ufc 36 Pete Williams interview : SFUK's mixed martial arts reports

Pete Williams : My thoughts are that I'm going to take the fight to him and test (him). He's only had three or four fights so I think I've got some ring experience on him. I'm going to make sure that he knows he's in a fight and I'm going to try and take him out of his game. Get in his head, y'know.

JB. I understand that you've been working with Maurice Smith for this fight.

Pete Williams : Yeah, I went up to Seattle to train with Maurice.

JB. How did that go?

Pete Williams : It was good, just some different training. I like to go and see how other people train and I'd heard a lot of good things from Randy Couture, Ricco, a lot of guys who've gone up there or got training advice from Maurice and they've had really great improvements from one fight to the next.

JB. It's interesting that there seems to be this, kind of, pool of people like Maurice and John Lewis that people are training with. Do you find it unusual that in a competitive sport such as this a lot of you guys are often seeking advice from the same 'mentors' over and again?

Pete Williams : Yeah, it's actually very unusual if you look at other sports such as boxing or anything like that because it's very competitve but I think it just shows the nature of the fighters and that everyone here is just sportsmen. It's such a young sport now it's hard not to run into each other or train with someone that you're opponents trained with or even train with your opponent.

JB. The first time I saw you fight was UFC 17 when you had that incredible knockout of Mark Coleman. That fight catapulted you into the limelight, do you think that was the best way to come into the sport or do you think that you should have slowly built up your rep as a fighter?

Pete Williams : I thought it was a good way to come in, a wins always better than a loss. I would've much rather won by knockout than lost by decision or anything else. They put me in there, to lose I think, and I proved a lot of people wrong. I think the upset showed that it's not always the biggest guy. It's not strenght and it's not size, it's skill, the skill of the fighter and conditioning.

JB. You stepped up to that fight last minute didn't you?

Pete Williams : Two weeks.

JB. I've always enjoyed watching you fight but you've had a couple of tough losses recently. What would you put that down to?

Pete Williams : Fighting, like I said it's not always the strongest it's the fastest guy, it's on the persons conditioning and it's also more mental than anything and if you're not there in the fight to win, if you don't have that competitive edge and someone else has that on you that could be the fight right there. If you're equal in other fields. I just don't think I've been the same fighter mentally in the ring that I have been in previous fights. And that just comes from outside things, anything from injuries to personal lives. You've got to learn to separate the two, outside the ring and inside the ring.

JB. How's things with the Lion's Den at the minute?

Pete Williams : The Lion's Den, we're still good, we're working up as far as our locations. We're not the same central, unified Lion's Den that we used to be. Everyone's in Dallas or in San Diego but we're still up there at the top with everyone. The sport has become so competitive that no one team can dominate like they used to.

JB. Do you think it's also a fator that there's so many events nowawdays and the sport has become so broad?

Pete Williams : Well the talent base is a lot wider and there's a lot more, and a lot tougher fighters, a lot more schools. The sport is growing exponentially. There's new organisations sprouting up, all these guys are now training for these so almost every martial arts school nowadays is no longer katas and karate, they're teaching grappling, kickboxing. They're teaching UFC style fighting.

JB. If I could just ask a couple of questions about some other UFC fighters. there was a post on the underground a while back about fighters people would like to see make a comeback and Jerry Bohlander was mentionned quite a few times. What's Jerry up to nowadays?

Pete Williams : Jerry, I've known him forever, we went to high school together. He's back in Northern California, where we're from, and he's just training and doing his school. I don't know what his plans are as far as making a comeback. He just had problems y'know, back in the day with the old management and just (doesn't have) that competitve edge, that drive to go out there and train 6, 7 hours a day and do all that stuff that it takes to compete. you've got to really want to do it.

JB. It's a shame because I remember first seeing him in UFC 8 and I've enjoyed a lot of his fights. What about Mikey Burnett?

Pete Williams : Mikey, he went and did a little stint in pro boxing, had some fights there. Now he's a family man, he's married, has two kids, he's teaching at his school, he's got a school of his own. So as far as him coming back I wouldn't say unlikely but right now (pause) I haven't heard him telling me 'Yeah, I'm going to come back','I'm going to do it in six months' or whatever. I'm not saying he's out, he's one of the, at his weight if he were to come back he'd be fighting for the belt.

JB. He's super strong isn't he?

Pete Williams : Yeah, he's so strong in all areas. Strength, speed, boxing, wrestling, he's got it all really and I would love to see him come back.

JB. Have you got any messages for your fans, especially the UK and European fans?

Pete Williams : I hear there's a UFC going over to London in Summer and I hope that they come out and support the event. Anyone who's a fan of mixed martial arts needs to support us and get the sport moving forward. Fans are the complete sport, if it wasn't for them then we wouldn't be on TV beating each other up (laughing). Wherever, in the gym.

JB. (laughing) You'd be doing it somewhere else, like a garage somewhere.

Pete Williams : Exactly

JB. Thanks a lot Pete.

Interview conducted 20th March 2001.