"I really love the striking aspect of it, but by no means am I a stranger to the submission game...We already have trouble finding opponents. To be honest with you, the only reason I have 6 fights now is because we have trouble finding opponents," stated undefeated 6'7", 290-pound Wes Shivers as he talked about his transition from pro-football to mixed martial arts. Check out what else he had to say about his developing mixed martial arts career and much more.
PC: How is everything going my man?
WS: Everything is going good. It's good talking to you.
PC: Do you have a fight lined up and if so, how is your training going?
WS: I have a fight scheduled here locally in Jackson, Mississippi. It's going to be the first time I've fought here in front of my hometown in a while. I'm looking forward to that and I'm training hard, making sure I'm prepared for everything and that everything is in line so I can give my hometown fans a show.
PC: Is there any added pressure for you to fight in your hometown or do you think it will be more of a support thing and you prefer fighting there?
WS: No, it's support for me. It's amazing the following that I picked up in my MMA career traveling around. I noticed that everywhere I go, it's the same faces there supporting me and that's great. Obviously a lot of them cannot travel and get to some of these fights that are far off so this is going to give them the opportunity to see me fight. I really enjoy this whole atmosphere. The fight fans are great and it's a totally different atmosphere and fan following than you would expect in a sport like this. It's good that people love the sport and understand what it's all about and what goes into the two guys that are getting in that cage and putting their skills to the test.
PC: Being from Mississippi, how tough is it for you to catch the eyes of some of these bigger organizations and is that your goal? To make it to the big leagues?
WS: Yeah, definitely. I believe for anybody that gets into this sport, fighting in the big leagues is the ultimate goal. Fortunately for me, my first MMA fight
it's kind of hard to judge my skills because everybody knows going into your first fight, you have adrenaline dumps and this and that and you have one thing in mind, not fighting like you trained, but to hurt the guy
but my first fight was on the undercard of an EliteXC show. I was fortunate enough to get some big-time guys to get to see me physically at least and see my mentality. I wasn't able to showcase my ability that much in that fight, but you know, marketability is big in this sport and I think I got that so hopefully that played a big part. I've been talking to a couple different organizations about it and my big deal is I'm 290 pounds standing 6'7, but I'm not built like most super heavyweights. My big thing is, more than likely, I'm going to have to drop like 15-20 pounds and cut down to 265 and fight in the heavyweight division.
PC: You played professional football in the NFL. How did that prepare you for MMA and what made you make the switch?
WS: I think MMA is a great outlet for guys like myself who have the drive and want to compete and push yourself on a daily basis. I refuse to give in to the fact that I'm getting too old to do anything. I'm in my early 30's now and that's kind of a
most guys get into the sport in their early 20's. I've been around the block, but I refuse to give up to that mentality. I work as hard every day as guys half my age to prepare. The only advantage I will have over them is I've been there. I've been at the lowest lows and the highest highs. I've played professional sports and I know what it is to compete at the highest level and I think it really works for me.
As far as football preparing me, to be honest with you, if I look at my past and what prepared me for this, I think it was before football. I think it goes back to my younger days; the way I was raised and brought up. I had a great family and a great father that put a lot of responsibility on me at an early age knowing that I can handle it. I also had a big brother who tended to whoop my butt on a daily basis and not only that, he would laugh about it when he got through (laughing). I grew up and I'm not going to say it was this hard street lifestyle by no means. I had a great southern family that really supported me and everything that I did. The key is they supported me and they always pushed me to be the best at whatever I wanted to do. I was just fortunate enough that my heritage and my genetics gave me this will to compete and to push myself to goals. My outlook on life is if you don't have goals to obtain in your life, what's the purpose of living, you know?
PC: Your record is 6-0. Can you tell us what style we can expect? How are your wins split as far as knockout to submission ratio?
WS: I started out doing submission wrestling and kind of evolved from there to doing some boxing training and I've been training for the last year in Muay Thai Kickboxing, which suits me pretty well because I'm a taller guy with longer arms. My kicks and knees work pretty well in the Muay Thai clinch. I really love the striking aspect of it, but by no means am I a stranger to the submission game. I've done submission tournaments and so fourth and done real well in those. Granted, I'm like any fighter. I would like to go in there and knock somebody out. That's what you shoot for, but you always take the next best thing as far as I'm concerned. My wins are pretty even as far as knockouts to submissions. I have a submission due to strikes and I have a couple of tap outs from submissions and I have a couple of knockouts.
PC: Who are some of the guys you like to watch in MMA right now?
WS: I've always liked to watch the smaller guys because they're exciting, but I can't really judge myself off of them considering I outweigh them by 100 pounds. I just can't critique my style based on what they do in there. I went to a seminar with "Razor" Rob McCullough from the WEC back in April and me and Rob became good buddies and I talk to him a good bit over the internet. The entire sport is full of great guys and he was an example of that to me. I didn't know what to expect when I met him, but he came all the way out from California to Mississippi to do a seminar for me and the guys I train with. He was an absolute pleasure to be with. He talked a lot and I love to watch Rob fight of course. Then you have some of the old school guys like Randy and Chuck who have been around for years and are legends of the sport. I like watching Roy Nelson and Ben Rothwell just because they are bigger guys. I try to sit there and watch their game and compare my game to what they are doing. It's obvious they are doing something right; they made it to where they want to be.
PC: Do you fear running out of opponents at the super heavyweight level?
WS: We already have trouble finding opponents. To be honest with you, the only reason I have 6 fights now is because we have trouble finding opponents. One fight in particular, I had 4 opponents back out on me in a 2 week period of time. Every day I was getting a call with someone saying my opponent backed out, but they think they have another one lined up. It was so bad I took a King of the Cage fight in Mississippi and the day of the weigh-in, I was supposed to be fighting a guy 6'5 and 300 pounds coming out of Cincinnati, Ohio and he never showed up. It gets frustrating when you train really hard for 2 months and have a guy back out on you. I just take what I can get. I'm looking forward to fighting somebody that is recognized; somebody that I can go into a fight with and put it all on the line and if he beats me, he's been there and if I beat him, I show that I belong.
PC: Wes, good luck in your MMA journey my man and in your fight on the 27th. Is there anybody you want to thank? Anything you want to say in closing?
WS: I want to thank all the guys here I train with at Hammer Hill: Johnny Little, boxing coach, Team Deliverance, which is actually the team that I'm on, and Josh Craig, our head trainer. We have a lot of guys that you will never see or never fight and don't really even show up to the fight, but they come to train with us every day and help us prepare so without them, we couldn't do this. And of course, thank all of the great fans that come and support this great sport that's just getting bigger everyday.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]