From www.prowrestling.com :

Here is a full transcript from an interview with Duane "BANG" Ludwig on WrestleZone Radio. The show was recorded on February 9, 2003, and the interview was conducted by Matt Boone and John Hartnett. To listen to the streaming audio version of the interview, head to WrestleZoneRadio.com.

Matt Boone: We are joined now by one of the biggest up-and-comers in the fight world. He shocked the MMA world recently with the ease in which he knocked out the highly regarded "Little Evil" Jens Pulver. We have Duane "BANG" Ludwig on the line. Duane, how's it going brother?

Duane Ludwig: It's going pretty good, you know? Thanks for having me guys.

Matt Boone: Thanks for coming on the show. First things first here man, what was your impression on the last fight with the big win over "Little Evil" Jens Pulver. Did you think you would take him out that easily?

Duane Ludwig: No, I didn't think I was going to take him out that easily at all. I thought it would at least go to a decision, or I would get the knockout in the later rounds. Because I thought he was pretty technical, but I guess not, he gave me an opening right away. I didn't expect that, but, you know, I took it as soon as I seen it.

John Hartnett: Did you think he was going to stand-up with you at all? He went out and said publicly that he was going to stand up with you.

Duane Ludwig: Yeah, I thought he was going to stand up with me for a couple of minutes, or a round or so, until I start landing a couple shots. Figured he'd take a couple of punches or kicks and then he'd shoot. But I landed a shot, a pretty good shot right away, and then he started shooting for the takedown, but I defended it. He was true to his words, he stood up for a little bit.

Matt Boone: Now that you've taken out arguably the best Lightweight in the world it pretty much opens up the gate for you to work anywhere you want. Where do you see yourself headed now?

Duane Ludwig: Right now I'm just kind of sitting back and seeing what offers come my way as far as what fights and the fighting condition and what the money is going to be. The next thing I have scheduled is the K-1 which is on May 10th in Japan. I'm going to go straight there in fight in their tournament.

John Hartnett: A lot of our listeners want to know how you feel personally you would match up against the likes of B.J. Penn, Caol Uno, Matt Serra, and some of the other highly regarded Lightweights.

Duane Ludwig: I think I would match up pretty well. I'm getting better on the ground and my takedown defense is getting pretty good. My grappling isn't up to their level, but their striking isn't on my level, so I think it'd be a pretty good fight as long as I keep it standing, or a limited time on the ground. So, I think it would be good.

Matt Boone: Speaking of stand up, another e-mail here from a listener says, "BANG, how do you feel you would match up against Robbie Lawler? Another fighter around your weight with an incredible stand up game."

Duane Ludwig: I think it would be a good fight. I don't think he has an incredible stand up game. I feel his game is, well, he definitely has power punches and if he goes for one, but he goes too wild and leaves a lot open. So, I think I would catch him up the middle and I think I have the power to knock the guy out, so I think I would get the KO.

John Hartnett: We got an e-mail here from a listener that says, "If a complete striking newbie asked you for a single tip to develop good striking, what do you think it would be?"

Duane Ludwig: It would be a solid foundation. Make sure you plant your feet when throwing punches or kicks. Once you get into martial arts, you get a little happy and excited, and you have happy and excited feet. So I think the main thing is to have a solid foundation, but not to be flat-footed either. Need to move with your combinations.

John Hartnett: Right, you can see if you ever watch any of your footage. They definitely keep an even flow and it looks like your very comfortable and balanced.

Duane Ludwig: Yeah, I try to be [laughs].

Matt Boone: Duane, your nickname, "BANG" that's a pretty original nickname. Where and how did you come up with that?

Duane Ludwig: It describes my fighting style and I didn't want to have another nickname that other people have like TNT, or Boom-Boom, or anything like or Hitman. So, it kind of rhymes with my first name and describes my fighting style and it's kind of unique so I thought I would go with that.

Matt Boone: It seems to fit.

John Hartnett: A couple of readers want to know how you think you would fair in pro boxing.

Duane Ludwig: Pro boxing? I'd do good right now, I wouldn't be one of the beginners or one of the top guys either, probably somewhere in the middle. If I put my time and effort into it I think I would do pretty good. I'm pretty quick and I got good punching power and I think I would do pretty well.

Matt Boone: A reader here wants to know how you were influenced to become involved with mixed-martial arts and no holds barred fighting.

Duane Ludwig: When Bas Rutten came to Colorado to train for his fight with Kevin Randleman, I trained with him everyday for a month or so. I started picking up the grappling a little bit and after he left to go for Randleman, I kind of stuck with the grappling here and there and thought I'd give it a shot. Now I'm a World Champion so I never thought I'd really be focusing on cage fighting or NHB or whatever you want to call it. I've always been focused on K-1 and Thai Boxing.

Matt Boone: What martial arts do you practice for no holds barred?

Duane Ludwig: Boxing and Thai Boxing. Those are the two best, that's all you need.

John Hartnett: Who's currently training you with your striking?

Duane Ludwig: Right now my striking is Trever Williams, he's my boxing coach. Then with my Thai Boxing, it's just a couple friends of mine Christian Valen and Nathan Marquardt and I go out to California to train with Bas [Rutten], he helps me out a lot.

Matt Boone: Let's see here, an e-mail from one of the guys from the Underground says, "In your fight with Shad Smith, what were you thinking when you did the "crane" technique from the "Karate Kid"?" He said, "that was too funny!"

Duane Ludwig: I was thinking, right before the fight I was a little nervous and Bas [Rutten] was kind of joking around to try and lighten me up and he said something like, "Do that Karate Kid stance and everything will be alright" to get my mind straight or something. It was just something to laugh about and it came to me during the fight and I did it. It wasn't to offend Shad or entertain the crowd at all, it was just between Bas and I. We had a couple laughs after the fight.

Matt Boone: It made for good pictures, that's for sure.

Duane Ludwig: Yeah, yeah [laughs].

John Hartnett: Another e-mail question here reads, "What do you think has been the toughest aspect of learning the ground game?"

Duane Ludwig: For me it was blocking the shoot. For a while it just took me a while for my eyes to register and to understand where to go and what to do. Now I got it picked up pretty good and I got a pretty good takedown defense.

Matt Boone: Who do you think your toughest opponent has been to date and why in any of the fighting you do?

Duane Ludwig: It'd be Ole Larson in the K-1 North American tournament. That guy is tough as nails and has really good technique. He's super strong and he's been all over, he's fought all over the world. He's a tough guy and, well, that guy is super-tough.

John Hartnett: One of our listeners here Derek Cassalle e-mailed us this question, "What do you think of fighting [Eric] Payne again to avenge your loss?"

Duane Ludwig: Well if it was for good money or something. Maybe if he had a title or a belt or something. I'm not going to take ten steps backward to avenge a loss. If he could get his name recognized and get into the top 10, then I'd definitely fight him. Back then I was kind of arrogant as far as grappling and the knees. If we fought again today, I'd knock him out for sure. I've got good takedown defense and even if it went down, I'd get it back up, or if it turned out to submission. I'm sure I'd be able to get the knockout.

Matt Boone: How long do you train? I mean like how many hours of the day, how many days of the week. How long do you train for fights?

Duane Ludwig: I train about six days a week. I train grappling four days a week, my striking about five days a week. If I'm burnt out or whatever I'll take a day off. I try and train as much as I can.

Matt Boone: When you're not training and your not fighting, what are you doing then?

Duane Ludwig: Oh I'm always training and fighting. I love the sport, you know? I don't do any other sports or anything otherwise I might get injured and then I can't fight, you know? So, I don't do much other than that.

John Hartnett: We got a pretty good question here from one of our Underground listeners, it says, "I would like to know what Duane does to overcome any sticking points in his training. It must be extremely taxing on the mind and body to go from MMA, to K-1, to Muay Thai, and gym to gym. How does he remain focused and what excersizes does he work on for power and speed. Being somewhat long-limbed, he hits a ton."

Duane Ludwig: Wow, that's a lot of questions. To explain that I'd be here for like an hour. I don't lift weights. I do like push-ups, sit-ups, squats, in place of weight and things like that. I train in grappling and sparring and things like that. Everyone says they have all these tricks or secrets or whatever. Man, there's no secrets. It's just hard work.

Matt Boone: Let's see, you fight MMA fights, you fight for K-1, you fight Thai Boxing. Say, like, when your in MMA and you have all the different rules and everything. If you then go to a different company with different rules do you have any instics from another company with other rules where you kind of break their rules because it's kind of an instict type thing?

Duane Ludwig: Well, not really. It's hard to say, you know? I fight Thai Boxing, and I've only had one elbow-fight and Thai Boxing and K-1 is pretty similar except there's no elbows. For mixed-martial arts I can't kick as much because I just want to box. So you know not really. If they shoot, I'll sprawl, if we get down to grappling I just try and get it back up. So not too much.

John Hartnett: Another e-mail here from one of our listeners says, "What's it like training with Bas Rutten? His videos and seminars are highly regarded. How do you think it has effected your fight-game for the better?"

Duane Ludwig: Oh man it's helped a lot as far as conditioning and explosiveness. The guy is very explosive and his training is just phenominal. If you go to train with him you better make sure you are in top shape, or you're not going to last too long.

Matt Boone: Now you travel a lot, but where do you train primarily?

Duane Ludwig: In Colorado. You know, I live in Colorado. Train with Shane Pitts and Nate Marquardt, the King of Pancrase right now. We have a couple others come up to Colorado Springs to help with training. I train with them to cross me up and then I head to California to train with Bas.

John Hartnett: When you train with Bas, I'm sure you use his little workout plan there and his tapes and everything. How does that implement into your training?

Duane Ludwig: Oh a lot. I do a lot of training with his pads, you know, where he holds the pads for me and we go with the tape. If you can do that then you're in top shape for sure. That's definitely a killer workout.

Matt Boone: Wrapping things up here, if you're forced to go one route, which do you take? Do you go for the NHB, or the K-1, or the Thai Boxing, or even Pro Boxing? Where are you taking your career and what do you hope to accomplish in the future?

Duane Ludwig: What I hope to accomplish is to win the K-1. If I win that then I'll just go straight to the mixed-martial arts. If that doesn't pan out for me for whatever reasons I'll probably try boxing. Then I'll just go from there. We'll see whatever happens.

Matt Boone: Just thinking about it here, we had Bas Rutten on the show the other day and he said he was hoping you would come work for PRIDE maybe. If you were to ever work up there in Japan for PRIDE, who would you like to fight up there?

Duane Ludwig: For me it's not about fighting a particular person or anything. It's about winning the titles and becoming the champion of, I guess, that organization. I'd like to work there in their Lighter division, you know, if they have one like UFC or something. Of course I'd like to see what the money is before making any decision. So you know, you never know. I definitely want to work for K-1 and then I'll just go from there.

John Hartnett: Do you have any websites or sponsors you'd like to plug right now?

Duane Ludwig: Yeah, I'd love to thank a few sponsors right now. GOC 2000, that's the stuff that has been keeping me healthy. Hitex Fightwear, GoldenPalace.com, Martial-Arts Radio, and Bas Rutten for always helping me out.

Matt Boone: Do we have anything else John, before we get going?

John Hartnett: That's about it. Thanks for coming on the show Duane, we appreciate it. Best of luck to you Duane.

Duane Ludwig: Thanks for having me.

Good read! Thanks