411 MMA Interview: Rob Emerson

Posted by Jeffrey Harris on 02.04.2009

UFC lightweight fighter, Rob Emerson, checks in before his bout with Kurt Pellegrino at Fight Night 17.

UFC Fight Night 17 will be held February 7, 2009. On the preliminary card will be Rob Emerson, the former contestant of season 5 of The Ultimate Fighter. Coming off a shockingly quick knockout victory over TUF 5 finalist, Manny Gamburyan, at UFC 87, Emerson will be taking on Kurt Pellegrino. Pellegrino himself is coming off of a strong win over Thiago Tavares. Emerson was nice enough to take a break and speak with me about his training and his upcoming bout.



Jeffrey "The Vile One" Harris: How has it been competing in the UFC since leaving The Ultimate Fighter?

Rob Emerson: It's just hard work you know. Now that I'm here that's where the hard work starts. I mean I know so many fighters are working hard to get into the UFC, and you got to work your ass off to stay here especially in my weight class. There are so many tough guys. There are no more easy fights for me and the guys of my division anymore. So you can't really take any more time off. It's hard work. You got to come in and train your ass off, be ready to get that call, and be ready to fight – 3-4 times a year.

TVO: You defeated fellow TUF 5 contestant and also TUF 5 finalist, Manny Gamburyan, at UFC 87 at 12 seconds in the first round. You knocked him out very quickly after he bum rushed you. Were you surprised with how he came after you like that?

RE: Yeah I was. I thought he would try and stick to his game plan and try to take me down and try to grind me out on the ground. He kind of said, "I'm going to come out, throw punches," you know, the "fastest punches in the world" or something like that. I was actually shocked because he kind of sticks his chin out when he punches. His fists are low and his chin is out, so I don't think it was a good game plan the way he came out, I think he should've just stuck with his original plan and try to take me down, the fight probably would've lasted a little bit longer. But I was kind of more on the disappointed side. I was ready for a war, I trained my ass off. I was ready to show the fans a lot more stuff than I've been able to show in the past. I don't think that fight showed anything on my side. I landed two punches and that was it.

TVO: How is your training going right now, and what do you think of your opponent, Kurt Pellegrino?

RE: Training is going good. I'm focusing a lot on my boxing, strength and conditioning, and cardio for this fight. I've always said that cardio has been my weakness on my side. All the fights I've ever lost, if you look at my record all my losses were decisions, just because of my conditioning. So I've put the hard work in the gym to make sure that doesn't happen anymore. And I have to be in good shape for Kurt. I know he comes and pushes a good pace. I know he's a well-rounded fighter. I watched his last fight, it was pretty impressive. He got fight of the night against Thiago Tavares. I think he's going to try and throw with me a little bit, and then throw some punches and get the takedown, work for elbows and punches on the ground. So I've been working a lot off my back, working a lot on my takedown defense, just a lot on my striking. So I'm ready to go, and I'm excited for this fight. I think this fight will make up for that last fight that lasted 12 seconds. I think it will go a little bit longer and show the fans a lot of stuff I haven't been able to show them yet.

TVO: You won both your fights last year in the UFC. This is your first fight of the New Year. What do you hope to accomplish in 2009?

RE: I just want people to respect me as a fighter. I know for this fight I'm the underdog. I know a lot of guys think that I don't deserve to be here and don't respect me as a fighter. I just want people to respect me as one of the top 155 lb'ers in the weight class. I just want to be like, "Hey, here I am. I'm a legitimate guy too." And that's it. I just want to get people's respect, get people to look my way, kind of get my name out there, and start moving up the ladder. I know I haven't put out a performance yet where people can say I'm legitimate and I don't blame them. So I'm excited for this fight. I know Kurt will bring this kind of fight, and it's exactly the kind of fight I need right now for my career, so it's perfect timing.

TVO: How did you get into MMA?

RE: I was in martial arts growing up as a kid. It was always the one sport I stuck with and then in high school I went go watch Val Quacham, he's one of the guys on my team, I went to go watch him at an underground Pancrase fight, and the guy running it asked me to fight. Some guy dropped out who was about the same weight as me. I had a shiner from a fight the night before, and he's "do you want to fight or what?" And my friends were like, "do it, you have nothing to lose," kind of thing. I ended up fighting, and I knocked the guy out in the first round in this Pancrase fight, and they were like, "oh wow you're pretty good. Now why don't you start training for this stuff?" I was originally going to go into the military, but I thought "Oh this is kind of cool, I'll try it out." Then I fought three months in a row, back-to-back, and I got all three knockouts in the Pancrase, and they were like, "damn, we don't really see knockouts in these kind of fights." And so I kind of got a feel for the sport and fell in love with it right away. I started training right away with Marco Rua, and I was with him for three years and he gave me a black belt in judo, and I've been training for it ever since.

TVO: Is getting to fight in the UFC and fighting for a living a dream come true, or is professional fighting a constant struggle?

RE: I dunno. Obviously the one thing I dreamed about as a kid is fighting for the UFC. I've got to work hard to stay here. Growing up in martial arts, it's such a clean, respectable sport, and I just love the lifestyle. I just love getting up in the morning to train, and doing what I love. It beats the hell out of a 9-5. Although, I'm 27, I feel like all my injuries and stuff are catching up to me -- all my joints, all my aches and pain. It's a struggle. A lot of people don't know all the hard work that we go through, all the injuries when you start off as young as I did, all the injuries catch up to you. I have a baby girl that I think about, and I just don't want to be all decrepit when I'm older, so we'll sort of think a little bit down the line about longevity and I'm going to put a good 5-6 years in this and see what I can get out of it and see where I go from there.

TVO: When you come off of fights, and go back to training, what do you have to watch out for?

RE: You got to stay injury free. You got to train smart. Make sure you know your training partners. Make sure you talk over all your injuries. Make sure you're not training with any amateurs, guys that just want to hurt you and go balls out to try and prove something. Injuries are the main thing you've got to stay away from in this sport. I think every fighter always has some kind of injury in training or in the fight. So there are a lot of things to stay away from.

TVO: Having won and lost fights, how hard is it coming off of a loss, and then throwing your body back into training for a fight?

RE: I'm only hungrier after I've lost. It forces me to work on things I didn't work on before, and all my losses I know are just because of my conditioning. I know it's more of a motivating thing for me then a downer.

TVO: Can you comment on your arrest at all?

RE: Yeah. A lot of people talk about it on the internet and blame me and stuff. It happened like eight years ago or something like that. And there's like a video clip of it on the internet. I'm on the video clip breaking up the fight. I broke up this fight that I was at. These guys were fighting, this one kid was getting kicked in the head – but the only reason I got on was to break the fight apart. I pushed this guy off, [the one] that was getting kicked in the head; I tried to wake him up. I was concerned for this guy. It turned out he had like a steel plate in his head, the kid I pushed the guy off of him. And I ended up getting in trouble just for being there, kind of like you know guilty by association kind of thing. And it sucks because now I have this reputation as being this gang banger kind of guy that runs around jumping guys, came from a wealthy family. My family was like lower-middle class growing up. I never had anything handed to me easy. People got this whole wrong impression of me. I've never jumped anyone in my entire life. I've always been jumped, and I've never had a problem with that. But I've never ever jumped anybody or hit anybody with any kind of weapon or anything like that

TVO: Keyboard warriors are insane. There's so much garbage on the internet, and keyboard warriors like to spread misinformation.

RE: It's nasty too. People aren't aware the type of damage that they do. It's terrible because they don't have their facts straight, taking **** and twisting it. And the **** they say about me is pretty nasty. I try to stay off of it and don't even read it because they got all the facts wrong, they don't even know the true story.

TVO: Is there anyone personally in your weight class you'd like to fight because you think it would be a good fight?

RE: No not really. I watch all the guys. I watch all the fights. I'm a bigger fan than I am a fighter, that's the one thing I've always said. I love all the guys that just come out and compete. There's so many guys in my in my division, so many good fights there could be. I'm really happy with the guys [the UFC] has chosen for me so far. So I put all my faith in them.

TVO: Any thoughts on former UFC lightweight contender, Roger Huerta, and the route he's taken since his loss at UFC 87, which you were also on?

RE: I don't know what happened to him since he lost that fight against Kenny [Florian]. He had a good career, a good thing going. I kind of saw him in the locker room after that fight; he kind of looked bummed out. He kind of looked like a broken man. It's just something that happens in this sport. I don't know if he's accepted that or if he's going to move on to other things. He's a great fighter. He has a good technique, and he's exciting. I dunno. It's like a mental thing. Every fighter loses, and it's something you have to mentally get over, and if you let it get to you, it will destroy you. A lot of guys can't come back from that. I don't know if he's ready for that or just move on to other things. I don't know his deal.

TVO: What camp are you training out of now and who are your coaches?

RE: I'm still with Team Oyama. We actually just left the gym we were training at. We were at No Limits Gym in Irvine. We left there; we don't want to be affiliated with those people anymore. Right now I'm actually bouncing around. I'm actually in Vegas right now training in Couture's gym with Gray Maynard and these guys, working on my wrestling, and also working out with Mark Beecher at the Warrior's Gym. And when I get back home I'm working out with the guys at Millenia too, Javier Vasquez and those guys . . . so right now I'm just bouncing around, just floating around, trying to get as much different training partners as I can, to see different styles. And I think it's a good thing I left the gym I was at. Just trying to move around and train with different guys. After this fight I have to reevaluate where I am with my career and my gym and everything. I got to see what I want to do.

TVO: Being a father and a family man, is it rough splitting up the training and the traveling and being away from your family?

RE: Yeah, my girl and my baby, they take off two weeks before I leave so I don't get to see them. And it gets to you. I've been a fighter too a lot longer, but yeah it's rough, but that's the name of the game. After the fight, it's like you get a little vacation, a break, so it's worth it.

TVO: Do you try to stay on a strict diet before a fight?

RE: Absolutely. That's the one thing I've implemented especially for this fight. I've been trying to diet year round, just eating a lot more organic food. I [would usually] eat a lot of Hawaiian, fried foods, and stuff. I'm just trying to eat a lot better, and I feel a lot better in the gym, a lot better in my workouts. And I'm not carrying around so much water weight. I'm a lot of lean muscle now. I feel like I'm the strongest and lightest that I've ever been, so all the dieting is really paying off.

TVO: Are you superstitious before a fight, or is there any ritual you follow, or do you pray before a fight?

RE: I pray on a daily basis and I keep God close to my life. The last fight was like really weird. I definitely felt like there something—even backstage, I was just warming up, any time I got slightly nervous, there was a voice like "oh just relax, you're gonna get knockout of the night. Just smile, relax, have fun. You're gonna get knockout of the night." I just kind of listened to that voice and relaxed took a deep breath, and sure enough I did. I had that feeling the whole night. I have a good feeling for this fight too. All that superstitious stuff, I don't think you should depend on that. I think you should put all the blood, the sweat, the tears in the gym so come fight night, you're ready to go through war.

TVO: Are there any sponsors or people you want to give a shout out to before your fight?

RE: Yes, Silver Star, Millenia, HB Ultimate and Extreme Couture Gyms.

TVO: Thank you for your time sir and good luck.

RE: Thank you for having me, any time.