Vigilante MMA

Welcome back fight fans!  We have what you’ve been waiting for; an exclusive inside peek into the Ultimate Fighter house, courtesy of our special correspondent Nam Phan.  Read on to find out which fighter thinks he’s the strongest in the house, why Nam thinks he was portrayed incorrectly, and what it’s like sparring with #1 welterweight contender Josh Koscheck.   

VigilanteMMA:  So let’s start off talking about the great fight between Michael Johnson vs. Aaron Wilkinson.  What were your thoughts?  Did you think it should have gone to a 3^rd round?

Nam Phan:  Of course I’m biased because Aaron was on my team, but I thought he won the first round because of the takedowns, and I thought he won the second round too, but again, I’m biased.  But as we all saw, Michael came out right away in the 3^rd round and caught him.

VigilanteMMA:  You mentioned Aaron’s takedowns.  That surprised us, given that most UK fighters don’t have a wrestling base.  Were you surprised with Wilkinson’s takedowns too?

Nam Phan:  Big time, because like you said, UK fighters really don’t have that base in wrestling like we do.  But the thing with Wilkinson is, he has very lanky arms, and he’s a lot stronger than he looks.  It’s funny because he even told me that no one was stronger than him in the house.

VigilanteMMA:  Interesting.  So you knew going into the fight that Aaron was going to be a lot tougher than most were giving him credit for?

Nam Phan:  For sure.  Aaron was one of the best strikers on our team.  So we thought if he could stop the takedown, he would definitely have the advantage standing.  So even though Michael Johnson was the #1 pick, we saw a few flaws in his game.

VigilanteMMA:  Yeah, it was a close fight until Johnson came out and caught him in the 3^rd round.  Maybe he summoned some “Mike Tyson Mojo.”  Did you get a chance to meet Iron Mike?

Nam Phan:  I did!  Before the Wilkinson/Johnson fight, the teams have to come out first to sit down.  Then the fighters come out.  So when I came out of the doors I was like “Holy crap, that’s Mike Tyson!”  So I got to shake his hand before the fight.

VigilanteMMA:  Did you guys feel snubbed that you didn’t have a famous celebrity visiting you?

Nam Phan:  Let me tell you something that you might have missed in week 1.  You see GSP’s team, and they’re all in their red uniforms.  Then you look at our team and we’re all dressed in different colors.  We were like the ghetto group…we got the short-end of the stick.  Like GSP’s team, they got all of their uniforms a week ahead of us, all their board shorts, and their boxing gear.  So the day we finally got our uniforms, we look over and see that GSP’s team now has Mike Tyson.

VigilanteMMA:  Maybe that’s because you guys were slacking off in practice, as we all saw in episode 2, specifically you running into the bathroom.

Nam Phan:  Yeah, I remember that scene.  It made us look like we were lolly-gagging, and being lazy, but the week before that, I was sparring with some guys, and some guys got hurt, and guys were saying “Nam, you gotta lighten up.”  So then of course they show me the next week and it looks like I’m being a pansy.  (laughs)

VigilanteMMA:  Ha.  Is that why they had you grapple with Koscheck?  What was that like?

Nam Phan:  I didn’t know this, but Koscheck walks around at 190 in the off-season, so he could have easily mauled me, hurt me, destroyed me you know?  I also didn’t know he’s a black belt under Dave Camarillo.  He has very good jujitsu.  He’s a lot more slick than I thought he would be.  I have pretty good sweeps, but I couldn’t sweep him, and he tapped me out a lot.  I was very impressed with his jujitsu and how fluid he was, he didn’t even exert any energy rolling with me.

VigilanteMMA:  So it was pretty apparent that Koscheck was on a different level than you guys?

Nam Phan:  It’s a big difference.  He’s on a whole different level.  When he spars with us, he could knock all of us out, or slam us against the wall.  But he took it really easy on us.  But of course there were some guys on the team saying, “Did you see that?  I just threw him?” or “I just kicked his ass.” But I’m thinking, “You’re a frickin’ idiot.  If Koscheck wanted to knock you out he would knock you out.”  I’m just like, “he’s just being nice to you.”  How are some people that arrogant?  I mean, he’s the #1 contender, NCAA division I champion for a reason.

VigilanteMMA:  Well said.  Let’s change gears a bit.  Can you tell us a little bit about living in the house?

Nam Phan:  Well, we were there shooting for 6 weeks, and those 6 weeks felt like a year.  We didn’t have TV, cell phones, Internet, music, books, magazines, nothing.  Actually, they did have books, but the only books they had were just picture books.

VigilanteMMA:  Sounds like a lot of fun.  Is that why we see an occasional prank every now and again, like the car parking prank on GSP?

Nam Phan:  I gotta tell you, you get so bored in that house, so I was glad I was on Koscheck’s team because he made the show man!  He made it fun.  I mean, if there’s no chaos, things are going to get really boring.

VigilanteMMA:  But it can’t be all fun and games right?  How was the training aspect?

Nam Phan:  They run in 2 hour increments.  So GSP’s team would train from 8-10, and then we’d go from 10-12.  Then there’s an evening practice from 4-6, then again from 6-8.  So during the breaks in between practices we would take the 30 minute drive back home, make our food, shower, sleep, then go back for our second practice, then do it all over again.

VigilanteMMA:  Sounds pretty intense.  Such the life of an MMA fighter.  Nam, thanks again for taking the time to speak to us.  Our fans love your insight.  We’ll look forward to hearing from you again next week.

Nam Phan:  Thanks guys.  You’re going to love this season.  The further it goes, the crazier it gets…believe me.

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Miss one of Nam’s behind-the-scenes reports? No problem. Just check out the Nam Phan TUF 12 episode-by-episode journal.

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