MMA Discussions

Interview with: Erin Bucknell Of MMACalifornia.net

By No Remorse of MMA Discussions

01) Thanks for the time Erin. Can you give us some history on yourself and how you got into the great sport of MMA?

My name is Erin Bucknell, I’m 25 and I currently reside in the suburbs of Sacramento, CA. I was huge pro wrestling geek and when the first season of The Ultimate Fighter aired after RAW I would occasionally leave it on after the pro wrestling was over. Then one night Chris Leben decided to beat the crap out of the house and I actively started paying attention to the show. The rest, as they say, is history.

02) Tell us about the MMA website that you run?

I run MMACalifornia.net, which is a website that focuses on all of the MMA news that happens in California. When I started paying attention to the local MMA scene I noticed that it was pretty hard to find information on upcoming shows, in fact, several times I would find out about a show that I was interested in after it happened. I figured that if I, the internet geek that I am, was having a hard time finding information, other people must be as well. MMA California was born shortly after that.

03) What was the last LIVE event you have been to?

The last live show that I attended was Malice at the Palace show in San Francisco last September. It was a very well run show with a pretty decent crowd. ..m looking forward to their next show in January. The next live show I will be attending is UFC 65.

04) If you could see ANY MMA fight, who would it be?

I’m assuming we are going fantasy fight here yes? It would have to be either a fight between Fedor Emelianenko and Andrei Arlovski (two of my favorite fighters) or any fight where Diego Sanchez gets his ass handed to him.

05) Can you give us your picks for UFC 65?

Main Card Bouts:

-Matt Hughes vs. Georges St. Pierre

Go GSP! Hughes is a damn good fighter, but I think GSP just wants it more.

-Tim Sylvia vs. Jeff Monson

I’d really love to see Tim lose his belt, but I don’t think that Monson has the skills to pull it off.

-Brandon Vera vs. Frank Mir

Unless Frank is severely channeling his former self, he pretty much has no chance.

-Alessio Sakara vs. Drew McFedries

With the exception of his loss to Lister, Sakara seems to be on a pretty good roll, I think he’ll continue it here.

-Joe Stevenson vs. Dokonjonosuke Mishima

Mishima seems to have a pretty decent fight record, but I’m going with Stevenson.

Preliminary Bouts:

-Nick Diaz vs. Graison Tibau

Shoe Tosser all the way: Diaz

-Brad Imes vs. Antoni Hardonk

Can’t say that I know much about Hardonk, so I’m going with Imes purely on name recognition alone. Not exactly scientific, I know.
-Jake O’Brien vs. Josh Shockman

Seeing as I don’t know either one, the magic eight ball says Shockman.

-James Irvin vs. Hector Ramirez

Irvin, the boy needs a win in the UFC.

06) What are a few of the best fights you’ve ever seen?

Griffen/Bonnar 1 was one of the first fights I had seen and still remains one of the best. Even though my pick lost, Parisyan/Sanchez was also extremely good. I’ve also gone back and watched Fedor/Nog 1 which I like for the historical significance.

07) Your a big fan of wrestling right? What do you think about some of the wrestlers making the switch to MMA?

I am a big pro wrestling fan, though not as much as I used to be. I’d like to keep MMA and pro wrestling separated, but as long as the pro wrestler has a significant background in some fighting style, I don’t have any real problem with anyone making the cross over. In the most recent example of Kurt Angle possibly fighting in MMA, I think he needs to relax for a while and let his body heal.

08) Do you train in MMA yourself?

Nope. It’s possible that sometime in the future I’ll take up some form of martial arts for self defense and/or fitness, but I doubt it will ever be on a competitive level for several reasons:

A. I like eating way too much to ever count calories or eat as healthy as I would need to.

B. I hate being dehydrated, it’s one of the nastiest feelings. So no weight cutting for me.

C. I’m really not a big fan of getting punched in the face.

09) What kind of Music, Books, and Movies are you into?

I’m a big ol.. geek so my book and movie choices tend to run to Sci-Fi and Fantasy. Though I sometimes throw in some mystery/suspense or comedies. As for music, any kind of Rock will do, some dance, and I’ve lately become very attached to 80’s pop.

10) What do you think about elbows being banned in MMA?

When I first started watching, I didn’t really have a problem with elbows. As I have since seen several fights where the clearly better fighter lost because of a cut from an elbow, I’m starting to swing to the other side. I’d be perfectly happy if we could swap elbows for knees on the ground.

11) You sometimes get a press pass to certain events right? Can you explain that whole process and your expierences with that so far?

I have attended a few shows through press credentials. In those cases I have usually been contacted through my website or through Fight Opinion where I co-host a radio show. It’s not too different than any other time I have gone to shows other than I usually get in earlier and have a much better seat, lol.

12) What do you think about the current state of MMA in the U.S.?

It’s really blossoming at the moment and seeing as I’m one of the “newbies” who got into MMA because of TUF, I certainly can’t complain about it. However, I really would like to see some group, i.e. the IFL, become successful enough to really challenge the UFC as competition breeds creativity.

13) Thanks for your time! Feel free to say anything else you would like…

Well, I have to promote my website once again, MMACalifornia.net, but I would also like to mention FightOpinion.com where I do UFC recaps and co-host the radio show. I’d also like to give a shout out to Jeff Thaler of Whaledog, Luke Nicholson and Zach Arnold who are awesome radio co-hosts, and Richard and Michelle Montoya who were the first “MMA insiders” to become friends of mine.

View Profile: http://www.myspace.com/eriu

101st Edition of 13 Q’s with an MMA FAN vol. 26

Interviewed by Michelle of MMA Discussions

check out his UFC myspace group
http://groups.myspace.com/UltimateFightingChampionship

1) What got you into MMA?

When I was younger, I was into wrestling. WWE (back then WWF) I loved the heros and the villians, the stories they wrote would make the show like a battle of good and evil, with twists and turns playing to the crowd. Still for me when I was young, it was hard to tell what was real and what wasn’t… and all in all I was more interested in something like this but more real

then I started to see ads for other things, mostly also staged events but more of a martial arts feel. One day at the video rental place by my parents house I found a UFC tape, it was UFC 2. The first battle was Royce Gracie and he dominated with his usual style, and I was impressed that the commentator knew every move before it happened… then came Scott Moris v Pat Smith… a brutal KO I will never forget… from there on I was hooked until the sport was banned from PPV

then years later I was intorduced to Pride… and it all started again… from that moment to now I have lived and breathed MMA

2) What type of trainin do you do?

NO GI Jiu Jitsu with Eddie Bravo @ 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu formerly out of The Bomb Squad now out of Legends of MMA in Hollywood, but I’m also looking to start Muay Thai in the next year, also with Legends. Legends is Randy Couture and Bas Rutten’s new school. In addition to Eddie Bravo, also teaching at legends: Jason Miller, Karo Parisyan, Rob Kaman, Jeremy Williams and many other top notch instructors . Many fighters go in to train reularly like Jason Chambers, and Tait Fletcher from TUF (Joe Rogan is also a regular) Other fighters sometimes visit like Caol Uno, Baroni, Chuck Liddell, Ivan Salavary, and many more.

May also go over to Chute Boxe LA eventually kinda just for the bragging rights to be perfectly honest but aso to see whatsup with their USA school. Wanderlei Silva has been a favrite of mine for a while, with Shogun - Ninja - Anderson Silva - Pele and others also being fighters from that school I have been imperssed with

3) Whats your trainin schedual like?

Well, I am currently on vacation! Haha, my schedual before was 2 times a week minimum with freestyle/wrestling class on saturday usually. Its tough to keep up with it and work full time etc.

4) Tell us about your website?

My first start at MMA journalism was given to me by the late Ryan Bennett of MMAWeekly. com when he was just strating the site. I wrote a weekly column for a while there and also did reviews etc. Then went over to Sherdog for a minute and eventually ended up at MMA-Fighter.com where I wrote for years. Now I have my own site, it started as a place for me to put all my articles but with the way things have gone I mostly just use it to focus on current MMA events - news and video with a forum and a clothing line in the works

5) Tell us about your clothing line?

Currently I only have rashguards, but I have a full line of T-Shirts, Hats and the like as well as other fightwear like fightshorts and what have you.

6) What made you start your group on myspace?

Well, I noticed there was no UFC group and I had been doing work for the UFC street team so I decided it would be a good way to make the sport more popular. It didn;t go well and so I decided to just let it run it’s course… who knew it took on a life of its own and now its tough for me to keep up with the 1000’s of posts and members etc. We are the biggest MMA group on MySpace.

7) What kind of promo work do you do for UFC?

I started just simply passing out flyers and posters, still thats is mostly what they send me but I have done things like note stats and attend events fully credentialled as NEWS MEDIA (back when they catered to the MMA support from the internet)
Do you have sponsors?

Actually, I talked with Matt Lindland about becoming a sponsor for other fighters to promote my website and clothing line. Still I need to be further along with the production before I start putting the name out there.

9) What is the best part of Europe in your opinion?

Holland. Hands down IMHO. If you know me, you know my obvious reasons for that opinion but also I will say the greatest kickboxers in the world mostly come from Holland. When as a nation they start to expand their focus on the groundgame we will see some seriously talented fighters comming out of Holland. Pride currently hosts shows there with Alex Emilianenko appearing in an event this month! Also the cities are small and easy to get around without a car, in addition the people and women are fantastic. it has been voted the best place on earth to live but for me for now I simply like to vacation there when I can.

10) What do you think will be the results of the next UFC card?

I like Lytle over Serra but I think both guys are great in and out of the cage and I expect to see them fighting more in the UFC regardless of the outcome. Lutter is likely to defeat Cote but I like Cote’s fighting style better. If Lutter comes in with his head down and arms outstreched like he did against Sell later in the fight… well he will more than likely be KO’d. Odds are Lutter takes it via submission tho.

Bisping againt Red was gonna be one hell of a fight to call, but I guess since Bisping is having VISA problems we’ll have to wait to see that 1

11) What was the best fight of the year in ur opinion?

Had to be Melvin Manhoef v Cyborg but there were many great fights this year. Pride had some real barn burners, and I also like the chances of GSP v Hughes being a great fight maybe even one of the best this year

12) Who do you wanna see fight live?

Silva and Liddelll… CroCop and Fedor 2… Manhoef v any top 205er. BJ v anyone… his Jiu Jitsu is amazing… actually I would really like to see any new school Jiu Jitsu practitoner come in and start using the new NO GI styles and techniques

13) Liddle or Tito and how

Liddell I expect it will look exactly the same… more often then not rematches go the exact same way, even same positions… but simply I think Tito doesn’t have takedowns as good as Couture… who has olympic experience and STILL couldn’t take Liddell down in his last 2 fights… also Tito is too emotional and is saddly very very 1 dimentional. If Tito can get Chuck down, he’ll probably just get up anyway and doing takedowns over and over is alot more exhausting than it looks.

Thanks alot for takin the time to fill this out. If there is anything else youd like to say have at it……

Thanks for the opportunity, take care
J

Interviewed by Michelle of MMA Discussions

1) What got you into MMA?

I did judo first, then boxed for years, got a bad decision in a National Championshiop where i was made to fight the Yorkshire final and final on the same night (i was stopped on a cut with only seconds left). I had already started training in MMA so i did a submission competition, did ok, then started MMA. A month leter i had my first pro fight on CW4 in portsmouth:)

2) Who are your sponsors?

I am sponsored by Total Aggression Fight Gear, they have been a great support. They supply my kit etc>

I am also sponsored by Marked for Life Tattooists, www.marked-for-life.co.uk

The gym i own is sponsored by Aquatech Hydroponics and Ultimat:)

3) What are your thoughts on the blow up of MMA Today in the UK or US?

I think it ws always going to be popular amongst fight fans and it certainly increased that way early on. What impresses me is how well it has been promoted to more casual fans and the UFC especially have done a great job in bringing MMA to a wider audience. We are a few years behind here in the UK but it is certainly getting there. Shows like Cagewarriors develop good home grown talent and many like Bisping, Kampmann etc have gone on to fight in the UFC.

4) Whats your training schedule like?

Training wise, i own my own MMA gym so we can train pretty much when we want. The fight team train together about 1pm then on the evening we have classes and so we either box or grapple then. At the moment we have myself in the Cagewarriors Tournement, Matt Thorpe in BODOG fights and a few of the others lined up with decent fights so the gym is buzzing and everyone is training hard.

5) Whats the name of your gym and where is it located?

The gym is called Quannum and it on the border between Lancashire and Yorkshire in the North of England.

6) What type of music are you into atm?

like all sorts of music. In my car multi disc i have (lol, just laughed to myself thinking about this but i’ll answer honestly:P)

Disc 1: a mix of cheesy 80’s and 90’s stuff i sing along to when i am on my own
Disc 2: Jaguar Wright
Disc 3: A mix of commercial rap, DMX, Biggie, Jay Z, Nas etc
Disc 4: A bassline house CD by Nev Wright of Niche
Disc 5: A mix of RnB and a bit of rap; Jean Gray, Marih Carey, Rihanna

7) When is your next fight?

I am fighting on the 19th November in the cagewarriors Lightweight Tournament. Potentially 3 fights starting with Emmnual Gaey of France
What fight of the year was the best in your opinion?

I think i enjoyed watching Bisping winning the TUF final best. It wasn’t particularly the best fight but it was a great acheivement and its good to see someon you know winning something like that!

9) Who has come outta your gym?

Fighting pro at the moment there is myself, Matt Thorpe, Dave Butlin (my twin), Diane Berry (UK Battleground Champion). Leigh Remedios was also training with us up until his marriage lst year

10) One place youd rather be right now is?

chillin in the sun

11) Who besides the person you are next fighting do you wanna fight?

There is no one i am really aiming to fight. I belive i am the best Lightweight in the UK by a long shot. I have given others the opportunity to fight and have had more pullouts than a cheap porn star. After this tournament i am looking to fight the best international opponents i can.
I was lined up to fight Charles ‘Krazy Horse’ bennett on KOTC UK lst year and was gutted when he didnt get through customs 2 days before the fight. he is one guy i would still like to fight. I think we would have a good stand up battle.

12) What do you think the results of the next UFC card will be?

GSP
Monson (i cornered him when h wont he Cagewarriors Heavyweight Title and would love to see him win this)
Mir
Mishima
Diaz

13) Whats your diet like?

my diet is good during my 6 week preperation, i did my degree in sport science and have done courses since in exercise nutrition so know what i am doing. non fight time i party too hard to eat well.:)

Thanks for takin the time to talk to me and if there is anything else youd like to say have at it…

No it was great!

Thanks again Michelle of MMA DISCUSSIONS