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Tuesday, June 26, 2012

CR Exclusive Interview with Dakota Cochrane!

Photo by MMAFighting.com

Dakota Cochrane is best known for his short stint on TUF Live when he lost a controversial split decision to the ever improving James Vick in the fight to get in the house. Dakota may be on a two fight losing skid, but he is looking to put that behind him with a win over The Ultimate Fighter Season 2 winner, Joe "Daddy" Stevenson on June 30 at RFA 3 (Resurrection Fighting Championships).

Dakota is looking for a future UFC contract after his last win was over Jamie Varner this past September. He was gracious enough in agreeing to do an interview, taking time from training for the biggest fight of his career.

Championship Rounds: Hey Dakota! Thanks so much for taking time to do this! So, Joe Stevenson is a really big name. Do you believe that a win over him could launch you into a UFC contract. 


Dakota Cochrane: Joe Stevenson is a big name and it is an honor to be able to fight him. Now that is said, I believe it will take a couple more wins to get a contract.  Joe is a big name but was cut for a reason. After losing my last fight I believe I will have to show the UFC a little more than beating Joe daddy.


CR: How do you envision your fight with Joe going?


DC: The fight will be a tough one for sure. I don't plan on losing and neither does he I'm sure.  He will probably try to take me down and submit me while I will try to keep the fight standing.  Game plans can always change during the fight though.


CR: I personally scored your TUF fight 10-9 for you over James Vick. Why do you think the judges gave the fight for Vick despite the fact that you were out grappling him for a majority of the 5 minutes?


DC: I'm not one to complain but I also believe I won that fight through aggression and octagon control.  Honestly, [I'm] not sure what the judges saw to give him that fight.


CR: How has training been going for your fight at RFA 3? Anything different?


DC: Training has been really tough for RFA 3 because I need to show my true potential against Joe Daddy, win or lose.  Not a whole lot of differences [in training], but I'm putting my game all together.  I tend to stand up or take it to the ground, so just trying to work on my middle game.


CR: Your last win was against Jamie Varner, which is very impressive. Talk about how it felt to defeat a former WEC champ.


DC: Beating Jamie Varner was very fun, but that is not what I want my career to be based around.  I want to be known for beating several people at that level instead of just Jamie Varner.


CR: How was the experience competing on the first live season of TUF? How were the auditions?


DC: The experience on TUF was priceless.  I couldn't have gotten that much practice doing auditions and interviews anywhere else.  I'm still not good at them but definitely a little more confident.  Only being there the first week, I didn't get to see the house which kind of bummed me out. But I was super happy to be back home with my family.


CR: Which of your accomplishments means the most and why?


DC: My biggest accomplishment is taking care of my family: making sure there is food on the table, roof over their head and clothes on their back.  As far as fighting goes I go out to every fight and give my best effort no matter who it is.  Sometimes it doesn't go the way I would like but I know I gave it my best and trained my ass off.


Thanks to Dakota Cochrane for the interview. Make sure you follow him on Twitter @DakotaCochrane and on Facebook!

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