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From www.maxfighting.com

Catching Up With with Duane "Bang" Ludwig : :
Interview and Photos by Peter Lockley (December 3, 2003)



PL: Tell us about your last fight in K-1 against Toshio Matsumoto?
My last fight for K-1 was a very important fight to me. It was my first fight for K-1 while on contract so I really wanted to put on a good show. My opponent Toshio was a stablemate of my first round opponent for the 03 World MAX tournament, Kozo Takeda, and our fight was built as a revenge match for Kozo since I had beaten him. My plan for the fight was to just outbox him while countering his kicks. I went to New Mexico to train with Mike Winklejohn for this fight, and like I said earlier, I really wanted to put on a good show so I knew that Mr. Winklejohn would get me more then ready, and I was.

The fight went as planned with me being able to catch him with my boxing. Toshio just likes to kick and knee so I just wanted to counter his kicks and watch out for his knees to the head since he is about 6'1''. Funny thing is, I actually KO'ed him with a knee to the head.

PL: Talk about your new contract with K-1. Where do you see that going in the future?
My manager Sven "Boogie" Bean got me a really good deal with K-1 MAX. The contract is basically a two-year deal saying that I will fight in three K-1 shows a year, but that I still can fight for other non-Japanese organizations like the UFC. This is great for me, and it's what I have been dreaming of for years - being a K-1 fighter. One thing that is very important for me is the K-1 World MAX tournament, so now with this contract, K-1 is keeping me busy with actual K-1 style fights. When I jump back and forth between NHB and K-1, my striking skills suffer and that can't happen when I'm fighting the world's finest strikers. Basically, no other top K-1 MAX fighter is doing both NHB and K-1. If I can concentrate on K-1, my chances of reaching my dream are better. With the contract that "Boogie" got me from K-1, I can give 100% to my dream.

PL: K-1 has also taken an interest in promoting you to Japanese fans. Is that part of the contract?
Basically there are two contracts - a fight contract and a promotion contract. The fight contract says that I will fight on at least three K-1 shows a year and is only exclusive in Japan; fighting for shows like Ring of Fire and UFC are OK. The Promotion contract says that K-1 will get me commercial deals and that they are going to have some BANG items made up. K-1 has mentioned a few things to help promote me, like T-shirts and a doll. The qualities that I naturally have are what the Japanese fans like - I am the All American guy for one, I have tons of heart and I am not that bad at fighting. I guess if you throw a little Apple pie, a couple steel balls, a good chunk from a lion's heart and a little bit of fighting skill you got me. One thing about Japanese fans is that they are very knowledgeable of the fight game. They love you win or lose. It's a great thing to be appreciated as an athlete and not a brawler.

PL: Talk about K-1's new MMA promotion. Where do you see yourself fitting in there and are you more interested in pursuing K-1 or MMA rules fights?
Now that K-1 has launched a MMA series, I will also be fighting in that, but nothing is set yet. Hopefully I will not be fighting too much MMA because K-1 is my dream and that is what I want. With K-1 signing me to this contract, I am the only foreigner to be signed in the MAX series and the second American ever to have a K-1 multi fight deal, so this is big stuff. With me being able to do both K-1 style and MMA, K-1 can keep me very busy, with possibly more than three shows a year.

PL: Your last K-1 fight was supposed to be against Genki Sudo. Does that still look like a possibility, and do you still want to fight him, whether under K-1 or MMA rules?
I was supposed to fight Genki in K-1 rules but it was pulled. If we fight again, I hope for it to be in K-1 rules so I do not have to worry about the takedowns and I can just go after him. I do owe him and the fans a rematch in MMA though.

PL: Where do you stand with the UFC right now?
With the UFC not having a 155 title anymore, I am not too sure where I stand. For me, I don't really want to fight a particular person as much as I want to fight for the title. I was asked after my last K-1 fight who I would like to fight. I said nobody, I just want the K-1 04 MAX title, and I want to bring it back to America. That is a big thing to me, to show the world that America has great kickboxing. Americans get little respect in the world when it comes to kickboxing and I am going to change that.

PL: Comment on BJ Penn moving up in weight to fight Matt Hughes. Who can beat Matt Hughes?
I think that Matt is going to beat BJ pretty easy. BJ doesn't seem that strong at 155 and now he wants to fight the strongest 170 pounder?? BJ better do some steroids or something. Hey, BJ, just don't tell the UFC OK? If Matt comes to fight like he has been, then it's not going to be a certain fighter that is going to beat him as much as it's going to be a lucky strike or some mistake from Matt that will get him submitted.

PL: Do you plan on staying at 155? Would you fight at 170 in the UFC?
With my new trainer Mike Winklejohn, making 155 is no problem. That guy worked me out so much that I had to actually eat more to keep my weight up to stay at 160 so I could still cut five pounds and have a little weight on my opponent. Fighting at 170 is not too likely for me. The only way that I would fight at 170 is if I had a street fight two weeks after one of my scheduled fights.

PL: I understand your next fight is for Alex Gong's title. How does it feel to fight for a title that was vacated in such a way?
Alex Gong's death was just wrong. Of all people, he should know not to try to street fight. Everybody knows that people do not fight fair. Even then, you're a professional fighter with a moneymaking gym, let your insurance and police handle it, man! The whole thing pisses me off. I have a little story for you guys. I had this loudmouth guy at work one time wanting to fight me and I told him "I don't fight for free". The guy's brother says that would put $1000 up and so would my boss. "Great," I told him and we scheduled to meet after work, but of course he backs out, saying that we shouldn't be fighting and that I was cool and all. This was when I was working as an electrician and the other guy was a dry waller. There is always something happening on a construction site. Actually, a week after Alex was shot, this guy on the highway invited me to pull over for a little road rage dance after work. I told this fat dumb ass, "you don't want me to pull over," but of course looking like a 15-year-old Boy Scout doesn't help when I try to talk bad so then I remembered what happened to Alex and I just kept on driving. Now I am glad to say that because I didn't pull over to fight, I am here to answer your questions and to say that I will be fighting for the ISKA title that Alex had vacated. The date is Jan 10th here in Colorado, which is rare these days, against Terrek Rashad from Lebanon. This will be full Muay Thai with elbows. This title means a lot to me. I plan to keep the title here in the United States and keep a bit of Alex Gong's memory with it. Since his last defense of the title was against me, I have a little emotion wrapped up with this fight. I hope that I can keep the title here for a lot of reasons but one reason in particular and that's to keep it here in Alex Gong's memory.

PL: What's after that fight? What do you want to work on in terms of your fighting? What is your next goal?
My next goal is to win the 04 MAX World Grand Prix. That has been my dream for 10 years now, to win the K-1 Grand Prix.

PL: What has kept you motivated over the years as you've moved closer to that goal?
I have a few reasons why I fight. One is because this is what I am wired for, but I must do the best I can because if you don't, why do it at all? I don't fight because I want people to think that I am cool and/or tough. I don't wear fight shirts in public and I don't talk about fighting when I am in a public place so people can hear how cool I am. I fight to make my mother proud. I am the youngest of five children so that means that it's up to me to finally put the LUDWIG name in a place to be proud of. I grew up fighting and I am good at it so this what I am running with. Finally, I am making enough money to do it full-time. The place where I'm at today is due to a lot of things: My desire, my first coach James Tigrett who gave me a strong Muay Thai foundation and my manager / big brother Sven "Boogie" Bean, who has always looked out for me since day one. No one can really say that this one thing or one person did everything, but I tell you this, if it wasn't for "Boogie", I would not be where I am today.

PL: You've had two chances to win the MAX title in the past. What do you feel has held you back?
One thing that has held me back from winning the MAX tournament is me. I never believed that I could win it. There are a few things that I would like to blame, but the bottom line is that I never believed in myself. Now I have my diet down better, I finally have a true kickboxing coach, I have been focusing 100% on K-1 rules and I am getting better each time I fight. A few things that held me back were a lack of training partners and a true experienced kickboxing coach. No excuses, I just have to trust in my training and myself. When I fought Masato in the 02 MAX, I was a little intimidated and I was hearing all this **** at the camp I was training at. I was just not there 100%. Also, I starved myself to stay at weight for four days before the fight. My diet was wrong and my training was not what it should have been for that Masato fight. I was just not myself. In this last 03 MAX, I was totally focused for the Kozo fight and I trained entirely for Kozo. My goal was to beat Kozo and to at least win one fight. When that happened, I was happy with what I accomplished. I kind of settled for that win and that win only. When I fought (Albert) Kraus, I did what I never do and that is fight a fighter at his own game. I am good at doing what my opponent is not doing. When I faced him, I tried to box him and he caught me and I went down. From then I was scared that I could not take his power. I was just not myself. When I cut so much weight, I do not take a shot as well. That is not going to be a problem from now on. With my new training, I have to eat to keep weight on so that is a good thing.

PL: How is your game improving with your new trainer?
With my new trainer Mike Winklejohn, I have full confidence when I fight. My training is exactly what I need to be doing. Mr. Winklejohn has the experience and the knowledge of the fight game and that is a big thing to me. When someone tries to tell me something and they have never fought, then I do not take it to heart. That is why I love Bas Rutten so much. He has he skills and he has always looked out for me. I listen to everything he says. Mr. Winklejohn also looks out for me; his training is very intense and very good. I feel great training with him. No one trains the way we do. We run this mountain, and at the top, we do pads and a bunch of drills. That is the ****. When I do that training, it gives me this confidence that I have never had before. I felt so good at this last fight with the training that I did, that when I fight for the ISKA title (Gong's title), I am going to go off.

PL: K-1 obviously pays better than most US organizations. How much has this contract helped you financially?
Having this K-1 contract, I do not have to work and I do not have to worry about getting sponsors. One big thing about the fight game has always been sponsors. I have had a few good ones and a few bad ones. Now with this K-1 contract, I don't really need sponsors, so I guess you can say I get to pick what I want to wear on my fight clothes. That is a good thing too because I had a clothing sponsor out of Cali. That was just a pain in my ass to deal with. Sometimes the actual fight itself was easier then getting the money from the sponsor. Then there is my supplement sponsor that wanted to start charging me for protein when he figured out that sponsoring wasn't going to bring in a million dollars to his shop. Then I have another supplement guy who came to me that starts off big (of course), only to end up being another pain. I am not going to mention their company so they can get any free advertising but the second supplement sponsor's name is "back order Jeff" because every time I try to get something from this guy it's always back ordered. Yeah right, man. I would ask for a certain protein bar or certain protein and he would always be like "no, that's on back order but I have this half empty protein that I didn't finish". Thanks bro. I wouldn't get half of what I was supposed to but I was all right with that because, ****, it was free. The problem comes when you hear that the guy talks **** behind your back about how "I only give Duane half his stuff because he doesn't get me as much business as he should by sponsoring him". When you confront him he totally backs off and denies everything. I also had a website that gave me a few bucks here and there but this guy is one two-faced *******, a total snake. This guy says one thing and then goes back on it the next day like we never talked, kind of like Terry from KOTC. When I drive 1,200 miles to Cali for a six-month fight deal to find out that there is no apartment like we agreed on, that is when I found out what a contract is good for. Not to trust a man's word. Scratch that man, I meant snake's word. So to all the sponsors that are a pain in my ass, I want to say, "f**k off", but that would not be good so instead, I would like to say "f**k off". One thing about me, I am a very honest and dedicated person but if you piss me off one time, I never forget it. I will stay on the ride until I get everything I can, but after the ride stops, bye bye.

With that off my chest, I would like to thank some people and sponsors that have been there from the beginning and have always been willing to help me out in a pinch. GLC 2000, even if they didn't sponsor me, I would take their product; that stuff works. Profile Autobody, who took a chance on me. They paid for my 02 MAX training and I didn't win, as we all know, but they didn't care, they were just proud to help me out and have ever since. Dakota's Steak house out in Cali. They would give me any free meal all the time when I lived there and didn't want anything in return. Brothers BBQ here in Denver, they always hook it up with the BBQ. Always a smile when we meet and never a question when I bring in the whole gang to throw down on some ribs. For some very special people that have helped me from the get go, in no order mind you. Bas Rutten, and BASRUTTEN.TV always looked out for me and got me hooked all over the world. Sven "Boogie" Bean, who, like a big brother would, has never left my side in any situation, my snugglers, who didn't care if I had money or not; still there was love in her eye for me. There are so many people who helped me through my career, training partners Nate Marquardt who fights in Pancrase on the 30th, Christian Allen and Clarence Thatch. I could go on for a while but I better quit now. THANKS TO ALL MY FANS AND THANKS TO ALL THE WEBSITES AND MAGAZINES THAT GIVE ME EXPOSURE. God Bless.