Blake Bowman Interview

Former TUF 6 competitor Blake Bowman recently gave us his insights into the Ultimate Fighter house, Matt Hughes' coaching style, and what's going to happen at UFC 87.
MMAwesome: Thanks for talking with us. Congratulations on win #2. How's life with a perfect, unbeaten pro record?

Bowman: Thank you very much. It's cool The first fight was quick and brutal. Just got it out of the way. This last fight I took cause I knew it was a tough fight. It was dangerous to take and probably not smart. David is a tough guy. Hard head and tons and tons of heart. He was 5-0 at the time, even though listed online as like 2-0. Plus, he has beaten guys better than him, but he's an unknown on the big scene of things. I have a gang of people waiting for me to fail so they can point a finger and say "Ha...told you that you suck!" But whatever, I had told Tony Metcalf I wanted a war. He said he was thinking Curby. I said "sounds like a war." I had a lot of respect for him. I knew he'd fight me and make me fight him. I needed it kind of to validate myself. I almost believed what people were saying. That fight brought out my heart.

MMAwesome: Have you been emailing that Youtube video of the 8 second KO to everyone you know (I would if I were you)?

Bowman: I have shown people that asked about it. But it kind of circulated itself. I just out it on my myspace page and let people watch it whenever they noticed. It's cool. that was the surgery leg, so it made a statement of sorts I suppose. I knew the guy wanted to clinch with me, but when he extended, I just threw a high kick, didn't expect it to land perfectly like that. I almost threw it just to try and break his arm. Oh well, I'll take it.

MMAwesome: When's your next fight and what are your long-term goals or plans?

Bowman: I was scheduled to fight another Atlanta guy on the 25th of July, but I got cut when Curby and I clashed heads and took some staples (and a terrible job at that from the ringside physician.) The Georgia commission automatically issues a 30 day medical suspension for any suture to the face. So I'm out of that fight and wont be eligible again until July 29th. So, I dunno. Sometime in August. Kinda taking it one fight at a time. The AFL is blowing up and preparing to do a pay per view card in Atlanta late this year. That'd be HUGE. A hometown fight in a new organization. I'm also talking with another promotion in California. Palace Fighting Championships is a good show and feeding guys into the WEC. That's where I want to be in the end. Everyone asks about UFC. That'd be cool I guess. But they're cutting any 170 pounder that doesn't dominate start to finish. The best of the best are there. They don't have room to bring me back to see if I can kinda perform or not. If they did, it'd be to feed me to a top 5 guy. I have no problem with that, but I have a lot potential to develop right now. I feel that WEC is where I'd be most competitive and best utilized. So, pay my dues, tune up and tighten some skills that might be loose, and head to the blue cage in 09. After that, work my way up to Condit. He's a fucking beast, good at everything. No one can seem to figure out how to challenge him. After a year of real training, we'll see if I can do something. Who knows...no point in fighting at any level if you only want easy fights.

MMAwesome: I noticed Mac Danzig is in your top friends on your Myspace page. Do you guys still stay in touch with each other?

Bowman: Yeah. Mac was really supportive of me during my recovery and rehab from the knee surgery. He and Cole have talked several times as have I and Wang since the show. Everyone in that circle is cool and always happy to see each other. Of course, sadly, a huge percentage of people are fucking stupid and refuse to believe anything other than edited filth presented on TV. When I was in Vegas last week with Cole (Miller) for the UFC, Micah and I went to Couture to train. I had food poisoning and couldn't do much, but Mac came by and actually picked us up. So, to answer your question, yeah...we keep in touch. In fact he texted me this morning.

MMAwesome: Speaking of the Ultimate Fighter, what's your take on the Jesse Taylor fiasco?

Bowman: I didn't watch this season at all. I know what happened. Sometimes people get out of control. Just remember that nothing is ever as it looks on "reality" television. New guys are young and bulletproof, you know? I think the kid will turn out to be recognized in the fight world for his skills soon enough. Sadly, he'll never shake the stigma he got from the show.

MMAwesome: Why do you TUF guys always trash the house?

Bowman: I didn't...lol. I dunno why that happens. I think that after boredom and testosterone build up, blah blah blah...the usual bullshit you hear. That house is Ludivico's technique. It changes everything about you. Somewhere along the line, we all saw someone in a past season trash the house, and I guess everyone tries to outdo the last one they saw. I don't get it. I started a couple fires, but I didn't break anything. Ben Saunders took out an entire wall. You get a little bit of aggression built up and some of it directs itself to the production. You target the house maybe? I dunno, just speculation on my part.

MMAwesome: Do you ever hear from coach Hughes? What's your opinion of him as a coach?

Bowman: The only time I've heard from Coach Hughes was when I was quoted as saying unkind things about him. There was a fiasco on his website, everything got corrected, and he hasn't responded to anything I've sent him since. It's safe to say he doesn't respect me that much; lot of people don't. I'm okay with that. I suppose I didn't give him any reason to. I talk with Pena and Fiore still sometimes. Apparently Robbie thinks I'm the funniest guy ever. That's cool I guess.
My opinion of Matt as a coach is he's good. You know, he's not the best "teacher" but he can take anyone and make them hard as steel. Him and his crew made me a fighter. I was just a guy that fought as a hobby before the show. They know what they're doing. AS A PERSON though, I haven't met a lot of people better than Matt Hughes. At least as a friend. He's supportive and seems to not always know what to say, but when to just pat you on the shoulder. He's a good guy; I'm glad to have known him...maybe in the future, we'll reestablish contact.

MMAwesome: Changing topics, what summer blockbusters have you seen, or which ones are you excited to see?

Bowman: I went to the Midnight showing of the Dark Night and was floored. Best movie I've seen in a long time. Ledger was disturbing, Oldman was great and will be overlooked sadly. Other than that, I've seen Wanted in Vegas...it sucked. I intentionally went to sleep during the last half hour or so. Sat back, put my sunglasses on and dozed off. It's 45 minutes of nothing but curving a bullet. The rental will be worth it though to see Jolie's ass.

MMAwesome: What are your plans for the rest of the summer?

Bowman: I'm headed to Vegas for August 3rd WEC. Micah is fighting and I'll be there in his corner. "Team Miller" is reunited and I'll be moving to Florida finally right after the fight. Then I'll start training full time for whatever my next fight is at American Top Team. I've been talking about it for a long time, but everything kept going wrong. Now, I've decided to do it no matter what. After Cole beat Gurgel, he's financially able to stop teaching all his classes. I'm going to pick them up. But I'm broke as fuck. Life will suck for the first couple months, but I'll be training at the best gym in the world and seeing how far I can go. I'll be with good friends that will hold me accountable and push me past my limits. I really think that the best Blake Bowman is a few fights down the road for sure. I know everyone says that; but I've got a lot of growing that's about to start seriously taking off. Other than that, I don't really have anything else in my life. No kids, no girlfriend, nothing really. I just sit around by myself when I'm not training. Even when I took time off to heal this cut; I just sat around and didn't train. I need a hobby, lol. Maybe I'll enjoy going to the beach in Florida, but I doubt it. I hate water.

MMAwesome: Finally, can you give us some predictions for UFC 87?

Bowman: Sure, why not:
J-Roc/Killa B: Probably gonna go with Saunders here. I dunno why. Both these guys are tough and skilled. I think Ben's length will give Rollins problems though. Should be a brawl though.

I don't know a few of these guys, so I'll skip them

Tamdan McCrory/Luke Cummo: There's only enough room in the UFC for one super nerd welterweight. These guys are both really talented, tall awkward strikers, and fucking aggressive. I'm gonna pick this to be a fight of the night. Cummo is a little weirder, so he wins by strangeness.

Jason MacDonald/Demain Maia: Maia is a little one dimensional and MacDonald is pretty well rounded, but Maia is going to submit MacDonald whenever he gets a chance. Probably in the first actually. That guy is ridiculous.

Emerson/Manny: Good fight for Manny. I think he'll outpower Emerson and probably TKO him.

Kenny Florian/Roger Huerta: I don't get all the Huerta hate. All these people saying "I can't wait for Florian to expose him!!!!!11" Expose him as what? He's not a great wrestler. He's not a great anything. He is conditioned, tough, smart and skilled a little bit everywhere. He just breaks people's will or catches them making mistakes trying to keep his pace. That being said...he's not going to gas or rattle Florian and I think the superior skills of Kenny will pick apart the "little bitta this, little bitta that" Huerta style. Kenny takes UJD.

WWF/PRIDE: Herring was a HUGE underdog last time I checked the line. It was worth the bet. Herring's skill set is huge compared to "heavy hands, good wrestling, big muscles, penis knife tattoo." However, Herring doesn't do great against big guys that can lay on top of him and just wrestle. If Brock's gas tank is full, he'll take it. If not, then he'll get KTFO. Either way, I'll be using the bathroom waiting on the main event.

God/Fitch: GSP is fucking everything. End of story. But Fitch is one of my favorite fighters. You can play back www.rearnakedradio.net shows and hear me talking about how Fitch is the next big player in the division. I think it's a good fight, but not one for the casual fan. Fitch will have to negate GSP super-mega-ultra athleticism to win this fight. We all know that in to do that, you have to make a more "boring" fight. I think GSP wins it, Fitch makes it hard, and the casual fan doesn't understand how awesome Fitch was in doing so.

Go give Blake some support on his Myspace page, Myspace.com/bowmanb.