And we’re not talking sushi here either. We’re referring to the words from Yves Edwards on his upcoming match against Caol Uno. Uno, who suffered a record breaking defeat against B.J. Penn, is back in the cage in UFC 37, taking place in Bossier City, Louisiana on May 10th, 2002, and facing off against Yves Edwards. I had the pleasure of being able to pick Yves brain and get a chance to have him speak out about his upcoming match, and then some. Will Yves make sushi out of Caol Uno or will the so-called "Thug-jitsu" expert see a defeat in the near future? Just how determined is this competitor from the laid back island of Nassau, Bahamas going to be to get through this opponent? Will he be able to get past the idolized status he’s held over Caol Uno and "take his head off?" These questions and more, are answered in the in-depth interview taken from the ever polite, well spoken, yet open words of Yves Edwards.

To recap, when asked about his match against Matt Serra, Yves was pretty open about his loss and what he managed to take away from that experience. According to Yves, it would be "to take nothing for granted. Matt Serra is a really good jiu jitsu fighter but his stand-up was weak. He seemed like he had a really big ego so, I tried to play up on the fact that he wouldn’t be able to stand up with me, and that he had no stand-up skills whatsoever. I wanted to get him to try and do it and because I did that, I expected him to fall for it because of his ego, but he’s a lot smarter fighter, and he stayed with his game. I didn’t stay with my game as I should’ve and that, more than anything, caused me the loss. And I’ll never let that happen again." According to Yves, he felt as if he may have not given Serra enough credit to begin with. "I didn’t. He’s a lot better fighter than the fight that I gave him. And no, I didn’t give him enough credit and I paid for it the way you normally would at that level, with the loss. I am taking that loss, learned from it, and will never do that again." So, when asked what kind of an opponent Serra was, one thing that truthfully came to Edward’s mind was the fact that "Physically, he’s not overbearingly strong. He is pretty strong. It’s more of his technique and his positioning. He moves so well. He doesn’t have to use his strength to keep you down because you make a turn and all of a sudden, he’s behind you. The fact that he’s not so physically strong makes up for it."

When comparing Serra to his upcoming opponent--Uno, Edwards had some insight as to just how much each opponent differed and what he’ll have to prepare to do when he faces Uno. For Yves, Uno’s "jiu jitsu skills won’t be on the level of Serra that’s for sure. Then again, jiu jitsu is not the same as NHB. Uno is well rounded. He has more skill sets than Matt Serra. He’s very strong in all his skill sets. His wrestling is very good; his boxing is better than average, and his grappling is very good at the same time. Although, I don’t think it’s going to be something overbearing, something that I can’t handle." As far as preparation, Edwards is working extra hard for this match. Not only is he getting the chance to prove himself to all UFC fight fans once again, he has an opportunity to bring with him experiences that may make him that much better, stronger, and mostly, a winner. However, he has to get by Uno first and although American fans didn’t get a chance to see what Uno was made of in his match against B.J. Penn, he too, is getting a second chance and this time, most likely, he’s planning on making his fight end quickly--with Edwards being on the receiving end. Edwards is coming prepared. As far as he’s concerned, he has his own subtle predictions on what Uno may or may not throw at him. "He can do it all. Any one specific thing, I couldn’t tell you. I know that he has a lot of energy. He rests at the right time--just when you’re breathing heavy. That’s one thing that I’m looking at. I won’t let him drain me. If he’s going 110 miles an hour, I will be doing the same." With Penn getting the KO on Uno, does this give Edwards some new found confidence? Edwards states feels as if "that gives me a lot more confidence. Watching tapes on him, I’ve picked up on weaknesses with his game. I’ve seen flaws and I don’t know if Jens or B.J. picked up on it, but I’m seeing them. And I’m sure he’s seeing flaws in my game. It’s just a matter of who gets there first and/or who capitalizes on the mistakes first. I’m looking at a lot of things from those positions. I’m not going to come out looking for the kill right off the bat but everything I do will have a lot of intent behind it."

Ironically, Edwards wasn’t sure of the possibilities of his return to the UFC. He had won his last match in the Shogun event and it was just a matter of time for him to get another shot at the big leagues--or was it? After his loss in the UFC against Matt Serra, "Actually, I didn’t think about it for a while. I got a package in the mail from Zuffa and I thought--Oh great, I’m not going to fight anymore. The package actually scared me when it actually turned out to be UFC merchandise. When I talked to Joe to say that I got the package, he said that I would get another chance cause I fought hard. I was glad for that opportunity. That made for an easy nights sleep." He got the call and that’s all that mattered. The first thing that ran through his head when he received the call to fight the most highly-respected fighter in his eyes was "I was happy. I was just happy to get a call from Joe. Cause usually when I get a call from Joe, I’m going to either get a really good tape or I’m going to get a fight. I kinda had an idea and I was hoping that that was going to be a fight. I was happy when he said "I think that I have a fight for you." But when he told me it was Uno, I was really excited cause Uno is one of my favorite fighters of all time. I have six guys that I love to watch fight and he’s one of them, very high on that list. I love me some Uno you know?" One of the hardest things to get a fighter to do is predict his own fight (taking into consideration the superstition factor of possibly jinxing the match), at least to a good majority. It was one of those lingering questions that I felt the need to ask since after all, in an interview, you can get ahead of yourself. So, I asked that "big" question of getting Edwards to predict his fight against Uno, just to see what his answer would be, and although he had a tough time at first, Yves (the brave soul) attempted to predict his match against Uno in a very open manner. "Ah man…I’m not big on predictions. Of course, the guys that I train with have egos of course, so of course I’m looking to knock him out. If a submission presents itself, I’ll take that, but I’m really looking for the win. But I’m fighting one of my heroes, so it’s going to be awesome. When we’re in Louisiana together, I’m probably going to be stalking him, figuratively speaking. Although, it’s not a problem for me to fight one of my idols. I won’t be holding back. I fight guys that I respect all the time and we try to take each other’s heads off. When we step in the cage, that takes a back seat to the job at hand and the job at hand is to knock Uno out."

It seems as if Japanese fighters have a hard time making that transition from the ring to the cage. Or, it could just be an overwhelming experience for them, coming out to the rowdy U.S. crowd and getting a chance to experience something surreal all together. Yves feel as if the transition for top ranked Japanese fighters is a difficult one because "I think the cage throws them off a little bit, but they’re getting more exposure to the cage cause they’re fighting more out here. I think that building a cage at their own gym might be beneficial to them. If they don’t do it, they’re going to get destroyed. To be in a cage and know how to work in the cage is an advantage in strategy. The cage itself presents problems in strategies and things that have to be accomplished and worked on. They’ll be able to work with the cage, work with the elbows, and work out the problems that they have now."

Some concerns that were raised was that Edwards may have had too much time between his last match and this one coming up. According to Edwards, he’s been keeping fairly busy and has not only been training like a mad man, but even managed to squeeze in some matches here and there. Back in December, Yves competed in "the Shogun show. That was a really tough fight. After dropping the weight. It was hard for me to make the weight the first time but now, it’s easy for me." Edwards faced off against a fairly unknown opponent who came through after a last minute dropout in the original card. Not knowing anything about his new opponent, Yves, being the good sport that he is, took it anyway. When asked about his unknown last minute match-up, Edwards commented that "Doug Evans didn’t follow through with his plans to be there so, I had to fight another guy from a real strong camp--Lance Gibson’s school, which I didn’t know much about. His name was Kultar Gil. I didn’t know what he looked like until the weigh-ins. He was tall. He wasn’t as thick. He’s a small 6 foot 1, especially having to make 155lbs. The reach advantage he had kinda threw me off in the first round but after I got beyond that, it didn’t mean that much to me after. He’s a really nice guy. He’s going to be a really good fighter if he continues at it. I knew that he only had a few fights. That kind threw me off but you have to make those adjustments in the ring and fortunately for me, I came out with the "W." Soon after, Yves competed in a Golden Gloves boxing match in Texas. And came out with a win "of course."

As for his training, Yves has a team of some pretty solid contributor’s to help make the man a machine. They’re also responsible for the success that Yves Edwards has had in his fights. It’s safe to say that they too, get to share in the glory because Yves has nothing but respect for each and every one of them. And thanks to his trainers, Yves’ will be that much more confident and that much more ready to destroy. Edward’s team consists of three very solid figures and they each bring something unique to the fight table. Who are they? "Saul Solis, Eddie Miller, and Lewis Wood. Saul is one of my trainers in Thai Boxing, NHB, and grappling. Saul is the type of guy that brings out the best in you. He knows so much and he doesn’t get enough credit. If there’s anything I’m missing, he’ll point it out to me when I’m on the ground." Then there’s Yves’ infamous boxing coach who is currently a top ten-ranked professional boxer. "Lewis will be there and he sparks the fire in the corner. He puts the fire in your heart. Lewis gets you ready to knocks someone’s teeth out. He keeps that energy going. Lewis is ranked as #6 WBA Featherweight boxer. He’s very qualified. Even more so than the #6 ranking. The main guys don’t want to fight him. Barrera doesn’t want to fight him; Hammed doesn’t want to fight him. He has a contract to fight Derek Gaynor on September 29th, but Gaynor’s given him so many different dates and my assumption is that he doesn’t want to fight him. Lewis is 35-years old and boxers at that age are pretty old but Lewis is not a 35-year old boxer. He’s a 22-year old boxer physically, and I think they may have seen some tape on him and got scared. He’s a top ten guy. Lewis is a perfectionist. He’s got a contract but no fight now." And then there’s "Eddie. He is just--I love Eddie--he’s just the coolest dude. Unfortunately, he won’t be able to fight anymore. He trains hard and he’s always there for me. Whenever he’s around, I want him in my corner. I don’t want him far away. If I weren’t doing this cause I love it so much and I was doing it for someone else, I’d be doing it for Eddie. He can’t fight anymore because he has a problem with his eye and if he takes the right shot, he can go completely blind. In his last fight, he dominated the guy at Hook N Shoot and if you’re going to go out like that, that’s the way to do it."

It is known that Yves’ stand-up is definitely no joke. He has a strong boxing background and trains in it proficiently. So, does this man with the hands trains too much on his stand-up and not enough on his ground game? Especially with an opponent like Uno who has a decent ground game and fairly good wrestling skills, what is Yves focusing more on? According to Edwards, he does feel that he trains "a lot more boxing than I do submissions." However, on the flip side, Edwards feels that he "knows more about submissions than I do about boxing." Although, "having someone like Lewis around more, with his 18 years of knowledge, is a constant learning tool for me. I’m always learning something new with boxing. Even though I don’t train in submissions as much, I don’t think my submissions are any weaker, and my submissions game is still pretty strong." Furthermore, "my background is more Thai boxing and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Although, I’ve never worn a gi cause I’ve always been competing and I’ve never competed in one. I’ve learned all my Thai boxing and boxing from Lewis and Saul and my submissions from Saul and all the people he’s introduced me to, different brown belts. I trained a lot with Ricco Rodriguez, once in a while with the guys in Team Punishment, Silvio, another black belt who’s here right now and has helped me a lot with my upcoming fight."

Every fighter may see themselves getting a shot at the title. It’s their ultimate goal in their fight career. However, it’s usually a long haul on that road to the top. There are fighters that you know you’re going to meet and ones that you know you won’t be able to avoid. For Edwards, it’s not about avoiding any one fighter. His goal is to get through each and every one that stands in his way to that shot at the title, but for now, it’s about him getting through this one fight and taking the baby steps to the top because as we all know, in this sport--anything can happen to the best of the best. I asked Yves what he thought his chances were at getting a shot at the title and his response was "that all depends on what happens with the fight with Uno and what happens after that. I would love a title shot. As far as I’m concerned, Jens Pulver is the man. He may not get the respect he deserves but I’ll give it to him. He’s done it the first time against Uno. He fought Dennis Hallman and Dennis is a good friend of mine, and I wanted Dennis to win that fight, but Jens shut him down. And the big fight against B.J., everyone was saying Jens was going to lose. And B.J. is ’freakin’ awesome but Jens has a way of shutting anyone down. And I’m not going to pick a winner in that one but if I had to, I would pick Jens cause he’s not getting the respect he deserves. A title shot with somebody that I respect, would be awesome. If I do get a title shot, I would hope that Jens would stick around so that I would get a chance to fight a real champion. Now, if it were B.J.--that would be AWESOME! Those are my three favorite lightweights--Uno, Pulver, and Penn. I would be the underdog in that fight also but that would be another honor. That would be something that I would cherish."

Edward’s fought on the same card that Robbie Lawler debuted in. The two will now be fighting on the same card again, in the next UFC. Moreover, Robbie will be facing Aaron Riley. And on that note, not to rehash the past again, but there was that controversial decision that took place against one of the most amazing fights in Hook n Shoot. The fight that took place was Yves Edwards against Aaron Riley. I asked Yves about Robbie’s chances against Aaron Riley. "That’s going to be a tough fight to call. Robbie hits hard and has good hands. I can’t tell you who has the better hands cause I didn’t get to see too much of his fight, but Aaron has good hands and he can take a punch. If Robbie can take a punch, than that’ll make my fight with Aaron look like a Saturday morning cartoon because both of those guys can punch. If Robbie can take a punch like Aaron can, ’WOW,’ that’s going to be 15 minutes of havoc swinging. It should be a good fight and I don’t know whose going to win that one. I like Aaron and Robbie’s a nice guy but I don’t know who I’m pulling for on that one." So, was there bad blood between Aaron and Yves after their match? "There’s no bad blood between us. Aaron is a nice guy. I watched the DVD on our fight and the only thing that I was like "what?" was the fact that he thought he won that fight. I don’t understand that. Other than that, everything’s cool but I just don’t understand that."
People wonder what a nice, well-mannered fighter like Yves is doing representing the "thug" theme. When he’s not fighting, he’s coming out to tunes like "I’m a thug" by "Trick Daddy." I was curious to find out where the term "Thug-jitsu" came from and if this was something that he adopted to intimidate others with or if this was some sort of gag. "There’s another reason. Here in Houston, there are a few MMA schools but mostly they’re jiu jitsu schools. The jiu jitsu schools don’t seem to like the NHB fighting. They’ll watch it but they don’t want to have anything to do with it as intimately as doing it themselves. There was a post on the Underground that said if you want to train jiu jitsu, come to this gym and/or this gym, "but if you want to train in "Thug-jitsu" than train with Yves and Saul." I guess because we punch and kick; they’re calling it Thug-jitsu. Ever since I heard the word "Thug-jitsu" I adopted it as my style."

On a more personal level, there were some rumors that were going around, stating that Yves was a banker before putting on the gloves and making mince meat out of people. "Those rumors are true. I used to be a teller. I worked at a supermarket bank. You have to be able to do everything so; we can all pretty much be Bank Managers. It was just part time job though." And on his off time between his own personal training sessions, Yves claims that he doesn’t have much of an off time. He, in fact, runs his "own school and I teach Thai boxing, boxing, and jiu-jitsu classes."

In his final words and thoughts, Yves shares his opinions on harsh criticisms and judgments made towards him. "I’m kind of a sensitive guy so when my name comes up and they say "oh--he sucks" that kind of hurts my feelings, so I stay away from that kind of stuff. I guess I’m too sensitive for this sport, but when the Thug-jitsu hits you, it might be all over."

Given a wish list, every fighter has one of some of the best guys they’d like to eventually cross paths with. I asked Yves that very question to see who that person or person(s) would be. For Yves, "the only person I want fight right now is Uno. I’ve been training for this fight for 5 weeks now and have been thinking about him. I’m just focusing on him right now but I do want to fight the best guys." Yves Edwards is a proud figure who knows when to speak out and knows when not to. There is such a think as humility and sanity in this fighter’s eyes. Edwards brings with him the laid-back spirit from the islands and the strengths of being a survivor and true warrior from deep within. And thanks to the team of professionals he’s managed to acquire, his skills continue to grow with his experiences. For now, with all this in mind, it’s all about loving him some Uno! Good-luck Yves!