Theme Park at its Darkest

Congratulations on being signed to Bellator. What were the circumstances under which they contacted you?

Bellator has a whole bunch of managers and companies that supply pro combat athletes. They were looking to improve their heavyweight roster, and my name came up. They knew me; they had heard about my 8-fight winning streak. Actually, to date, I am on a 12-fight win streak altogether, which includes 11 wins by KO; that’s boxing, kickboxing and MMA.

What is the nature of the contract?

It’s a 6-fight open contract, which means I can do whatever I want. Its unbelievably good, and very good money.

What have you been up to last 12 months?

I’ve had 3 fights in Russia this year. 3 wins; all 3 were KOs. All three stoppages by strikes.

How’s your school, IMC (International Martial Arts Academy?

Awesome. We’re coming up to our first year. My family and I are still living upstairs. I do half my training, the boxing, kickboxing and conditioning here. I do my grappling and MMA training with Larry Papadopoulos in [Sydney] city at Boxing Works.

What’s it like fighting in Russia?

Awesome. Russia is a beautiful country. A stunning place.

What is their scene like?

They have a huge fight scene. It’s very popular; a lot of athletes and coaches. There are also lots of large, well-organised training facilities. Lots of different styles; sambo, boxing, judo, wrestling, and so on. It’s exciting to see a country so excited about combat sports. They also have lots of mainstream t.v. coverage.

What are your expectations of Bellator? Where will you be fighting?

I’ll be fighting in the US. Bellator is owned by Viacom. A lot of people believe it will be as big or bigger than the UFC in next couple of years.

Do you know who your first opponent will be?

Not sure yet; I just finished the paperwork today. I had to go through it with my lawyer and my manager.

How’s training?

I’m in the best shape of my life, and on my second-longest win streak. This is the most KOs in a row ever. I’m as surprised as anyone else! It has taken a bit to work out MMA, but I feel like I’ve got it. I feel confident with grappling, wrestling and jiu jitsu, and now it’s paying dividends.

How’s your body?

No injuries. I almost feel bad saying it.

Who are you training with now?

I do my MMA with Larry Papadopoulos, and my striking training with Barry Raff, a pro-boxing coach.

I’m currently ranked 23^rd in the world in heavyweight MMA in the unbiased rankings. Everyone else my age is either slowing down or retiring, and I’m doing better than ever before. I’m excited!

So are we, Peter Graham; so are we.

This entry was posted on July 30, 2013 at 3:57 am and is filed under Journalism, Kickboxing, Real Men with tags Barry Raff, Bellator, Boxing, Boxing Works, grappling, International Martial Arts Center, jiu jitsu, Judo, Larry Papadopoulos, MMA, Peter Graham, sambo, UFC, Viacom, wrestling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.