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KOTC champion Charlie Valencia Interview
We had a chance to spend a couple of minutes talking to King of the Cage Bantamweight champion Charlie Valencia on Sunday at Larry Landless' Submission Factory. Charlie is one of those super nice people you get to meet who is also a legitimate Bad Ass when it comes to fighting. We talked a little about his health and what the future may hold for him. The following is transcribed from a video interview we did with him.
Al: This is Al Nava for thefightgame.tv and I’m here with Charlie Valencia at Submission Factory where they just had a round-robin grappling tournament. It turned out pretty good and we saw some pretty good fights, and actually Charlie was a guest referee for a couple of these matches. Charlie what did you think about he matches in there?
Charlie: Pretty good...just real good, they’re tough guys. I’ve known them for a while. It’s just nice to see people are still trying to get in there and improve themselves, that’s the whole nature of the business - always improving.
Al: We just saw you at the last King of the Cage (against Bobby Gamboa) and we've heard a lot of rumors as far as you taking the fight last minute and everything like that, can you clear it up for us?
Charlie: It wasn’t last minute – it was 10 minutes.
Al: laughing
Charlie: (smiling) What happen was, it was my fight to begin with. I had cancelled the fight about two or three months before hand because my knees were giving me a lot of problems in practice, so I think it kind of helped me because I started to concentrate a lot on my stand-up and I wasn’t going to the mat because when I was on the mat, that's when it was hurting me more. Dave, one of my students, decided to go ahead and pick it up – so I just drilled with him his whole time training. We were standing the whole time, so it kind of helped me out. But when he couldn’t make weight, he was suffering. I’ve known him for a long time. We’ve cut down to 118 pounds before. I’ve never seen him so bad until this last time, he wasn’t looking good so there were a few disagreements with things that were going on - I just decided, I said well, it was my fight to begin with and I’ll just take it. I’ll do it. They tried to work it out. To top it off, I didn’t get paid as much as I usually do but I took it because I thought it was my responsibility to do it. Bobby is a good guy, I get along with Bobby really well. He’s a fighter and he’s just like me when it comes down to fighting.- it’s business.
Charlie vs. Bobby Gamboa at KOTC 33
Al: Did you train as hard as you would of if you knew you were going to fight? I mean, training somebody else is a lot different than training yourself.
Charlie: No I didn’t. I didn’t train at all. As a matter of fact, I had taken two weeks off prior to that. I had trained really hard for my fight with Greg Mayer (KOTC 29). It’s kind of strange because I felt worse in the first round with Greg Mayer when I was training really hard than I did after this fight, and I didn’t train at all. So I figure it’s just my age. I think I’m just getting up there where I gotta not train as hard and just watch and monitor my training. So instead of going hard everyday, everyday, maybe just go lite because my body is not the same anymore.
Al: You mentioned your body, How are your knees doing?
Charlie: I have a torn ACL that doesn’t bother me as much, just certain movements. It doesn’t bother me at all kicking or anything like that but my torn MCL on my left side, that’s the one that’s really is painful. I could sit down and be at home and it’s just throbbing. I’m getting both of these (pointing to knees) looked at. Actually, they know what this one is (lifts right knee) so they don’t care about that one, but I don’t know what I’m going to do with my MCL yet. I have an MRI scheduled for the 26trh, so we’ll see what happens.
Al: Hopefully everything will turn out well. Now to turn the subject a little, PRIDE heavyweight GP is coming up, who do you think is going to win the whole thing?
Charlie: I like "Cro Cop" (chuckling). "Cro Cop." He’s a bad dude. That guy kicks fricken hard, you know. Of course, Noguiera’s there. You can’t mess with him, it’s just that, if he gets kicked by "Cro Cop." I think "Cro Cop." I think he’ll do it. Coleman, he’s a warrior but it’s time for the young bucks to come up.
Al: So "Cro Cop" to take the whole thing?
Charlie: (Takes a deep breathe and smiles)...It’s a hard decision.
Al: So many great fighters
Charlie: Yeah, so many great fighters. There’s so many elements. He ("Cro Cop") gets taken down, he knows what happens. But I think "Cro Cop" has been in with a lot of great fighters. Someone like him, who is very, very strong and fit, is hard to take down.
Al: Anything coming up in the future for you? Relaxing for a little while?
Charlie: Nothing, just trying to train my fighters for future fights. Depending on how my knees work out, that's going to determine what I will do later on. I want to retire but things just keep coming up. And of course, it’s a money issue. I would like to make more money, that’s the whole thing. I don’t like fighting for the same money all the time. If I’m doing good, I would like to be compensated for doing better and moving on but it’s just that, health-wise, it’s just a lot of problems.
Al: Charlie, we wish you the best and thank you so much for your time. It’s always a pleasure.
Charlie: Thank you very much
TheFightGame.tv would like to Thank Mr. Valencia once again for his time and graciousness.
(4/19/04)
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