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| Photo via MMAJunkie.com |
On May 19th of this year, Isaac Vallie-Flagg
burst onto the MMA scene with a split decision victory over Gesias “JZ”
Cavalcante, which proved as one of the biggest upsets of the year thus far. The
Jackson’s MMA product came into the bout while many viewed him as a stepping-stone
for the former DREAM lightweight star.
He changed that after 15 minutes of an amazing fight.
Although JZ clearly won the first round, Vallie-Flagg came
back to win the second two rounds on two of the judges scorecards, many
journalists, and us at CR.
Isaac is looking to continue his hot 10-0-1 streak as he
will be fighting Adriano Martins on September 29th. And we got an
interview with him on this upcoming fight.
Championship Rounds:
So your next fight is with Adriano Martins at Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Healy.
Talk about this fight, how has training camp been going?
Isaac Vallie-Flagg: I’m excited for my fight with Adriano. He
is another tough dude and a real test! Even though people haven’t heard of him,
he is legit.
Training camp is going well, I spent my first bit of it with
Cub Swanson and his boxing coaches, Joel Diaz and Antonio Diaz working on some
stuff. Now I’m in Albuquerque training at Jackson’s with my great team and then
going to Gracie Barra in New Mexico with some real beast jiu-jitsu guys.
CR: How do you
envision the fight going?
IVF: I envision the fight like this: we are both going to
punch each other in the face several times (laughs). This fight honestly could
go anywhere but I want to dictate where it goes.
CR: You pulled off a
huge upset against Gesias “JZ” Cavalcante in your last fight. How does the
underdog status affect you?
IVF: I love being the underdog. I fight better when I’m the
underdog. I have been the underdog my entire career and it feels good to prove
people wrong.
CR: Your fight with
JZ was a barnburner, what was your mentality going into that fight?
IVF: I am a fan of JZ. I knew how tough he is and what he is
capable of. I knew I was just as capable and had better conditioning so my
mentality was to push this dude hard for 3 rounds no matter where the fight
goes, just attack. And it ended up being an entertaining fight from what I saw.
CR: After beating a
big name like JZ, where do you believe you stand in the lightweight title
picture in Strikeforce?
IVF: You know, I hope my name is getting thrown around to
compete for a Strikeforce belt sometime, but the task at hand is beating Adriano,
so that is what I’m focused on.
CR: Most people scored
the fight for you, 29-28. What was going through your head when they announced
the 29-28 score for JZ?
IVF: I really felt like I should have gotten the unanimous
decision over JZ. He won round 1 for sure but 2 and 3 were mine, but that is
judging for you. You never want to leave it in judge’s hands if you can avoid
it
CR: What is it like
training at Jackson’s MMA with so many champions? Who are your training
partners most of the time?
IVF: Training at Jackson’s is great. Our talent pool speaks
for itself. My main training partners are usually everybody; I like to get
looks from every person in the gym. It’s a huge benefit to have so many guys
and girls that are top caliber fighters. I would like to name drop more but I would
have to put a huge list of big names as well as some super talented up and
comers.
CR: Are there any
names that we should keep an eye on fighting out of Jackson’s MMA that we might
not know?
IVF: Guys you should keep an eye out for at Jackson’s are
Rustam Habilov, Hunter Tucker, Landon Vannata, Clint Roberts, and Nick Urso:
the Jackson 5. Oh, also there is this guy Cub Swanson that you should for sure
keep an eye on (laughs).
CR: Who’s Cub
Swanson?
IVF: Eh, just some dude that looks like Diego Brandao.
Thanks again to Isaac Vallie-Flagg for the great interview.
He’s a great guy with a charismatic personality, he also just happens to also
be one of the best up and comers in MMA.
Go follow him on Twitter @ikevallieflagg and watch his fight
on September 29th!
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