"The reality of the situation is, Zuffa is running MMA right now. Everybody is scared to death to speak up against them. I watched Ariel Helwani straight up get bitched by Dana White twice bro. they had a debate on who was the best pound-for-pound fighter at the time, and this was before Fedor lost. Ariel was saying Fedor and Dana just straight up bitched him and Ariel backed down like a straight up lil' bitch. He did it again not too long ago. I don't know, these guys have no fucking balls. They are scared to speak their minds and that's why these Zuffa guys have issues with me...Listen, I'm a fan of the UFC. I'm not hatin' just to be hatin'. I'm all about the fighters, but I just don't like the evil, devilish shit that goes on; the politics...The MMA audience is brainwashed and that's what I'm here for, to try and wake people up. Don't get me wrong man, I'm a fan too. I can be biased and I have my favorites, but at the end of the day, I want things to be fair. I want guys that deserve to be heralded treated that way," stated brutally honest and always outspoken Bloodstain Lane, the self-proclaimed "Mel Gibson of the f--king MMA community, the p4p most passionate mma fan, and the creator of the term Zuffa Zombie." If you know him, you know him, and if you don't, you need to. Find out more about Lane and check out what he had to say on a variety of subjects, including MMA fans and reporters, Dana White, Alistair Overeem, Badr Hari, and much more.
PC: Bloodstain, finally, we hook up my man. What's good?
BL: Chillin' man; just relaxing. Everybody heard about my toe injury; just relaxing man, that's it.
PC: When I first heard about Bloodstain Lane, you were the ultimate MMA supporter/follower that I had ever seen. Here lately, not so much, and that's not to say you don't still love the sport, but why do you think you're losing a little bit of that love?
BL: The thing with MMA, honestly, there are a bunch of reasons why. First off, boxing is what got me into all combat sports. I just want to say that. As far as MMA goes, it just seems like there is too much politics and bullshit in the game. First off, the MMA community, and I have said this time and time again, are probably the worst human beings on fucking planet earth. They are a bunch of fickle people and if you lose a fight, you're a piece of shit. For instance, Fedor Emelianenko was undefeated for 10 years and then he loses a fight and all of a sudden, he's overrated. It's just dealing with the fickle audience, dealing with Zuffa buying everything out, and Dana White shitting on the legacy of great fighters that put a lot of hard work in, like a guy like Fedor. He just basically shits on legends of the sport. For instance, the other day, he said Yushin Okami is the greatest Japanese fighter of all time, completely neglecting what Kazushi Sakuraba did beforehand. It's just a lot of bullshit in the game bro, you know?
PC: Definitely. You have had some heated Twitter exchanges with Dana White, and for a while, people were curious as to why he wouldn't just block you. I think he finally has blocked you on Twitter, but do you think he went back and forth with you for so long because you weren't spewing mindless bs, but actually educated statements?
BL: Dana White actually finally blocked me. The reason he blocked me is because, as sad as it is to say this, he is the figurehead for MMA. He has 1.5 million followers. I think the highest amount of followers that a fighter has is Anderson Silva, with like 200,000 followers. He is the figurehead in MMA. Whatever this guy says, people will...especially the casual fan. The hardcore fan knows better, but there are not that many hardcore fans. Most fans are casual fans, so when you have a guy saying Fedor is overrated or shitting on a guy like Alistair Overeem or shitting on guys that are not in the UFC, these people will tend to believe that. You have people out there that will argue with you and say what Dana said word for word. My whole thing is, I want to educate people on the legends of the sport who actually put in a lot of work, and it's not fair to a guy like Fedor Emelianenko. Fedor is a great ambassador to the sport, he's a good role model, and he was undefeated for 10 years, and then you got this bald bozo fuck completely shitting on everything he had done; and not just him, but other fighters as well. That's what I'm here for. Whatever crowd I could reach and get my word out, that's what I'm here for.
PC: So that our readers won't mistake you as a casual fan looking for attention, or a guy who doesn't know what he's talking about, you committed a lot to this sport. Can you just give me a roundabout figure on how much money you think you have spent on merchandise, hoodies, and DVDs to support this sport?
BL: Bro, all jokes aside, between T-shirts, hoodies, jackets, DVDs, fucking all kinds of memorabilia, I'm gonna say, well, $10,000 to $15,000 bro. And it's not just MMA; it's boxing and kickboxing shit that I have. I'm a combat sports fan. I love combat sports that's what I'm about. It might even be more than that bro. It might be between $15,000 to $20,000 bro. I've been spending money since 1996 on shit like that.
PC: It's not just the fans that bother you in the sport, but you feel these reporters are guys that want to be bigger stars than the fighters, so they keep quiet to keep their credentials in order. Speak on that for me.
BL: My beef with reporters is, a lot of them think they are fucking stars when they are just a bunch of fucking pencil-neck geeks. When I'm around them, they shit in their fucking pants. But it's like you said, they are scared to speak their fucking minds bro. Let's be real man, they are scared to lose their credentials and the reality of the situation is, Zuffa is running MMA right now. Everybody is scared to death to speak up against them. I watched Ariel Helwani straight up get bitched by Dana White twice bro. they had a debate on who was the best pound-for-pound fighter at the time, and this was before Fedor lost. Ariel was saying Fedor and Dana just straight up bitched him and Ariel backed down like a straight up lil' bitch. He did it again not too long ago. I don't know, these guys have no fucking balls. They are scared to speak their minds and that's why these Zuffa guys have issues with me. They all know who I am bro. Joe Silva knows exactly who I am. Dana White knows who I am. I was at the hotel at UFC 128 and they knew who I was. They were very uncomfortable and they didn't want me at the hotel. I don't kiss their ass. Listen, I'm a fan of the UFC. I'm not hatin' just to be hatin'. I'm all about the fighters, but I just don't like the evil, devilish shit that goes on; the politics.
PC: I think that's important because you have to support the fighters. A lot of fans think they're supposed to have this unwritten loyalty to an organization. Listen, if you were a Houston Alexander fan when he was in the UFC, why not follow his career and support him when he's on other shows as well? Don't call him a scrub because he's not in the UFC anymore. I just used Houston as an example, but anyone; guys like Kendall Grove or whoever.
BL: Exactly. At the end of the day, you got motherfuckers that are choosing to back up a promoter more than a fighter. People will back a guy like Dana White more than a guy like Fedor, who has been in the fucking cage or ring, you know what I'm saying? It's just really sickening bro. Me and King Mo had this conversation on the phone the other day, because we spoke for a long time. The MMA audience is brainwashed and that's what I'm here for, to try and wake people up. Don't get me wrong man, I'm a fan too. I can be biased and I have my favorites, but at the end of the day, I want things to be fair. I want guys that deserve to be heralded treated that way. Could you imagine people shitting on Muhammad Ali or Joe Frazier, the greats in boxing? Say David Stern shitting on Michael Jordan because Michael Jordan wanted to go play in the CBA or some shit like that? It's just disgusting man. Just because a guy doesn't fight in your organization, you shouldn't shit on the guy; it's just not right.
PC: I don't want to turn this interview into a Zuffa bashing thing, but you were also highly disappointed when the Golden Glory camp was let go. You are very close to those guys. It appears now they are trying to work something out with Alistair Overeem. What are your thoughts on that situation?
BL: I spoke to Martijin De Jong, the head trainer for Team Golden Glory. I talk to him like every other day and I'm really good friends with him. He's Overeem's trainer and he owns United Glory and they are negotiating a deal. I told Matijin De Jong that my advice to Overeem would be to sign with the UFC. It will be beneficial to him, and he basically said if the money is right, we are gonna sign. I don't know about the rest of the Golden Glory cats. I don't know about them, but in my opinion, it is in Alistair Overeem's best interest to sign with the UFC, and I think he will.
PC: Fedor has decided to fight on. I personally don't see why he shouldn't. Where do you place Fedor if everything stayed the way it is now?
BL: Fedor is by far the greatest heavyweight of all time. There is no question. You know what it is? This sport, Percy, is very young. It's less than 20 years old. You gotta say that nobody is touching Fedor's credentials. He is the best. As far as pound-for-pound, the greatest. I think he is the pound-for-pound greatest of all time. He went undefeated for 10 years, and that's tough to do, man. He was always the smallest heavyweight and he accomplished a lot. You can also argue that Anderson Silva is the greatest. I would never fight with somebody about that. But it's between Fedor and Anderson Silva as far as who is the greatest MMA fighter of all time.
PC: You were a huge fan of the Japanese MMA system. You feel like their Bushido fighting spirit is no comparison to American martial arts.
BL: Yeah, I think in America, they fight to win. They play it safe, they take guys down, and I just think overall, it's more of a wrestler's atmosphere in America. It's more about scoring points and winning the fight, whereas in Japan, it's just different over there and I think that's why they produced better fights.
PC: King Mo gave me a logic that I never thought of, but it makes perfect sense. Tell me what you think. He feels in Japan, if a promoter tells you, "Bloodstain, I'm going to give you $300,000 to fight Wanderlei Silva," you will feel respect for the compensation and therefore, you will go and fight your heart out for them. In the States, if they say, "Bloodstain, we're going to give you $150,000 to show and $150,000 to win if you fight Wanderlei," well, now your mentality is different because to get the $300K, you have to win and that's why you see more guys fighting to win.
BL: You know what? The way you broke that down, King Mo is brilliant for thinking that way. That is the truth bro. At the end of the day, I'm not a fighter. I've trained before and did some amateur boxing, but I'm not a professional fighter. But at the end of the day, you want to get paid and you want to make the best living you can from your profession. As a fan, I want to see crazy shit, knockouts and just crazy shit, but if I'm a fucking fighter, I'm just trying to get the win at any cost. But again, I am a fan too, so I want to see knockouts and the craziest shit I can see. But if I'm a fucking fighter, I will hold you up against the cage and hold you down to get the win so I can get that fucking bonus. I can see that and Mo broke that down brilliantly bro.
PC: I can't let you get out of here without asking you about one of your favorites and that is Badr Hari. He is coming over to boxing. How do you think he will fair?
BL: Badr Hari, and I spoke to Mo about this the other day too, it's very exciting. Badr Hari is probably my favorite fighter right now. I just love watching the guy fight. He is a superstar. He is an absolute superstar and him going to boxing, I think he has the talent, the skills, and he's the kind of guy that can do both sports. I think he is so much of a superstar. I just don't want to see him kickboxing. I want to see him cross over to boxing too. I think he will be a fucking star here in the States. Who doesn't want to see a 6'5" mad man always going for the fucking knockout and putting on a show for the fans? I spoke to Mike Passenier about it. If he gets with the right trainer here in the States, with the heavyweight division here in boxing not being all of that...the Klitschkos run the show and other than the Klitschkos, there are not many good fighters out there. I definitely got my eye on the guy you put me on to, Amir Mansour, but I think Badr Hari, with the right training, has the right talent and skills to go all the way to the top. I'm not just saying that because I am a huge Badr Hari fan. I really think he can do it. He's 25 or 26 years old, he's explosive, he's athletic, he has the talent and killer instincts...I'm calling it, he will be a huge star here in the States. And I will tell you the truth, I think a lot of these boxing promoters...I sent out a bunch of YouTube videos to these boxing promoters and I told them to keep an eye out for this guy, but you know how these boxing guys are. They stick to themselves. But I would personally like to see him with Naazim Richardson or The Mayweathers because I think that will be the best fit for him and I hope it comes true man. Work your magic bruh.
PC: Glad we finally got to hook up my man. You are welcome on FightHype any time my man. Let people know where they can catch up with you at?
BL: I got my website, www.teamtakeover.tv, you can find all of my YouTube videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/TheTeamTakeover, or my Twitter, http://twitter.com/#!/Bloodstainlane. I'm always getting myself in trouble on Twitter. I respond to everybody, even the haters, and yeah, they can hit me up!
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]