411 MMA Interviews: Andre Winner

Posted by Alex Watt on 06.27.2011

UFC lightweight and TUF 9 runner-up Andre Winner talks with 411 about his upcoming UFC 132 fight with Anthony Njokuani, past fights in the UFC, The Ultimate Fighter, Bruce Buffer, possibly dropping to 145lbs and more!

A member of the world famous Team Rough House, Andre Winner (11-5-1 MMA; 2-3 UFC) first came to the attention of mainstream MMA fans on the ninth season of The Ultimate Fighter. The Leicester native had a great run on the show winning all his fights en-route to the final. At the Finale he lost a close decision to fellow Brit Ross Pearson. Since that fight he is 2-2 inside the Octagon and faces tough striker Anthony Njokuani at UFC 132 on July 2nd. 411's Alex Watt caught up with Winner on June 15th to chat about his fight with Njokuani and a whole lot more.



So we're now less than three weeks away from your fight with Anthony Njokuani at UFC 132. How has the training camp for the fight been going?

Oh training's been… Well, I've not really done anything majorly different from any of my other camps. I've been working with the same people at Team Rough House. I am going out to finish up my camp in Montreal. But so far everything's been going well. I've trained hard and like I said I've been training with my normal camp. Unfortunately, my boxing coach, an incident happened so he's not around with us at the minute but I've had another good coach who's been helping me out; a former world champion. So that's been great. And obviously all the guys, people like Paul Daley, Dan Hardy, all these kinds of guys have been around me and helping me out with my camp. So, you know, it's been great.

What happened with your other coach, if you don't mind me asking?

It was a slight incident with the law, so he's off with her majesty's service [in prison].

Ah ok. We'll leave it at that then. So, what are your thoughts on Anthony Njokuani as an opponent and how do you see the fight playing out?

I think it's a great match-up. He's a very good striker. He's technical, he uses his skills very well. He's got some nice angles, he's got good combinations and he's quick. He's a very game fighter as well. I think he's a decent all rounder but obviously his strengths lie in his striking; he's a very good kickboxer. So I'm going out there, I'm looking for the knockout and I'm confident that I'll get it. I don't know, we'll go out and see what happens but I'm confident that I can break him down and get the victory.

Did you see his last fight against Edson Barboza?

Yeah I did actually. I stayed up and I watched UFC.

Stayed up late?

Yeah. It was a fight I really enjoyed. Both guys were interesting in that fight.

What did you make of [Njokuani's] performance in that fight?

I actually thought he probably just won the fight. It was a very close fight; Barboza won the first, I think Njokuani probably won the second, I guess he won the second, and he was winning the third until that spin kick from Barboza in the last few seconds which kind of, like, swayed it for the judges. I think [Njokuani] was very unfortunate to come away with a loss there. But I thought it was a really good fight and I don't think he deserved a loss. Yeah I don't think he deserved the loss. I thought he fought really well and he showed a lot of heart because he kind of let the first round slip away from him and, you know, he picked it back up and Barboza is one of those kinds of guys who if you let him do what he wants then he's going to take you apart. But Njokuani stepped it back up and fought hard and he started to control the fight. And I think he showed great character in it so I'm looking forward to this fight.

Obviously Njokuani is a dynamic striker and a real danger on the feet. Are you wary of that or are these the kinds of fights that excite you; guys who will go toe to toe with you?

I'm aware of it. I wouldn't say I was wary of it. I'm aware of it. And, yeah, he's just the type of fighter that I look forward to and I enjoy. I want to test myself. And, like I said, I think he's a very good fighter and, like you say, he is a good striker. But I'm a good striker as well and I'm confident in my ability and I'm quite confident that I can beat anyone in the lightweight division standing. So I'm happy to stand with him.

A guy who didn't go toe to toe with you was Nik Lentz. What did you make of that fight?

I mean, it was a boring fight but at the same time I've never had any harsh words to say about him. At first, he got a lot of stick for the fight and everything and I still go by what I said; I think he came out in that fight more to grind out the decision than to come out and finish me or anything like that. He just came out there to just kind of use his wrestling to keep away from a fight, if you like. But, at the same time, I can't really knock him for it because at the end of the day it's his chin on the line and his career and obviously he needs to do what he needs to do in order to win a fight and stay with the UFC. Obviously he didn't get a lot of praise for it but it got him the victory didn't it? And I think if he hadn't of done what he done then I'd have probably knocked him out so it obviously would be in his best interests to do what he did. So it was a boring fight but he had to do what he had to do in order to win the fight so I can't really knock him for that. But it was a boring fight. But at the same time I have to take some criticism because I think defensively I was alright with my takedown defence but I think my ring craft let me down a little bit in that fight; getting stuck on the cage all the time and things like that. I want, in future, to be able to use my wrestling offensively if I need to. So if I get put in a position like that against another guy who wants to wrestle with me, then my wrestling is good enough not only to stop a takedown but to get a takedown as well.

Is that something you've been working on a lot then; your wrestling?

Yeah I've been working a bit on my wrestling. Like I said, I'm going up to Tri-Star to finish my camp out there. I'm going out there only for a few days so I'm not going to do like a massive train or anything out there. It's just to help me to acclimatise and I like the guys over at that gym and I know they'll help me out. But my wrestling and my jiu-jitsu is something I definitely want to work on because… It was before the Koscheck-St. Pierre fight and St. Pierre in [Canada] reached out to me and wanted some sparring partners and it was great. I got along with those guys and we made a good friendship. So I'd love to get back out there and do some more training with those kinds of guys. I also got to train in San Diego recently when Paul [Daley] fought Nick Diaz and I was involved in some wrestling sessions over in Alliance gym, and that was really good. So I hope to get myself back out there also. So I'm training with Victor Estima now; he's a high level jiu-jitsu coach and competitor, and his brother as well Braulio Estima, he's a really high level jiu-jitsu guy so I'm definitely working on my jiu-jitsu and my wrestling so I can hang with those guys. I don't want to just be able to defend the takedown or stop the submission. I want to be able to put submissions on people and take guys down if I want to.

I wanted to ask you about the Dennis Siver fight too, because obviously you're coming off a loss there. I just wondered what your thoughts on that are; do you think you made a mistake which he capitalised on or did you just get caught?

I think you hit the nail on the head there; I did make a mistake. I got a little comfortable in the fight. I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing. And I think I was winning the fight, in my eyes. I was landing near enough everything that I wanted to land and I felt like I was controlling the fight. I think if anybody looked like they were in control of the fight, it was me. So I think I got a little bit too happy there and starting throwing combinations from too far out, stuff I wouldn't normally throw. I don't know why I threw them, but I just kind of went for it because I just kind of felt comfortable in the fight. Like, I could see myself winning the fight and I thought ‘Oh I'm gonna take him out any minute.' I threw a silly combination and, you know, I walked onto a punch and to be honest with you I didn't even see the punch. But, I got caught with it, I got dropped and he capitalised well. He threw the right punch at the right time so it all worked out well for him and to be fair to him, he got on top really quick and he got the submission. So, you know, all credit to Dennis but I want a rematch.

You want a rematch of that fight?

Yeah. I mean obviously he's off doing what he's doing and progressing in his career, I want to progress in mine and hopefully somewhere down the line I can get a rematch with him. I don't want a guy who I lost to to beat me like that because I can honestly say I look back on my fights and I never really felt like I'd ever truly been beaten, you know? I've had guys who've fought against me where I've left it a little bit too late to win the fight or I've sort of been outgrappled like with the Nik Lentz fight but I never really felt like I'd been beaten up. And obviously with that fight I've got no excuses; I went into the fight and I'd had a great camp and up until that fight I'd never been dropped in my life either. Yeah, so it was all a bit, like, a new experience for me so I'd definitely like to repay him for that.

I think that's a great attitude to have. So with you coming off those two losses do you think that this Njokuani fight is a "must win" situation for you?

I believe that all fights are a must-win situation. There's no fight that you can afford to lose or that you want to lose. I mean obviously if you're Randy Couture or if you look at someone where they're on a seven fight win streak and then they lose a fight then they can't exactly have it mess up their career. But, on the same note, you can't afford to lose a fight because if you want to be a champion then you have to win every fight in order to get to that title contention and to fight for the title. You've got to win to be the champion and to keep the title you've got to keep beating people so there isn't any fight that you can afford to lose. It doesn't add any more pressure to me because, like I said, every fight to me is a must win fight.

I wanted to ask you, since I was in attendance live for UFC 105 in Manchester; I was wondering what it felt like to perform at a UFC event in front of the UK fans and to win that fight with Rolando Delgado with a knockout. Because the atmosphere was fantastic wasn't it?

Yeah it was amazing. To be honest with you, it's kind of mixed feelings when I normally fight ‘cause when I go to fight I look at it like it's regardless of whether there's 25 people supporting you or whatever. But when I came on for my entrance, I could hear people shouting my name and it was on such a big scale and all the fans were backing us ‘cause we were there from the UK. Being from the UK and obviously I'm a UK fighter, with them backing me it was kind of like that feeling of ‘Okay I can do this. I can do this for everybody. I can do this for myself.' And I got a little bit patriotic and started to get into it. So it was good to go out there and get it done in 4 minutes and have my hand raised afterwards. So honestly I can say it was one of the best feelings I've had in my life.



Right I'm sure you're sick of answering questions on this but I couldn't do an interview with you and not ask about your appearance on season 9 of The Ultimate Fighter.

It's alright. You can ask away man.

So what was the TUF experience like?

The TUF experience was a great experience. You know, it gave me a great opportunity to do something with it and obviously to pursue my career and do what I needed to do. And a lot of people talk about it or think that it's really hard in the house but… I mean don't get me wrong it can be a bit depressing. It can get a bit depressing and everything but you've got to think about the bigger picture. So I was happy to be in there and I was with a great group of guys and we all got along well and I enjoyed it.

Yeah because Team UK were one of the closest units in the whole history of the show.

Yeah.

Do you think that contributed to the UK's success on the show or were the UK guys just more talented than the American guys that year?

I don't know. I mean, I don't want to be looking at taking things like that from it. You know, we all went in there and we were all very determined to go out there and represent ourselves and our countries well. So we were responsible to do well and I think we represented ourselves well.

Do you still see any of the other guys from the show?

Yeah, most definitely. I mean, I see Dean [Amasinger], Nick [Osipczak], Ross [Pearson]… Well, since the show I've seen everybody really who was on Team UK. I've seen Dave Faulkner, I've seen James Wilks a few times, Jeff Lawson. I've seen Mike [Bisping]. So I've seen everybody. The only person I've not seen since the show is "Stapes" [Martin Stapleton] actually. Well, actually I have seen him since the show but I haven't seen him recently. But all the guys, we see each other every once in a while.

So you stay in touch with Michael Bisping as well then?

Yeah, I mean it's not like I'm tight with Michael or anything like that but when I see him we always have a good laugh. And I've known Mike for a little while and before the show I'd met him a couple of times and I'd got on with him well. He used to fight on FX3 at the same time that Paul Daley fought, so I used to go down there with Paul Daley. I met Mike down there a couple of times and Mike's a great guy. It's easy to get along with him.

On that topic; he seems to rub a lot of people, particularly the American fans, he seems to rub them up the wrong way. What are your thoughts on that? ‘Cause we love him over here in the UK but there's something…

Yeah, I think it might just be a different sense of humour or… Yeah, I think maybe that kind of thing. It's just an example of the different types of personalities that we have out here. Especially with, like I said, the sense of humour. There's a certain way that we portray him, or we see him. So when he says certain things we know he's joking around. We know the kind of guy he is. I think the U.S. guys take it a bit more mature, a bit more to heart and things like that. But I'm sure if anyone met Mike they would get along with him because he's a great guy.

What was the experience of fighting Ross [Pearson] in your official UFC debut like?

In the finale? Oh it was a bit of a rollercoaster because I had a great time going out there but there was an incident there before I fought that wasn't great for me. I had a case of food poisoning for the week of that fight and I was okay, I was drinking well enough before the fight so I don't think it was a big thing. You know, all credit to Ross, he fought who was put out there in front of him and he ended up getting the decision on the night. It was a great feeling to be able to represent the UK, to represent myself and my family there in the finale. In the final of the Ultimate Fighter, the show that for a couple of years I'd been watching and looking up to it thinking ‘Wow I'd love to be there one day.' You know, you dream about it and then you're there and you're kind of one of the main attraction to it. So it was a great experience to be there. My Mum, my Dad, my brothers, girlfriend, all came up and watched the fight. I had a few friends that flew out. And it was an emotional time.



I didn't know about the food poisoning incident. And actually some people were accusing you and Ross of fighting not to lose rather than pushing for the win in that one. How do you respond to that?

No, definitely not man. I came out of there and I was busted up. I had a cut underneath my eye and a bit of a swollen eye. I mean, I didn't really want to make too much of a thing of the food poisoning because it just sounds like excuses and things like that. I don't mind talking about it now and every once in a while. But all credit to Ross, he's a great champion and he deserves everything that he got from the show. I can't think of a person more deserving to have won it. Other than myself.

Obviously. On a slightly random note, this is just something I've always wanted to ask you; Bruce Buffer announced you for that fight and a few others after as being from "Lie-Chester, England". Then he finally pronounced it correctly as "Less-Ter" for your fight with Siver, I think. So was it you who corrected him on the Leicester issue or was it someone else?

I did mention it. I think I said something to someone but it's always been a bit of an issue. Like when I fought in the UK, I was fighting out of Nottingham because obviously I train in Nottingham a lot but I'm actually from Leicester. But when I was on the Ultimate Fighter they thought I was from London so there's always misconceptions with stuff like that. But, yeah, when I heard him say ‘Lie-Chester' I was like ‘Hey, what's that?' And I can't remember if I said it or… I'm pretty sure I said it to somebody but I can't really remember if it was me saying it or somebody else that made him change it.

So to backtrack; how did you get interested in MMA and start training in the sport?

I'd always been in to the UFC. I saw it, or I knew about it when I was hanging out as a younger lad with my team. I got into Karate, Boxing, things like that and it wasn't until I was about 22 that a friend of mine; someone who knew the street fighters, who was taking a self defence class there and I went along. And through that I met Paul Daley, Dan Hardy, Paul Barton and I saw those guys and they were similar ages to myself and they were doing well. I was in sort of a rut with my life and I wasn't really doing much with my life either, so I looked at them and I thought ‘well if you guys can do it then so can I.' So we set up a meeting and we all got along, we were good friends and they invited me to come over to Nottingham and train with them. And since then my life has just been training with them and it's been a great experience.

So speaking of Dan Hardy, Paul Daley, and you've mentioned training at Team Rough House. What's that like training there on a regular basis with those guys?

It's great, I mean, they're cool. You know, it's one of those things where you don't go to work… Like it is work at the same time, but on the other side of things, it makes it enjoyable because you're not just training with a bunch of guys that are just sparring partners, you know what I mean? They're all good friends, I get along with all these guys really well. You can have some jokes and everything along the way and it makes it a lot easier. We've got a great, like, gel between the team ‘cause we all get along really well and it's good. I enjoy going to training.

So moving on, did you attend the recent UFC fighter summit?

Yes I did.

What was that like? And how does it feel to have this full accident and insurance coverage under the Zuffa banner now?

It's great. I mean, obviously it's a lot better for the guys in the States because they don't really have the NHS like we do [in the UK]. So really it's just great to see how the UFC is looking after fighters. And the summit was a really good thing man. I enjoyed it. There was a lot of cool information there. Probably too much. I mean, I couldn't even take in half of the stuff there was so much! But it was a good atmosphere and I really enjoyed it. There was a lot of helpful advice there as well.

Now, with the featherweight and bantamweight divisions being brought into the UFC, several UFC lightweights such as Kenny Florian, Tyson Griffin and Joe Stevenson have opted to drop down to 145. Is that something you would ever consider or are you happy at 155?

I'm happy at 155 but I think I have the body frame where I could go either up or down. I am confident I could make 145, if I needed to, and I'm quite confident that I could go up to 170 and be strong at that weight also. But I'm comfortable where I am. I think this is probably where I fit in best. But, like I said, I'd like to try either. But yeah, maybe 145 I could try out at some point.

‘Cause 155 is a really stacked division isn't it?

I don't believe in things like that. I don't look at divisions and whether they're stacked or anything like that because if you want to be the champion and if you want to be the best then you've got to be in there with all these people. I'm not really bothered. Like, I don't care if you're 155. I'd rather be in that division and beat those kinds of guys than be in a division where there's nobody. So I don't look at it like that. You're either going to be a champion or you're not so that's how I see it. But 145, yeah I'd like to think that I could make the cut and I'd be interested to see how I could do at that kind of weight. To see how my body would cope with it.

So to close, what are your targets for the future?

My targets for the future? Go out and knock Njokuani out. Erm… Yeah, that's my target.

Not looking past that?

No man, that's my target. I want to go out there and I want to put on a good performance, I want a big knockout. And after that, as long as I can stay injury free, I'd like to fight maybe once or twice again by the end of the year and then after that I can start to look at getting myself into some sort of title contention.

Are there any sponsors or people you'd like to thank or give a shout out to?

Yeah, I want to shout out to all the fans. My family and friends. All the sponsors; Headrush, Maximuscle, Cherry Active, Meesha Graphics, Venum, Jaco and Hayabusa.

Thanks a lot for the time and good luck with the fight Andre.

No worries. Not a problem at all.



Thank you to Andre Winner for taking the time out of his schedule to speak with us. And thanks too to the team at Halo-PR for setting up the interview.