TYLER STINSON INTERVIEW
Posted on | March 9, 2007 | 1 Comment
TYLER STINSON: Masters of The Cage Middleweight Champion
By: Rich Bergeron
Tyler Stinson fell into the fight game after starting out as a football player and needing a new challenge in sports. He entered the cage for his first fight with almost no training whatsoever. “I just started watching it on TV, and I thought I could do it, so I sent my info out, and a couple days later they called and said they had me in a fight already,” Stinson said. “I had no background. Once I took some little kid martial arts stuff for a week in the summer, but that was it.”
The young fighter has been a professional fighter since July of last year, and the lack of experience only invigorated his training and made him a better fighter in the process. Skipping the amateurs and going directly to the professional ranks has not really hurt him all that much, as he has already become a champion in his weight class. It was that first fight that proved to be his greatest hurdle so far. “All my fights have been professional. It was crazy. I took that first fight on 10 days notice with no training at all,” Stinson explained. “I called my trainer Mark Jones, and he told me I was an idiot for taking it. I told him, ‘I can’t back down now,’ so I ended up going all three rounds. I ended up losing in a split decision, and it was really the hardest night of my life.”
He is 4-1 now as a pro, and he’s even gone out and won the rematch with the man who gave him his only loss. “I fought the same guy the next month and knocked ‘im out in the second round,” he said.
His ultimate goal in MMA is to be a world champion at UFC, Pride, or any of the larger organizations out there. “I just want to be the best in my weight class,” he added.
His role models in the sport are Rich Franklin and Georges St. Pierre. “I was always a football player, so I looked up to Jerry Rice and Troy Aikman and all the classy football players who were the best,” he said.
He’s made an amazing transition to his new sport considering he never had a lick of formal training or even any rough and tumble experience as a kid. “I just saw it on TV,” he said. “I look at it, and it’s an ultimate sport to me, and I was always in sports, so I thought it was an excellent thing to try. It turns out I love it.”
His next fight is Saturday, March 17th in Norman, Oklahoma in a Masters of The Cage event. He will be defending his middleweight championship belt against Joe Bunch from Arkansas. “He’s gonna wanna take me down. He’s a wrestler, and he likes to ground and pound,” said Stinson. “He’s seen me fight before, and he knows me, so he’s gonna wanna knock me out. I’m gonna try to keep it on the feet.”
Though he admits his standup is his greatest strength, he also points out that he is fully capable and ready to scrap on the ground if he has to. “My trainers tell me I hit really hard and really fast, but my ground is good, too,” he said. “I’ve been training with Eric Payne out of Wichita, Kansas. He’s a purple belt in Jiu Jitsu, so I’m not uncomfortable on the ground.”
He’s looking forward to knocking Bunch out in the first round. “I just gotta keep winning,” he maintained. “My main goal is to win, and everything else will come after that.”
He is comfortable winning any way he can, whether it comes by submission or knockout. “Lately my favorite submission has been a triangle or Omaplata,” he said. “Right now for standup my best weapon is my left hand, and I’m a southpaw. I’ve improved in each fight, and if I hit you with the left hand, I’m gonna win the fight. I’ve also been working on my kicks lately. I threw one my last fight and about flipped myself over. It was pretty funny. I have quick hands, so my standup is pretty good. Lately I’ve been working on my knees, too.”
The last time I fought down in Norman, I threw one punch and the guy just fell forward. It was a one punch, 9-second knockout. Everyone told me beforehand that the fight was gonna go all three rounds, but just one punch and he was done. I spent more energy celebrating than I did in the fight. People are starting to learn I’ve got some power, so they’re gonna wanna take me down quick.”
Asked what he considers the most important thing he does to prepare for a fight, Stinson pointed to conditioning. “I have to be in shape. I learned my first fight that I need to be in shape,” he said. “I fought a guy 15 years older than me, and I was out of shape. If I can’t go, then I’m gonna lose. You always have to be in shape.”
Stinson is coming off the fight he considers to be his most intense battle so far in his career. “Actually my toughest fight was my last one February 10th in Wichita. It was my first fight in Kansas,” he said. “I fought Dominic Brown from Kansas City. He was like 18-6 as an amateur, and he won two amateur belts. He was 3-0 as a pro. I had to be ready for another battle, and it was set for three five-minute rounds. I almost KO’d him in the first 20 seconds, but he recovered. I threw a kick, and I missed, and he ended up taking me down. I ate probably 6 or 7 elbows, and then I was able to get him back in my guard. I put a triangle choke on him and won by submission, but my lip was all busted up afterward.”
He considers his 9-second knockout his favorite fight. “You don’t see those too many times, and to actually do that, it was pretty cool,” he said. “The place just went crazy.”
Asked about who he considers his favorite fighter, he answered, “I’ve always gotta watch St. Pierre. I’ll watch him before anybody. He’s the type of fighter that I wanna be. I’m trying to become fighter like him, and I wanna be good in everything, the best in everything.”
His greatest accomplishment outside the ring is just the way he’s lived his life. “Probably just not giving up,” he explained. “I wasn’t in school for a while. I could have got sucked in to all the bad shit that can happen, but I just kept my head up and followed my dream, and now I couldn’t be happier.”
Offered a chance to add his own final thoughts, Stinson gave credit to his support team. “If it wasn’t for Mark Jones, Nate Cook, and Eric Payne, you wouldn’t be talking to me right now,” he said. “I can’t thank those guys enough and all my crazy ass friends and family. They come to my fights, and they’re just nuts. Everybody looks at ’em like they’re just crazy, and that’s why I do it.”
To find out more about Tyler Stinson, visit his MySpace at:
www.myspace.com/teamkayostinson
