BloodyKnux
07-06-2006, 11:59 PM
One on One with Dan Christison
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g178/dcbooks/dan-1.jpg
TUF 2 contestant Dan Christison talks about his fight with Frank Mir, and his experiences on The Ultimate Fighter.
In February of 2005, I made my first trip to Atlantic City to see a live mixed martial arts event- Mixed Fighting Championships 3. I’d seen dozens of shows on television, but that could not prepare me for the excitement of attending a live event. Even better than meeting Jeremy Horn and Tim Sylvia, or watching UFC veterans like Yves Edwards and Hermes Franca continue their rivalry in the ring, and yet the most unexpected benefit of the night was discovering new fighters on their way up the ladder. Guys whose careers I could follow from the MFC and beyond. One match that I’ll never forget was a literal clash of titans. Miletich fighter Ben Rothwell stepped into the ring against the giant Dan Christison. Two fighters traded blows that would easily have dropped lesser men, and continued for almost the entire regulation time without a break in the action until Dan delivered a devastating high kick, and followed up with an armbar to win the match by submission.
Ben Rothwell delivered an awesome performance that night, and has continued on to the IFL, but Dan has bested him once again by going on the The Ultimate Fighter show on Spike, and now fighting on the main card in the UFC against former heavyweight champ, Frank Mir on July 8th. We had a chance to talk to Dan before his match this coming Saturday.
_________
BK- What did you do prior to mixed martial arts?
DC- I was an engineer for quite a few years, building inflatable boats and inflatable river craft to inflatable emergency craft used by law enforcement. Eventually I continued my education into structural engineering.
I spent a lot time in Chinese martial arts, and after years of study, one wants to determine what one can do, to put it to the test. After a mishap in a bar fight quite a few years ago, a friend of mine pointed out my complete lack of ground-game, and he started taking me to this new stuff I’d never heard of, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. I liked it and continued on and was offered a few fights.
BK- When you fought Ben Rothwell at MFC 4 you were announced as the “Punisher”, but these day you’re Dan “the Sandman” Christison. Why the change, and are you a comic fan?
DC- Yeah, I used to collect Daredevil, the old stuff, my collection starts with #1 and goes to around the time the movie came out. My Friends wanted to call me the De-Moralizer, because when wrestling they wrestle with me, it’s demoralizing because whatever they do, I have an answer for it. From their perspective mind you. I‘ve always disliked the moniker “Big Dan” - it makes me feel like I’m a corn-fed Okie with zero education, and a complete and total moron. Not that there is anything wrong with Okies, but it didn’t fit. I’m like call me something call me anything but that. I racked my brain for something, and I was preparing for a fight with Chief Andre (Roberts). Around that time they were running the Punisher movies on HBO. So I was running drills and laying down as much punishment as I could on the heavy bag, and one of the guy was like you’re just like a punisher. I thought, that’s kind of a cool nickname, but I didn’t really make the comic book connection until I saw the movie. Then later another friend of mine had made a Punisher comment as a sadistic sexual reference, which wasn’t really a path I wanted to go down, so I had to come up with something else. So then Kyria’s daughter started calling me “Dan Dan the Sandman,” so I thought that was kind of cool, so I went with that.
BK- After winning your match with Ben Rothwell at MFC 4, you were suppose to headline their next show against Red Devil Sports Club fighter, Ibraghim Magomedov, but something came up. What happened?
DC- Something did come up. Couldn’t do it, I had to got to the show. A friend of mine had put the bug in my ear that they were looking for heavyweights for the season 2 (of TUF). I didn’t really feel like I had a realistic chance, but some of my friends convinced to give it a shot. See what happens. There are a lot of things that I’ve been trying to work on over the years, for many reasons, a lot of personal and emotional issues, things that the everyday fan doesn’t know about, unless they know a fighter, and are in consistent company of one. I didn’t really feel that at that time it was something I wanted to do, but through the coaxing of my friends, I started getting more excited about it. This could be kind of neat; I want to give this a shot. The more I thought about it and the more I trained well maybe, if I really apply myself, I could win this thing.
So I started to really focus and apply myself we made the demo video and sent it in. I kind of hammed it up, and told some stupid jokes and sent it in and next thing I know they said “We’ll fly you out to Vegas, and see if you pass the screening and interview process. After that they sent me home, about a week later they gave me a call, and said, “No, we’re not going to use you.” I was going through the mental aspect of being rejected, when the following Friday Kerry Schall injured himself.
They called and said they wanted to bring me in, and that was it. At that point in time there was no question in my mind,
BK- How did living in the house, and being on the show affect your performance?
DC- Well there’s been a lot of things said about that by people that know me, by friends of mine, meaning well, but not necessarily coming across with my true thoughts. As far as that goes, in my opinion, there are specific ways to train. As a professional fighter you need to balance what you can do. For instance you can’t do sprints every single day. Some people can, a lot of heavy weights can’t. Personally I believe that the cut-off is right around 240. If you’re heavier than 240 odds are you are going to injure yourself sprinting. As far as working with Matt, I learned an extensive amount about what to do, and what not to do how to do certain things to get the most performance out of your self. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to train the way I’m used to training
That affected me. I’m not going to make any excuses, as far as saying my knee hurt or my back hurt. The bottom line was I didn’t feel I trained the way I should, the way I normally train to prepare myself, and that’s why I botched that fight. Bottom Line.
There’s not a thing that I can take anything away from Seth. He fought the way he had to to win that fight.
Some people are really adept, and mentally strong enough to be able to perform at a high level in a strange situation (like on the show). Some of us, without the proper mental and physical preparation, our chances of victory decreases incrementally when you add in those factors. If anyone is in particular environment training with people, knowing that they’ll have to fight those people. That wears on you. It’s a huge burden.
BK- You’ve bounced back with your victory over TUF finalist Brad Imes. Sadly it wasn’t televised, but it has been described as one of the bloodiest wars in the UFC.
DC- To put it bluntly, we were beating the snot out of each other. I had a cut over my right eye; Brad’s a tough guy, a very tough guy.
BK- Your next match is with former UFC heavyweight champ Frank Mir. Do you think he’s recovered enough to get in there with you?
DC- First of all, as far as Frank goes, I’m a fan of his. I was watching him fight in the UFC; I’d read about him in articles. All the guys at the top, Mir, Arlovski, Tim Sylvia, Pedro Rizzo, watching all these guys, and now to be facing an opponent who is one of the guys I use to read about, that’s cool. That’s like wow.
BK- I’d think you’d be used to that. You faced Dan Severn twice.
DC- There’s one aspect of that, facing Dan Severn, you’re facing a legend. Win lose or Draw, you faced a legend. At that point of time in my career, I’d only had 2 or 3 fights. I was very green, and facing someone like that, you have nothing to lose. It’s the same with facing Mir. I have nothing to lose. The pressure is all on him. He has to beat me, or quite possibly this may be his exit fight. I’d like to think, and this may be my ego talking, but I’d like to think I have the skills to match him, at the very least defend. There are not a lot of heavy weights that can move like small guys. You can move like a small guy that’s great, and you’re pushing a lot of weight as a big guy, not like a small guy who can continue to be a dynamo for an extended period of time. I think it’s a phenomenal opportunity.
BK- You mentioned the two top guys in the UFC heavyweight division, Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski. How do you think you’d match up with them, and how do you think their rubber match will turn out this Saturday?
DC- Let me answer the second question first. As far as how they’re going to match up together. I don’t think anybody in the fighting world thought that it would go Tim Sylvia’s way like that. Tim has done a phenomenal job preparing him-self for that. I can’t say enough good things about the man. He’s proven himself time and time again, not only capable of remaining at the top, but also of being dethroned and coming back up through and continuing to push. I’m a fan of his, I’m a fan of tall guys because I’m one. I thought, “Man that’s cool, that’s how he prevented that, that’s something I can learn, that’s something I can possibly put into my arsenal.” As for Andrei Arlovski, that guy is just straight up scary, he’s like 250 and he’s built like a brick wall. He’s long, he’s lean, he’s fast, and explosive. He can submit, he can hit, that’s just wow, he’s just impressive.
BK- What do you think of the Pride heavyweight division, and how do you think it stacks up with the domestic product?
DC- Those guys, the top guys in the UFC are scary, but I don’t know what the regulations for illegal substances are in Pride, but my god those guys are huge and very, very skilled. I watch Fedor’s fight over and over again. A lot of the things he does are very basic, not hard to do, but the way he strings them together, the transitions that’s where the difficulty lies. The essence of speed and power combined. I love watching Pride; I just watched one of our guys Joey Villesenor dropped a decision fighting Chonan over there.
BK- Win or lose against Mir, what are your plans for the future?
DC- Well, I’d like to do well and retire with the UFC. That’d be cool; I would like to stay with the UFC. They’ve done nothing but treat me well. They’ve been a dynamite organization from a fighting perspective.
BK- Is there anyone in the UFC you’d look forward to fighting?
DC- There’s a lot people that would like to see various fights. Honestly, just being able to say I’m one of the top heavyweights in the UFC, to be with this particular company is a wonderful thing. As per fighting a particular opponent, wanting to challenge a particular opponent, at this point I don’t really have anybody. All I’m really concerned with at this point is literally working on my own faults, tightening up my game, to make me a better fighter.
BK- Thanks for taking the time to talk to us.
See Dan face former UFC heavy weight champ Frank Mir Satuday July 8th on Pay-per View. For future news an updates about Dan sign up for his newsletter here-
http://www.danchristison.com
-A big thanks to G-Row, from the TUF forums for helping set up this interview and Rachel for editing.
Discuss this interview and Dan's match with Frank Mir here. (http://www.bloodyknux.com/forum/showthread.php?p=497392#post497392)
-Jim “DC Books” Kirkland (http://www.bloodyknux.com/forum/member.php?u=270)
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g178/dcbooks/dan-1.jpg
TUF 2 contestant Dan Christison talks about his fight with Frank Mir, and his experiences on The Ultimate Fighter.
In February of 2005, I made my first trip to Atlantic City to see a live mixed martial arts event- Mixed Fighting Championships 3. I’d seen dozens of shows on television, but that could not prepare me for the excitement of attending a live event. Even better than meeting Jeremy Horn and Tim Sylvia, or watching UFC veterans like Yves Edwards and Hermes Franca continue their rivalry in the ring, and yet the most unexpected benefit of the night was discovering new fighters on their way up the ladder. Guys whose careers I could follow from the MFC and beyond. One match that I’ll never forget was a literal clash of titans. Miletich fighter Ben Rothwell stepped into the ring against the giant Dan Christison. Two fighters traded blows that would easily have dropped lesser men, and continued for almost the entire regulation time without a break in the action until Dan delivered a devastating high kick, and followed up with an armbar to win the match by submission.
Ben Rothwell delivered an awesome performance that night, and has continued on to the IFL, but Dan has bested him once again by going on the The Ultimate Fighter show on Spike, and now fighting on the main card in the UFC against former heavyweight champ, Frank Mir on July 8th. We had a chance to talk to Dan before his match this coming Saturday.
_________
BK- What did you do prior to mixed martial arts?
DC- I was an engineer for quite a few years, building inflatable boats and inflatable river craft to inflatable emergency craft used by law enforcement. Eventually I continued my education into structural engineering.
I spent a lot time in Chinese martial arts, and after years of study, one wants to determine what one can do, to put it to the test. After a mishap in a bar fight quite a few years ago, a friend of mine pointed out my complete lack of ground-game, and he started taking me to this new stuff I’d never heard of, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. I liked it and continued on and was offered a few fights.
BK- When you fought Ben Rothwell at MFC 4 you were announced as the “Punisher”, but these day you’re Dan “the Sandman” Christison. Why the change, and are you a comic fan?
DC- Yeah, I used to collect Daredevil, the old stuff, my collection starts with #1 and goes to around the time the movie came out. My Friends wanted to call me the De-Moralizer, because when wrestling they wrestle with me, it’s demoralizing because whatever they do, I have an answer for it. From their perspective mind you. I‘ve always disliked the moniker “Big Dan” - it makes me feel like I’m a corn-fed Okie with zero education, and a complete and total moron. Not that there is anything wrong with Okies, but it didn’t fit. I’m like call me something call me anything but that. I racked my brain for something, and I was preparing for a fight with Chief Andre (Roberts). Around that time they were running the Punisher movies on HBO. So I was running drills and laying down as much punishment as I could on the heavy bag, and one of the guy was like you’re just like a punisher. I thought, that’s kind of a cool nickname, but I didn’t really make the comic book connection until I saw the movie. Then later another friend of mine had made a Punisher comment as a sadistic sexual reference, which wasn’t really a path I wanted to go down, so I had to come up with something else. So then Kyria’s daughter started calling me “Dan Dan the Sandman,” so I thought that was kind of cool, so I went with that.
BK- After winning your match with Ben Rothwell at MFC 4, you were suppose to headline their next show against Red Devil Sports Club fighter, Ibraghim Magomedov, but something came up. What happened?
DC- Something did come up. Couldn’t do it, I had to got to the show. A friend of mine had put the bug in my ear that they were looking for heavyweights for the season 2 (of TUF). I didn’t really feel like I had a realistic chance, but some of my friends convinced to give it a shot. See what happens. There are a lot of things that I’ve been trying to work on over the years, for many reasons, a lot of personal and emotional issues, things that the everyday fan doesn’t know about, unless they know a fighter, and are in consistent company of one. I didn’t really feel that at that time it was something I wanted to do, but through the coaxing of my friends, I started getting more excited about it. This could be kind of neat; I want to give this a shot. The more I thought about it and the more I trained well maybe, if I really apply myself, I could win this thing.
So I started to really focus and apply myself we made the demo video and sent it in. I kind of hammed it up, and told some stupid jokes and sent it in and next thing I know they said “We’ll fly you out to Vegas, and see if you pass the screening and interview process. After that they sent me home, about a week later they gave me a call, and said, “No, we’re not going to use you.” I was going through the mental aspect of being rejected, when the following Friday Kerry Schall injured himself.
They called and said they wanted to bring me in, and that was it. At that point in time there was no question in my mind,
BK- How did living in the house, and being on the show affect your performance?
DC- Well there’s been a lot of things said about that by people that know me, by friends of mine, meaning well, but not necessarily coming across with my true thoughts. As far as that goes, in my opinion, there are specific ways to train. As a professional fighter you need to balance what you can do. For instance you can’t do sprints every single day. Some people can, a lot of heavy weights can’t. Personally I believe that the cut-off is right around 240. If you’re heavier than 240 odds are you are going to injure yourself sprinting. As far as working with Matt, I learned an extensive amount about what to do, and what not to do how to do certain things to get the most performance out of your self. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to train the way I’m used to training
That affected me. I’m not going to make any excuses, as far as saying my knee hurt or my back hurt. The bottom line was I didn’t feel I trained the way I should, the way I normally train to prepare myself, and that’s why I botched that fight. Bottom Line.
There’s not a thing that I can take anything away from Seth. He fought the way he had to to win that fight.
Some people are really adept, and mentally strong enough to be able to perform at a high level in a strange situation (like on the show). Some of us, without the proper mental and physical preparation, our chances of victory decreases incrementally when you add in those factors. If anyone is in particular environment training with people, knowing that they’ll have to fight those people. That wears on you. It’s a huge burden.
BK- You’ve bounced back with your victory over TUF finalist Brad Imes. Sadly it wasn’t televised, but it has been described as one of the bloodiest wars in the UFC.
DC- To put it bluntly, we were beating the snot out of each other. I had a cut over my right eye; Brad’s a tough guy, a very tough guy.
BK- Your next match is with former UFC heavyweight champ Frank Mir. Do you think he’s recovered enough to get in there with you?
DC- First of all, as far as Frank goes, I’m a fan of his. I was watching him fight in the UFC; I’d read about him in articles. All the guys at the top, Mir, Arlovski, Tim Sylvia, Pedro Rizzo, watching all these guys, and now to be facing an opponent who is one of the guys I use to read about, that’s cool. That’s like wow.
BK- I’d think you’d be used to that. You faced Dan Severn twice.
DC- There’s one aspect of that, facing Dan Severn, you’re facing a legend. Win lose or Draw, you faced a legend. At that point of time in my career, I’d only had 2 or 3 fights. I was very green, and facing someone like that, you have nothing to lose. It’s the same with facing Mir. I have nothing to lose. The pressure is all on him. He has to beat me, or quite possibly this may be his exit fight. I’d like to think, and this may be my ego talking, but I’d like to think I have the skills to match him, at the very least defend. There are not a lot of heavy weights that can move like small guys. You can move like a small guy that’s great, and you’re pushing a lot of weight as a big guy, not like a small guy who can continue to be a dynamo for an extended period of time. I think it’s a phenomenal opportunity.
BK- You mentioned the two top guys in the UFC heavyweight division, Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski. How do you think you’d match up with them, and how do you think their rubber match will turn out this Saturday?
DC- Let me answer the second question first. As far as how they’re going to match up together. I don’t think anybody in the fighting world thought that it would go Tim Sylvia’s way like that. Tim has done a phenomenal job preparing him-self for that. I can’t say enough good things about the man. He’s proven himself time and time again, not only capable of remaining at the top, but also of being dethroned and coming back up through and continuing to push. I’m a fan of his, I’m a fan of tall guys because I’m one. I thought, “Man that’s cool, that’s how he prevented that, that’s something I can learn, that’s something I can possibly put into my arsenal.” As for Andrei Arlovski, that guy is just straight up scary, he’s like 250 and he’s built like a brick wall. He’s long, he’s lean, he’s fast, and explosive. He can submit, he can hit, that’s just wow, he’s just impressive.
BK- What do you think of the Pride heavyweight division, and how do you think it stacks up with the domestic product?
DC- Those guys, the top guys in the UFC are scary, but I don’t know what the regulations for illegal substances are in Pride, but my god those guys are huge and very, very skilled. I watch Fedor’s fight over and over again. A lot of the things he does are very basic, not hard to do, but the way he strings them together, the transitions that’s where the difficulty lies. The essence of speed and power combined. I love watching Pride; I just watched one of our guys Joey Villesenor dropped a decision fighting Chonan over there.
BK- Win or lose against Mir, what are your plans for the future?
DC- Well, I’d like to do well and retire with the UFC. That’d be cool; I would like to stay with the UFC. They’ve done nothing but treat me well. They’ve been a dynamite organization from a fighting perspective.
BK- Is there anyone in the UFC you’d look forward to fighting?
DC- There’s a lot people that would like to see various fights. Honestly, just being able to say I’m one of the top heavyweights in the UFC, to be with this particular company is a wonderful thing. As per fighting a particular opponent, wanting to challenge a particular opponent, at this point I don’t really have anybody. All I’m really concerned with at this point is literally working on my own faults, tightening up my game, to make me a better fighter.
BK- Thanks for taking the time to talk to us.
See Dan face former UFC heavy weight champ Frank Mir Satuday July 8th on Pay-per View. For future news an updates about Dan sign up for his newsletter here-
http://www.danchristison.com
-A big thanks to G-Row, from the TUF forums for helping set up this interview and Rachel for editing.
Discuss this interview and Dan's match with Frank Mir here. (http://www.bloodyknux.com/forum/showthread.php?p=497392#post497392)
-Jim “DC Books” Kirkland (http://www.bloodyknux.com/forum/member.php?u=270)