No Joke: Liaudin Ready for Siver
Apr 17, 2007
French fighter Jess
Liaudin (Pictures) is the head coach at Pancrase
London and one of the UK-based fighters on the card for the
upcoming UFC 70 show in Manchester's M.E.N. arena.
In a recent interview, Jess caused a storm of misunderstanding by mentioning Croatian heavyweight Mirko Filipovic (Pictures), giving some fans the impression that he wanted to attack him backstage.
Sherdog.com spoke with Liaudin to clear up the confusion and talk
about his preparations for his UFC debut against German fighter
Dennis Siver.
There's been a bit of a storm on the internet recently as a few people seem to have got the impression that you wanted to attack Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic in his dressing room at UFC 70. What's your view on all this?
So I replied with a joke myself, by saying, "Oh no, I don't think so and if Mirko has got anything to say about it, I would catch him with a flying armbar!" Obviously it was a joke! So then that might have been mistranslated, or people might not have got the joke and the next thing I know, I go on the Internet and people are saying, apparently, I wanted to attack Mirko in the warm-up room and things like that.
So it went a bit crazy, I think it was probably a mistranslation but it's obvious: I never claimed that I was going to attack him! Even the gentleman who did the interview posted on the French forum, apologizing, saying that he didn't realize that people wouldn't know it was actually a joke. I mean, come on, a flying armbar? I thought that would be a bit of a hint really … you know what I mean?
What do you make of the reaction of the Internet fans?
I personally think that about 90 percent of the people who post on the Internet are just retards to be honest with you … a lot of them are just kids, some of them are frustrated -- a lot of those guys don't know what they are talking about.
But you've got a good number of people who are knowledgeable about the sport, people with who you can exchange ideas, conversation, even have good arguments. I'm not saying that everybody should agree about everything. Some people are quite knowledgeable; you can have different arguments. Sometimes you're wrong. Sometimes you're right.
But those dumb people who were just posting, not even reading previous posts and just posting whatever they want without really caring what anybody else says -- pretty ridiculous.
How does it feel to be fighting for the UFC?
For me, it's like a dream come true. I applied to the UFC back in '94 for the first time -- I saw the first UFC back in '93. At the time, I was fighting Thai boxing and I thought I'd like to have a go at this! Before, obviously, I never managed to get in. I did my first MMA fight back in '95. So now obviously it's a big deal because it's been a long time for me.
To be honest with you, I never thought I would get in the UFC and I'm realistic about where I stand. My record is far from being impressive. I've not been beating anyone particularly good, but maybe the UFC saw something in me, perhaps the way I fight. I'm going to go in, it's just an opportunity for me to go in and show the people what I can do.
How would you describe your fighting style?
I give it everything. I'm really aggressive. I always go for the finish with submissions or stand-up. I go for a lot of spectacular submissions most of the time. I'm not worried about going for a crazy leglock or spinning back fist. Either it works, or I get pounded; it doesn't stop me from going for things.
So regardless -- win or lose -- I want to give the people a good fight and maybe that's what the UFC saw in me and maybe that's why they gave me a chance.
What do you know about your opponent, Dennis Siver?
Dennis Siver is a very good fighter; he's very, very explosive. He looks like a very strong judo player. His background is judo and kickboxing. He has good, very explosive punching technique, he'll always finish with a very fast leading leg round house kick -- which means you always have to keep those hands up, if not, you'll get caught. He does it every single time and always manages to catch people. In the clinch, he's very good, he's got good throws. He's got a good ground game and most of his wins come from submissions.
So all round, he's quite dangerous. I've been training keeping my right hand up to make sure I don't get caught by that left kick, so it's lucky I trained to block it for Siver like that so I'll be ready for Mirko's if he decides to throw one at me! (laughs)
How have your preparations gone for this fight?
I've been training for two months, just slowing down a little bit. I think I peaked a little bit too soon, about a week ago I was feeling very tired. So, I had a few days off, now I'm good. I think I'm in the best shape I've ever been in really. I know it's pretty standard to say that, everybody says the same thing, but really, if I lose this fight, I won't have any excuses.
I'm in very good shape. I've had very good preparation with my team; they've really helped me. I've got a very good game plan and everything should be working fine. I think Denis -- for me, although he is very good fighter -- he's a great opponent for me to start in the UFC. I think we've got quite similar, but at the same time different styles. I think it will make for a very explosive fight and at the same time a very entertaining one.
You mention your team there -- who has been involved with your preparations?
All the guys that I train with all the time. Ashleigh Grimshaw (Pictures) is a very good featherweight. Dean Jones is making his comeback; he's an undefeated under-70-kg fighter. He's coming back this year and really wants to make waves. All the other guys, Harry [Shelby] who holds the pads, Paul [Hines] and all those guys, so I've got a very good team -- and all those guys have been coming to the gym every single day to help me out, so I'd just like to thank them.
What affect do you think the UFC will have on UK MMA?
I think, the more competition, the better it is for the fighters -- I know the promoters don't like it because everyone likes to get the big piece of the pie. But from the fighter's point of view, the more competition there is, the better it is because people will give you more offers. Since the UFC has been here, Cage Rage has been signing a lot more people under contract, which means that a lot more fighters are going to be a lot more secure. With single fights, you don't really know what's going to be next.
I think it's a bit sad that Cage Rage are not working with PRIDE anymore because you're not going to have people fighting for Cage Rage hoping "Maybe I can move on to bigger and better things, " which is PRIDE. Also for them, they had the opportunity to bring over PRIDE veterans to face UK fighters.
But now they are working with K-1; I just saw they are putting on a K-1 kickboxing fight. I hope they are not going to do too many of those and just stick with MMA, they've been doing well. I think they should work together. They don't have to be the biggest promotion in the world, but I think there is enough space to be successful, not only for UFC, Cage Rage and Cage Warriors, but all the other shows. I like watching the UFC -- but I also really enjoy watching shows like FX3, which puts some very good local fighters against each other and provide us with a very good night of entertainment.
In a recent interview, Jess caused a storm of misunderstanding by mentioning Croatian heavyweight Mirko Filipovic (Pictures), giving some fans the impression that he wanted to attack him backstage.
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There's been a bit of a storm on the internet recently as a few people seem to have got the impression that you wanted to attack Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic in his dressing room at UFC 70. What's your view on all this?
Actually, people got it totally wrong -- it's not Mirko I wanted to
beat up, it's Fedor! (laughs) … so they got it wrong there.
Basically what happened: I did an interview with a French magazine,
the guy that interviewed me said, "Don't you think you are going to
be a bit overshadowed by Mirko [Filipovic] and [Andrei] Arlovski on
the show?" It's a fairly obvious thing -- both of them are very big
names and I'm not -- so the guy was just joking around.
So I replied with a joke myself, by saying, "Oh no, I don't think so and if Mirko has got anything to say about it, I would catch him with a flying armbar!" Obviously it was a joke! So then that might have been mistranslated, or people might not have got the joke and the next thing I know, I go on the Internet and people are saying, apparently, I wanted to attack Mirko in the warm-up room and things like that.
So it went a bit crazy, I think it was probably a mistranslation but it's obvious: I never claimed that I was going to attack him! Even the gentleman who did the interview posted on the French forum, apologizing, saying that he didn't realize that people wouldn't know it was actually a joke. I mean, come on, a flying armbar? I thought that would be a bit of a hint really … you know what I mean?
What do you make of the reaction of the Internet fans?
I personally think that about 90 percent of the people who post on the Internet are just retards to be honest with you … a lot of them are just kids, some of them are frustrated -- a lot of those guys don't know what they are talking about.
But you've got a good number of people who are knowledgeable about the sport, people with who you can exchange ideas, conversation, even have good arguments. I'm not saying that everybody should agree about everything. Some people are quite knowledgeable; you can have different arguments. Sometimes you're wrong. Sometimes you're right.
But those dumb people who were just posting, not even reading previous posts and just posting whatever they want without really caring what anybody else says -- pretty ridiculous.
How does it feel to be fighting for the UFC?
For me, it's like a dream come true. I applied to the UFC back in '94 for the first time -- I saw the first UFC back in '93. At the time, I was fighting Thai boxing and I thought I'd like to have a go at this! Before, obviously, I never managed to get in. I did my first MMA fight back in '95. So now obviously it's a big deal because it's been a long time for me.
To be honest with you, I never thought I would get in the UFC and I'm realistic about where I stand. My record is far from being impressive. I've not been beating anyone particularly good, but maybe the UFC saw something in me, perhaps the way I fight. I'm going to go in, it's just an opportunity for me to go in and show the people what I can do.
How would you describe your fighting style?
I give it everything. I'm really aggressive. I always go for the finish with submissions or stand-up. I go for a lot of spectacular submissions most of the time. I'm not worried about going for a crazy leglock or spinning back fist. Either it works, or I get pounded; it doesn't stop me from going for things.
So regardless -- win or lose -- I want to give the people a good fight and maybe that's what the UFC saw in me and maybe that's why they gave me a chance.
What do you know about your opponent, Dennis Siver?
Dennis Siver is a very good fighter; he's very, very explosive. He looks like a very strong judo player. His background is judo and kickboxing. He has good, very explosive punching technique, he'll always finish with a very fast leading leg round house kick -- which means you always have to keep those hands up, if not, you'll get caught. He does it every single time and always manages to catch people. In the clinch, he's very good, he's got good throws. He's got a good ground game and most of his wins come from submissions.
So all round, he's quite dangerous. I've been training keeping my right hand up to make sure I don't get caught by that left kick, so it's lucky I trained to block it for Siver like that so I'll be ready for Mirko's if he decides to throw one at me! (laughs)
How have your preparations gone for this fight?
I've been training for two months, just slowing down a little bit. I think I peaked a little bit too soon, about a week ago I was feeling very tired. So, I had a few days off, now I'm good. I think I'm in the best shape I've ever been in really. I know it's pretty standard to say that, everybody says the same thing, but really, if I lose this fight, I won't have any excuses.
I'm in very good shape. I've had very good preparation with my team; they've really helped me. I've got a very good game plan and everything should be working fine. I think Denis -- for me, although he is very good fighter -- he's a great opponent for me to start in the UFC. I think we've got quite similar, but at the same time different styles. I think it will make for a very explosive fight and at the same time a very entertaining one.
You mention your team there -- who has been involved with your preparations?
All the guys that I train with all the time. Ashleigh Grimshaw (Pictures) is a very good featherweight. Dean Jones is making his comeback; he's an undefeated under-70-kg fighter. He's coming back this year and really wants to make waves. All the other guys, Harry [Shelby] who holds the pads, Paul [Hines] and all those guys, so I've got a very good team -- and all those guys have been coming to the gym every single day to help me out, so I'd just like to thank them.
What affect do you think the UFC will have on UK MMA?
I think, the more competition, the better it is for the fighters -- I know the promoters don't like it because everyone likes to get the big piece of the pie. But from the fighter's point of view, the more competition there is, the better it is because people will give you more offers. Since the UFC has been here, Cage Rage has been signing a lot more people under contract, which means that a lot more fighters are going to be a lot more secure. With single fights, you don't really know what's going to be next.
I think it's a bit sad that Cage Rage are not working with PRIDE anymore because you're not going to have people fighting for Cage Rage hoping "Maybe I can move on to bigger and better things, " which is PRIDE. Also for them, they had the opportunity to bring over PRIDE veterans to face UK fighters.
But now they are working with K-1; I just saw they are putting on a K-1 kickboxing fight. I hope they are not going to do too many of those and just stick with MMA, they've been doing well. I think they should work together. They don't have to be the biggest promotion in the world, but I think there is enough space to be successful, not only for UFC, Cage Rage and Cage Warriors, but all the other shows. I like watching the UFC -- but I also really enjoy watching shows like FX3, which puts some very good local fighters against each other and provide us with a very good night of entertainment.
