411 MMA Interviews: Cameron Dollar

Posted by Jeffrey Harris on 05.11.2009

Jeffrey Harris speaks with Team USA member and TUF 9 semi-finalist, Cameron Dollar, about his experience on the show and Dollar responds to his own personal criticisms from one of the most controversial seasons of The Ultimate Fighter ever.

Well, we are well into a new season of the Spike TV reality series, The Ultimate Fighter, and you know what that means, new interviews with the controversial and heatedly debated subjects of the show that helped bring UFC to the forefront of the MMA world. Season 9 pits Team USA led by coach Dan Henderson against Team UK, coached by TUF 3 winner, Michael Bisping. As is the norm with the show, it is not without the least bit of controversy. Many fans have been up in arms in the fighters found on Team USA in showing their lack of comraderie in representing their country against Team UK who come off as the more tight and dedicated group on TV.

Team USA fighter, Cameron Dollar, earned his spot in the house in the elimination round by submitting Tom Hayden in the second round. Cameron earned a spot in the semi-finals by beating Team UK member, Martin Stapleton, by submission in the first round of the last episode. Cameron Dollar is 2-1 in his pro-MMA career and received a lot negative feedback from his admissions of having slept with about 80 women on the show including the wife of a close friend. Cameron has also not been getting along with fellow USA teammmates, Jason Pierce and Jason Dent. I recently had the chance to speak with Dollar the day after the episode where his fight with Stapleton aired, where Dollar would directly be able to respond to the controversy and criticisms from his depiction on the show.



Jeffrey "The Vile One" Harris: For this season, there's been a lot of criticism from fans on the cohesion and behavior of Team USA. Looking back on the experience, do you regret at all in how you or any of the other team members approached the experience based on what we see on TV, or are we not getting the whole story on TV?

Cameron Dollar: You know its exactly how it was pretty much when we were in the house. It's funny because they definitely changed the aspects of this season as far as making it more team oriented with the whole US vs. UK thing, but as you could see and as people are coming to know the whole team aspect just kind of went right out the door as soon as the US team got to the house. UK team was a lot more close-knit and a lot more team oriented and what not, and I wouldn't say I regret because in the end, mixed martial arts, it is an individual sport. Its one of sports that you can say is individual as well as wrestling too. And it's one of the reasons I love it and I got into it because at the end of the day you can sit there and say, "Look. I lost because I did this," instead of being like, "we lost because our tight end wasn't blocking," or "our wide receiver wasn't blocking that pass," or whatever you know? So I wouldn't say I really regret anything. Maybe, if I had to say I regret something, I just wish that maybe we were a little more close-knit in the beginning, knowing that none of us had to fight each other and that the first fight was definitely going to be against a UK guy. I think that's where tensions got high and nerves definitely flew.

TVO: Do you feel Henderson was a good coach for your team or was he maybe a little too laid back or too dry? I think there's a lot to be said in how Henderson reserves himself compared to Team UK's coach, Mike Bisping and how outgoing he is. And when Bisping's team started losing fights, Bisping didn't have much to say in response.

CD: Dan Henderson is a great coach, he's a great guy. He is definitely a lot more reserved. You know maybe it would've pumped us up or give us an adrenaline if would've had a little more team talks or maybe a couple motivational speeches or whatever from Henderson. With Michael Bisping and his flamboyancy, I can tell it definitely got his team a little riled up. It got them a little bit more fired up than we were. Henderson, he just stayed relaxed, calm, in composure. At first, you kind of mistake it for . . . I would say scaredness, but Henderson's definitely not scared. But just right off the bat, that's kind of what you mistake it for or timidness, you know? But slowly you start to grow and understand that he's just quiet and confident in himself and ready to do work when the time comes.

TVO: Well he is the only man in MMA history to hold two titles in the same weight class at the same time, so there's got to be something to that right?

CD: Yeah. It's definitely when you surround yourself with top notch people and top notch athletes there's a total different mindset. And some of the guys, for Michael Bisping's instance, some of them like to be flamboyant and talk a lot, that's how they get their fans and for ratings and what not and other people are just a little more laid back like Henderson, and he definitely lets his athleticism do his talking in the cage for sure.

TVO: I actually have no idea why I'm talking to you right now because watching the episode of the show with your fight, one would think you should be legally dead or murdered by Martin Stapleton with the way that episode was put together. Its interesting because with what was shown on SpikeTV, it looks like Stapleton is going to take you apart when there's footage of yourself saying you don't have good standup or you are missing pads during striking training. But come fight time, you rocked Stapleton standing up pretty quickly, controlled him on the ground, and then submitted him very quickly. Any thoughts on that?

CD: You know, I was definitely -- I went into the house as the underdog for sure. I'm just a local fighter out of Colorado Springs trying to pursue my dream, you know? What people don't know about me is that I've had a lot of amateur fights . . . and quite a few pro fights as well, but I'm not as well like DaMarques [Johnson] or Santino [DeFranco] or Jason Dent, none of those guys and hen I got into the house, it kind of freaked me out that these guys knew each other, Jason Dent had been in the UFC before. And I just told myself, these guys bleed red just like I do. And Martin Stapleton, I'm gonna be honest, my standup is "OK," its not great to what I want it to be and I can always be improving, but yeah its reality TV so they definitely -- there's a lot of things that people haven't got to see a lot of things with Jason Dent and I . . . its funny because everyone in the house hated Jason Dent and Jason Pierce. And to come back and watch the show, everyone's -- I mean me, Frank [Lester], Demarques -- we're made to totally look like arrogant "assholes" I guess you could say. But behind the scenes, people didn't get to see the stuff that Jason Dent did to provoke things and other stuff that you said, but as far as Martin Stapleton, I was nervous, but I fight every fight scared and I knew that I would be OK. I felt great. I wasn't injured. I wasn't sick, and I had been training very hard to begin with. My father's always told me my confidence lies in my training. So I was excited, I was ready for that fight, and there was definitely a lot of editing to make me look scared which was I think was mixed up and confused with my confidence.

TVO: Creative editing aside, are you embarrassed at all by the footage of your talk of the woman you've slept with, or admitting to having sex with the wife of a best friend?

CD: You know what, I'm not embarrassed about it at all. If anything, its -- guys are guys. We've all done stuff. We were all sitting there talking about girlfriends and women and stuff. I was by no means trying to brag or boast about the things that I've done. I was talking about it and telling them that I learn from my experiences in that, that's one of the reasons I have problems with relationships with women and what not, and it totally got turned which I didn't feel they were going to do by making me look like I was bragging about it or totally trying to . . . make me look like a dick.

TVO: Are you still friends with the guy whose wife you slept with?

CD: Yeah. I actually -- he's still in Iraq. I still love the guy. And I'll probably tell him as soon as he gets back and let him know . . . I'm not the only guy in the world to do something like that, you know what I'm saying? It's just funny because I'm on national television, they blow it up, and I'm the only one that was man enough to admit that I had done something like that. But behind the scenes, there were tons of other things. Frank was sitting there and he told me about experiences with him and his wife when they were married, and off the camera, DaMarques told me after, "Oh, I've done the same thing." So it was just kind of funny, it was funny how it played out on TV.

TVO: Earlier you said everyone in the house hated Jason Pierce and Jason Dent. Do you feel Dent had an attitude of entitlement having already fought in the UFC before, was that what turned everyone off with him?

CD: No. Starting off with Jason Pierce, the thing that turned everyone off from Jason Pierce, he was totally there for himself . . . he totally separated himself, wanted to be with the UK team, and he totally did it to himself. As far as Jason Dent, he was a hermit. The things that he did say which was really annoying, he'd break himself off from us, but then he'd try to hang out or whatever and ask 50 billion questions because he didn't know what was going on because he'd be in his room. He'd totally contradict himself every time in saying how he totally hated hanging out with us, and blah blah blah blah, but then he'd try to hang out with us and he would talk shit about us, "I hate hanging out with you guys," and go somewhere else. There were other things, like one of the first episodes that no one got to see, he accused me of stealing a pair of his shoes that were given to him by TapOut. And I confronted him and told him, "Man I don't understand why you got to point the finger at me." I wish he could've been a man and come up and ask me because I didn't steal his shoes. Five minutes later after he accused me of stealing them, he found them laying in the living room. That was one of the things from the beginning I think that made him not like me because I confronted him about it. And I think he felt I was trying to look down upon him or make fun of him for accusing me and then him finding them. Him and I just butted heads real bad.

TVO: I also wanted to let you know there's nothing wrong with your wiggity whack hat either.

CD: *Laughs* Thanks man.

TVO: In training with great fighters like Hendo and Cyrille Diabate, is there any part of your game you really fought you were able to improve and anything you came away with from the experience the most?

CD: I would say the thing that I gained the most is mentally, and I wouldn't say like "Oh, I learned so much." I learned a couple different moves. And it's funny because as spectators and fans, we idolize and we love the UFC so much because it's the biggest -- its on TV, and these guys are made out to be like superheroes almost. But at the end of the day, they're just like every one of us, and I learned a lot about myself, about the game. For one example, I started fighting off of emotion. I started fighting when I was 18, and I hated the world. I hated my job. I was having problems with the girlfriend and just wanted to release anger. Now after being on the show, its a sport, I love going, kicking my own butt every day in practice, and showing what I've learned and what I've been working on in the cage. It's enjoyable. I used to be so scared of getting hurt, and now I really don't care if I get hurt you know? I'll live another day, and nobody dies in the UFC. I'm not gonna die or anything. I might get knocked out and wake up five minutes later and still have a beer with my opponent that knocked me out afterwards. Go back to the drawing board and start over again.

TVO: You look to have become very close with your teammate Frank Lester on the show, who on the same episode was submitted in his own fight against Team UK member, James Wilkes. Do you think Frank Lester might've psyched himself out going into that fight? Do you think he pushed himself mentally too hard?

CD: I wouldn't say he pushed himself mentally too hard. Definitely being in that house takes a toll on your mindset. Words can't really explain it. Its funny because I think Nate Diaz because he was such a hard critic on people who were in the show, and when he won season 5, he said it was one of the hardest things he had ever done and he would never judge anybody on the show ever again. And Frank, he was a good fighter. He was an alternate that made it on and actually won his first fight; one of the first alternates to ever make it into the house. I don't think he was too tough on himself. He had it set in his mind he wanted to knock James out. And when you got a game plan like that and you have it set in your head and you're always throwing every punch to take the dude's head off, it definitely plays a toll on your body, your cardio, and when it doesn't start happening it slowly tears you apart throughout the entire round.

TVO: Anyone you would like to thank or give a shout out to?

CD: Definitely. I've got some people that have been with me since day one, one of the people is Westside Tattoo, and I've also got a good friend of mine at Mushu's Chinese Cuisine, and the guys down at Spring's Automotive, and Halo Designs. Those guys have been helping me out a lot.

TVO: Thank you for your honest Cameron, and hopefully we will see you in the UFC at some point in the not too distant future.

CD: Thanks a lot man, I appreciate it.

New episodes of this season of TUF featuring Cameron Dollar debut every Wednesday. The live finale is set to air June 20.

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UP NEXT: More interviews with Team USA and maybe even a little Team UK to come!