Jared Hamman

Jared Hamman

Sunday, August 05, 2007

1. For those who don't know anything about you, why don't you let everyone know how exactly you started training MMA.
After I was finished playing college football I began coaching. I was getting pretty antsy cause I still had the desire to compete within me. A friend of mine came up to me after our last game of the season and asked if I was interested in MMA. He told me about this gym he was at and how much fun he was having. I showed up the very next session and was hooked. Actually, more like addicted, cause I haven't stopped since. I had my first amateur fight three months into training and did my first pro fight two months later.

2. When football season rolls around, have you thought about what you would do with conflicting schedules being a fighter?
You know, this question haunts me all the time. I love coaching and I love my guys and the thought of leaving them kills me. I have always told them though that if you want to be a champion you have to do whatever it takes, I mean in regards to training and preparation. I want to lead by example and if I start slacking and start losing, that's not a good example. So I might have to step away for a little bit, but I will always be a football coach.

3. While "free sparring," you tend to give pointers and demonstrate rather than go for an easy submission. Is this something you have learned from being a coach and thriving to better your teammates?
Yes. It means more to me to be able to help someone out than sit there and smash on them the whole time. If just sit there and beat the guy the whole time he learns nothing. What satisfaction do I get out of taking advantage of someone. I have had some awesome guys help me out and I hope that I can do the same for others.

4. You have been training a short time compared to most fighters, what do you attribute your success to?
Number one, God. He has blessed me with Great coaches and many opportunities to learn from great fighters. What has helped me out is that I learn stuff very quickly. A guy can show me something once and I am able to get it down pretty fast. Also being a coach I know how to take instruction, which is really crucial when Im fighting, without my cornerman I would be in a lot of trouble.

5. Being a strong christian, is there any struggles in the MMA world that you have that those who don't have faith wouldn't?
I have been part of a gym that is mainly Christian so I haven't really dealt with that much opposition. I have trained all over the place from cityboxing in san diego to the pit in san luis and its pretty much the same thing. I think it has to do with a mutual respect that fighters have for each other. You both are going through allot of adversity to get to where you want to go so why add to it. The only problem that I have is those cocky arrogant guys, but when dealing with them I just keep my mouth shut and let the training do the talking.

6. You recently beat the very experienced Travis Wiuff in a tournament, for the IFC cruiserweight title. Are we going to see you in other organizations besides IFC or are you exclusively with them?
The fight with the IFC was just a one fight deal so I am still going to fight with other organizations. Im sure though that they will want me back to defend my title sometime soon.

7. What made you want to make the jump to cruiserweight?
Vladimir matyushenko (no clue if I spelled that right) is a friend of mine and training partner from the Tokyo Sabres. He called me up one day and asked me how much I weighed and I told him I was around 215lbs. He told me about the fight, the opponents and the money, and I told him I would do it. I tried to gain as much weight as possible for a month but could only get to 222 lbs while every one else had to cut down to 230.

8. Could we possibly see you trying for the light heavyweight title as well?
I would love to fight for the light heavyweight title, that's what I normally fight at. So if they asked me to fight for it I would definitely do so. That'd be pretty cool having two belts in different weight classes.

9. None of your fights have gone to the judges and your cardio training is through the roof. Do you always go into a fight determined to finish?
If I leave it up to someone else to judge whether I won a fight or not, then I didn't work hard enough. My mindset going into every fight is to attack my opponent as hard and as fast as I can and not stop till the ref tells me to. That's why I work so much on my cardio. I know that I don't have the experience of most fighters and I know that most have better skills. The only way to gain an advantage on them, is to outwork them.

10. The next season for The Ultimate Fighter is more than likely going to feature light heavyweights and heavyweights. Are you going to be busy when tryouts roll around?
If I knew when and where the tryouts were I would definitely take advantage of the opportunity. I can never figure that information out though, anyone out there want to help me out?

11. What exactly is your affiliation with the Tokyo Sabres?
I was the light heavy and heavyweight alternate for them at the beginning of the year. Each team was supposed to have five starters and three alternates but as the season progressed some of the teams didn't have alternates so the IFL decided to release all the alternates except for the lightweights. I still train with them and they still consider me part of the team. Vlady was the one who got me the fight with the IFC.



By MMA Boston contributor: Sampson