"A fight is just a fight. It's all good to knock somebody out and now that I got that kind of feel for it, I'm going to be going for knockouts from now on. I got power in both hands and I want to put them to use," stated UFC lightweight Rob Emerson as he talked about his KO victory over Manny Gamburyan. Check out what else he had to say about his future plans, Rashad's KO victory over Chuck Liddell and much more.
PC: How have you been doing Rob?
RE: Everything has been going good. I've been enjoying hanging out. I just got back to my routine from my last fight.
PC: You had a huge KO victory against Manny Gamburyan in your last fight. Did you expect him to come in wide with his punches so you worked on coming right down the pike?
RE: Yeah, we worked on a lot of straight punches like that for this fight. I didn't think he would come out like he did. I thought he would respect me on the feet a little more and feel me out and look for a shot. When we were walking out to the ring, I saw him say on the big screen he was going to come hard and bum rush me and throw me up against the cage so I kind of knew what to expect. He kind of gave himself away.
PC: Was the gameplan coming in to not get bullied, like some of the rest of Gamburyan's opponents, had the fight lasted longer?
RE: I worked on throwing a lot of elbows from my back and scrambling to get back to my feet to wear him out. If he got me up against the cage and tried to take me down, we were just going to try and outmuscle him and make him work and waste a lot of energy. I was going to make him chase me around the whole fight and then, when he'd come in like he did, just sit down on my punches.
PC: Do you think you exposed Manny in a way?
RE: Yeah. I said before in some other interviews that no one had really tested his chin. He's fought some tough guys and he has a pretty decent record, but he's never been rocked like punch-for-punch with someone. I wanted to see how tough he really was. A lot of these Judo guys are tough and are good at muscling people around, but as far as taking a punch, it takes a certain kind of animal to eat a punch and be okay with it. Some fighters take punches better than others and Manny is obviously not one of them.
PC: Were you skeptical about touching gloves with him? I know in his last fight, he pulled a kick or a punch off with his hand extended.
RE: Nah, he was cool. We were walking back and forth looking at each other in the cage and he put his hand up to ask if we were touching them up and I winked at him like, "Yeah, it's all good."
PC: Anytime you can get paid for 12 seconds of work, that's always a plus, but you also walked away with some bonus money. How did that feel my man?
RE: Yeah, it's nice man. I needed it. I don't really look at it as I'm paid for 12 seconds. Obviously I look at the 2 ½ months of prepping and that's kind of the payoff. A fight is just a fight. It's all good to knock somebody out and now that I got that kind of feel for it, I'm going to be going for knockouts from now on. I got power in both hands and I want to put them to use.
PC: Who landed the better right hand, you or Rashad Evans?
RE: Oh shit! The one that Rashad landed was fucking money dude. I was impressed dude because I was all cheering and he caught nothing but Chuck's jaw.
PC: Did you expect Rashad to be able to land that?
RE: Man, one of the first exchanges they had, when Chuck put Rashad up against the fence, Rashad was throwing punches and you could tell they were harder than Chuck's. They were faster and cleaner and Chuck was throwing like those wide looping punches at those crazy angles, but Rashad was throwing some bombs down the middle that were just missing Chuck's face. I was like, "Dude, those punches are barely missing. If one of those connect, Chuck's going to go down." The punch that landed was just the perfect timing, perfect distance and just couldn't have been better. That was the worst knockout I've seen in a long time! Rashad is good at making upsets happen. He's been the underdog in his last couple of fights and he comes through every time and you gotta respect a guy like that.
PC: As good as your fight with Gray Maynard was and with the way it ended, are you surprised we haven't got the rematch yet?
RE: They haven't talked to us about it. I know he's doing his thing and I'm doing my thing. I think they probably want to build both of us up. I know he wants a fight with Sherk, that's what he told me, and I don't know what the plan is with that. It's so many fights in our division right now and so many matchups, I don't really care to do a rematch with anybody right now because there are so many guys out there to fight.
PC: You suffered absolutely no damage in your fight with Gamburyan. When would you like to compete again?
RE: Definitely before the end of the year. I think I have something scheduled for November or December. It looks like UFC 91 or 92.
PC: You started your career off with 4 losses. How did you bounce back from that and make it to where you are now?
RE: All of the losses I had were all top notch guys. The first one was against Jens Pulver and it was a split decision. The other one was against Melvin Guillard, which I took on 8 days notice and I thought I won that fight and so did he and a lot of his corner men. Mishima was another one for the DEEP lightweight title in Japan and I took that on 10 days notice and it was all against tough, top-notch guys and I was a beginner still and it was a lot of last minute notices and I still went the distance in all of them. As far as losing those fights, I knew I was better than that and I gained a lot of experience, toughness and confidence from those fights. I'm glad my career went the way it did and now it's like I fight these other guys in my division and never have butterflies because I've fought some of the better guys out there.
PC: Who do you like in the fight between Sean Sherk and Tyson Griffin?
RE: I'd like to see Griffin win. He's the younger guy, he's more active, more exciting and he throws on the feet, but I don't know, Sherk is a little powerhouse. They are both powerhouses, but I think Sherk may be a little bit stronger. I think BJ will probably bounce back and forth between weight classes. I mean, fuck, if he could get away with it, why not?
PC: The division is stacked from top to bottom. Is there any fighter out there in particular you would like to fight next?
RE: Nah, not right now. I don't have anything personal against anyone right now. I'm fighting for the fans and the UFC so whoever they want to give me.
PC: I appreciate the interview Rob. Good luck in your next fight. Is there anything you want to say to close out this interview?
RE: Yeah, I just want to thank my coach Colin Oyama and everyone at Team Oyama. I want to thank my agent David Gottesmann at DG Sports Agency. I have to thank my sponsors: Tapout, Hitman, Condom Depot, Rev Gear, Gut Check, Fighter Warehouse and Hayabusa. Just let everybody know to keep an eye out for me later this year.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]