The Past and Future 04.20.09: George Roop
Posted by Robert Steele on 04.20.2009
“I always have my opponent on my mind…. I have pictures all over my house of Dave Kaplan.” A profile of UFC fighter George Roop. George speaks with 411 about his time on TUF, his friendships with Efrain Escudero and Frank Mir, his upcoming fight with Dave Kaplan, and more.
After a hand injury hindered his success on The Ultimate Fighter last season, it was a must win for George Roop against Shane Nelson. He lost in a split decision, but luckily, UFC decided to keep his services. Roop has been given a second chance against Dave Kaplan at UFC 98. He will be the first to admit that it's a definite do-or-die this time.
The Past
Ever since the first UFC, George Roop has been interested in MMA. He admired the skill and power of those like Shamrock, Gracie and Hackney. "Really I've always just been a fan of it," he said. "Ever since the day when there were no gloves and there were really no rules.… I kinda just knew it was my calling ever since I was young."
At a young age he competed and won national Tae Kwon Do and Judo tournaments. He wrestled in junior high and high school, but elected not to wrestle throughout college. These hodge-podge of elements would come together as the foundation of his skills in MMA. Only 4 years ago did he begin to take a career in MMA seriously and only since his time on TUF has he been able to pursue MMA full-time.
His amateur debut was slated against someone he knew from Pima Community College, Efrain Escudero. Escudero wrestled at Pima while Roop had not, but they still knew each other as acquaintances. Roop explained that the fight ended up not happening because Escudero had developed a badly cauliflowered ear which needed to be fixed. They would soon both get to know each other better through the locally based Arizona promotion Rage in the Cage.
With Rage in the Cage, Roop collected titles in both the lightweight and bantamweight divisions. He managed to earn a notable reputation locally for the early part of his career, with a record of 8-3 prior to UFC, with most of his fights occurring within Rage in the Cage, or in Arizona.
His big break, of course, would come with being cast for The Ultimate Fighter. George discussed how it all came about:
"I was a local MMA fighter... I fought for Rage in the Cage about 10 times at that point. I was very successful at Rage in the Cage, but every fighter knows you don't make a lot of money in those smaller promotions. One of my good friends told me about The Ultimate Fighter tryouts that were going to be [in the following] week. I had a fight scheduled for me in Denver on Saturday and I had to be in Denver on Friday to weigh-in. And the organisation, they buy your ticket. [The Ultimate Fighter] tryouts were on Thursday... and they were in Boston, so it just was definitely not going to work for me. On top of that, I was sleeping on my friend's floor just trying to get by, put enough food in my stomach. My friend called me up, he told me about the tryouts. I told him, 'There's absolutely no way I can make it. I have absolutely no money. I can hardly feed myself.' He's like, 'You only get a chance to try your dream one time.' He told me that he had already got me the plane ticket [to Boston], already booked me a hotel, and he made sure I'd be in Denver for the weigh-ins as well."
For the tryout for the show, Roop said he had to go through a three-stage process. The first stage involved grappling with another applicant for two minutes. About 400 people would then be cut down to about 150. The next stage would be striking with pads for another couple minutes, eventually cutting the number to 30. Those 30 would go for a two-minute interview where each individual would discuss why they should be on The Ultimate Fighter. Roop said that they would then tell you that they would either call you in 24 hours, or they wouldn't. He was lucky enough to get a call.
Roop is humble about being picked for the show. "There's a lot of good guys that get pushed through the tryout," he said. "There's a lot of guys that could be in the position that I'm in right now. I was just fortunate enough to get the opportunity."
Despite a promising start on the show, a hand injury would cause him major set-backs. Although it appeared he injured his hand before his fight with John Polakowski, the injury actually occurred only after a couple weeks of being in the house.
"The hand injury sucked. I broke one metacarpal in my hand -- that's what I found out when I got home. It was a huge set-back for me. It actually happened on my day off. I was supposed to be taking the day off, but Dan Henderson came in as a guest coach on the show, and I was like, oh man, I can't miss this training.... Me and Shane [Nelson] were in the cage and he went for the takedown.... A couple of my fingers got caught up in the cage and it just twisted and it snapped my hand, snapped my metacarpal."
Roop would go on to beat Polakowski, but lose in the semi-finals to Phillipe Nover, missing yet another chance to fight Efrain Escudero. He enjoyed his time on the show, and said it was definitely crucial for where his career is today, but did indicate issues with the training process.
"I didn't really get good training in there because you don't really get a peak," he said. "As a fighter you want to peak for your fight. In your training you don't really get that opportunity to peak... because you're not exactly sure when you're going to fight."
On the finale for the show, on the preliminary card, Roop lost to Shane Nelson by split decision.
Following the show, Frank Mir offered Roop a place in Las Vegas where he could train full-time to pursue his career. He took Mir up on he offer. He has temporarily moved back to Tucson, Arizona to keep some separation between him and his next opponent, Dave Kaplan.
The Future
Roop indicated that he has bulked up, putting on 30 pounds of good weight, bringing him up to about 170lbs currently. He has not had an issue with cutting, and does not see a problem cutting back down to make weight for his fight with Kaplan.
His training consists of a heavy conditioning focus. He starts running 4 miles in the morning, Monday to Friday. Mid-day is a mix of strength and endurance training, olympic lifting, and biometrics. In the evening is MMA sparring, muay thai and jiu-jitsu. Saturday is a light day of jiu-jitsu and pad work. Sunday he rests, but noted an importance on eating properly to provide energy for the week.
In Las Vegas and in Tucson, with Apex MMA and Primero Jiu-Jitsu, Roop has been helped by training with Efrain Escudero (about 3 times a week), Drew Fickett, Ed West, Dominick Alexander, Rudy Baez, and Rage in the Cage Middleweight Champion Eddie Arizmendi.
The UFC often puts two fighters coming off losses together in order to thin their roster and build someone else. This is the fight between Roop and Kaplan, and Roop knows he must win to stay with the promotion. "I could almost see for sure, whoever loses this fight will be cut from the UFC," he said. "The lightweight division is so stacked, there's so many good lightweights out there. You really need to keep winning to keep your contract. And you really need to put on a show. You don't just have to win, you have to win and put on a good show for everybody. I really think this is a do-or-die."
Roop knows Kaplan well. "I have had the opportunity to train with Kaplan more than anybody else that was on the show," Roop said. "One, he was my team-mate. Two, after that we had both moved to Vegas and me and him were both training at the same gym."
Roop is doing everything he can to keep focused on the task at hand. He moved his camp back to Arizona away from Kaplan to keep a physical separation. In place, he has created a mental fixation. "I always have my opponent on my mind," he said, "whether I'm sitting, standing, or walking, or raising my arms... I have pictures all over my house of Dave Kaplan. I have five pictures just in my house alone. I have pictures in the gym, [for] every time I exit the gym or enter the gym. It reminds me why I'm there."
His strategy for the fight seems based on excitement as much as it does for winning. "I plan to keep the fight standing. I really believe the fans of the UFC want to see a nice knockout, a nice stand-up war. If the fight goes to the ground, I'm very well-versed in jiu-jitsu as well. It's going to be an exciting fight either way."
Roop doesn't mind the pressure of the do-or-die situation. "It helps me rise to the occasion. I've been faced with a lot of these tasks in life. It helps me thrive. It keeps my fire going. It keeps me training hard."
"You'll see a better George Roop every single time," Roop said. "You'll see a better fighter, and you'll see a progression."
George Roop would like to thank: "All my trainers, all my training partners. And I always have to thank one of my best friends, and that's Dominick Alexander. He's the one who made it possible to be on The Ultimate Fighter. He's the one who told me that I only get one chance. The guy is my inspiration. He stays on my ass just to keep me motivated and keep me pushing. I wouldn't be where I am if it wasn't for everybody. It's not just one individual person, it's everybody I surrounded myself by."
