Tony: Thank you Rashad for sitting with me for this interview?
Rashad: Not a problem.

Tony: Has your college wrestling helped you in MMA to this day?
Rashad: Oh definitely, it’s my foundation, my ability to take people down, which is a big part of my game, and also if it wasn’t for wrestling I wouldn’t be where I’m today.

Tony: Is the pressure still the same before a fight, or now that you’re more experienced, is it less?
Rashad: nah, you know the pressure is totally different. As you can imagine the pressure is actually a lot more. It can sometimes grab a hold of you so much that you just want to pass out. It can be very overwhelming at times, because you have the expectations of what everybody is thinking and then you have your own expectations. There are also times when you kind of play tricks with your mind. This can be very tough. But the biggest fight is keeping control of the emotions, and those feelings. Staying focused and staying controlled under the pressure gives you the best chance of having a great performance.

Tony: You won TUF. Would you go back to the show as a coach if the opportunity was presented?
Rashad: As a coach that would be something I would definitely consider. To have that experience would be really good. Being a coach really says something about you, and it would really mean that I went full circle.

Tony: For the fans and readers out there who might not know, when did you first start training with Greg Jackson?
Rashad: I started training with Greg Jackson around the end of 2005. I went out there with Keith Jardine and pretty much after the show he told me, you better come out with me and train. So, one day he called me and I took him up on his offer. I really didn’t even know where Albuquerque-New Mexico was. But I went out there and everything thing was just family. Once there, I instantly knew this is the place for me to be.

Tony: Who are some of the guys in your camp aside from Jardine and yourself?
Rashad: Nate Marquardt, George St. Pierre, David Loiseau, Damacio Page. Other guys come out and help us like, Paul Buentello who helped me prepare for the fight with Chuck. These are all just great guys that like coming down to help out. We also have Elliot Marshal who’s gonna be on the next season of TUF. There’s just allot of very good people who come out and train with us.

Tony: Many of the critics, viewers of this sports…etc, say “Rashad isn’t a technical fighter and all he does is showboat in his fights”. Your opinion Rashad?
Rashad: After my last fight was when these kind of comments started to resurface again. This is the first fight I actually fought the way I like to fight. Since the first fight in TUF I was criticized. But, if I’m fighting, I’m gonna do what I want to do. You don’t like me, then come stop me. But it has become more about me expressing myself. In this last fight I was just fighting the way I know how to fight, fighting the way I like to fight and fighting the way I feel comfortable fighting. Win or lose, I feel that I have to fight the way that I am the most comfortable. I do not apologize to those people who don’t like the way I fight. That’s just me and you can’t change that.

Tony: That makes perfect sense to me. I don’t know what people want to see from you Rashad. Maybe they want you standing there and getting hit like an idiot.
Rashad: Yea, your right. We’re not wearing 16oz gloves. And when you get hit with those 4- 5oz gloves, with your hands wrapped, that’s like getting hit with a hammer. You have little room for air wearing those things. And Chuck, he’s just notorious for knocking people out. He is constantly knocking people out you know. He’s knocked out the who’s who of mixed martial arts and for people to think I’m just gonna stand there and not move, your crazy.

Tony: Some people who are calling this fight a “fluke”, and will Rashad be able to do the same in his next bout. What do you think about the people who think of this fight as a fluke?
Rashad: Well you know I don’t know how the next fight is gonna go, but I will go out there and fight the way I’m capable of fighting. Whatever the outcome is whatever it is. One thing they can’t take away is the results of this fight. They speak for themselves. Maybe I’ve put together a string of fights where this might be my only good fight. You can never take away the results of this one and for me I can’t go out and live in the past. This is not the past and I don’t know what’s gonna happen in the future. Of course, I hope I go out there and have great fights. I also hope this isn’t my very best fight. I have worked too hard for it not to be my very best fight, but if it is then so be it, it is what it is. I plan to continue putting on really good shows.

Tony: Which is true. I feel that with many viewers who simply watch this sport and don’t train at all, try to hold on to the Chuck Liddell’s, the Randy Couture’s, and the Fedor’s of the world. They think their favorite fighters are never gonna get old or that there is no one out there that will have the skills, desire and the hunger to overcome them. Then they see the new breed of fighters and they don’t like what they see because it’s not what they’re use to seeing. Bottom line, people don’t want to see change.
Rashad: Yea, it’s hurtful because when change happens its kind of an acknowledgment that things are different in life. Things have moved on, you may be getting a little bit older, things may be a little bit different, it kind of confronts those issues once things change in life, maybe not in your life but from viewers. And whatever change happens it makes people feel uncomfortable.

Tony: In one of the magazine issues for us, Rampage made the comment that you are a “B” fighter, your thoughts?
Rashad: That’s fine, I’m glad that he thinks that, that’s fine, I’m the biggest Rampage fan and that still don’t change anything. People can think what they wanna think, but when we go in there and face each other we’ll see how long he thinks that.

Tony: Sugar, how did that nickname come to life?
Rashad: It came from my coach. I was in a sparring session and I was on my game that day. I was moving around, sticking and moving. I was looking fast, then he said “you look really good today man, really good, you look like Sugar Ray Robinson man.”

Tony: Has support always been there from your family when you first started MMA?
Rashad: Yea, my wife has always been my biggest fan. In college she was always watching me wrestle. Even when I didn’t want her to go she still came and watched me wrestle. My brothers and sisters are the same way. My brother Lance, who is gonna be on this next season of TUF, yea I’ve always had their support.

Tony: Getting away from work, what do you do to just get away from training, promoting, etc?
Rashad: Pretty much when I’m not fighting I’m doing the family thing. I have a 2 year old son and a 9 year old daughter, and my wife is pregnant right now. So when I’m not training or trying to fight, I’m spending as much time with them as I can. In reality, I feel that I am fighter at heart and it’s just in my blood. But I try to spend as much time with them before I start thinking about the next fight.

Tony: You’ve beaten fighters such as Bisping, Bonnar, and now Chuck Liddell and still yet to have gained all the respect. Who do you think you have to fight in order for the people, critics/ the world of mixed martial arts to consider you the best or a top contender in their eyes?
Rashad: You know Tony, I don’t know. Maybe I need to go on a sick knockout spree and knockout 10 people in a row. It’s kind of crazy, but you got to keep it in perspective you know. And its just like Muhammad Ali, (I’m not saying I’m Muhammad Ali) but those fighters in their time they weren’t appreciated for what they were good at. Many people hated Ali, they hated his guts. Sometimes it may be good to be hated. Sometimes being hated means you’re doing something right. One thing that I’ve learned just from watching other things in life, when people like you, they kind of devour you, they wear you out. So being in the position that I’m in right now is probably why I’m so successful. People don’t like me, don’t giving me my respect, and I feel if it was the other way, they would devour me.

Tony: Makes sense.
Rashad: Yea, you watch guys like Dave Chappelle. Anybody who does anything successful and when they start having problems the critics destroy you. Maybe it’s not meant for me right now, but maybe one day people will start devouring me too. Then I’ll be finished. But right now I don’t want to be finished. So I don’t want the people to like me.

Tony: Just like comedian Kat Williams. I can see the same thing happen to him as happened to Dave Chappelle.
Rashad: You know that’s a good point. People like you so much, that they have a very devouring nature about it. They have to destroy you with it.

Tony: And, Rashad, when you’re finally loved by everyone, the 1st fight you lose, you fucking suck in their eyes.
Rashad: Exactly! And the sad part is, that’s how they do you.

Tony: Anderson Silva. Would you like to fight him?
Rashad: Yes. I would like to fight Anderson, I have great respect for him and I love watching Anderson fight. I’m a big Anderson Silva fan. I have an Anderson Silva t-shirt you know, so to fight him would be an honor.

Tony: Do you feel you match up well with Forrest Griffin?
Rashad: Yea, I think I match up really well with Forrest. He does a lot of good things and he’s a very tough fighter. With him, like myself, there’s no counting this guy out. Forrest has heart and heart takes you a long way. When you see some other UFC fighters/fights, you see some good sides to their style. But, when you add heart to the equation, it’s a good combination. One of his strongest features is his ability to push himself. When he doesn’t know how to turn on, he puts himself into a mind set of "I’m willing to die for this right now, are you willing to die for it?” Most of the time the fighters that he is fighting aren’t willing to die for it. They’re not willing to say “you know what, I don’t care if I can’t see out of my right eye again after this fight.” They’re not willing to go that far for it. And to be able to beat Forrest, you need to be able to go there with him.

Tony: Any comments you might have for Tanner and his family?
Rashad: Honestly, Evan is in one of those better places right now. He’s moved on and I feel so bad for his family to have someone pass away without being able to say those last goodbyes. Families tend to be left incomplete when they do not know what their loved one was feeling at the time of his death. I just hurt for the family because when my father past away I didn’t get a chance to have that closure. And it really bothered me for a really long time. So I really send my prayers out to his family.