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Ten questions with Ian "The Machine" Freeman
17 Nov 2009 11:58PM
Ten questions with.....
OK, as promised a change to my format on these blogs. Over the last ten years in MMA I have been lucky to meet and train with some pretty amazing people. What I wanted to do was use this space to ask some of these people a few questions. I expect that some people you will of heard, others maybe not. To kick the series off, I had the great privileged of interviewing a true pioneer of UK MMA. A guy who was fighting on the UFC before most of the current crop of UK UFC stars had even seen MMA. With his recent announcement that he would like to return to competition.
It was an ideal time to have ten questions with Ian "The Machine" Freeman!
1. Ian the rumours are all over the forums, are you looking to fight again? What's cause you to consider a return?
I never really quit to be honest. I just stopped competing as often as I did. My training is still hard and I'm still kicking ass in the gym. I haven't slowed down on been sitting on my backside, just not competing as much.
The guys I train with now are great and I have no problem dominating them, whether it be fitness, speed or skill.
I think there just comes a time that my mind and body have said, yes, you still have what it takes and I would like to show everyone that.
2. You are basically the pioneers of UK MMA on the UFC, tell me how you first got on the show?
I fought Travis Fulton on a show called Millenium Brawl and beat him. Travis was to fight Scott Adams in the UFC but broke his hand in training, so someone said lets get the last guy who beat Travis to fight Scott and that was me. I received an email on the Tuesday, flew to USA on the Wednesday, arrived on the Thursday and fought in the UFC on the Friday. That's something I would never do now, I went on my own, no corner men, nothing. I had never even left the UK before .. crazy!
3. Your biggest victory in the UFC has to me a destruction of then poster boy, Frank Mir, tell me about that fight and what it meant to you?
I trained with Josh Barnett for my fight with Frank Mir, but while I was in Seattle I had a phone call saying my father was ill and had been diagnosed with cancer of the brain. I flew back home devastated and my fight was only 3 weeks away. I told my mother I didn't want to fight, but she said there's nothing we can do to save dad, but if I go to the fight and beat Frank Mir, it would be the best going away present I could ever give my dad. that just charged me up. No man could have beaten me that night.
4. Since then you have dropped to LHW and fought on other promotions, how does LHW compare to fighting the big boys?
When I fought as a heavyweight, it was all I knew so didn't even think of dropping to LHW. But then as I got a little older, I thought I would like to try LHW before I retire just to see how I compare and to be honest LHW is the better weight class for me. Especially nowadays with all the heavyweights weighing in over 250lb now.
5. The UFC has some top champions at present, who do you like and why.. plus what do you think of the LHW champion, Lyota Machida?
The LHW division is stacked right now. Too many great fighters to pick out. I have never been a fan than picks out fighters as greats, but a fan than picks out great match up's.
Loyota Machida is a great fighter, that's why he is the champ. His style is slightly different to most fighters and think that throws people off their game, a little like the Gracie's did back in the day. I feel once people understand his style, he will be beaten, but saying that we all get beat.
6. We recently saw the return of 46 year old Randy Couture, who scored a controversial victory over Brandon Vera. What did you think of that fight and how Randy's ageing?
Randy is a testament that age is but a number. He looked great. I do honestly think Vera won that fight, the fight was not entertaining, but he won all the same.
7. If Dana said "pick you opponent" tomorrow, who would you choose and why?
I haven't picked an opponent to fight in my whole career, but I'm not going to be silly and start picking names just because they are big in the game of MMA. I think the UK fans would love to see The Machine fight old skool vs old skool and to be honest, so would I.
8. Is this return a one off, or do you want to campaign to a LHW title?
Its how I'm feeling at this moment in time. As you can see from my past history, I have retired more times than I care to remember, but I say to people 'Never say never'. when I, so call retire, I don't hang up my gloves, I just wait for the urge to kick ass arrives again.
There are so many MMA fighters in the UK now, it's silly trying to compete with every single one of them at my age. Let them shine through and earn their respect as fighters. then every now and then I will shine through and take a comeback fight. It's not as if I didn't work hard at the beginning. I've done what I had to do, but now its time to let people know I'm still here.
9. Apart from a return to the cage, what else are you doing these days?
So many things. I'm the face of the worlds greatest MMA magazine, Fighters Only. I am the face of a new MMA fighting event called Optimus Fighting championships. I'm also acting, TV presenting, MCing, coaching, charity work and much more.
10. Finally, the UK scene is making waves with Hardy, Pearson, Bisping. Who else on the UK scene do you think has the potential to make it big and why?
Like I said earlier, I don't pick names as a fan, but match ups that make fights. Ross Pearson is the one to watch I think. He has all the tools to make it to the top
I for one am looking forward to seeing Ian back in the cage and I'm sure there are plenty of fans out there keen to see it to.
That's it for this blog, I'll be back with another interview soon. Until then... chin down, hands up!
Aaron
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