I got the opportunity to sit down Dustin
Hazelett at my trip to the Jurge MMA Academy who is coming off a first
round submission win over Tamdan McCrory at UFC 91.
Mike: Congrats on the win, over Tamdan McCrory.
Could you give us your thoughts on that fight?
Dustin: Thanks. Well I didn’t do as well as I'd have liked to do. In
the stand-up at least. I planned on him charging at me and him being
very aggressive, because in his other fights, that’s the way he fought.
But he didn’t do it like that, and he used his reach and I couldn’t
figure out why my game plan wasn’t working. And I just kept getting
punched in the face basically…haha. I was happy with my ground game
though.
Mike: I would hope so, that submission was sick.
Do you have a favorite that you have pulled off so far?
Dustin: The Burkman armbar is the most famous one probably, but my favorite
was the step-over kimura against Jonathan Goulet. That’s a pretty advance,
technical move to pull off in a fight.
Mike: And how did you get started in mixed martial
arts?
Dustin: I got bullied around a lot as a kid, and have had my head put
in toilets on more then one occasion. haha. So I caught a few UFC's
and I started taking jiu-jitsu at a Gurgel affiliate school at age 16.
Had my first fight at 18, and turned pro the same year. Its kind of
funny, anytime I see someone from back when I was younger, they always
say "it’s crazy! you are the last person I would think would be
a professional fighter" haha.
Mike: So what’s next? Anyone in particular you
wanna throw down with?
Dustin: Nah, I am not as focused on fight after fight after fight, and
trying to quickly climb up the ladder. I just want to take my time and
get better in my time between fights. I have really been focusing on
my Muay Thai, and trying to improve that area of my game right now.
Mike: Ok, the Final 2. If you were matchmaker
for a day, what’s one fight you would love to set-up and watch?
Dustin: I really wanted to see Nog vs Mir, Florian vs Stevenson was
one I was excited for…it was crazy, I didn’t expect it to end that quick
though. Florian vs Penn would be good. Definitely add that one to the
list of fights I wanna see. There’s just a ton of dream match-ups that
have been out together.
Mike: And speaking of the GSP vs Penn II match-up...if
you keep fighting the way you have been you may be facing one of them
soon, how do you think this fight is gonna go?
Dustin: Not really sure, but I really wanna watch and see! The first
time Penn was doing good, but then he gassed or whatever, but both fighters
have improved since that last fight. Man, I met BJ at UFC 91, and he
looked big, like he was working hard and really putting on some solid
muscle. It’s gonna be a good fight.
Mike: Ok, now the last question…if they made
a movie about you, who would they get to play Dustin Hazelett?
Dustin: Hmmm....Probably Will Farrell, he's pretty funny and I like
to joke around a lot. I mean he's made movies about all the other sports
(Racing/Basketball/Skating) he should do one about MMA!
Mike: I bet Will could rock the beard as well.
Dustin: haha definitely! |
