Kempo Chris
11-22-2003, 07:55 PM
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From ADCOMBAT.com
KM: How is your recovery or training or whatever going? DP: It’s going well.
KM: Are you still in recovery? DP: Yeah, basically. I’m back in training but still not 100% yet.
KM: Do you have any idea when you would be fully recovered? DP: No. I can’t give you a date, I can tell you approximate. I’m looking to fight in the next three months. It’s basically up to Marco (Ruas). When he says I’m ready to go I’m going.
KM: What is wrong right now? Still the ACL? DP: Nothing is really wrong, I’m not rushing. I’m letting myself heal and will be back soon. A lot of people are trying to push me into fighting. I don’t care. I’m not fighting until I’m 100%. I will not do it. It’s not worth it to me. I’m doing good though; I’m strong right now, I feel really good, I’m healthy, and I can’t complain.
KM: Are you training with kicks and running or just the lifting? DP: No, I’m sparring right now.
KM: My guess is we’ll see a couple warm-up fights before something as high-profile as Howe, Neff, or Buckner. DP: Most likely. I’m sure I could fight for IFC right now if I wanted to. You know the same shows as I do.
KM: What is your whole take on Erica Montoya in UFC? DP: I honestly think she’s a good fighter and if they can find her a quality opponent I think it could be maybe one good fight or something. I don’t know where they are going to go with it after that. As far as I know she’s not in it. There is no date, right?
KM: No, I believe they are looking at first quarter of next year. I’m not sure. DP: My personal opinion is if they are going to put her in there Jennifer Howe fights at 125 and she’s active. She’s the best 125 in my opinion right now so I’d like to see those two fight in the UFC if they are going to do it. I don’t think that is going to happen and I think that’s a shame.
KM: Speaking of Howe…Howe just beat (Judy) Neff, there was all that talk last year about you versus Neff, (Amanda) Buckner has been pretty active but everybody is still looking at you as the question mark in the women’s 135. How do you feel about everything that has transpired in the last month or so in the women’s 135 without you? DP: I think it’s going as I kind of figured it would. I figured all the fights would go the way they have been. I don’t know how to feel about it. I obviously want to fight Jennifer and know she wants to fight me and think we are going to have a good fight. That is pretty much it.
KM: There is a lot going on right now with the 135s and Erica in Shooto. You are the one that people haven’t been seeing lately but still hear your name. DP: Lucky me, huh? (Both laugh). I’m happy to see Jennifer won. I’m glad they fought and it was good. I think that was a good win for her.
KM: Afterwards she was talking about you are the only one left and the jump between the top women and the rest of the 135s. Your name is still being brought up but recent fans aren’t able to see you. Any regrets in that sense? DP: I can’t have regrets. Her and I have tried to fight I think twice and due to injuries it hasn’t happened. I can’t really have regrets, I can just train.
KM: Are you in any way feeling left behind? DP: No. Obviously I wish I had still been able to fight this whole time and get more experience and ring time and that whole thing.
KM: You heal, get a couple warm-up fights, and assuming you do well you face Howe. Do you really want to keep fighting after Howe? DP: I think that if more women keep fighting and training I think there will be more women to fight and that will be good. Obviously for the rest of my life I can’t keep taking on everybody that is supposed to be the top person but we’ll see. There was a time I thought I might fight for one more year and then hang it up but now that I was injured and training again I’m getting really excited about training and fighting. I have a passion back, I’m more into it than I was. For a long time right after my fight in KOTC I trained for like four months all day every day and I couldn’t get a fight. People don’t understand that. In the beginning I couldn’t get a fight if my life depended on it anywhere and then when I could get fights I got injured a couple times and after KOTC I couldn’t get a fight because everybody was hurt. It’s really bad timing. There are not enough women where injuries or something goes wrong to keep it going. It’s really hard to train full-time when you aren’t fighting. I was bummed about that and I’m more excited now because now I know if I’m training I’m going to be fighting. That is a good bonus for me, a good perk. It keeps me motivated instead of training to train.
KM: The seminar in Vegas, the Vicious ***** seminar. DP: It came off fabulous. Kathy (Long) is wonderful, Cindy (Omatsu) is wonderful, I love these girls. There were beginners there, professional fighters there, men and women. We connected. I met two of the coolest people I’ve ever met in female fighting, it was amazing. I had never met either one of them before I went out there. I didn’t know what to expect or how it would go and it was great.
vKM: Are you looking to do more? DP: Yeah, absolutely. We definitely want to do more. I tried to convince Kathy to start fighting and do MMA. We all really like each other and are going to continue and train together and stuff like that. I’m seeing her on Tuesday actually. I can’t even say enough good things.
From ADCOMBAT.com
KM: How is your recovery or training or whatever going? DP: It’s going well.
KM: Are you still in recovery? DP: Yeah, basically. I’m back in training but still not 100% yet.
KM: Do you have any idea when you would be fully recovered? DP: No. I can’t give you a date, I can tell you approximate. I’m looking to fight in the next three months. It’s basically up to Marco (Ruas). When he says I’m ready to go I’m going.
KM: What is wrong right now? Still the ACL? DP: Nothing is really wrong, I’m not rushing. I’m letting myself heal and will be back soon. A lot of people are trying to push me into fighting. I don’t care. I’m not fighting until I’m 100%. I will not do it. It’s not worth it to me. I’m doing good though; I’m strong right now, I feel really good, I’m healthy, and I can’t complain.
KM: Are you training with kicks and running or just the lifting? DP: No, I’m sparring right now.
KM: My guess is we’ll see a couple warm-up fights before something as high-profile as Howe, Neff, or Buckner. DP: Most likely. I’m sure I could fight for IFC right now if I wanted to. You know the same shows as I do.
KM: What is your whole take on Erica Montoya in UFC? DP: I honestly think she’s a good fighter and if they can find her a quality opponent I think it could be maybe one good fight or something. I don’t know where they are going to go with it after that. As far as I know she’s not in it. There is no date, right?
KM: No, I believe they are looking at first quarter of next year. I’m not sure. DP: My personal opinion is if they are going to put her in there Jennifer Howe fights at 125 and she’s active. She’s the best 125 in my opinion right now so I’d like to see those two fight in the UFC if they are going to do it. I don’t think that is going to happen and I think that’s a shame.
KM: Speaking of Howe…Howe just beat (Judy) Neff, there was all that talk last year about you versus Neff, (Amanda) Buckner has been pretty active but everybody is still looking at you as the question mark in the women’s 135. How do you feel about everything that has transpired in the last month or so in the women’s 135 without you? DP: I think it’s going as I kind of figured it would. I figured all the fights would go the way they have been. I don’t know how to feel about it. I obviously want to fight Jennifer and know she wants to fight me and think we are going to have a good fight. That is pretty much it.
KM: There is a lot going on right now with the 135s and Erica in Shooto. You are the one that people haven’t been seeing lately but still hear your name. DP: Lucky me, huh? (Both laugh). I’m happy to see Jennifer won. I’m glad they fought and it was good. I think that was a good win for her.
KM: Afterwards she was talking about you are the only one left and the jump between the top women and the rest of the 135s. Your name is still being brought up but recent fans aren’t able to see you. Any regrets in that sense? DP: I can’t have regrets. Her and I have tried to fight I think twice and due to injuries it hasn’t happened. I can’t really have regrets, I can just train.
KM: Are you in any way feeling left behind? DP: No. Obviously I wish I had still been able to fight this whole time and get more experience and ring time and that whole thing.
KM: You heal, get a couple warm-up fights, and assuming you do well you face Howe. Do you really want to keep fighting after Howe? DP: I think that if more women keep fighting and training I think there will be more women to fight and that will be good. Obviously for the rest of my life I can’t keep taking on everybody that is supposed to be the top person but we’ll see. There was a time I thought I might fight for one more year and then hang it up but now that I was injured and training again I’m getting really excited about training and fighting. I have a passion back, I’m more into it than I was. For a long time right after my fight in KOTC I trained for like four months all day every day and I couldn’t get a fight. People don’t understand that. In the beginning I couldn’t get a fight if my life depended on it anywhere and then when I could get fights I got injured a couple times and after KOTC I couldn’t get a fight because everybody was hurt. It’s really bad timing. There are not enough women where injuries or something goes wrong to keep it going. It’s really hard to train full-time when you aren’t fighting. I was bummed about that and I’m more excited now because now I know if I’m training I’m going to be fighting. That is a good bonus for me, a good perk. It keeps me motivated instead of training to train.
KM: The seminar in Vegas, the Vicious ***** seminar. DP: It came off fabulous. Kathy (Long) is wonderful, Cindy (Omatsu) is wonderful, I love these girls. There were beginners there, professional fighters there, men and women. We connected. I met two of the coolest people I’ve ever met in female fighting, it was amazing. I had never met either one of them before I went out there. I didn’t know what to expect or how it would go and it was great.
vKM: Are you looking to do more? DP: Yeah, absolutely. We definitely want to do more. I tried to convince Kathy to start fighting and do MMA. We all really like each other and are going to continue and train together and stuff like that. I’m seeing her on Tuesday actually. I can’t even say enough good things.