Shorty Meets ‘The Beast’

It was a true honour for both of us to meet one of the best mixed martial artists of all time, and a true legend of the sport. Dan Severn was wonderful to speak to and spoke interestingly on his career, future and all things MMA.

Who do you think is the pound for pound best fighter in the world?

I really couldn’t say; I don’t watch that much as one would probably anticipate. There are some lightweights that are pretty good as well (Fedor someone like that, but I don’t know if that’s true.)

Who for you was the toughest opponent you have ever faced toe to toe?

There are two answers: My political answer is anyone who signs one of those contracts to step into the cage. But in reality I have fought against tougher amateurs too;   in my amateur wrestling career, not even in my fighting career. That’s why I think UFC has a nice little competition type of a show, is it the best fighters in the world? I don’t think so.

If you weren’t a professional athlete do you know what you would have been instead?

I’ve been a professional athlete since the 1992 Olympics and the reality is I went to college and ended up getting a teaching degree and things of that nature. I am doing that. I usually substitute teach a number of days per month. I will get a phone call practically on a daily basis to substitute teach. Just because I have physical presence first off, plus I can engage the students. I am kind of a passionate person when it comes to teaching.

I believe you have had 84 professional mixed Martial Arts victories, do you anticipate reaching 100 mixed martial arts victories?

That’s way off; it’s a lot more than that. That’s what they have on MMA websites. I have got well over 100 professional wins already. What you have got to understand is before the UFC existed I was already going over to Japan, as of the 1992 Olympics, for professional fights and things of that nature.

As you know Mark Coleman is returning to the UFC to fight Brock Lesnar, would you ever return to the UFC to fight an ‘up and comer’? Similar to the way Mark Coleman has done.

I have offered my services in the past and they turned me down. There are different people here who are higher profile athletes, granted I am turning 50 this year, so I think there just trying to hold my age against me.

What’s the story behind your pro wresting career?

I had first been approached back in the mid1980’s: I was approached by a couple of professional wrestling companies and I didn’t turn pro at that time due to the Olympic team. As of the 1992 Olympics a new ruling came down that allowed athletes to be both amateur and professional simultaneously.  

Which profession was harder to achieve success at, pro wrestling or MMA?

Pro wrestling. The common factors they both have, is in the physical preparation and the mental mind set. But in a fight all you had to do is go out there and get results. With professional wrestling you are an entertainer; you have to put your body into someone else’s hands, if they screw up its not them getting hurt, its you.

 As you are now 50 years of age is it far harder to train now, than when you began your career?

Oh yeah. The reality is I am not the war dog I once was, even when I entered my very first UFC, I was basically 36. So many people started prior to that age.

You debuted in the UFC at 36 years old, it must be amazing to see the people in the UFC debuting so young, when you had yours at 36?

Yeah. I’ve got people now at my facility who are 15-16 years old, for my company you wont be competing until your 18 years old. But a lot of companies are a little less scrupulous: The sport has changed quite significantly since it started back in 1993.

 How are the fighters working with you doing at the moment?

I have 4 or 5 guys who have a great deal of potential; time will tell if they will reach that potential. There are a lot of people that walk around with potential but because they never put any effort into it they will never realise it. Even when I watch the Ultimate Fighter show, I watch some of the training sequences that I see them doing and in my opinion, they have missed the boat. When I watch the way the train, in some aspects they are on the money, but in others they have missed the boat.

Since your first fight as a raw powerful wrestler in the UFC have you had to evolve your fighting game?

You evolve or become extinct, I have evolved but what is my strength? My strength is my grappling ability. MMA poses its challenges, but there are a lot of people who put all there eggs in one basket. It’s called mixed martial arts; everything is a piece of the puzzle. I still have my grappling ability, but its not wrestling that I am doing; its now a modification of Judo, Sambo, Jiu-jitsu, Greco-roman wrestling, freestyle wrestling, and a few more things.

A lot of people are comparing you to UFC Heavyweight Brock Lesnar seeing as he is such a large dominant wrestler, how do you see this comparison?  

Brock was a very successful amateur wrestler, he possesses the work ethic, and has the knowledge, and it’s simply that transition phase, to see how well he does. He possesses all the capabilities, if he applies himself he will do very well. In his first match he was doing what he would be able to do best, take-down, ground and pound and then he hit him towards the back of the head, if had he not done that one error who is to say that match wouldn’t of turned out differently. But wrestlers have a susceptibility to guillotine chokes, arm-bars or leg locks, but still there is no body that compares to a wrestler in terms of takedowns, and the tenacity in which they pursue matches.


If you would like to read more about Dan ‘The Beast’ Severn please go to his website at www.dansevern.com


The next question is, who will Shorty meet next, any suggestions?

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