"I'm going to go out there and do what I do and I'm sure Raphael is going to come out there and try to do what he wants to do...I want to go in there and be explosive and land shots and be athletic and maybe throw a couple of things that you never really see a heavyweight throw and do a couple of things that you probably don't see guys my size do. I think the fans will appreciate that. I'm trying to rejuvenate a division that's kind of been lackluster and a little bit boring across the board in all organizations," stated Bellator heavyweight Lorenzo Hood, who talked about his upcoming debut this Friday with the organization. Check it out!
PC: How is everything going leading up to your Bellator debut against Raphael Butler?
LH: Preparation is going good, man. I'm training hard, working hard, and I feel good.
PC: Every fighter looks forward to getting that call from the big show. What was that moment like for you when Bellator called you?
LH: It was a great day. It was a great experience for me. It was a testament of all of the hard work I was putting in up to that point. It was really good. I was excited and I'm excited to be in Bellator because they are definitely on the way to the very top of all MMA organizations.
PC: Any pressure on you being that this is your debut and people always expects knockouts in a heavyweight fight and you have a 100% KO ratio in your wins?
LH: No, I don't feel any pressure, man. I'm just excited. No pressure. I'm going to go out there and do what I do and I'm sure Raphael is going to come out there and try to do what he wants to do. At the end of the day, I think it's going to be a great fight; Fight of the Night type of fight. I think it's going to be very fun and the fans will love it. They will get two guys out there that's going to stand and bang it out and see where we are at, at the end of the day.
PC: Have you watched a lot of him prior to the fight announcement or after the fight was announced?
LH: No, I don't ever watch any video on any of my opponents. My entire career, I have never watched video on anyone. That's just something that I don't do. I don't want to know what he does or how he does it. Obviously my coaches watch and develop a game plan and they will let me know what we are going to do as far as a strategy, but as far as me watching, I don't watch anybody, man.
PC: It seems like more and more fighters that I talk to have gotten away from film study. Do you think that's because no matter what you prepare for from footage that you have watched, it can and most of the time always changes?
LH: For me man, honestly, I just don't want to know anything. Too many times, and this comes from football, when you're watching film and you watch an offensive tackles tendencies and you're watching how he puts his hands and how he looks and how he rests his hands on a run or a pass, a lot of times, you get caught in that thing. You get caught on watching those specific things. And let's just say he was going against a defensive end that's a lot worse than you or better and he's dominating them and pancaking them every single play; you've already lost some of that battle. When you line up across from him, you're thinking about, "Man, I've watched this dude pancake this guy over and over." Those are things that I learned from football and when I went into MMA, I said I never want to watch film because I never want to possibly overplay something or even be worried about the opponent I was going to fight or think about tendencies that he has because in MMA, a fight could change within seconds. In MMA, I just like to be more alert and rely on my instincts because someone could close their eyes and knock you out with one punch in this sport.
PC: It sounds like you have already used some of your football experiences and carried it over to MMA. How do you feel that has helped you?
LH: I think it's helped me tremendously. To be able to be a guy that's 6'3", 290 pounds and be athletic and be able to move around like a 155er helps me a lot. To be able to explode out of certain situations where guys wouldn't normally be able to. And sometimes it's a gift and a curse, man, because you don't learn the full technique of something because you're used to using your ability and explosiveness to get out of it. But in a fight, you're not worried about the technique as long as you're able to get out of there and get in the position that you're looking for.
PC: Anything in particular that you have been working on for this Butler fight or is it just still working on the overall game?
LH: I'm always working on the overall game of everything. I'm a kickboxer and that's something that I'm always working. For this fight, I'm just kind of focused on working on just relaxing and staying true to who I am as a fighter and what I want to do and not worrying about anything else or worrying about what he does good. I just want to do what I want to do. If I want to kickbox, I'm going to kickbox, wrestle, or grapple, whatever it is and that's what I focused on. And in order to do that, you have to be good at all aspects of the game.
PC: It sounds like a lot of your game is based on being in pretty good shape.
LH: I'm going to give you a great analogy that someone gave me one time. If you look at the Olympics and you look at the short distance sprinters, they are built like bricks. They are all muscles. They have to get where they are going in a short amount of time. And then you look at the marathon guys, they are sleek and lean. Anytime you get heavyweights, especially a guy like myself because I'm a really muscular guy, no matter how great you could possibly train, your body requires a lot of oxygen. And I understand that as a fighter. I've learned to try and fight with the mentality of my gas tank is never going to be what a heavyweight who doesn't have as much muscle as I have. But I've learned to use that to my advantage in spurts of how I trained for football. I go in those 3 to 5 second bursts. I've kind of brought that over to my MMA training, being able to burst, explode, and recover and how to use that throughout a 15-minute fight.
PC: You are riding a 3-fight winning streak. All 13 of your wins are by 1st round knockout. What can the Bellator fans expect from you on August 28th?
LH: In this fight, the fans that don't know me, they can expect a guy that's going to get in there and get in your face and I'm going to go for what I want to do. I want to go in there and be explosive and land shots and be athletic and maybe throw a couple of things that you never really see a heavyweight throw and do a couple of things that you probably don't see guys my size do. I think the fans will appreciate that. I'm trying to rejuvenate a division that's kind of been lackluster and a little bit boring across the board in all organizations. It's stagnant and I plan on changing that.
PC: I appreciate your time. Best of luck to you and we will speak afterwards. Is there anything else you want to add?
LH: I just want to say thank you to all of the people out there who have supported me and helped me and anyone who has stuck their neck out. And whether you have given me a pair of shorts or gloves or you helped me out with a sponsorship or just said my name and just got my name out there, thank you. And the same thing goes for all the haters as well because they do a good job of getting me out there as well. Thank you guys. I really appreciate you wanting to talk to me. Thanks Bellator for signing me and God bless. Let's see how this goes and hopefully I will be talking to you guys again talking about beating up Kimbo Slice!
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]