMANews.com: I’m not doing too bad at all. So are you training today?

Sokoudjou: I’m training later on today. I was just teaching a class this morning.

MMANews.com: Right on. Your last two fights against [Ricardo] Arona and [Antonio Rogerio] Nogueira have been huge upsets. Did you see those fights ending the way they did?

Sokoudjou: Umm, I train hard and I knew I would come out on top but I did not expect them to end that early. It was a bit of a surprise but I train hard and I worked hard for it so It was a surprise but I knew I would come out victorious in those fights.

MMANews.com: Ricardo Arona stated after the fight that your win over him was lucky and he also said he was ill for the fight. Do you have any comment on that?

Sokoudjou: No because [laughs] a fight is a fight. I came into that fight with a few small injuries. It’s a fight, if he think’s it was a lucky win, a win is a win whether it was lucky or not. I’m sure down the road we’ll fight again. He may have been sick but hey, we’ll be here for a long time so I wouldn’t be surprised to meet him again sometime.

MMANews.com: Do you the see outcome in a rematch?

Sokoudjou: It’s a fight. I’ll just make sure I’m ready to do what I do. It may happen or it may not happen but I’ll train for it.

MMANews.com: With the two wins you’ve shot up the Light Heavyweight division rankings. Do you feel any added pressure on you now considering the way those fights ended?

Sokoudjou: Well I mean I’d love to get in there and knock everybody out in 5 seconds but I don’t feel any added pressure to go in there and win by knock out. All I need to do is make sure I get there, do my work, listen to my corner, and fight. Whether it ends by knock out or decision I’m just going to make sure I put on a good show and I listen to my corner. That’s all I care about when I step in the ring.

MMANews.com: Have there been any talks with Zuffa as to when your next fight will be?

Sokoudjou: You know, I do not deal with that. I have a manager here at Team Quest that does all the legal work and contract work. As far as I know I still have two fights left with Pride. As far as who owns Pride and who makes the decisions I’m not really familiar with that. So all I can say is that I have two fights left with Pride. It might happen that I’ll fight in the UFC or some place else but I’m really the wrong person to ask.

MMANews.com: With Zuffa purchasing Pride do you ever see yourself getting in the Octagon and fighting in the UFC?

Sokoudjou: Umm, I’m a fighter. Wherever they want me to fight, I’ll fight. I don’t really have any preferences. I love fighting in Japan in the ring but when it comes down and someone asks me where I want to fight I’ll say I want to fight in Japan in the ring. As far as my contract goes I have to do what they have set up in my contract for me to do.

MMANews.com: Do you train in a cage?

Sokoudjou: We do not have a cage here at Team Quest but we have mats on the wall. We only have a full size ring. We don’t have a cage yet.

MMANews.com: For your next fight with Pride do you have any preferences as to you who’d like to fight? I’ve heard Wanderlei Silva say that he’d like to fight you. How would you feel about a fight with him?

Sokoudjou: Did he really say that or are you just making that up [laughs]?

MMANews.com: No, No. I’ve read an interview where he said he’d like to fight you.

Sokoudjou: Oh my god that would be like my mom taking me to Disneyland. Fighting Silva would be one of the best things that could happen to me right now. I mean I don’t make those decisions I just get ready for a fight but if he calls me out that’s another fight for me. If he wants to fight me I’d be more than happy to fight him.

MMANews.com: What would your game plan be against someone like him?

Sokoudjou: Someone like him? I know he likes to swing wild and wide so… then again I do not make my game plan we have a team here, Ryan Parsons, Shawn Tompkins, Dan Henderson, and Heath Sims. They are the ones that come up with the game plan. All I have to do is go there and follow the game plan because if it were just me I’d go there and just throw him on his neck and Judo him all the time so I just follow the game plan they come up with.

MMANews.com: I’m sure Dan Henderson could come up with a good game plan for Wanderlei [laughs]

Sokoudjou: [laughing] Yea I’m pretty sure too.

MMANews.com: I believe it was after Pride 33 during the post-press conference you said you’d like to fight anybody except Dan Henderson. How influential has Dan been in your training and helping you further your game?

Sokoudjou: Dan’s my mentor. He’s like my Godfather in MMA. He beats me up everyday training. He beats me up enough for me to get there and think, “Hey, I got beat up in practice everyday so why should I get scared of the guy in front of me”. So that is one of the main things I get from him. It’s interesting, I’m bigger and heavier than Dan but I can’t be in there too long with him ‘cause he beats the crap out of me. Mentally, Dan helps me a lot.

MMANews.com: Since your last fight with Arona what have you been working on in training?

Sokoudjou: Since my last fight I’ve been sleeping and eating and getting fat because I have nothing coming up. [laughs] No, I’m still working on stuff. If you look my at my uppercut it was everything but a technical punch [laughs]

MMANews.com: It was a huge uppercut though..

Sokoudjou: I’ve been working on my boxing skills, trying to improve my Judo skills as well. I’ve been just trying to better my technique and train hard during my sessions.

MMANews.com: How young were you when you first started training and what was your first martial art that you started out with?

Sokoudjou: At first it was Judo as a young kid. I wanted to have a black belt and I wanted to be a world champion and go to the Olympics. I trained hard for that but I never had a chance to get there. Once I got into MMA I told myself I excelled in Judo so I wanted to make this work for MMA.

MMANews.com: Do you have any admirations of going to the Olympics still?

Sokoudjou: I would love to but the problem is training MMA is mostly no Gi and then going to the Olympics in Judo I would be wearing a Gi. So that would mean I would have to stop training MMA and focus on Judo for the Olympics because it would be hard to do both and I’m still under contract for a certain amount of fights in a certain amount of time so I will have to postpone my Olympic dream

Deel 2 hieronder:

[Judas]

Chris Howie of MMANews.com: Your last two fights have been pretty short. I believe you finished [Antonio Rogerio] Nogueira in something like 27 seconds and the [Ricardo] Arona fight was under three minutes. How well are you prepared cardio-wise for a fight that could go three rounds, or even five rounds in a title fight?

Sokoudjou: The fight against Arona - my preparation was very hard because he is a pretty intense guy. I was ready for a hard 20 minutes of hard fighting. Conditioning-wise I went through hell out here training twice a day, everyday. I was ready to be in the ring for however long it would have gone but fortunately the fight ended earlier, but my cardio was up there and I trained hard. I was ready if it had of gone five seconds or 20 minutes, whatever the situation could have been that day.

MMANews.com: How do you feel you match up with some of the top ranked fighters such as Chuck Liddell or Maurico “Shogun” Rua?

Sokoudjou: Well first of all I feel honored to be even mentioned with guys like that. I’m a fighter. I want to be the best at what I do in my weight class or at any weight class for that matter. Being matched up with them makes me feel like I’ve done my work although I think I’m still in the learning stage for MMA. I just feel like I’ve been doing the right thing and I have to make sure I keep doing it to take myself where I want to be.

MMANews.com: Based on what I’ve seen I’d have to say your doing a pretty good job of that.

Sokoudjou: Thank you sir.

MMANews.com: Would you ever be willing to move up in weight to Heavyweight?

Sokoudjou: Heavyweight, Light Heavyweight, or whatever weight you want me to be it comes down to contract and all that. In Judo I was competing at Heavyweight so for me I don’t really have any weight preferences. Weight for me doesn’t matter because all I care about is my conditioning and my strategy. With my contract I don’t think I’ll be fighting at Heavyweight, but hey, I’m a fighter. I’ll go wherever a fight will take me or my contract takes me and I’ll make sure I’m ready.

MMANews.com: But if you had to you could easily go to Heavyweight, I mean you’re a pretty big guy so I assume it wouldn’t be a problem.

Sokoudjou: Of course, I have to cut weight to get to 205. Right now I’m sure I’m way over 205. I have not done any conditioning for a long time. I’ve been eating at a buffet next door so I’m sure I could make Heavyweight no problem [laughs].

MMANews.com: I believe for Matt Lindland’s fight in Russia against Fedor Emelianenko I saw you in his corner. What did you think of Fedor, were you impress by his abilities?

Sokoudjou: What I was really impressed with was that he had to hang onto the ropes to survive Matt Lindland. That was just ridiculous. That’s what I was impressed with. I was like “Hey Fedor, that’s a rookie mistake” actually I’m not even going to call it a mistake. Rookies don’t make that kind of mistake. I don’t know it was in Russia, I don’t know where the ref was. C’mon man, it’s Fedor. Why do you need to hang onto the ropes to defend the takedown?

MMANews.com: Have you had a chance to train with Matt Lindland or Randy Couture?

Sokoudjou: I’ve trained with Lindland especially when I was getting ready for my first fight. I didn’t have a chance to train with him for my second fight because he went to Colorado to train with some wrestlers. I haven’t trained with Randy Couture yet because he’s based in Vegas and we’re here in California.

MMANews.com: Outside of the gym what do you do when you’re not training? What do you do to kill time and have fun?

Sokoudjou: I teach some classes I have some private sessions. I just goof around, you know, I just hang around, go home and watch TV and eat [laughs]. That’s pretty much what I do.

MMANews.com: Your fight with Glover Teixeria last December in the WEC ended rather quickly with you being TKO’d. Considering how quickly your last two fights ended with Arona and Noguiera ended with you getting the KO, how do you feel a rematch with Glover would go?

Sokoudjou: I mean I’m not going to use excuses like I was sick or I wasn’t ready. Many things happened before that fight. My strategy was wrong for the fight. I wasn’t able to switch gears in the cage… we trained for a jiu-jitsu guy and knew nothing of his boxing skills. He had a better strategy than me on that night. That’s basically what happened. I hope it would go better for me if we fought again.
MMANews.com: You’ve won the U.S. Open of judo in 2001, correct?

Sokoudjou: Yes sir.

MMANews.com: I’ve read some stories that after winning the tournament you competed with Karo Parisyan and he won. What is the story here?

Sokoudjou: Karo Parisyan? You know what? I know I fought some Armenian guy. That was after a head injury I had and I wasn’t training as hard. I had signed up for the tournament ahead of time so when it came tournament time I went up anyway. I didn’t really know anyone at the time when that happened. I was kind of new here. I don’t remember if it was Karo Parisyan or not but I know it was an Armenian guy and I know I only lost at the last second. Was it Karo Parisyan? I don’t know I’ll have to check on that.

MMANews.com: I read an interview done with Karo yesterday and he said he competed against you. He said you were powerful.

Sokoudjou: Yeah, I did compete against an Armenian guy but I didn’t know his name or anything or who he was at the time. I know Karo is a judo guy but I never thought that was him at the time. That was like four or five years ago. The guy that had the team had already entered us and if I hadn’t went he would have had to forfit because he wouldn’t have had enough for his team.

MMANews.com: I’ve read some interviews with Shogun in which he calls out Dan Henderson [and] says he wants to fight him for the PRIDE Middleweight title. How do you see that fight going?

Sokoudjou: How do I see that fight going? I’m not even going to call it a fight. It will be a beating. I mean Shogun is crazy to be calling him out because he’ll get knocked out. Good luck to him trying to fight Dan. I’m not even going to call that a fight, I’ll call that a killing.

MMANews.com: With Zuffa purchasing PRIDE it will change the rules and some of Shogun’s offense will be gone because he won’t be able to use stomps and kicks to the head of a downed opponent. So that will take some of his usual game plan out of the picture.

Sokoudjou: Either way I don’t see Shogun being able to take Dan down and being able to use the kicks on the ground. That alone leaves him with the stand-up and I don’t see him out-boxing or out-kick boxing Dan Henderson. If I were Dan and I were fighting Shogun I wouldn’t even train. I’d just go home and play video games then come beat the crap out of him.

MMANews.com: Maybe on the next PRIDE card we could see Dan Henderson vs. Maurcio “Shogun” Rua and Sokoudjou vs. Wanderlei Silva.

Sokoudjou: [laughing] You know what that would be beautiful. That would just be awesome for me. Fighting on the same card as Dan and fighting Silva, there would be nothing better. This time I would like to go the full 3 rounds with Silva because he’s one of the greatest fighters. I enjoy watching him fight and I would hate for the fight to stop because the time was up. I would love to go the full distance.

MMANews.com: You said that Wanderlei is one of your favorite fighters to watch. Who are some of your other favorites to watch?

Sokoudjou: In MMA I love watching Dan fight. Next would be Matt [Lindland] and then Randy [Couture]. Wanderlei is up there but those are my favorites to watch fighting.

MMANews.com: You said Randy Couture was your last favorite to watch?

Sokoudjou: Yeah Randy Couture.

MMANews.com: I think everyone loves watching Randy Couture fight.

Sokoudjou: Yeah, it’s interesting man. He’s like in his 40’s and he kicks everybody's ass and I’m like, "man, am I going to be able to do that when I’m his age."

MMANews.com: I think Couture surprises everyone when he steps in the octagon.

Sokoudjou: Yeah, he’s a crazy man.

MMANews.com: So you have two fights left on your PRIDE contract. If you had to pick two opponents to fight, who would they be?

Sokoudjou: [laughs] Are you trying to get me in trouble? If I had to pick I’d pick two girls so I wouldn’t have to train. No, I’m just joking. I’m a fighter so I’ll fight anybody. If Wanderlei Silva wants to fight me I wouldn’t mind fighting him. I’d love to fight him but I am not the one that makes those decisions. All I can do is show up for training, show up for the fight, follow the game plan and get paid.

MMANews.com: Would you give Ricardo Arona one of those fights?

Sokoudjou: Sure. I have two fights left. I’m here, I’m not going anywhere. I’ll fight anyone who wants to fight me. Has Arona said he wanted to fight me again?

MMANews.com: I’ve just read that he thought it was a lucky win and that he was sick.

Sokoudjou: Yeah, I mean I’m going to say that’s stupid. We're both 205 [lbs] so if he wants to fight me again, I’ll fight him again and If I beat him again and he says the same thing than I’ll look at that as disrespect towards me. I’m not going to say that bullshit or anything but if he wants to fight me again just make sure you don’t come in sick the next time. I have been competing my whole life and people have beaten me up all over the place but I’m not going to say I was sick or make excuses. To me it’s not a loss if I learned something from it.

MMANews.com: One final question. Do you train any BJJ or work on a ground game?

Sokoudjou: Yeah, we have a jiu-jitsu instructor here. He helps me a lot with my ground game. I’m a blue belt in jiu-jitsu, man. I know some jiu-jitsu. I’ve done a few tournaments.

[kmr]

Wat komt hij arrogant over, zeg.:twak:

[Yamato Damashii]

Leuk interview!

Ik vind hem niet arrogant overkomen. Hij zei dat hij er vertrouwen in had dat hij zou winnen van Nogueira en Arona, maar goed je moet ook vertrouwen in jezelf hebben anders heb je de strijd al half verloren.

[kmr]

Leuk interview!

Ik vind hem niet arrogant overkomen. Hij zei dat hij er vertrouwen in had dat hij zou winnen van Nogueira en Arona, maar goed je moet ook vertrouwen in jezelf hebben anders heb je de strijd al half verloren.

Het gata over de manier waarop hij over Fedor en Shogun praat.

[MilfhunterMMA]

mee eens, en ik zie shogun wel winnen van henderson.

[shakie]

mee eens, en ik zie shogun wel winnen van henderson.

Yup,hier nog 1...:)
grappig interview ook..

[Evilman]

mee eens, en ik zie shogun wel winnen van henderson.

Ik ook wel. Maar damn wat zou ik dat graag in oldschool Pride zien dan.
Desondanks, Shogun zie ik als evengoed of beter staand, en zijn jiujitsu
is ook top.

Msgien is sudoku wel n leuke uitdaging voor Fedor :D

[kmr]

Ik ook wel. Maar damn wat zou ik dat graag in oldschool Pride zien dan.
Desondanks, Shogun zie ik als evengoed of beter staand, en zijn jiujitsu
is ook top.

Msgien is sudoku wel n leuke uitdaging voor Fedor :D

Henderson heeft wel een harde rechterstoot, ik heb Shogun nog nooit zo hard zien meppen.

[Evilman]

Klopt. Maar dat is 1 onderdeel.Ik denk shogun een stuk beter
is met zijn benen, en hij heeft zn reach mee als hij dat weet
te gebruiken.

Het valt me trouwens op dat Sudoku zo goed is in kickboxen terwijl hij altijd al judoka geweest is. Als je bijv kijkt naar die judokas die je in pride zag..
die bakten er echt geen zak van. Maar dit is wel n linke combinatie geworden zeg.

[marcelt]

Zou mooi zijn Shogun -Henderson en Sokoudjou-Silva:twak:

Vind hem trouwens wel sympathiek. Hij mag zijn mening hebben toch over Shogun en Fedor.

[Joris]

idd ik vind hem niet zo arrogant over komen... ik bedoel hij kende lindland.. en dus hij was een beetje bevooroordeelt.

[Evilman]

Als hij echt arrogant was had ie wel gezegd dat ie Silva n lesje ging leren bijv.
En ook over Arona enzo bleef ie wel beleefd.
Hij heeft idd een duidelijke mening over een aantal dingen.

[MilfhunterMMA]

nou ja komop, fedor is god, met zijn gezag mag niet getoornd worden ;)

[Tony]

Het valt me trouwens op dat Sudoku zo goed is in kickboxen terwijl hij altijd al judoka geweest is. Als je bijv kijkt naar die judokas die je in pride zag..
die bakten er echt geen zak van.

Sorry hoor,,, maar hier ben ik het dus echt niet mee eens he :)

Yoshida? (judo)
Nakamura? (judo)
Kharitanov? (judo en sambo)
Pawel Nastula? (judo.. en niet zeggen dat hij 1-3 in pride is... want als debutant verlizen van minotauro, A emelianenko en barnett is GEEN schande.. hij deed het echt wel goed tegen hun)
AOki.... (judo en bjj)

allemaal judoka's die het toch echt wel goed doen hoor....

[Evilman]

Ik doel dus op de Japanse judoka's he, en dat ze 'geen zak' kunnen
qua kockboxen. Zeker als je het vergelijkt met Sudoku die judoka ook is,
maar zelfs menig kickboxer wel kan verbazen.

Ook bijv. de japanse judoka's in K1 max, net als tegen Manhoef, die geen kaas hebben gegeten van kickboxen lijkt het. Dan is Sudoku toch wel een mooi voorbeeld van goeie crosstraining.