"This fight is very important man. I can't lose 5 fights in a row, come on. It can't happen, so this fight means a lot man. I feel like I have been losing because I was dumb, you know what I'm saying? I'm just getting caught in dumb stuff. even in the first fight with Urijah, don't get me wrong, he is fast, but I made his hands look faster because I fought dumb. But I want to show everyone that I can still fight and that I can still competeĀ
I couldn't retire after losing 4 fights man. I had to get back in there. That's not how I want to go out," stated former UFC lightweight champion and WEC featherweight star Jens Pulver as he talked about his upcoming March 6 clash with Javier Vazquez and much more. Check it out!
PC: How is it going Jens?
JP: It's going real good man; just training hard for this fight. I'm getting ready, you know? We just got this gym open and training for a fight is completely different from getting people to sign up for memberships and things like that.
PC: How is the gym coming along?
JP: It's going good man. For the past couple of hours, I've been signing people up and giving tours of the facility, but I'm back out here in Boise, Idaho; well, just outside of Boise, and I'm happy with how things are going. I got a lot of criticism for making statements about the cage, but we have a cage here. It's important to train in a cage if you're going to be fighting in a cage. You don't see boxers only training in a cage, you know? So we have everything here and I'm pumped to get people in shape this year man. We have some crazy workouts and equipment here, so we gonna get people in shape man.
PC: Not only do I respect your skills, but you gotta love any fighter that comes to the cage to Wu Tang's "Triumph!"
JP: Ah, yeah man, I love the Wu. I had to switch it up here lately and mix it up a bit. I went a little more contemporary. I had to come out to "Simple Man," but not Skynard's. I used Charlie Daniel's version, so it's a bit different.
PC: You have dropped 4 fights in a row. How important is this fight to you in March?
JP: Man, you said it man! Four fights in a row. That is crazy, but this fight is very important man. I can't lose 5 fights in a row, come on. It can't happen, so this fight means a lot man. I feel like I have been losing because I was dumb, you know what I'm saying? I'm just getting caught in dumb stuff. even in the first fight with Urijah, don't get me wrong, he is fast, but I made his hands look faster because I fought dumb. But I want to show everyone that I can still fight and that I can still compete.
PC: I'm sure you didn't want an easy fight and the WEC made sure they didn't give you one. Javier Vasquez is a tough guy and a seasoned veteran man. What do you think of him as a fighter?
JS: Like you said man, he is tough. He comes to fight. A lot of people thought he should have gotten the nod in his last 2 close decision losses to L.C. and Deividas. He has amazing Jiu Jitsu and he can stand and bang. A lot of people don't think he has good standup, but Javi is a complete fighter man.
PC: I have watched a lot of your fights and I feel you got away from letting your boxing set up everything else. You used to let your boxing set up your wrestling and where the fights were fought. Would you agree with that assessment?
JS: You are so dead on. Man, you called that one on the head. I got this attitude of I wanted to be exciting and come out and just fight. Even in the Cub Swanson fight, I was bouncing on my toes and dictating the fight because of him knowing how good my boxing was and I gotta get back to that and that's why I have been getting caught in stupid shit, excuse my language. But in the Grisby fight, I went in to bang and even when I shot, it wasn't set up by anything, so he took advantage of me burying my head under his armpit. Just stupid things man; same thing in the Garcia fight. I just came out to fight and got in a bad situation. I'm with Tony Frykland again and we're working on all of those things. Every time I have worked with him in the past, nothing but good things have happened, so I'm back to my roots and back to doing what I do best and that's boxing and letting everything else come to me. But yeah, you are dead on.
PC: After each one of those losses, it's almost like we were all holding our breath waiting for "Lil Evil" to announce his retirement. What made you not retire after any one of those losses?
JS: The fans man. that's how I ended up just saying F that on TV because I was listening to the fans cheer and man, if it hadn't been for that, I would have left gloves, cup, mouthpiece and everything right there in that arena and you would have never saw me again, but hearing the fans cheer for me, I was like F that and I forgot I was even on TV. But you know, my wife is so supportive and now it's just me, my wife and my kid. All of the other BS is out of the window and I'm fighting with a purpose now. I couldn't retire after losing 4 fights man. I had to get back in there. That's not how I want to go out.
PC: What is it like for your wife to still support you after seeing you drop so many fights because we see her at all the fights?
JP: She is a different character man. She's like no other woman out there and you gotta have that behind you or you won't get anywhere. She was the one like, "You need to get up and leave. Go train and leave us behind if you still want to do this." I was like, "We don't have a lot of money. You guys going to be okay?" She told me straight up, "If we gotta live in a cardboard box, then we will make it fly and we will make it work." And that's when I headed out to Boise. I'm telling you man, she is a different type of woman. So now I'm back to my grind and back to what I know. And another thing is I'm not getting beat up in these fights. I'm losing because I'm dumb. My goal is to continue to fight and commentate in the WEC and my dream is to eventually make it to the UFC as a commentator, so you know, I'm not trying to fight until I'm slurring and don't have my functions, but I'm not getting beat up like that. I'm just getting caught in stupid stuff that's my fault and I'm correcting those things now.
PC: Great talking with you Jens. I wish you the best of luck in March. Is there anything you want to say in closing?
JP: You can go to my Myspace page and see clips of something that we are working on and trying to raise money to make it happen. You will be blown away by it, so I want everyone to check that out and thank the fans for everything and sticking by me. I want to thank you for the interview. Take care of yourself man and I will see you out in Ohio.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]