| Remco
Pardoel
interview
by John Casey 17 August 2003 JC :
Your last fight was in EF 1 – Genesis in July, What are the thoughts on the
show? Remco
Pardoel : EF1 was one of the best shows I was ever in. They had some
bad luck with some fighters who dropped out. That can happen, But 90% of the fights
where really good. In the UK I was always treated right and that is the main reason
I love to be in the UK. I had clearly an off day... that sucks for me personally.
I will make it up for the promoters and fans the next time!!!!!!!!!!!!! Do
you haven any plans to fight again soon, and if so with which organization. Remco
Pardoel : I am busy for
October and after that I hope that I can make my return to the UK. If
you had your choice is there anybody in particular you would like to fight? Remco
Pardoel : Just let me fight.
Get me in some fights. In between my last fights was 14 months of no ring experience
and that is to long for me..... Do
you have any fighters coming out of your gym that will be competing in MMA in
the future that you would like to mention. Remco
Pardoel : I work together
with people like Lee Murray, Alex Evans and James Zikic for instance. I have some
people in my club and hope that they will make a break through this year to a
higher level. We compete in Judo Jiu Jitsu, BJJ, Submission wrestling, Taekwon-do,
Thai Boxing and of course MMA so it's hard to mention them all... What
are you thoughts on the European MMA scene at the moment, events with big name
fighters such 2 hot 2 handle and it’s Showtime, have been held in Holland
for a while now, as well as a lot more events in Russia and England. How do you
think these events compare to those held in the United States and Japan? Remco
Pardoel : EF1 was a unique
show because it was three promoters (as far as I know) cooperating and that did
not happen till now. In Europe we don't have pay per view as in Japan and the
USA. So we need put on a show down with some people that really want to invest
in MMA. Our time of the really big shows will come within a few years count on
that!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How do the fans
in these countries compare, is there a difference between fighting in front of
a crowd in England and those in the United States. Remco
Pardoel : UK has the best
crowd!!!!!! The people are coming for a fight and scream when some one makes a
good punch or some one makes a reversal. In Holland the audience has the bad habit
of booing when people are on the ground for 30 seconds. I think it has to do with
the fact that they grown up with Muay Thai events...The USA is cool to fight in
also. Japan is just a different planet, believe me.. What
are your thoughts on how the sport is progressing in Europe? Remco
Pardoel : Sports like Judo,
Jiu Jitsu, Karate are mainstream already. Thai Boxing and MMA will follow within
10 years. MMA has existed only 10 years from the introduction of the UFC
to the people. I think the problem is that soccer has too much prominence in broadcasting
and people at BBC and channel4 underestimate the people that are into Martial
Arts. In Holland we have one million people playing soccer and 240.000 are playing
Judo or Jiu Jitsu and people forget that. European
Fighters seem to be coming to prominence in the Heavyweight division in MMA now,
what are your thoughts on Cro Cop and Fedor Emelianenko in particular. Remco
Pardoel : These two are
the best heavy weights at the moment. A year ago nobody thought that Minotauro
could be beaten and now we have a new king of the hill. I am waiting for this
fight between these two.... Fedor is so fucking good. He can do all, like standing,
throwing and fighting on the ground, and everything looks easy when does it Alistair
Overeem recently lost a tough fight to Chuck Liddell, have you seen the fight
the fight, and what are your thoughts on it. Remco
Pardoel : Overeem is an
ok fighter and his time will come. He is in the top 10 now, otherwise he would
not be in the Pride tournament, and within a few years he will be at the
top 3 Gilbert Yvel is making a comeback
in the next few months, do you think Gilbert can come back to the top of
the sport after being injured for so long. Remco
Pardoel : Gilbert alone
knows the answer to the question. I helped him on his ground game over a period
of a year. He is very gifted and at that time I advised him not to give knees
in the first minutes of any fight. Just box and make sprawls. His trainer told
him to jump in and make a knee. They had an argument and now he left Lucien
about that issue. Maybe he will fight differently now, I wish him all the best. MMA
seems to be really developing in Scandinavia; Joachim Hansen recently beat Gomi
in Japan. Have you seen any of his fights? Remco
Pardoel : No I did not see
that. I know the Scandinavians have an excellent level of sports. Fighting is
in their genes. Like with the English and some Dutch people. I helped Rikard Bohlenius
and Richard Andersson in the beginning of their careers back in 1995 and they
developed a very strong community in Scandinavia in MMA/BJJ/Submission wrestling Finally
I have been asked by SFUK to ask you about the last ferry home from Finland on
a Saturday night! Is there a story there?? I
was not there!!!!!! Some students of mine went from Norway till Denmark by Ferry.
You can best describe it as a floating bar aka swingers club hahahhahahahaa for
asking the questions and I hope that we will meet Thanks
a lot for taking the time to answer these questions Remco. Remco
Pardoel : Thanks a lot
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