ufc 36 pat miletich interview : SFUK's mixed martial arts reports

Pat Miletich : It's going to be a tough fight, no two ways around that. The way that Matt fights it's a war and thatâs just the way his style is. He's going to be trying to drop me on my head and I'm going to be trying to punch him in his. Weâll just see how we match up. I plan on hitting him hard, hitting him a lot and seeing if he falls.

JB. Youâve moved up a weight in this fight, do you think thatâs going to be a factor?

Pat Miletich : Well, it's going to be a little more tiring obviously because when you're lugging a bigger guy around. Especially when you fight a guy the way Matt fights, he fights like it's a 100 meter sprint the whole fight. So just by the way he fights and the way he hangs on you it's going to be more tiring than just about any other fight I've had.

JB. How's Jens doing at the minute?

Pat Miletich : Jens is doing very well, he's moving better than he ever has, hitting harder than he ever has and he's always improving.

Jeremy Horn, Jens Pulver and Matt Hughes

JB. What's happening with Jeremy Horn as well?

Pat Miletich : He's signed a contract with Pride, a three fight deal. He fought his first one a while back and won that and he's fighting again in April so we're looking forward to that.

JB. The perception is with these guys that youâre like the head of the family and these guys train under you. With Matt (Hughes) on the card as well does that make training harder or is there more of a team effort than people realise?

Pat Miletich : We do a team thing and everybody's got to fight so I'm not the only person at the gym telling people what to do. If I'm training for a fight and somebody sees something that I'm doing wrong then they'll say. Obviously I'd be a lot more experienced than most of the guys there, had a lot more years but it's a team effort.

JB. You're acknowledged as a world class trainer, in fact a trainer of champions as you have two at the minute, a world class cornerman. What kind of skills do you think you have to have to be a good cornerman or a good trainer?

Pat Miletich : As far as being a good trainer I think you have to have done everything that you tell your guys to do so that they respect you 'cause youâve been through it. You can't tell someone to go run that quarter of a mile long hill that goes straight up and down twelve times unless you've done it and they know you've done it. That makes it a little easier to tell people to do that. As far as cornering, I think that having experience in a lot of different areas, for me I was lucky to have grown up wrestling, boxing, muay thai kickboxing, submission grappling, trained with Brazilians so I've seen a lot, seen a lot of different angles on the way that people do things. I think it's easier for me to explain from a certain point of view. For example if I'm training a wrestler, to explain it through his view point on how he should improve himself or a kickboxer or whatever. It helps to have done a lot of different things.

JB. Have you ever had any real disagreement, or any incidents where one of your fighters has said no I don't think I should be doing thatâ?

Pat Miletich : No, when I tell the guys to do something like if I say "go run through that brick wall"â they say " head or shoulder first"â. They do what I tell them to do.

JB. Is there anything you want to say to you UK and European fans?

Pat Miletich : Keep supporting the sport, I'm looking forward to coming over to England and hanging out, and Iâd love to see the UK improve in the sport and gain a lot of knowledge because we want it to become a world-wide, popular and successful sport.

JB. Thanks a lot Pat.

Pat Miletich : Thanks.

pat & jim

Pat Miletich & Jim Burman

Interview conducted 20th March 2002