Fight Forum - MMA - UFC - Boxing - K1 - EliteXC - View Single Post - Hermes Franca-interview: "I think B.J. right now is the No. 1"

Gooner · 07-01-2007, 08:39 PM

Highlighted some of the more interesting parts.
And of course put that quote in the title. Mwahahaha.

Quote:

UFCjunkie.com: Speaking of The Armory, please talk to us a little bit about your facility. How and when did it get started?

Hermes Franca: Right after my last fight in 2005, I came from Japan, and I was really sad. I said you know what, I’m just going to to teach and take care of my students. But I’m a fighter. I know I want to be a fighter and was already looking for fights. And I got a chance to fight again, so I was looking for some partners. Kurt Pellegrino came here [and] a couple guys from Brazil. So we start to train together. We start to build the academy. I start to fight again. I came back — and it was really cool. Right now we have like 200 students, we have like 11,000 square feet, and at the academy we have weights, a cage, a ring, mats, we have six black belts in the grappling area. That’s amazing.

UFCjunkie.com: So you started up The Armory right after your last K-1 fight against Koutetsu Boku, and since you started it, you have been on an eight-fight win streak. It definitely seems like starting The Armory has done good things for you.

Hermes Franca: It is a good energy, you know. I am the head coach for all of my fighters. I learn a lot from my fighters, and we’re like a family.

UFCjunkie.com: Can you talk to us a little bit about your preparation for this fight with Sean Sherk at UFC 73 specifically? What are you working on and who are your training partners?

Hermes Franca: Oh definitely. It’s going good. I have a lot of quality in my academy. But of course, to fight for the title is so important, I have to always look for something different. And I’m lucky because I have a lot of fighters in my camp who can help me. You know, lightweight fighters I have Kurt Pellegrino, and I have Raphael Chaves. I have two Brazilian jiu jitsu black belts. I have two Division 1 wrestlers between 165 and 175 (pounds) who help my training. And my partner and manager Joe Mullings does my cardio and conditioning. And I brought in Rob Kaman here to help. Rob Kaman is phenomenal. He’s an old K-1 fighter, K-1 champion for a long, long time. He beat Ernesto Hoost twice, and I’m learning a lot from him, and that’s really cool. He’s a legend. We’ve had him here for 45 days working every day.

(Note: Rob “the Dutchman” Kaman is a retired nine-time kickboxing and Muay Thai world champion and is considered one of the best ever. For more check out Rob Kaman at Wikipedia or Rob Kaman at Youtube. -P)

UFCjunkie.com: Can you walk us through a typical day of training for you? Can you tell us exactly what are you working on?

Hermes Franca: Yeah, definitely. It’s kind of different because each day is a different day. Like Monday we do grappling in the morning, and in the night we do some knees and some BJJ. I like to keep teaching. I like to teach, and I think we learn a lot teaching. Thursday we do Muay Thai in the morning, something like that. It’s different. We do wrestling, Muay Thai, BJJ, grappling and knees. And one day a week, the last day in the week Friday, we do real MMA training — in the cage, like a real fight. Same gloves, same pads, no headgear, a real fight. We have a judge and corners like a real fight — everything. We bring in fresh guys in a line, so I’m fighting five different guys, five minutes each. We tape that, and after that, I go home and see what I’m doing wrong and see what I can do to improve.

UFCjunkie.com: Speaking of watching tape, as I was looking over tape of your previous fights, I couldn’t help but think that your fight from UFC 62 with Jamie Varner might somewhat be a preview of what we’ll see from you at UFC 73. I know you took the Varner fight on very short notice, but in general, that fight seemed to go the way a lot of people feel that the fight with Sherk will go: Varner was focused on taking you down the whole time, and he was doing a lot of damage early with you working from the bottom most of the time. And then later in the fight, you out-struck Varner on the feet, and once he went down, you locked in a beautiful armbar to end the fight. Will your fight with Sean Sherk go the same way?

Hermes Franca: I hope not exactly like that. Maybe the same as Sherk’s going to try to take me down. When I fought against Jamie Varner, I didn’t know who he was. A lot of guys said he’s a boxing guy, he is strong, has good hands, good hands, good hands. So I was working a lot of boxing you know, and I didn’t realize he was a wrestler. He was very good and came strong, so he surprised me. But against Sean Sherk, I know who he is, I know his game, and I know he’s going to take me down, and that’s what I’m ready for. He’s a good wrestler. Of course, I’m going to try to block his takedowns. That’s what I want to do. Jamie Varner kind of surprised me. He came strong. I didn’t know who he was. I was kind of out of shape because the UFC asked me to fight on short notice. Now I know I’m fighting against Sean Sherk, I know who he is, and I know his game, so it’s going to be totally different.

UFCjunkie.com: You mention your conditioning in the Varner fight, and certainly that was a short-notice fight, so that’s no surprise. You also looked like you might be struggling with your cardio in the Spencer Fisher fight at UFC Fight Night 8. What have you done differently to prepare your cardio for this challenge?

Hermes Franca: My cardio is just because I never run. People ask me — they get so surprised. I can’t run five miles. If I run one mile, I need two days’ rest (laughs). What I like to do is just fight and train. And against Spencer Fisher, it was a lot of pressure. We knew the winner could fight for the title. It was in my state of Florida. It was a lot of pressure. And the fight was good. First round was a lot of action. Second round, a lot of action. In the end of the second round, I gas a little bit because it was action — I didn’t stop, I didn’t stop, I didn’t stop in the fight. I trained hard, I prepared myself for three rounds so well. I could have definitely fought one more round there. But it’s hard for a fighter to step in to the cage against a guy like Spencer Fisher there and not gas.

UFCjunkie.com: There’s obviously quite a bit of tape out there on Sherk. Do you study a lot of his previous fights in your preparation?

Hermes Franca: Yeah, that’s what I do. It’s the lightweight belt in the game, so of course I’m going to study his game. I don’t want a surprise. I know maybe he’s going to come with something different, so I have to be ready for it. So every day I like to see his fights. Not just me — my coach, my fighters — we sit down and watch his fights like twice a week and train for it.

UFCjunkie.com: Since this is a title fight, you’ll be fighting five rounds, five minutes. Do you foresee a five-round war, or will this end early?

Hermes Franca: I have to see the fight like in the first second of the first round I want to knock him out. That’s what I see every day. But of course I want to be ready for five rounds, five minutes. He’s strong. He’s so fast on his takedowns, but he makes mistakes. So I think that’s how I’m going to win — work on his mistakes, you know? I don’t want to do anything because he’s strong, and he has good wrestling, so it’s going to be hard to look for something that he knows and can block. So I’m going to wait for his mistakes, and I know he’s going to make a mistake. In 25 minutes, he’s going to make some mistake — and boom, I’m going to cash in.

UFCjunkie.com: Dana White had confirmed after The Ultimate Fighter 5 Finale that the winner of your fight at UFC 73 will face B.J. Penn, probably around October. I know you’re obviously not looking past Sherk at all, but assume you do take the fight with Sherk. How do you feel about the opportunity to face Penn, and how do you see yourself matching up with him?

Hermes Franca: In that situation, especially when you have the belt, you want to fight against the best. You want to fight against a guy better than you. How are you going to get the belt and fight against nobody? It doesn’t make any sense. There’s too much in the game. I think B.J. right now is the No. 1. He has good skills, and it’s going to be a present. To fight against a guy like that is a present. I can prove to my fans — I can prove to myself — what I am in MMA, who I am. How I work against B.J., it’s going to be good. I think it is going to be a war. It’s going to be hot.

UFCjunkie.com: You’ve had success in the past in pure grappling competitions like the Pan American games. Do you ever see yourself competing in pure grappling competitions again?

Hermes Franca: Right now just in the academy, grappling with my friends. Now we’ve got three UFCs in one month. Day by day, there’s more interest in MMA, and that keeps you so busy. But I love to compete. I love grappling. I’d love to compete in BJJ again. Maybe I’ll compete in BJJ again, maybe the Mundials (World Jiu-Jitsu Championships). We’ll see.

UFCjunkie.com: What about Rashad Evans vs. Tito Ortiz?

Hermes Franca: I love both of the guys — both deserve the win, definitely. I don’t like talking about fighters and picks and who is going to win. But I think Tito Ortiz maybe (wins). Both guys are good wrestlers, and both guys have good hands. Tito Ortiz is a smart fighter, and he knows how to fight in the cage. Rashad Evans is tough, and he’s going to come strong. I think in that situation, the experience is going to win. I think Tito is going to win, maybe by split decision.

Complete interview:
Hermes Franca - An Exclusive Interview - UFC 73 -- UFC news at UFCjunkie.com