MMARR: How long have you been training in MMA for?

Tiger : My first match was in 96, so five years now.

MMARR: Before that, did you do any sort of martial arts training?

Tiger : Yeah ! I actually fought in Pancrase I did that from 93 to 96

MMARR: When you were in Pancrase, were you with Ken Shamrock?

Tiger : Yeah ! I started out with Ken in 1993 and my debut match was SEPT 6, 1993

MMARR: How did you get involved with Ken Shamrock?

Tiger : I started out as a Tae Kwon Do teacher, and there was a guy who had had a boys home and his boys were taking some Tae Kwon Do from me. He found out that I was a good trainer, and a good student and he knew Bob Shamrock. He introduced me to Bob ,and Bob introduced me to Ken, and I initiated with Ken for like half an hour, and then he kicked my butt for half an hour, and I had to do 500 hundred Push-ups, sit-ups, leg-lifts, squats and then two weeks later I had to do the same thing all over again.

MMARR: I bet you felt pretty happy after that !

Tiger : Uhmmm…Actually there wasn’t much to be happy about, I WAS IN PAIN !

(Laughs)

Tiger : Walking was a pain…Chewing was a pain…Trying to look , Trying to open my eyes in the morning was a pain.

MMARR: Blinking was a pain ?

Tiger : Exactly !

(Chuckles)

MMARR: What do you think Ken Shamrock brings to the table, as a cornerman and trainer, that that other cornermen and trainers don’t?

Taking in Instructions from the master Ken Shamrock
Tiger : A lot of cornermen, unless they are actual fighters will not get in the ring and train
with the fighters. UNLESS they are like boxing trainers, then they will get in the ring and work mitts with you and they will do things like that, but they are not actually in there getting hit by you. They know what your strong points are but it is not the same unless they are actually working with you and training you. Ken gets in there, he wrestles with me, he knows where I am weak, where I am strong in my grappling and my bridging and my submission and things like that. He can see things that other people wont see. Like my former boxing trainer, he always told me that when someone is shooting….. UPPERCUT! (pauses)… I mean an uppercut is a strong technique when someone is standing in front of you, but if someone is ducking underneath your hands it is going to be hard to Uppercut. Ken brings a lot of experience, he has tried everything and if he hasn’t tried it believe me he will. A lot of experience and knowledge comes to the ring when he comes to the ring with me.

MMARR: Where do you feel you greatest assets lie as a fighter?

Tiger : I would have to say my patience is a good asset. Because I am not like a lot of guys out there who freak out when they get hit or get over anxious a lot of guys will get overanxious and they will squeeze people to death trying to beat them that way. I have learned throughout the years that one of two things is going to happen. Either your opponent is going to tire out or you are going to tire out. I would rather it be my opponent. I take my time when I am on top I pick my punches I pick my submission, I am not kicked back, I am still in action, I am still moving and doing what I need to do but I am patient with it.

MMARR: Ken Shamrock stated in an interview that you were the most underrated fighter out there. Why do you see yourself as being underrated?

Tiger : Me personally, I think I am underrated because when I first started, I got two months worth of training and I got thrown in there with guys that had two three four years of training. People overlooked me, and it was like " Oh Vernon White, He sucks da da da da da" Well let me see someone who is a regular person, I had a Tae Kwon do background I had no wrestling background all street fighting, lets see the normal average person who hasn’t had any wrestling or any boxing or any kickboxing or anything like that go into a ring with professionals after they have been training for two or three years and I have been training for two months lets see them go into the ring with one of those guys and see how long they last. I have seen guys that are professionals who are wrestlers
and Greco roman wrestlers and stuff like that and get into the ring in Pancrase and get submitted in 30 seconds. My first match I went for a 1:38 seconds so I went Two thirds farther then they did on two months worth of training! A lot of people they didn’t realize that and now that I have gotten better, they are finally starting to realize that.
People are weird. I personally think I am underrated because people don’t realize how technical I really am, and how I dissect things. So it really doesn’t matter. As long as I keep fighting and getting better that is all that matters.

MMARR: Is there any particular fighter that you would like to test yourself against?

Tiger: I want to fight Mario Sperry again, and I’d like to fight Sakuraba again.
Actually if I fought a fighter, usually my turnaround rate for the second fight is really good. Those are two people right there that I would like to get back into the ring with, and test myself, the now and present Vernon White I would like to test myself against them.

MMARR: You were actually Sakuraba’s first opponent in the PRIDE arena when you faced him did you know much about him?

Tiger : I knew that he fought Conan and beat Conan so I knew that he had some ability.
And he was 30 years old when I fought him and I think he had some experience, but I had no idea to what his experience was. I knew he had done professional wrestling which isn’t the same as this but it is still experience and for me with having three years of experience maybe 4 years of experience Vs his knowledge because I know those guys do have to learn the real stuff before they learn the fake stuff. I had no idea about that so it kind of took me back when I first entered the ring with him and this guy is manipulating me I am manipulating him then BAM!!! he is out. We are going back and forth back and forth so it was a good match. I think it would be a better match now because we have both grown in fighting.

MMARR: I don’t know how much he grew in his first fight with Vanderlei. Vanderlei Silva gave him a bit of a spanking.

Tiger: Well that is because the rules changed and you have to change with the rules,
If you don’t change with the rules, you are going to lose.

MMARR: Sakuraba seems to like the turtle position.

Tiger: Yeah he does. Actually, remembering my fight with Sakuraba near the end of the second round, he was in the turtle position, and I actually had his back with a choke sunk and then the bell rang… That was one of the most disappointing times of my life.(chuckles) Every time I look at that …….Now if I have that…..

MMARR: You know who Sakuraba is, now he has gone on to be the most popular wrestler/fighter in Japan.

Tiger: Japan and over in America, There are more people who know Sakuraba now then knew Royce. When people go " THAT LITTLE JAPANESE GUY"

(mock disappointment)

……"Yeah I know I fought him….." (chuckles)

MMARR: but back when you fought him, no one knew what he was all about.

Tiger : Exactly

MMARR: Yeah people will say you fought Sakuraba, well Sakuraba is a pretty tough guy!

Tiger : Yeah he is really tough….

MMARR: With the loss of Coleman to Nogueira, who do you feel is the best heavyweight fighter in the world.

Tiger : I gotta go with right here at home, Ken. I mean he has had setbacks, but every fighter has had setbacks. I’d have to say that there is probably no other fighter out there in the heavyweight division that knows as many submission as he does, no other heavyweights out there that hits as hard as he does. I have been hit by a lot of guys and nobody has hit me like Ken, nobody has wrestled me like Ken, no one shuts me down like Ken. People can hold on to you and hold you in a certain spot and just sit there and
then when you are moving and you are going for a submission and someone slams you back on your back, that is taking control of the situation. I mean I could grab a hold of somebody and hold them down, anyone can do that if you learn the right position. Anybody can just hold you in a position and tie you up, but it takes a real athlete to, when you are reversing, to reverse you and to get a submission on you and put you back on your back. Like I said, I don’t think there is anyone out there that can do that to me like he does.

MMARR: Do you have a favorite fighter that you like to watch?

Tiger: I’d have to say Sakuraba yeah because he is exciting. I actually see my style which is an awkward style in him. He does things that nobody else does, I do things that nobody else does. He comes up with a submission out of nowhere, I can do that as well. There is just a lot about Sakuraba that is intriguing and I was actually invited to go train with him but I never got the chance to go out there, but I would love to go out and train with him.

MMARR: Really ?

Tiger: I’d have to have an interpreter though

MMARR: Yeah I don’t think he speaks any English, or you speak Japanese and I don’t know about it.

Tiger: I speak a Little Bit of Japanese not too much.