EXCLUSIVE ChokeHimOut Interview: Jeremy Horn
Interviews
Interviews
Chokehimout.com recently caught up with Jeremy Horn and had a chance to talk with him about his 101 fights, his thoughts on UFC 82 and his future plans.
C.H.O: You have fought 101 professional MMA fights. How have things changed since you started fighting?
JH: Well, this sport has gotten much more regulated and organized to start with. The weight classes, rules and sanctioning made big changes for the sport and got a lot more organized.
C.H.O: How has it changed for you?
JH: Well like I was saying you know, you have more organization to work with and that is always better and it's not as reckless.
C.H.O: How old were you when you started training in Mixed Martial Arts and what lead you into fighting in MMA?
JH: It's kind of hard to pinpoint an age really. I was training in martial arts when I was thirteen and it wasn't really a change I decided to make, it was just kind of gradual. I just kind of got into doing more MMA kind of stuff like more wrestling, more boxing and more jiu jitsu. I had my first fight when I was 19, so somewhere in between 15 or 17 I suppose is when I really kind of started focusing on that type of thing.
C.H.O: Did you wrestle in high school or do you have a wrestling background?
JH: Nope.
C.H.O: So jiu jitsu came to you after you started the martial arts I assume?
JH: Yeah.
C.H.O: What did you train in for martial arts when you started? What style or system were you training in?
JH: It was a local gym and didn't really have a name like karate or Tae Kwon Doe or anything like that. It was just a local guy that kind of put together his own system of a combination of different things he had done in the past.
C.H.O: Can you tell me what your average day of training consists of?
JH: Depends on whether or not I'm training for a fight or not. First of all, I teach twice a day so that takes a lot of my time. But if I'm training for a fight I get up in the morning and run, I usually lift 3 times a week, and then I come in and do something in the morning, pad work or wrestling or whatever and then I go back in at night and do the opposite. If I did pad work in the morning, I wrestle at night and I go back and forth like that.
C.H.O: What part of your fight game are you working on the most?
JH: You know I work on everything fairly evenly but I suppose my jiu jitsu is my strongest point so that usually gets the least attention. You know I work a lot more on my wrestling, my boxing and stuff like that.
C.H.O: You have fought and beaten some of the toughest fighters in your MMA career. What would you consider your toughest fight so far?
JH: I don't know. It's hard to really pick one. I've had a lot of tough fights.
C.H.O: Lets move forward to UFC 82. Since you are in the middleweight division, what were your thoughts on the Henderson Silva fight?
JH: You know Anderson Silva is obviously a very, very talented guy and obviously the jiu jitsu game on the ground is not Henderson's strong point. You know, he's a solid wrestler with a good chin and you know aggressive and that's his biggest weapon. I kind of figured that Silva would win because he has way more power on his feet and he's way more skilled on the ground. You know if you take wrestling out of the picture, I think it was just a matter of time before he was able to get something going.
C.H.O: You fought Silva in 2004. You went 3 five minute rounds with Anderson. Even though you lost by decision you went the full fight with him. How do you beat a guy like Anderson Silva?
JH: Take him down and fight intelligently. Obviously on his feet he is going to be threat. He is very, very talented. I think he can be a little weaker on the ground. But if you're trained in MMA, everybody wants to try to be exciting and everybody wants to stand up and fight on their feet even if that's not their strong point and that's Anderson' strong point, so if that's what you're going to try to do, then obviously you're going to lose to him. But I think if somebody wanted to fight intelligently and not be so egotistical about trying to stay on their feet for no reason, then he could be beat. Anyone can be beat.
C.H.O: Do you think that MMA if focusing more on stand up fighting now and people are abandoning their jiu jitsu and ground game?
JH: Absolutely and I hate to see it. It should be called Ultimate Boxing. All anybody wants to do is be exciting and try and get a contract. They're not really concerned about winning fights. They are more concerned about drawing throwing punches and being brought back. I mean obviously that's a concern, but you know a good fight on the ground can be just as exciting as a fight on the feet.
C.H.O: What were your feelings on the Heath Harring, Cheick Kongo fight? Obviously that was a fight where Heath Herring tried to stay on his feet and apparently, he didn't train at all in jiu jitsu before the fight. What were your feelings on that?
JH: I think Heath is full of crap. Well the thing is, Heath Herring is a good wrestler and yeah Cheick Kondo took him down, but there were plenty of opportunities where Heath was on top and if he really wanted it bad enough he could have just stood up and let him up, but he didn't. He stayed on the ground because that was the intelligent thing to do and he wanted to win the fight. He threw some punches and maybe he would have been on his feet more if Cheick hadn't taken him down, but the reality is when he was in a good position and he was winning the fight, he stayed there rather than managing to stand up on his feet.
C.H.O: How many fights do you left on your contract with the UFC?
JH: I don't really know. I mean my last fight was kind of a short notice thing, so I don't know if we really signed any kind of contract with that. I leave that all up to my managers, I don't really know what's going on with that honestly.
C.H.O: Have you ever thought, "Look I've fought a 101 fights, it's time to take a break and maybe train guys that are coming up" or are you going to stay in the game for a while?
JH: Well, you know since I opened the gym I stay a lot busier with my guys building the gym and trying to give them advice and keeping them in shape. That is really starting to take a lot more of my time. But I still plan on fighting. It's going to be few and further between then they used to be when I was fighting a couple of times a month.
C.H.O: Who is going to be your next opponent, or who would you like to fight next?
JH: I don't really care. I don't pick my opponents. I'll fight whoever is in the ring.
C.H.O: Have you been approached at all?
JH: I know the UFC has a lot of people on contract and they have a lot of fights that they have to put together. What happens with them is they sign up fighters for three fights over the course of a year and if they don't use them for those three fights before that year is up then they're required to pay them anyway. So what happens is, they have a show coming up and they have these 6 fighters they have to use otherwise they are going to have to pay them because their contract is going to run out. A lot of times they put together fights that they have to. They are hard pressed to make the match up. They have so many guys under contract it would be hard for them to keep everybody busy. So I'll fight when they call me back and we will just go from there.
C.H.O: Anything you want to say to your fans?
JH: I always appreciate the fans. Obviously without them, this sport wouldn't be anything. It would just be a bunch of guys fighting in a garage. The fans are what the sport is all about.
You can get the latest news on Jeremy at hornselite.com
Article by Tuesday on Mar 14, 2008