alexis demetriades lee murray mixed martial arts fighter interview

Lee Murray is currently training hard in preparation for his UFC debut in Las Vegas at UFC 46 - Super Natural, which takes place on Saturday 31^st January 2004. Ashley Webb caught up with Lee and his submissions trainer Alexis Demetriades after another tough training session at the London Shootfighters gym.

Get to know Lee Murray

Height and weight: 6’ 00, 185lbs

Born: Plumstead, South East London, 12^th November 1977

Football team supported: Tottenham

Nickname: Lightning

Hobbies and interests outside MMA: Clubbing, watching movies.

Favourite movies: Scarface, Gladiator

Favourite meal: Roast dinner

Favourite pre-fight meal: Chicken with vegetables, broccoli

What car do you drive? An SL500 and a Range Rover

Greatest sporting moment: Knocking out Pele

Worst sporting moment: My loss to Joe Doerksen

Most painful sporting moment: My loss to Joe Doerksen!

Worst injury: My finger. I dislocated it and had to have major surgery on it. I had to have pins through it, and its never gonna be normal again.

AW: And that was from which fight? That was from a brawl in the street.

Favourite fights to watch: Benn v Eubank, the first one where Benn really won but he lost.

Pre-fight feeling: I’m angry. I get nervous and angry and I can’t sit still. I’m walking up and down and I can’t wait. I’ve just got to get in there and get it over and done with.

Funniest memory growing up: I was about 19 years old and in prison in Dover. I was in a six man dormitory, and this guy had these, you know them electric things you put on your muscles to tone them. He put them on this boy all up his arms and on his head when he was asleep and then he whacked it up full blast, and this boy, I swear, he went "vrrrrrhhhhh!" *imitates boy going stiff being electrocuted*. The boy just freaked out and fell out of the bed!. I was crackin up I swear!. In the morning they (the guards) came in and confiscated the machine. I’ll never forget that day, that’s got to be one of my funniest moments.

Favourite athletes to watch: Mike Tyson

Qualities in people most admired: Dedication

Musical tastes: Rap, Garage. Nas, Redman.

AW : You come out to Redman’s "Smash Sumthin’" don’t you?

Lee Murray : Yeah I do.

AW: Is that what you’ll be coming out to in the UFC?

Lee Murray : I don’t think they’ll allow it, unless Redman agrees to me using it.

Alexis Demetriades : We’ll give him a call and see if we can arrange it.

What annoys you most about people?

Lee Murray : People trying to tell me what to do.

Role models: Nigel Benn

AW: What’s your take on the crucial aspects of the Murray-Rivera fight?

Alexis Demetriades : I think the most important thing is going to be Lee’s conditioning. Rivera’s a fit guy, he’s gonna be able to go the distance. Also it’s a matter of getting Lee to keep total concentration for the full fifteen minutes. Its not about looking for a quick knockout, its about looking for a win. If you go out looking for something it might not happen. Fighting is about not getting frustrated, its about keeping your head in the fight the whole time. I actually think Lee’s gonna catch him. I think Rivera suits him, and I think its gonna be a good fight.

AW: I’ve only seen the one fight of Rivera’s which was against David Loiseau, and to me, if there is one word that summed up Rivera it’s durable. It didn’t seem that there was any one particular aspect of his game that seemed absolutely outstanding but he seemed a very good all-round fighter. Would you agree with that assessment?

Alexis Demetriades : Yeah definitely. I think that all round he’s a really good fighter. There’s quite a few tough guys in the middleweight division but Lee’s got something special about him, and its in both of his fists, and whether he hits you with a left or a right there’s a lot of power in both of those shots. Lee’s a natural fighter with good instincts, and while I think that Rivera is a very tough guy, toughness and durability can only take you so far. I think that at the top level you need to have something special.

AW: So if you look at this fight from Rivera’s point of view, what do you think he’ll be looking at?

Alexis Demetriades : I think Rivera is gonna be thinking about wearing Lee down and frustrating him, and waiting for Lee to make a mistake on the ground.

AW: So you think Rivera’s gonna be looking at the cardio aspect of the fight, he’s gonna be looking for a ‘marathon’?

Alexis Demetriades : Definitely. Rivera’s game and he’s gonna come out and bring the fight to Lee initially, and if Lee gives him a stupid submission he’s gonna take it. I mean I don’t want Lee giving up his back or anything ridiculous like that. For us its all about making sure we stick to our game plan.

AW: Your name comes up a lot when people talk on the SFUK MMA forum about the lightweight category and who’s the best. Can you see yourself competing in MMA at any point in the future?

Alexis Demetriades : Yeah definitely. My first love has always been MMA. I first competed in this country when I was fifteen in the KSBO bare knuckle competitions, I did a lot of stuff in Japan and also fought on Frank Shamrock’s fight team, and I know a lot of the guys from around the scene. I love MMA, and I’m better at MMA than I am at wrestling.

AW: But you’re a pretty good wrestler?!!

Alexis Demetriades : I’m lucky that I learnt quickly with the wrestling. I’m blessed with being strong in certain areas. Certain areas I’m not strong in and certain areas I am. With wrestling its my job, I get paid to do it.

AW: So MMA fans could maybe look forward to seeing Alexis Demetriades in the cage at some point in the future?

Alexis Demetriades : I would hope so. I would hope that within the next year I’ll be having a couple of big fights. As far as my weight goes I normally fight MMA at 69 kilos/ 155 pounds.

AW: Well for anyone who knows you that’s a very scary prospect. I know that many of the guys here at London Shoot are constantly amazed you can make that weight as you look a lot bigger.

Alexis Demetriades : I consistently make 74 kilos as a wrestling weight which I’ve done internationally for England over 40 times, and its just a little more off of that so its not really a big deal for me. I mean, don’t get me wrong it’s a stress, but I’ve done it before and I know that I don’t get too weak on my cardio so I can fight ok at that weight. I would not like to make that weight on a regular basis by any stretch of the imagination, but once every 2-3 months I could make that weight no problem. I’m walking around at under 76 kilos. If you pick me up I’m really light.

AW: I’ll pick you up some time but not when we’re sparring!. Ok, Extreme Force 1 was fantastic. Firstly, is there a video/ DVD coming out?

Alexis Demetriades : We have DVDs coming out, and they should be available sometime soon after the end of January.

AW: So what about EF2? Surely its not an ‘if’ but a ‘when’?

Alexis Demetriades : I would say it should happen around March-April time, and there’s gonna be some absolutely f*cking huge names on that show.

AW: No doubt. Even after only one show Extreme Force has gained itself a reputation for bringing to the UK MMA scene fight cards the level of which have not previously been seen here.

Alexis Demetriades : We’re definitely gonna do between one and two shows per year, but our main objective is not to do a huge amount of shows but rather to bring the world’s best, and by that I mean the top fighters on the planet and to give UK boys a chance to do it. For instance, Cyril Diabate currently holds our light heavyweight title, so he’ll be defending against a top five world class contender. I mean, its not just gonna be for UK guys to compete, but first and foremost our aim is to deliver a world class show to the UK.

AW: Who do you think are some of the most exciting fighters in the UK at the moment Lee?, apart from yourself that is?

Lee Murray : That’s what I was gonna say!. Jean Silva, Michael Johnson, James Zikic.

Alexis Demetriades : Alex Reid is a tough guy, and given training and a little bit of dedication he can go a long way. He’s an exciting fighter, and a good quality fighter. What he needs is some more action.

AW: Lee’s on his way to Las Vegas because that’s where he needs to go to elevate his career. Do you think that the UK scene is capable of finding a similar popularity to that which you currently find in the US at any point in the future?

Alexis Demetriades : What you have to understand is that America is a huge place, and that because of that they can do shows all around the US all through the year and they can sell them out and its great. The UK is a very small place. If you do one big show everyone travels from Scotland, Wales, Ireland and England and everyone comes to see the same show. Therefore you can’t do too many of those shows because there’s only a select amount of fans. But what I will say is that because of the quality of the shows we plan to put on in the UK the sport will gain popularity, although I couldn’t say whether or not it has the potential to rival that of the US.

Lee Murray : Extreme Force for example, that was the first show and it was sold out. It was at Wembley Conference Centre and that’s quite a big arena.

AW: Obviously there had not been anything that big before in the UK with the exception of UFC 38?

Lee Murray : Apart from the UFC that’s the biggest show that’s ever been put on in England and we sold it out without a problem.

Alexis Demetriades : Just a quick extra point about Extreme Force. All the guys, including Lee, who fought and won a title at EF1 will be fighting and defending their belts against world class opponents on the next show. And also, if any of the guys on the forums have any ideas about what fights they want to see then let it be known, and if there’s an overwhelming consensus of opinion then we’ll get the fight for them.

AW: That’s very good to know. OK, moving directly on from that, I was at EF1 last July and there was an absolutely amazing atmosphere, climaxing with your fight Lee. When you fought Pele the atmosphere was electric, and one I’d describe as a ‘near riot’, which I think was great. I mean, obviously a riot would have been bad, but a near riot made for an unforgettable night. Obviously we can all imagine how good that night was for you, and that you’d said before that Pele was a dream fight for you. How does the prospect of fighting in the UFC in Las Vegas compare to the Pele fight?

Lee Murray : Its just another step really. Its what I’ve always trained for, to get to the UFC or Pride. Now I’ve finally got there I’ve just got to take advantage of the opportunity on the night, because I know that I’m probably not gonna get another shot if I mess up.

AW: So, given that you’re already quoted before the Pele fight as saying Pele was a dream fight for you, is there now a new dream for you? Is there someone else you’d like to fight specifically?

Lee Murray : There’s no one else. All there is is the belt. That’s my next target.

Alexis Demetriades : Anyone and everyone who stands in his way to that belt is now a dream fight.

Lee Murray : That’s what I’m going for now, the UFC middleweight belt. Anyone who gets in my way is gonna get knocked out.

AW: So if things go to plan where do you see yourself in a year from now?

Lee Murray : If I get the fights I need within the next year to build towards the title, then I will have that title because I’ll be winning my fights without a doubt.

Alexis Demetriades : Its all a matter of Lee getting good coaching and good management and not doing anything stupid and keeping his head ‘in it’. When his concentration is on then he’s world class. Everyone has bad days and everyone f*cks up. Its no problem to do that in the gym. The whole point is that the harder you train the better your chances of winning are going to be. Lee had worse days and harder fights than the Pele fight right here in this gym, he had a hundred days harder than that in this gym. The fight was the easiest part.

Lee Murray : After the Pele fight people on the internet were saying "Yeah Lee was getting smoked in the first round and then he changed it round in the second". I wasn’t getting smoked in the first round. I wasn’t bothered by him at all. Everything he dished out to me, I was smiling at him and laughing at him.

Alexis Demetriades : Some people said Lee was running out of gas. I can tell you one thing, I have Lee in here constantly doing cardio, and anyone who knows me and my approach to cardio will know that none of my fighters run out of gas.

AW: I can definitely vouch for that!

Lee Murray : After I’d returned to my corner after the first round and come back out for the second one of the commentators said "Lee seems to be blowing a bit". I was not blowing one bit. My cardio in that fight was 100%. I felt more tired after the fight than I did during it because of the emotion of winning and the relief of it being over and everything; that zapped me more than anything else. During the fight though I was fine. I could have kept on fighting all day.

AW: Absolutely. I think I asked you shortly after the fight what you called that jumping from the floor-style kick that you caught Pele with at the end of round one, my point being that I’d imagine that type of move takes quite a lot of energy to do?

Lee Murray : Yeah it does.

Alexis Demetriades : What you’ve got to remember as well is that of everything Lee did in that fight, there was not one thing that he hadn’t drilled and practiced in this gym at least 3-4 weeks before the fight.

Lee Murray : Actually me and Jean Silva had been practicing that kick on each other a good few weeks before the Pele fight. We drilled that exact move, and it worked, and I caught him with it.

AW: What’s a typical training week for you now leading up to the UFC?

Lee Murray : I train twice a day every day. Today I did hill sprints in the morning, got up early with my boxing trainer and did hill sprints, then I’ve come here (London Shootfighters). I also do wrestling and boxing. I just alternate what I do each day.

AW: So you train six days a week?

Lee Murray : I train every day. If I start feeling a bit tired and feel like I need a rest then I will have a rest every now and then.

AW: You’re now on your way to the Las Vegas, the home of the UFC. I think a lot of American fans feel that the UK fighters are not of the same level as the US fighters, and you personally have been the subject of a lot of haters on various US-based forums in the past. How do you think you are viewed in the US now since knocking out Pele or do you even care?

Lee Murray : I couldn’t give a shit what they think about me. I know what I’m capable of doing at the end of the day and hopefully when I’m out there I’m gonna prove them all wrong, especially all the haters on the internet that are always bad-mouthing me.

AW: Well you won’t change those type of people.

Lee Murray : I know I’ll never change those people, even if I win the UFC belt its never gonna change what those type of people want to think. You’ll always have haters whether you’re the champion or not, and you’ll always have people on the internet talking sh*t about you.

Alexis Demetriades : I think that with regards the more negative guys on the internet, if they spent less time typing and more time training we might be a lot closer to having some more champions, and definitely a lot more guys participating in this sport. I think a lot of guys out there have potential and talent, and they waste it by spending time on negative things.

Lee Murray : A lot of the US guys who talk about me on the internet haven’t even seen me fight. They comment on someone they haven’t even seen fight, so how can they then comment on me?

Alexis Demetriades : I’d just like to say that London Shootfighters’ doors are always open to anyone. It’s a friendly atmosphere. Its hard training but everyone’s welcome, all fighters regardless of where else you train you’re still welcome to come through these doors, and the only hard time your gonna have is gonna be the training. Also, London Shootfighters will soon be opening a full time training centre which we hope will become valuable resource for improving the all-round game of fighters of all levels who wish to train with us.

AW: A full time MMA training centre in the London area is an amazing prospect, and especially one run by yourself and Paul Ivens. Please keep us up to speed with developments as I’m sure there will be many people reading this interview who will be very interested to know what’s going on with this venture.

Alexis Demetriades : We’ll definitely let everyone know once we’re all set.

AW: Well, I know first hand how hard the training is at London Shoot, and I also know how hard you’ve been training for the Rivera fight, so on behalf of all the UK MMA fans out there, good luck in Vegas - no doubt we’ll all be screaming at our tellys willing you on to a win.

Lee Murray : Thanks a lot.

AD: Thanks.