Monte Cox is one of if not the most prolific Fighter manager in all of MMA. He even has a team name for the fighters he manages, "Team Extreme"! Monte Cox manages 26 fighters from around America and among them are some of the toughest MMA fighters on the planet at all weight divisions. We had a chance to talk to the leader of "Team Extreme", after the controversial fight that took place at the Universal Above Ground Fighting on July 30th where one of his fighters former UFC Champ, Dave "The Warrior" Menne took on Rob Ferguson. Monte Cox took some time out to clear the air and talk about what happened at the controversial UFC scuffle after party in London at UFC 38, his thoughts on Matt Hughes Controversial victory over Carlos Newton 1, the Controversy for Dave Menne and Rob Ferguson at the UAGF 2, and the controversy surrounding why he dropped Bobby Hoffman as a client?

Like it or leave it controversy seems to like to follow him around…
Here is what he had to say.

MMARR: Has there ever been anyone you have managed, that you felt was a bad addition and have had to cut?

MC: ( Chuckles) …I have only cut one person ever…

MMARR: Who was that?

MC: Bobby Hoffman.

MMARR: What happened with Bobby Hoffman why was he cut?

MC: At one point when he was fighting in Japan, he threatened to kill my wife and kids.
That was the end, I had put up with enough Crap.

MMARR: Why did he threaten your wife and Kids?

MC: He is a psychopath,

MMARR: hmmm…

MC: Why does he do anything he does? Why did he beat up his wife? Why was he in Prison before he started Mixed martial Arts? He is a freaken Loon!

MMARR: What was he in Prison for before that?

MC: I don’t know. He came right out of Prison and fought his first fight. It is not like MMA made him what he is. It is what he was before hand.

MMARR: I want to talk about the little scuffle in London in the night Club, Anthony Fryklund’s name has been connected to that, there have been a lot of rumors, a lot of speculation about what went on there. Can you tell us what you take is on that?

MC: I mean it is almost impossible for me, I was not there, I was in Las Vegas. What I am told is, from the people that I have talked to, is that this friend of Tito (Ortiz) Bo jumped on Pat’s (Miletich) back when they were all exiting the bar. They were all drunk and he was acting like he was fighting with Pat ( Miletich). Tony (Fryklund) came out Drunk, they were all drinking, and thought someone was attacking Pat (Miletich). So he ripped him off his back in a rear naked (Choke). Pat Miletich turned around and told him "No, No, No" we are just goofing around, and Tony Relaxed, and one of the guys from England blasted Bo and knocked him out.

MMARR: Tito (Ortiz) seems to have a problem with some of the situations that have been going on. What is the Problem? ( Tito has been on the Internet forums and vocal about the subject.)

MC: I don’t know. I tried to ask him on the internet. I don’t know what his thing is. I know for sure, these are the things that I have been told. Tony is the one that picked Tito off the ground, He has got blood all over his shirt from where he picked Tito up. To make sure that he didn’t get kicked or hit anymore. Pat is the one that pushed Lee Murray away and told him to stop and get out of there and to quit. I don’t understand why Tito is not thanking him, I was not there. When Everybody is drunk I don’t have any idea what is going on. They don’t know.

MMARR: So has the situation been squashed with Tito and Team Punishment?

MC: We never saw a situation. I mean the only thing that I know Pat was upset as everyone was painting Tony as being some big Villain. I mean that is ridiculous. I mean there was a bunch of people that were drunk. Who is more at fault, a guy for jumping on Pat’s back and acting like he is fighting him, or a teammate coming out and seeing that and thinking he is fighting him? I mean that was the thing. Tony did not hit the guy. I asked Tony and I told the UFC, Tony will take a Lie detector test. I told the UFC find your guy. He will take a lie detector test and say he did not hit Bo. If he didn’t hit Bo, then I don’t want to hear anymore, go after the people that were throwing punches, no one on team Miletich threw a punch.

MMARR: Is it true that Tony Got suspended?

MC: Not True.

MMARR: Not True?

MC: Not True, He has never been suspended.

MMARR: So there is no Merit to that Rumor whatsoever.

MC: Not at all, I mean they have not even interviewed Tony yet, or me, so if they suspend him without even interviewing the person that is involved, then we got to make a call to some attorneys.

MMARR: Speaking of suspensions, Josh Barnett just got suspended, lost his title, and got his fight declared a no contest what do you think about that?

MC: I like Josh a lot. I don’t want to rip on him or anything. I do know there is a precedent when Bobby Hoffman tested positive for ….Marijuana after beating (Mark) Robinson. They ruled that fight a no contest. That is the only time when that I can…. oh when Laverne Clark tested Positive years and Years ago against Fabiano Iha. They ruled that a no contest, so that is the precedent for doing it. You know, so I don’t know I am not surprised that they did it, let’s just put it that way.

MMARR: What is your take on the fact that he was suspended on top of being a no contest.

MC: Well that is up to the athletic commission, Bobby Hoffman was suspended also.

MMARR: How about the stripping of the Title?

MC: Well if the fight is a no Contest, then how can you have a title? You know what I am saying? When this has happened before, and this does not happen very often, but in every situation the fighter has been suspended and the fight has been declared a no contest. That is what has always happened. So here again it just so happens that this is a little more higher profile person, and he had won the title on it. They really did the same thing. They suspended him, which is the athletic commission, I mean they could do what they want to do, If he is fight is ruled a no contest he cant keep the title.

MMARR: What are your thoughts on steroid use in MMA.

MC: It is difficult to say anything about steroids without everybody jumping on someone’s back. Jeremy Horn got on the Internet, and Basically said what every big name fighter out there knows, which is yeah there is steroid use in MMA There is no doubt about it. But it has never been illegal to do it, like in Pride they don’t even test, they don’t care, so it has never been a big deal before. It is something that some people do some people don’t. Now that it is illegal I think that everyone should quit using. That is the whole point. Why do you want to risk going out and getting a big win, and get it taken away? Up until that point if it is not specifically illegal. If you are fighting for a living, and this is your job, and the guys you are fighting are juicing, and that is giving them an advantage, I don’t blame guys for wanting to juice also. Make it an even playing field. You know what I am saying? That being said, there are guys out there like Matt Hughes and Jens Pulver from our camp, guys who are at the very top of their weight class, who have never juiced a day in their life. So you don’t have to juice to be on top. Now every now and again on the Internet someone will say Hughes is a juicer, that is freaking ridiculous. He has never done it and he has no reason to do it. His twin brother hasn’t been in a gym in three years and looks almost like him. I mean he is a genetic freak! That is just the truth. He is a freak! Everyone here is always "strong as a farm-boy" or "oh those wrestlers are strong", well this is a wrestling farm-boy. He has always been strong, he has always had endurance, I mean look at the endurance the guy has. He can go five rounds, and that is not typical of a "roider".
He told me, "why would anyone say that?" and I go "You know people are always jealous of the people who are on top". They are going to look for ways to…. They can’t stand the fact that Matt is so good at what he does. People can’t deal with it. You are going to have people that don’t like it. No matter who you beat.

MMARR: Speaking of Matt Hughes, he just beat a pretty good fighter in Carlos Newton.
But he beat him in a controversial style the first time out at UFC 34. What did you think of the decision there? Did you think it was a good decision?

MC: What other decision could there be? John McCarthy has to make the call. Gotta be made inside the ring. McCarthy, he comes in, Newton is on his back and is unconscious, No one is disputing that he is taking a nap. He was there for a minute taking a nap. Matt is on one knee, and obviously you can’t see his face. You can’t tell whether he is out, he is dazed, he is spinning, who knows I don’t know.

MMARR: But he said on Pay Per view that he was out!

MC: That is what he thought. He said it was like going through, spinning, spinning, spinning, He didn’t know where he was. I mean he was completely out of it, but how many unconscious guys do you see that are sitting on one knee? You know what I am saying? If you are unconscious, you are a noodle, you would be lying face down. It does not make any sense. It is typical of, if Carlos has the choke on and he slams him, and right at impact that Choke nails him and puts him almost out, that is consistent of how it would be. You would be on one knee, you could still have your faculties but barely, you are so close to being just out you know, that you are there, but he doesn’t. When McCarthy pushed him, If he is unconscious, he is going to fall over on his face, when you are unconscious everyone lays flat, that is how it goes, it is not like the Mr. Bean stuff where you fall asleep standing.
That is the thing, whether he was out, whether he wasn’t out, It does not matter because McCarthy has to make a call. He comes in, he sees Newton unconscious, he sees Matt on one knee. He has got to make a call. He made a call to stop the fight. Maybe had Matt been, facing Big John and he could have seen his face, maybe he would have been able to say "oh these guys are both in trouble" I don’t know but he didn’t, he had his back to him call it fortunate for us, but John had to make a call.

MMARR: So you admit there was a little bit of luck involved there.

MC: I think that when you have fight like that, that is the closest fight in MMA history. How can it be any closer? Someone has got to get lucky and someone has got to get unlucky. But the thing was, ten seconds later, Matt is jumping up on the cage, Newton is still taking a nap. I don’t know, it is one of those things, John had to make a call. John tells me that Matt was not out. He was the only person that was within a foot of him. Jeremy Horn and Pat Miletich told me he wasn’t out. I said "was he out?" They said no his eyes were totally open. He wasn’t unconscious. His eyes were open but he was out of it, he didn’t know where he was or what had happened, but they told me he was not unconscious. I was sitting in the stands so I can’t, everyone who gets on the Internet and says that he was out, some of them were watching from television, ten thousand miles away, I don’t want to hear what they had to say.

MMARR: I was there live as press ringside, but it was hard for me to tell even.

MC: Right, That is what I am saying, who was the closest person to it? That’s McCarthy, he made a call! I mean if it was the other way around and he ruled Newton the winner would I be upset and stuff. Probably, but what are you going to do? Someone has got to make the call. He’s paid to do it. He has made hundreds of them. In Kuwait (Warriors War), Pele (Jose Landi) hit Matt with a knee and when McCarthy stepped in and stopped it, we went crazy! When he hit him with the knee and he stopped it, I thought he was fine, and I was right on the cage. I was right in his corner! But, he wasn’t facing me. He was looking the other way. And when he stopped it "I went Oh my God!!!" when Matt turned around and looked at us, we shut up, because he was completely out of it. He wasn’t unconscious.

MMARR: But he would have been done anyway…

MC: AHH yeah… I mean Pele would have had a free blow on him …so it was a great call. I learned a long time ago, that I can’t pretend to see better then the guy standing right there. I hear people say Oh "He (Matt Hughes) was unconscious from the Choke, and then he fell." Come on that makes no sense. He put him up on the cage to try to work himself free, but if he couldn’t work himself free and he got in trouble, obviously the slam is there. He is not going to wait until he is unconscious to slam him. He knows when he is going unconscious. He told me he took a step back and slammed him. I mean he consciously did that. You can’t tell me, If I am holding a guy, a 180 lb guy on my shoulders, and standing there and I go unconscious, I am not going to slam him, my legs are going to collapse. He is going to fall on top of me! That is how people go unconscious. You don’t go unconscious by taking a step back and slamming someone so hard you knock him out.

MMARR: You said that John McCarthy had to make a call, and you said it could have gone the other way, if it had gone the other way….

MC: I don’t know, from where he was I don’t know what other call he could have made, other then the one he made. One guy is clearly unconscious. That guy can’t be the winner, I mean he can’t be. You can’t win when you are sleeping. Matt was still up, he wasn’t laying down on his face, he wasn’t. He didn’t’ appear to be out. I was at that angle too. I was from behind. So you know at that point, he made a call because he saw one guy out, same as when he made the call with Pele and Matt, he saw a fighter that couldn’t defend himself. You got to stop the fight. One guy on the Internet was saying, "He should have stepped back and waited ten seconds to see what happened." Well Come on one guys is unconscious! If Matt would have been OK but he couldn’t see, he would have been totally fine….

MMARR: That guy is absolutely ridiculous, I mean when someone gets KO’d we don’t step back and wait ten seconds, won’t even talk about that, but….

MC: I know I am just saying, every single time that someone in boxing, when a guy is out laying on his back the way Newton was the Referee stops it, and stops the fight. That is the way it is done. He did it just like he has done it every other time. The only reason that people complain is because Matt is brutally Honest. He says what he thinks. He got criticized for Newton II, with the last fight be cause he said, "I expected to win a decision." That wasn’t saying, "No I was fighting for a decision." That’s saying this Newton is freaking good! "I don’t think I can stop him." He gets criticized for that. He is just Honest. He tells you what he thinks. He told me from day one he is going to beat him. He only trained three weeks. I kept saying, "What are you doing? You gotta get back here and train." "Oh I am doing a roofing Job." He trained three weeks for Newton.

MMARR: The second fight?

MC: Yeah.

MMARR: Tim Sylvia will be in the UFC soon he will be taking on Wesley Cabbage, with the size and reach advantage that Sylvia has do you see anyone posing a threat to Sylvia?

MC: Oh Sure, like everyone else, everyone has strengths and weaknesses. We built him up. I have managed him from the beginning. He is 15 - 0 and he has knocked out what, 12 of his 15? If you come and you try to stand up with him, you are going to lose. I mean Maybe Pedro Rizzo could stand up with him. Probably, but anyone else, they don’t have the reach and they don’t have the power. He has got incredible knee’s, incredible knee’s, and they are already head level, so if you stand up with him you are going to get hurt. His Jiu Jitsu is improving. He does it every day of course, like everyone else at the gym. He triangles people, he gets people, but that is not as far along as his stand up.

MMARR: So he can be grounded and pounded?

MC: I don’t know about grounded and pounded, because his arms are so stinking long that if you are in his guard, he will hit you. You may not be able to hit him, but he will hit you. I mean he is a FREAK! He is hard to deal with because he is also very coordinated. He is hard to take down. You are going to have to be a good wrestler to take him down. He has a really good sprawl, and when he sprawls his feet are already eight feet behind him! You can’t reach him and get him you know…

MMARR: That is two of your fighters in a row that you called freaks!!! Matt Hughes and….

MC: I am Loaded with Freaks!!!!!

MMARR: Anthony "The Freak" Fryklund?!?!

MC: Yup! I am loaded with them! I have all kinds of them! That is what happens when you live in Iowa, we must be close to some kind of a Nuclear power plant! We are loaded with guys, Look at Robbie Lawler!!! Robbie Lawler can bench Press Three Hundred and sixty Pounds ten times!!! Who else can do that at a hundred and seventy pounds?

MMARR: Speaking of Robbie he is in the UFC division at 170, Matt Hughes is the king of the Division right now. I don’t know if I see anyone beating matt Hughes right away, where does Matt Hughes take it? Does he take it to 185? Or where does Robbie Lawler take it?

MC: Matt does not go anywhere, he stays there as the champion until someone can beat him. Robbie just keeps fighting. Robbie is 20 years old. He has got time to improve. Ask Robbie Lawler if he thinks he can beat Matt Hughes? He just laughs and says, "Not in a million years." But someday you know, it is like a passing of the guard. Miletich was there forever, he left, now Matt took over. Matt could be there, in my opinion, as long as he wants to be there. He has already beaten the two best guys out there. Newton is the second best guy out there at one seventy. No doubt in my mind.
I DON’T CARE HOW BAD HE GOT BEAT THIS LAST TIME. He is the second best guy. I think Sakurai is top five, I think Miletich is Top Five, and I think that Trigg is top five. I think those are your top five guys in the world.

MMARR: How about Silva?

MC: Anderson Silva could not make 170.

MMARR: he fought Sakurai at 170…

MC: but now look at him. He was 190 the last time, I mean he will have to really, really work to make 170 again. He’s big. That is what people think of Pele "Landi Jons", I went to Pride and watched "Pele" and that dude is 205! That guys is going to have to get an amputation to make 180! Let alone 170. They can’t even bring those guys up. They can’t make the weight. Anderson Silva maybe. But, you know what? I don’t think he is top five.

MMARR: He has got long legs to I think he could get taken down.

MC: He has got things that could cause people problems, there is no doubt about it. But he is built for a wrestler. A Guy like Matt is going to be ten times as strong. You can’t have nine-foot long arms, and still have the muscle mass that a Matt Hughes has, with those arms…

MMARR: at 170.

MC: right at 170…and so I see that fight trying to get to the clinch, slamming him and pushing him into the cage or whatever, and beating the hell out of him. I think Matt beats him worse then Newton.

MMARR: What do you think of the chances of a Matt Hughes type fighter succeeding in a ring, as opposed to a UFC cage?

MC: He is 6 and 0 in Rings.

MMARR: He hasn’t faced the same type of competition in the rings.

MC: He has fought good people….

MMARR: Has he fought anyone like Carlos Newton or Hayato Sakurai?

MC: No, I mean, those are the two best guys in the world, next to him. So, no. But he fought Chris Haseman who was 200 pounds (a Unanimous decision Win for Hughes), and he fought Kanehara (Majority Decision Win for Hughes) who has beaten Menne and Horn, and he beat both of them in a ring. I mean the whole cage thing is overrated. I watched the Newton fight, he didn’t even use the cage half the time. I mean the only reason a ring would help someone fighting Matt would be because someone could slide out under the ropes and get a stand up. Matt put it on Newton in the middle of the ring. Just like in the cage, I mean he crucified him with the knee on one arm and holding the other, that was not the cage. If he can do that to Newton in the middle then he can do that to anyone. It is a funny story, about a year ago I called the UFC begging for them to put Matt Hughes back in. They said, "I don’t’ know he just lost to Hallman." I said, "you know, what you guys don’t understand is, Matt has the potential to be the best fighter out of Miletich Martial arts ever." His Potential is unlimited. No-one is going to wrestle like him, his submissions are really coming along, he passes the guard, he gets to the side, strikes well from the ground, and he is working his butt off on his stand up. This guy is going to become a machine. Joe Silva and Dana White said "Ok, Ok" they gave me some credit, at least I know talent when I see it. Matt was going to quit, because we couldn’t get him anything, no one would take him. So finally they go, "would he fight Sakurai?" So I go, "He would fight Sakurai in a minute." Well then Sakurai ended up pulling out of that fight, Then Anderson Silva Pulled out of the (Carlos) Newton fight, so he went from not being able to get anywhere right into a title shot, and took advantage of it. The thing with Matt is he keeps getting better. Look at every fight. He is getting better and better and better and the next fight he is going to get better then that, and it is not a matter of who is out there that can beat him now, it is who can beat him next time?
The guy is phenomenal.

MMARR: Who is out there for him? What are you going to do? You have to find fights for him too.

MC: I don’t have to do anything, thank goodness. Zuffa has to do it. I am in a nice position. I sit at home and play on the Internet and they call me and tell me who they want him to fight. I am like, "Whatever." We don’t care. Anybody at 170 lbs! I am thinking Sherk is going to beat Radach in the next show. Then he fights Sherk.

MMARR: Do you manage Sherk?

MC: Used to I managed him for his first 20 fights.

MMARR: Do you think Sherk is going to beat Radach?

MC: I think so.

MMARR: What is your take on the Jens Pulver saga? He has had some problems with the UFC, is UFO. Does he have a contract with the UFO longer than one fight?

MC: The UFO only gave out one fight deals. All the reports on Bustamante being offered a three fight deal it is all bullcrap. No one was offered more then a one fight deal through UFO. And the numbers are insane. I know what he was offered because my partner in Japan is one of the matchmakers, so I know the numbers and those are ridiculous. But getting back to Jens, obviously I manage Jens, The UFC had to make a business decision. I know that it sounds like we are skirting the issue but it is not. I mean they have to decide. Our Contract is up, they have got to decide what do you want to pay Jens? They came up with a figure, we didn’t like that figure, I mean we thought, seven fights, never losing, beating B.J Penn…It was time that he got paid. We didn’t care that he was a 155 pounds. We wanted him to be paid like the 170 pounders and the 185 pounders. We never expected for him to be paid like heavyweights, we never asked for that kind of money, never expected it. But, we wanted to be paid like the 170 pounders and like the 185 pounders, we didn’t want to be on top, we just wanted to be in there.

MMARR: So what do you think are your chances of getting back into the UFC?

MC: I think we can get him back into the UFC tomorrow. The money has got to change. He is going to go fight, we are going to leave on Saturday (Aug 3rd) he is going to go fight in the UFO, I think he is going to win Impressively, and I think it is going to open up a whole new world for him. K-1 wants him, K-1 is offering really good money. UFO would like to do more then one show, I think they are going to do one more show. I think after he beats Murahama, I think Pride is going to be interested in signing him….