411 MMA Interviews: Chris Lytle
Posted by Jeffrey Harris on 06.20.2009
Lytle makes a stop to speak with 411mania.com before his main card fight with Kevn Burns on The Ultimate Finale. Lytle speaks about his favorite fights and his thoughts on the growth of MMA.
Chris Lytle is a longtime veteran of the UFC and MMA world. Lytle having also been a former pro-boxer also competed in the 4th season of The Ultimate Fighter where he faced winner Matt Serra in the finals, losing by split decision. Since that time, Lytle has remained and competed in UFC's welterweight division having absolute wars and bloody battles with the likes of Matt Hughes, Josh Koscheck, Thiago Alves, and Paul Taylor.
Lytle is coming off a loss in his most recent fight at UFC 93, losing to Marcus Davis by Split Decision. Today, Lytle takes on UFC welterweight fighter, Kevin Burns, on the main televised portion of tonights card for TUF Season 9 finale event. Lytle spoke with before the official weigh-ins on Friday afternoon:
Jeffrey "The Vile One" Harris: I spoke with Kevin Burns earlier and he's excited about competing against you and plans on standing with you and moving forward in the fight. How do you feel about that?
Chris Lytle: That's why I've been trying to get this fight because what I've seen from him, that's how he fights. We got the same mentality, and that's what I want. I don't want a guy that's going to try and win a decision or do this and that, come in and try to take me down, you know put me down. That's what I'm going to try and do to him, so its exactly what I want. That's why I want the fight, and I think he's the guy to do it. He's the guy that's going to bring that style of fight, so I'm really excited for it.
TVO: You've been in this game for a long time and competed all over the world and fought a who's who of MMA. Seeing MMA as it's grown, what do you think of MMA across the world so far and do you think its going to continue.
CL: Yeah. It's been really crazy . . . I mean one of the first times I fought in the UFC, one of those same day weigh-ins . . . and now several thousand people come just to watch the weigh-ins. And it's not just the UFC . . . people recognize it all over the world. Before they kind of thought there was something wrong with you if you went and fought in the cage. Now it's a sport and people love watching it, so it's been great to be part of it during its growth. And people are going to continue to enjoy this as opposed to other combat sports like boxing -- so the popularity's just going to grow.
TVO: Do you think your training or experience as a fireman affects you at all for MMA fighting and training?
CL: Do I think it affects me? No. One thing about my job at the fire department is I get a lot of time to train at the fire department, and I get a lot of time off to train to do what I want. At the fire department, I can always lift weights, and I can always do cardio, and I can always do sprints. And I got guys to spar with, and I do a lot things at the fire house, time permitted, so I think its a good thing. It keeps the door -- I'm not constantly just thinking 100% about fighting. I think that's a good thing where I have other things in my life.
TVO: Being in a fight like that bloody war with Kosh Koscheck, how were you feeling throughout that fight?
CL: You know, I mean really I didn't feel bad at all. I didn't really feel hurt or anything like that, it was just a lot of those little short elbows like that, bone on bone, elbow versus my head, and elbow usually wins out. It bust my head open and I was bleeding pretty good, but I never felt like I was hurt where I was -- like being knocked or anything. It was just a matter of there was just a lot of blood on me, and I could tell that was an issue, but it never really felt like I'm in bad trouble here. It just felt like hey I'm bleeding, I've got to get this out of my way so I can continue to fight. I've got to get in a better position where this blood is not running in my face. It never really felt like this is hurting me or anything, its just blood.
TVO: Where have you been training lately for the fight and who have you been training with?
CL: I've been at the same place as always, Integrated Fighting in Indianapolis. I train with most of the same guys: Jake O'Brien, Johnny Reed, Shamar Bailey -- you know the same guys I usually train with. Pat McPherson is my coach, just the same guys I always train with.
TVO: Do you want to take a specific approach for the fight with Burns, or do you just want to go in there and let it all hang out?
CL: Pretty much. Usually my game plan lasts about five or six seconds. As soon as the first punch gets thrown and I get hit, I'm like OK, that's it, and it just turns into a fight. I kind of don't really have too many game plans, basically what I want to do: I plan on going out there and having a good stand-up fight and definitely want to be crowd pleasing, good fight that everybody likes to see.
TVO: Of all the opponents or fights you've had, do you have one where, that's like my toughest fight?
CL: There's been a lot of really tough guys, and I've had a lot of tough fights. I don't really know if I can think "that guy" was the toughest. But I really liked the Paul Taylor fight, Thiago Alves, any one of those guys that we just banged and traded punches the whole time . . . those types of fights where I was able to get in there and have a lot fun because that's the type of stuff I enjoy.
TVO: Seeing how MMA is grown and how people are getting into it younger and younger, and being a father yourself, how would you feel about your kids training in MMA or martial arts?
CL: If they wanted to do it, that would be fine. Personally, I'd probably rather they do something else. It's a hard sport. It's physically demanding on your body and your mind and everything. I would definitely encourage them in anything they want to do, but I definitely wouldn't push them to do anything like this because I'd rather them do several different things and gravitate towards what they enjoy and what they're good at as opposed to doing something what I'm -- if they want to do it, I'd help them out and support them, but I definitely wouldn't try and push them in that direction.
TVO: What is your favorite thing about being a fighter?
CL: My favorite thing about being a fighter, huh? That's a tough one. You know really, I just have to say its, I'm a pretty goal oriented person, and not too many aspects in life do you get to have a goal, exact time, exact place you're going to go accomplish that goal. When you put several months of hard work and training in it all, it culminates into one evening, and you're able to be successful with your goal, its one of the best feelings in the world. You knew exactly what you were able to do, and you were able to accomplish that. It's a feeling I'm sure if they can figure out how to put it in a pill form and sell it to people, it would be an all-time best seller. People want to feel like that all the time. It's very addictive -- and that's why a lot of these fighters in boxing, they keep coming out of retirement, coming back to fight, people are like, "why does he keep doing it man?" He wants to get that feeling again. It's hard to get over that feeling. That's got to be the best thing for me, that feeling of accomplishment when you put so much into it and achieve your goal, its great.
TVO: What would you say is the least favorite thing, be it the grind of the training, the traveling, the weight-cutting, the dieting, or being away from your family?
CL: Yeah, oh man, the last one. I don't mind the other stuff. I don't mind getting hit, I enjoy that. My heavy training sucks. It takes up a lot of time. That's kind of main thing -- it takes me away. I've got four kids, like right now I'm missing my little girl's softball and their tournament. She had a game the other day, the best game of the year. The championship's tomorrow. I'm missing that. And there are certain times I'm missing basketball games, and track meets and practices. You know, my kids will only be young once, and I don't want to miss all that stuff. That's the only hard thing I really don't enjoy about fighting. It just takes my time. It takes all my free times, and that's definitely the worst part.
TVO: Any sponsors you would like to thank before the fight?
CL: Just as usual, my guys at Tapout taking care of me, that's kind of the main one. The guys at MMA Agents are always getting my stuff for me, so I'd like to thank them for all that they do, and just thank everybody for supporting me and watching me and stuff.
TVO: Thanks so much for your time and answering all my questions. Good luck in your fight, and I hope you have a barn burner.
CL: Thank you, I appreciate it.
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