 Check out the highlights from today’s conference call as Forrest Griffin and Quinton Jackson answered questions from the media. MMAyou.com also had a few questions for the UFC superstars so check it out! This is part 1 of 2. Part 2 will be ready tomorrow.
MMAyou.com: With Forrest’s takedown defense constantly improving and your hand skills constantly improving thanks to Quanito, is this a fight you’re going to look to keep entirely on the feet?
Jackson: I don’t care where this fight goes. I feel like I could fight anywhere and that’s the way I train. It’s an MMA fight. I don’t plan to just keep fighting on the feet. If I feel like I want to take it down and do some ground and pound, I’m gonna do it. It don’t matter. I don’t plan to keep the fight any one place.
Here are Quinton Jackson’s responses to various questions:
On the nine month layoff:
Jackson: Nine months is perfect. I coulda had another baby if I wanted to, you know what I’m saying? That woulda been perfect. It was good for my body. My body is going good. I never get a chance to fight at a 100% but it’s like I’m the closest to a 100% I ever been in my life and I’m glad I had the time off.
On any ill-will towards Forrest:
Jackson: I’m not pissed off. I fight for a living. I don’t think it’d be fair if I fight people while I was pissed off. It wouldn’t even be a fair fight. They shouldn’t even let me fight if I was pissed off. So I’m happy. I’m happy to be making money, to be in the UFC, happy to be defending my title. I’m happy.
Quinton Jackson on defending the title:
Jackson: It’s kind of weird. It’s a fight. I don’t even think about the title. I don’t even think about me being champion (inaudible). It’s a fight so there’s no pressure for me.
On fighting someone he’s coaching against:
Jackson: It’s no big deal. It’s a day at the office. It’s work. I’m not training with him. I’m not watching him train. We’re not staying at the same house. I just seem him come to the gym an do his thang. It was no big deal at all.
On the Ultimate Fighter:
Jackson: It was a lot of work. I didn’t know what to expect.
Jackson: It was a positive experience. I got to meet a lot of good guys.
On doing the Ultimate Fighter again:
Jackson: I been there done that. (laughs)
On the Ultimate Fighter finalists:
Jackson: I think they’ll both do pretty well in the UFC. I think CB has a lot of growing up to do you know what I‘m sayin? He has a lot of learning, act like he didn’t tap and all that stuff was just kind of.. That was kind of despicable in my books but you know I think Amir is going to be tough. He’s going to be good for the UFC. I’ve never seen a Muay Thai guy submit too many people.
When asked again what he didn’t like about CB:
Jackson: I just didn’t like how he act like he didn’t tap.
When asked about going heavyweight Quinton asked the reporter why would he go to heavyweight? He then added in that he was happy with his weight class.
When asked why he was so nervous about his first fight and why are his first time jitters gone now:
Jackson: Well I think the biggest thing was that I wanted to put on a good show for the UFC. I’ve always been known for having exciting fights. I wasn’t worried about losing because I knew there was no way in the world that Marvin could beat me just like I knew there was no way in the world that Chuck could beat me, just like I knew Dan couldn’t beat me, just like I know Forrest can’t beat me. So it was just a matter of putting on an exciting fight.
When asked if anyone from his team helped him get ready to fight Forrest, Jackson said that Jeremy May and Mike Dolce went to Big Bear to train with Jackson for this fight.
Here are Forrest Griffin’s responses:
MMAyou.com: Forrest, this question’s for Forrest. You might have alluded to this earlier when you talked about Quinton’s fight versus Dan Henderson (see below). An area that Quinton’s had some trouble in the past is the Muay Thai clinch. Is that something you’ve been working on and do you plan to exploit that?
Griffin: I mean you know it’s probably a lesson learned on his part, you know? He had trouble with that, you’re talking about fights that were two and a half, three years ago. He even actually you know, when ah… He’s actually used it pretty well when he fought the… I forget thee ah wrestler over in Pride, knocked him out with a knee to the sternum it looked like. So yeah I mean it’s definitely something that’s in my arsenal. It’s definitely something I’d do but I don’t know if that’s gonna be there.
On fighting someone he’s coaching against:
Griffin: It was annoying. I didn’t really like cameras or having to be certain places. It felt like you always had to be somewhere doing something stupid you didn’t want to be doing.
If he’s doing anything different for this fight:
Griffin: I tried to throw in a couple extra rounds. Fight’s going to be two rounds longer so I started doing two more rounds.
On any ill-will towards Quinton:
Griffin: Whether you like the guy or hate him it doesn‘t matter. You’re going to hit him as hard as you can., you know? It doesn’t really matter how you feel.
On Quinton’s last past performance against Dan Henderson:
Griffin: I thought it was pretty good. I mean I was pretty impressed. The one thing that I kinda thought maybe I could exploit in Jackson was his conditioning but he went five rounds with a guy that wears you out because he clinches so much and is so active in the clinch….. (Forrest continues on but the recording was cut off)
On Quinton being the best guy he’s ever faced:
Griffin: Yeah without a doubt.
Sadollah as a welterweight:
Griffin: Yeah well that’s something I told Amir is that you know his home’s probably going to be at 170. I think he’d do a lot better there; just style-wise, reach-wise, strength.
Be sure to check back with us real soon as we have some great interviews for you on the way!
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