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Saturday, July 26, 2008

Troops Give MMA Warm Welcome


Journal Staff Report
       Last month, Albuquerque mixed-martial-arts fighter Carlos Condit toured military bases in Afghanistan with fellow MMA stars Urijah Faber, BJ Penn and Michael Bisping. Now, he's back in the Duke City's FIT-NHB gym preparing for an Aug. 3 defense of his World Extreme Cagefighting welterweight title in Las Vegas, Nev., against Japan's Hiromitsu Miura.
    Recently, the Journal's Rick Wright sat down with Condit and talked about Afghanistan, Miura and related matters.
    Journal: Tell me about Afghanistan, first of all. How did that come about?
    Condit: Before my last fight, (WEC publicist Loren Mack) and myself made an appearance over at Kirtland Air Force Base. He told me that he had taken some fighters out in the past to Iraq to visit troops. I let him know that if he was planning anything like that in the future, I'd like to go.
    J: You were in Afghanistan for 10 days, is that right?
    C: The whole trip was about 10 days. We were in Afghanistan for six days and six nights, and the other three days we were traveling.
    J: What surprised you about Afghanistan?
    C: I can't really say I was surprised by anything, because I didn't have anything to gauge it by. I didn't really have any expectations. I'd read a little bit about the country, but I didn't have any preconceived notions of what I was going into, so there were really no surprises. It was all new to me.
    J: Did you find a lot of enthusiasm on the part of the troops for your visit and for MMA?
    C: Absolutely. We got a very warm welcome from the troops. I think more and more, young men in that age group and young people in general are starting to get into MMA and especially soldiers who are starting to train in hand-to-hand combat. They do the military combatives courses, which are basically what we do — submission holds, and they do some standup fighting. They're pretty well-versed in what we do already. So they're knowledgeable in the sport and knowledgeable about who we are.
    J: The four of you put on demonstrations for the soldiers, is that right?
    C: Yeah, we did a lot of stuff. A lot of it was just hanging out, just talking. ... A lot of it was informal stuff, down time. I made a point to talk and hang out and just be a normal guy with a lot of the troops. But in addition to that there was autograph signing and demonstrations, and we actually rolled, wrestled and did grappling and some standup sparring, with some of the troops as well. ... I rolled with some guys who were pretty talented and probably have a future in the sport when they come back, get back into civilian life and have time to train.
    J: Did you stay in a central location, or did you move around from day to day?
    C: We went to five different bases. I think on the schedule they had us going to eight or nine different bases, but when we got there they told us we had to be flexible and that the schedule would probably change, and it did. So we ended up only getting to visit five bases. But we flew around the country in helicopters, which was pretty cool.
    J: Did you stay with the troops, eat with the troops?
    C: Yeah, we ate with the troops every day in the mess hall. The troops that we stayed with (overnight) were our military liaison, the guys who were showing us around. We were staying in the same quarters (as the soldiers did), but we had our individual room for the fighters and our liaison guy.
    J: In terms of your life experiences, where does the Afghanistan trip rank?
    C: It definitely ranks as one of the most incredible experiences I've ever had. I went out there to gain some perspective and see some new things as well as do what I could for the troops, to bring them a little bit of home and a break to the monotony of being out there. But it was awesome.
    J: All the time you were in Afghanistan, of course, you knew you had a title defense scheduled for Aug. 3. Were you able to get in any serious workouts while you where there, or was there just no time and place for that?
    C: Other than rolling with the troops and doing a little bit of sparring, no. I didn't get a chance to do too many workouts. We stayed in Kuwait one night on the way out there and one night on the way back and we did a workout both nights. But unfortunately I didn't get a chance to wrestle with any of the other fighers who went out there because everybody was injured from having fought recently.
    J: Was the timing OK, then? Did you get back in plenty of time to get ready?
    C: It wasn't ideal. I got back without about five weeks to go, and I usually like to have about eight weeks for training camp. But I stayed in decent shape out there. You asked if I did formal workouts; no, I didn't. But while we were waiting out on the tarmac for our choppers and stuff we'd do sprints and shadowboxing; do what we could while we could. So it wasn't ideal, but we got it taken care of.
    J: I saw something online a while back where you said you didn't know a lot about Miura. Is that still the case?
    C: No, of the information that's out there, I've seen probably five of his fights, some of his fights from Japan. I pretty much know what to expect. It's been a while since his last fight, and people can make a lot of improvement in a short amount of time, so you never know. I'll be ready for whatever, but I think I've got him pegged.
    J: What would you say are his strengths?
    C: Miura's strength would probably be striking, first and foremost. He's a pretty well-versed striker. His hands are very powerful. Also, as with a lot of Japanese fighters, they're just tough. They just have a resilience to them, and they kind of have that warrior spirit. I'm gonna have to finish this guy; there's no quit in him whatsoever.
    J: None of your last five fights, all victories, have lasted past the second round. Against Miura, you're looking at the possibility of going five five-minute rounds for the first time. Mentally as much as physically, with just five weeks of training camp, will you be ready for that?
    C: I haven't done that in competition, but a couple of times a week we do five five-minute rounds with new guys rotating in on me. So I'm pretty prepared for that, I think. It's different when you've got a new guy rotating in on you every minute-and-a-half and he's fresh and you're dog-tired. So I think I should be all right.
    J: The WEC and the UFC have been owned and operated by the same company (Dana White's Zuffa) for a while now, but there's been no crossover. Down the road, is that something you're hoping for, to fight UFC welterweights like Diego Sanchez, your fellow Albuquerque native, and Georges St. Pierre, the UFC champion who trains part-time in Albuquerque?
    C: Well, yeah, I want to fight those guys. I'm ranked in the bottom of the (world) top 10, and I want to fight the guys above me and climb the ladder. So, yes, I would like to fight the guys who are in the UFC. However that happens, whether it's a crossover match or when my contract's up with the WEC me making a transition over to the UFC. I don't know exactly how it will happen, but I'm looking forward to competing with some of those guys. But, right now, the WEC is a great home for me.
    J: You're 24 and have lots of competitive years left. What other interests do you have, and what are the things you might look into when you're finally done competing?
    C: ... I will always be a martial artist; I'll always be involved in this, whether I'm competing in the cage or not. ... A lot of the things I have in mind (for the future) stem from this. We talked about the military and how they're doing some hand-to-hand combat. I might like to get involved in doing some teaching and training with troops myself. Maybe building and owning a training facility of my own. Who knows? I might go into the family business of politics. (Condit's father, Brian, is a deputy chief of staff to New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson).
    J: Your last fight was a first-round submission stoppage of Carlo Prater on Feb. 13 at the Santa Ana Star Center, a successful title defense telecast nationally on Versus. Has that done a lot for you locally in terms of people knowing your name, knowing your face?
    C: Yeah, definitely. Afterwards, it was crazy, even with people who hadn't gone to the fight and hadn't seen it on TV. Albuquerque doesn't have a whole lot of professional athletes coming out of here. ... The professional athletes that do come out of here are fighters. So, I think the people here and the fans here really get behind that and support that. I'm proud to represent my community, and I think my community is proud to have me represent them.
   
    Condit Visits the Troops
   
    See TROOPS on PAGE C5
   
    jim thompson/journal
    Carlos Condit, right, trains for his bout next Sunday against Hiromitsu Miura of Japan.
   
    Joins other fighters overseas in Afghanistan
   
    courtesy carlos condit
    Albuquerque's Carlos Condit, left, demonstrates an MMA maneuver to soldiers in Afghanistan. Condit toured military bases there last month.
   
    "We got a very warm welcome from the troops. I think more and more, young men in that age group are starting to get into MMA ..."
    MMA FIGHTER CARLOS CONDIT ON HIS RECENT TRIP TO AFGHANISTAN
   
    mma