Interview with UFC’s Matt Arroyo

Matt Arroyo Talks About His Experience on the Ultimate Fighter, and What It’s Like To Have One Guy in a Triangle Choke While Another Guy Kicks You in the Face.

Fight Trader got a chance to speak with one of the standouts from Ultimate Fighter Season 6, Matt Arroyo, who just got his black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu a few days before our conversation.

Fight Trader: What did you learn from your experience on The Ultimate Fighter?

Matt Arroyo: I learned what it takes to be a professional fighter. It takes a lot of hard work and mental toughness. You have to sit and eat breakfast with a guy you have to fight later that day.

Fight Trader: It seemed on the show that Matt Hughes and Matt Serra really hated each others guts. Was a lot of editing, acting, or whatever, or was that real hatred?

MA: No, that’s pretty accurate. That’s genuine hate. Matt is a city guy that doesn’t mind swearing and using the f-bomb, and loyalty is a big thing for him. Hughes is a country boy, wrestler, and jock. He doesn’t swear, he’s judgmental, and he didn’t like that Serra swears and would say, “That’s not how champions talk.” Serra would say, “Well, at least I treat people well,” which is true. Hughes didn’t even treat the guys on his team well.

FT: Yeah, it seemed like Hughes felt some kind of superiority, and Serra was more hands-on with his guys.

MA: Yeah. He (Hughes) would say to his guys, “I’m not your friend. You call me Coach Hughes.” The only time he got hands on was with discipline, and all he did was wear his team out, and our team won 6 of 8.

FT: It does seem like one team always dominates. Why do you think that is?

MA: It’s about match ups, especially if you’re the first team to win, you get to pick the match ups. Coaching is also important. A coach can’t try to make a guy something they’re not. Don’t make a grappler stand up with a striker, play to your strengths. Rampage picked more based on ego.

FT: That’s true! I remember he only had one fighter remaining, Marcus Jones, who worked really hard and learned a lot, and when Marcus let Rampage pick his opponent, Rampage went with Schoonover, just because Rampage had a beef with him, calling the guy titties and stuff.

MA: Yeah, titties (laughs). Marcus is actually a teammate of mine.

FT: Yeah? Is he staying with it? He made some comments alluding that he was going to stop, which is a shame because he seemed to have come so far in such a short time.

MA: I’m not sure, but he’s staying with the training. He loves it.

FT: I was reading up on Season 6, and I had forgotten that you coached Matt Serra to a victory in bowling over Coach Hughes. Are you a good bowler?

MA: Matt Serra didn’t know anything about bowling, but I showed him what little I know, and Serra whooped him, won ten grand, and everyone on the team got 3 grand.

FT: It seems like Matt should have cut you in on that.

MA: I thought about asking him, but no . . .

FT: You just got your black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Congratulations, and tell us just how much work that entails.

MA: Thanks. Basically, I started in March of 2003, so that was six years and 9 months, and the only real time off was one summer. I trained at least three times a week, sometimes five, and I teach.

FT: I saw that you do a lot of teaching. What does that do for you?

MA: Teaching helps my game because teaching it to others helps me understand it even better.

FT: I told a friend of mine that I was interviewing you, and he said he was a big fan and tried to find me a youtube video of you demonstrating a guillotine, and a guy barfed on you. We couldn’t find it online anymore.

MA: (pause). I took it offline because it will be included in a video. It was my friend Troy, and I was demonstrating on him, and he has a weird gag reflex. The DVD series and e-books are going to feature a lot of Rob Khan’s (one of his trainers) system of pressure, using a lot of grips to put pressure on a guy to get him to make a mistake. If you put enough pressure to a shoulder or a chin, they give up, and you take position.

FT: What did you think of the fights last night (Rashad Evans VS Thiago Silva)? I thought Rashad won, but it was boring. Rashad controlled the fight, but it didn’t seem like Silva was ever in any danger.

MA: Rashad did what it took to win, whether the crowd liked it or not. If he stayed standing up, it (the other two rounds) would have been like round three. Rashad tries to fight like GSP (George St. Pierre), but he’s not GSP. Thiago was able to keep getting up, and nobody gets up against GSP. Rashad trains with GSP, so he tries to fight like him, but he doesn’t have that kind of control.

FT: This is kind of a weird question, but what the hell . . .

MA: Yeah, go ahead.

FT: With all these guys out there doing MMA training, how come we’re not reading more about guys getting in bar fights and doing rear naked chokes and stuff and hurting each other really badly?

MA: Even people I know who get in fights use the training to get in position, but then you just use that positioning to punch the crap out of the guy because you’re mad. You’re not going to do something like a triangle because you want to avoid being on your back because a guy can pick you up and slam you on the concrete. One time in a bar fight I had a guy in a triangle, and his buddy was kicking me in the head.

FT: Let’s hear about that!

MA: I was celebrating with friends and family after graduating college, and I was talking to a girl I hadn’t seen since high school. A guy punched me in my face, basically, out of nowhere. I asked him to step outside, like in the movies, or whatever, and my friend was fighting his friend and got beat up really quick, and I had to fight both guys. I tried to knock out one guy to deal with the other guy, got the one in a triangle, getting him with punches and elbows while in the triangle, and he was about to go out. Then his buddy gets up off the ground and starts kicking me in the head. I choked the one out, got up to get the other guy, the cops came and broke it up. My buddy was screaming because he got beat up really bad, and when the cops went to look into that, I made a judgment call and knocked the guy out with one punch.

FT: Unbelievable!

MA: This was prior to my first MMA fight. I haven’t been in a street fight since I started fighting professionally.

FT: What can we expect from Matt Arroyo?

MA: MMA fights are on hold for now. I’m teaching at my school, and working on every aspect of my game. Don’t expect a comeback in the near future, but expect it. The next Abu Dhabi is in 2011, and I hope to get into that. Expect Jiu Jitsu DVD’s, and keep checking www.mattarroyo.com for new videos and updates.

FT: Sounds good, Matt. Thanks so much for taking the time to talk with us.

MA: Thanks.

By Matthew J. Swanson

Matthew J. Swanson is a playwright, fighting enthusiast, and author of all sorts of other “stuff.” Get a look at his writing with links to other publications to which he contributes at his blog page updated every day (mostly) at www.thegancer.blogspot.com.