411 MMA Interviews: Justin Wren
Posted by Jeffrey Harris on 09.22.2009
The latest installment of 411mania.com's exclusive interview series for The Ultimate Fighter features Team Rashad Evans member, Justin Wren.
Before the premiere of this season's much talked about and highly show, The Ultimate Fighter, 411mania.com got a chance to speak with Team Rashad Evans member, Justin Wren. Keep in mind that this interview was conducted before the debut episode, so we were not aware of who the coaches picked for their teams nor the first fight blood bath of Madsen vs. Wagner. At the age of 22, Justin Wren is 10-1 in his professional MMA career, having started in his teens. Wren turned down a full scholarship with Iowa State to pursue MMA as a full-time job and he's currently training in an affiliate of Jackson's Submission Fighting:
Jeffrey Harris: How did you get started in MMA at such a young age?
Justin Wren: Well, to be honest I grew up in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and most kids grow up to play for the Dallas Cowboys or the Texas Rangers, but at the age of 13 I discovered UFC so I always wanted to be a UFC fighter. So, I got into it at a young age. I was sneaking the video tapes away from my parents, hiding the videos underneath my mattress. I'd wait for them to fall asleep and then I'd toss in the tapes. I started wrestling when I was 15. I ended up winning multiple state championships for Texas. I'm the only Greco-Roman championship wrestler ever from the state, and I was two-time wrestling champ in high school. I wrestled under Kenny Monday and Kendall Cross, who both are Olympic Champions, and that was a huge lesson for me. I went straight to become a part of the Olympic Development Convent right out of high school and I got an injury. And the year I was being injured I was offered Iowa State, I was offered a full scholarship . . . but while I was recovering from surgery, I was -- actually a bunch of my friends train for MMA. And I would be the wrestling coach, and I would fly to different places and corner guys. I flew from Iowa to Oklahoma to corner one of my best friends. And he got a bad staph infection, so bad that he went to the hospital on IV, he was on crutches. He couldn't fight, so at weigh-ins, the guy he was supposed to fight was talking trash, and they asked if I wanted to fight. And I said, "Sure. Let's do it." So I took the fight on 22 hour notice. Did the same thing with my second fight. Fell in love with it. I decided to decline my scholarship to Iowa State and pursue MMA full-time.
JH: Going into MMA full-time and giving up a college education, was that a rough decision for you? Not that I disagree with it, but was it tough to justify that choice to yourself and for your family?
JW: My family was very tough to justify to. But you know, I've been a guy that always puts all my eggs in one basket and you know I think you have to do that to be successful at something at least to some certain extent. I started wrestling when I was 15. I won the state championship the same year I started wrestling. And then two years into my wrestling, I was an All American and when I was 17 when I won my first national championship. So I'm a quick learner, and that's why I wanted to get into MMA at a young age because I don't want to just be a wrestler. I want to be a guy like Georges St. Pierre or Fedor, who is so well-rounded that it's hard to train. So that's why I got into it at a young age so I could develop my ju-jitsu game and my boxing game.
JH: What was the process of getting onto the show like for you?
JW: You know it was nuts for me because I think I was only one of three or four guys that passed for the try outs, and I didn't go to try-outs and I thought that was going to ruin my opportunity. I had a fight after try-outs, I was slated to fight Zak Jensen, another housemate on the show, and then he just didn't show up at the weigh-ins. So, he backed out of that fight with me and I thought I had wasted my opportunity to be one the show and then now I wasn't going to have a fight. So they sent a replacement for me, I took that fight. And then a week later, The Ultimate Fighter producers were calling me to see if I was interested to be on the show and of course I was except for another speed bump. I had a main event fight in Ft. Worth, Texas . . . so I thought I'm going to main event in my hometown, what do I do? Well they're like you got to skip it so you can come to interviews. And I was like well, it's the main event and I can't just bow out the day of the weigh-ins. And they told me thanks but no thanks. So I thought my opportunity was ruined again. And then I show up at the weigh-ins, and my opponent, two times in a row, backed out. And it was a huge blessing though because I called them back and told them what happened, and they said, well can you get your butt on a plane in about 3 hours? I said absolutely. So they flew me out. I had to do like an interview in like a board room, actually it was a hotel suite, but it had a huge table with cameras all around. They interviewed us, the executive producers, and just grilled us with questions. So, I thought I did a good job. I made the show which was huge for me. And at first I didn't want to be on the show because I was going to train for Sengoku over in Japan and be a part of Golden Glory in Holland, fighting in Europe. But the more I thought about it, it was just a huge opportunity for me and all the exposure. So that's the way to get it done.
JH: It sounds like it was fate trying to tell you something.
JW: Definitely. I'm very, very, extremely blessed that it happened the way it did. It was huge for me, and I'm excited again. I'm really excited. And I absolutely think it was fate because of heavyweights being on the show and I've always wanted to fight on The Ultimate Fighter, you know. So just to be able to have the opportunity and to be a part of this cast this season is huge for me.
JH: But going into the show and being cut off from everything, what kind of shock to the system was it to a guy like you?
JW: Oh man. I have an Iphone and I'm a big time Facebooker. So it was nuts for me to not have my phone where I couldn't text or anything like that or Facebook. But you know, at first sounds easy and for everybody else it does sound easy like, "Oh you guys have six weeks, no distractions, and all you do is eat, sleep, train, and fight. That's awesome." I always made fun of the guys that wanted to leave and stuff. I never felt like I wanted to leave at all, but I was watching people for the first four and a half weeks start to break mentally, and I was loving it. They're already breaking because they're married. They have kids, and they don't have any contact with their loved ones. So the last week, week and a half, all I wanted to do was get out of there or talk to someone I want to talk to or watch TV because we didn't know Michael Jackson died. That the LA Lakers won the finals. We didn't know a lot of stuff man. So being in there with 15 stinky, obnoxious dudes for six weeks straight definitely gets on your nerves because you can't get away from it.
JH: So where are you training right now, and who are you training with?
JW: Well, just over a week ago, I moved to Colorado. I live in Golden. I'm actually living on top of a mountain. So a lot of people are in MMA are starting to buy those hyperbolic chambers and whatever they call them. I sleep in 8,000 feet elevation. My living room is all glass and overlooks downtown Denver. So I'm very lucky where I am right now. And I'm training with guys like Shane Carwin and Nate Marquardt, Eliot Marshall, Duane Ludwig, Brendan Schaub from the show. And we're a Greg Jackson camp affiliate so the guys that fight for our camp are just amazing. Rashad [Evans], Keith Jardine, Georges St. Pierre; they all come out here for their training camps. They may do 4 weeks in Albuquerque, but their last 4 weeks are in Denver. So I'm very lucky to be a part of this camp. I'm training with the guy who I think is going to take Lesnar's belt away from him, so I'll be training with the heavyweight champ. I'm training with Brendan Schaub, the guy from the show, who's going to be awesome . . . and I really think people are going to start to think of Denver as an MMA mecha. It's just an awesome place to train. It's beautiful. There's tons of stuff to do here. And then, the trainers out here are just phenomenal.
JH: So do you train at 8,000 feet?
JW: Well I come down a little bit to train. I probably train at 5 to 6,000 feet elevation, but then I sleep at 9,000 because I drive up that mountain. So yeah, training here, I'm still not used to it. Right now, I'm just laid out, sprawled out talking to you because I'm just exhausted from today's training. But it's awesome. The elevation, it makes you develop more develop more blood and more red blood cells from training at a higher elevation so that when we go down to sea level, we have a huge advantage over our opponents. So I love that aspect. I love that the training partners I'm training with are able to kick my butt in certain areas, and that's going to make me better. And the coaching here, they just train super smart. I got Trevor Wittman, who I think recently received an honorable mention as the top five boxing trainers in the world, and that's going to help my hands tremendously. I'm able to wrestle at the Olympic Training Center for Greco. I'm able to train with guys who that have been world champion and are current world champions in Greco. And then we got a great ju-jitsu guy out here. But I live in just the best place possible. And I visit all the best camps basically: I went out to Golden Glory in Holland; American Top Team in Florida; I helped Frank Mir train for Brock a little bit for several weeks. So I've been around and I've seen a lot of great training camps, and I really think this is the best one. And that's for me personally.
JH: I recently spoke with Wes Sims, one of your housemates, who I think you know is a pretty foul-mouthed individual, and an interesting, unique personality, wouldn't you agree?
JW: Yeah, I roomed with him, so I know he's a pretty unique guy.
JH: Did Roy Nelson really uproot a shrub and eat it?
JW: Hah. I didn't witness that. I think Wes Sims is just a nut job, and you can quote me on that if you want.
JH: To help educate us, how does it work to train and be a full-time fighter? How do you support yourself and take care of yourself? Do you rely mainly on money from sponsors or from fights? Do you still have to work a part-time or full-time job in the interim?
JW: Luckily, I haven't had to work since I've started fighting. And the first year was tough. I was living in Aames and I was going to school and I was just fighting and training and going to school. But since then, I have had to rely on the fights that pay money and the sponsorships that I've made. And luckily, I really try not to live beyond my means . . . like I drive a used car until it wears down, and after a fight get a couple nice things, but besides that all I really need to do is compete period. So I mean, until recently, I haven't had cable in about three years or something like that, so its nice to get that back.
JH: So just living off of the essentials?
JW: Yeah, exactly . . . and you go on to The Ultimate Fighter, you get a little bit more spending room because you get a little bit more money from appearances, more from sponsorships, and stuff like that because you're more noticable.
JH: So, anyone or sponsors you would like to thank or give a shoutout to?
JW: Yeah, man. I really want to thank World Fight Shop.com and Texas MMA Shop.com. They're one in the same, but they've been really supporting me and standing by me . . . so I want to thank them. I think they're going to continue to be my one of my bigger sponsors and then also Buffalo Wild Wings. I've been having all my premiere parties there, and they've been sponsoring me since before I got on the show and everything. So, I appreciate all their help too. So those are the two I want to thank. And I want to thank you for your time man. I'm very appreciative.
JH: Oh thank you. I'm very appreciative of all this time I have to speak with you. I'm very excited about what we'll see from you on the show and hope we see a lot more of you soon in the near future. Thank you so much for your time and good luck with your fight career.
JW: Thank you so much. Thank you, thank you. I appreciate everything.
Justin Wren can be seen every week on SpikeTV for this season of TUF, and 411mania.com will be featuring the best recaps of the show ever on the web every week. Remember to get all the latest MMA news, show reports, and results, you can bookmark 411mania.com to your favorite places or just make us your new homepage. You can also check us out on Twitter:
