Brawl: MMA word power

No interview is exactly the same. Sometimes they go horribly wrong, and sometimes they are all routine. Interviewing Erich Krauss (pronounced arish) is one part business and two parts entertaining. Arriving at my apartment he spots the trusty air hockey table, where upon we spend about an hour just playing air hockey and discussing little else except for the occasional piece of mma gossip.

When the subject of his new book Brawl:A Behind the Scenes Look at Mixed Martial Arts Competition comes up, the considerate and amiable to answer even the most mundane of questions.

Brawl came about after a year solid of research and interviews. A technically sound retelling of the history of MMA, Brawl covers not only the chronology of the sport but also the key players. One of the few mma books published on any large scale, Brawl truly goes behind the scenes focusing on both fighters, promoters and a play by play of key fights.

Erich Krauss is the epitome of what detractors think MMA is not. Krauss is well read, articulate and ever accommodating. What he brings to MMA is inside knowledge and the ability to convey that knowledge in a relaxed writing style.

Having traveled the world since he was 14, Krauss brings a world wide sensibility to his writing. Having trained initially in Karate and Kung-Fu, his travels landed him in Thailand where he began training in Muay Thai. However, at that time, being a foreigner prohibited him from training in all but a hand full of schools. Settling on a school outside of Bangkok, Krauss trained for several solid months and took his first fight as a pro. Almost immediately the promoters there liked his aggressive yet highly technical style. Equally appealing was the fact that Erich was a foreigner and the general thai population liked to see the foreign fighters in hopes that they would suffer a lot of abuse.

With his Thailand journey behind him , Erich again returned to his hometown of Chico and quickly began commuting several hours to Lodi to become part of Shamrock 2000 which at the time was masterminded by Bob Shamrock and hosted the recruiting talents of Kevin Woo. Training in Lodi with the likes of Jens Pulver , Val Ignatov and Cal Worsham helped Erich develop his ground game quickly. When an opportunity to teach Muay Thai at the Lions Den in San Diego, Krauss jumped at the chance.

While still training others for the cage, Erich began to write which had always been his passion. Writing for several magazines helped him get his foot in the door and he soon began to write fiction as well. Eventually he decided to write Brawl which would focus more on the individual fighter and a more behind the scenes look. Fighters featured in the book include Dave Menne, Jens Pulver , Oleg Taktarov and pretty much any other heavy hitter in MMA.

Erich's next book is on none other than Jens Pulver and after that an account of the U.S Border Patrol. Erich maintains that while he may cover different subjects, he will always be involved with the advancement of MMA.

Brawl is available from Amazon.co.uk

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