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Interview w/UFC Rising Star Yves Edwards (part 1)
Reported By: Chris Colderley - 06.25.2003 02:06 AM
By Chris Colderley
The Texas Gunslinger, Yves "Eves" Edwards, talks with BoxingInsider.com:
After losing his first two UFC matches by decision to Matt Serra and Caol Uno, Yves Edwards has strung together three very impressive victories. At the UFC 37.5, Edwards TKO’d undefeated, Joao Pierini with a wicked high kick that separated his shoulder. At the UFC 41, Team Miletich fighter, Rich Clementi was coming off seven straight victories before Edwards finished him off with a rear naked choke. And, of course, in his most recent victory over Eddie Ruiz, he completely dominated the fight with fierce striking and solid ground work. Edwards has always been considered a dangerous striker, but his last two performances demonstrated the rapid development of his ground and grappling skills.
Following the UFC 43, Boxing Insider contributor, Ryan Bennett said, “I really think Yves is at the point of his career that he is ready to challenge B.J. Penn for the title.” Unfortunately, Edwards will have to wait. After the controversial draw between B.J. Penn and Caol Uno at the UFC 41, the lightweight title remains vacant, and B.J. Penn has informed the organization that he is planning to take some time off and will not be available for the next couple of months.
In part one of this interview with Chris Colderley, Yves talks about his last fight with Eddie Ruiz, speaks candidly about future match-ups with B.J. Penn and Caol Uno, and answers the important question, “Are you ready for the championship?”
In part two, Yves discusses his training, the development of the Texas fight scene, including his own “Third Column” team, and gives a new spin to marketing his image.
BoxingInsider.com: First off Yves, congratulations, you have some good news. You have a little Edwards running around?
Yves Edwards: Yeah I do. He’s not running around.
BoxingInsider.com: No, not yet. But everyone is doing well and is healthy and happy?
Yves Edwards: Yes. He’s good. She’s good. I just left them at the hospital right now.
BoxingInsider.com: Also, congratulations on your last fight, it was a rather impressive performance.
Yves Edwards: Thanks man. Thank you very much.
Photo: TXMMA.com
BoxingInsider.com: While we are on that subject, let me ask a little about that last fight. How tough was Ruiz?
Yves Edwards: Wow. As far as his skill level, I don’t think he, on that particular night, offered any kind of danger. He was really tough as far as the amount of damage he could take. I have hit a lot of people with a lot less and ended their night. He was really, really tough, but I don’t think he was ready for what I had for him.
BoxingInsider.com: How close were you to finishing him?
Yves Edwards: I know when I had him in the triangle – I had the triangle sunk and I tired a variation on it and it didn’t work. As far as when I hit him, I knew I hit him and I knew I rocked him a couple of times, but he got back into it really fast. As far as knocking him out, I think I was close, but not close enough to catch it. I was really close on the submission attempt.
BoxingInsider.com: This is the third time you have fought a rookie in the UFC. What are the difficulties of fighting someone who is making their debut?
Yves Edwards: Those guys come tough. They feel like they have something to prove, and they train extra hard. Everybody trains harder for their first UFC fight especially if they’ve had a lot of other fights in a lot of other shows, than they do after they have been established and they are fighting someone for the first time.
I try to keep myself away from that. I try to train just as hard for everybody whether it’s Eddie Ruiz or B.J. Penn or Caol Uno – anybody. I just train as hard as I can. These guys are looking to come in and take your spot and I just can’t let that happen.
BoxingInsider.com: In a recent article Ryan Bennett said you are ready for the lightweight championship. How frustrating is the current lightweight championship situation for you?
Yves Edwards: I would like to see someone grab the title so I could take it away from them. That’s pretty much it. I see B.J. as the champion. I think he won the fight. I know the judges saw it another way, but I saw that fight as three rounds to two.
It’s kind of frustrating in the fact that there’s nobody really to aim for, but at the same time I don’t see Uno being able to defeat B.J. That’s what I am doing: I am setting my sights on B.J. He’s the one I’m gunning for.
Other than that it’s not too frustrating because I haven’t made a demand to fight the champion – because there simply isn’t any champion right now. It would only get frustrating if B.J. tried to avoid fighting me, which I doubt he would.
Photo: TXMMA.com
BoxingInsider.com: What would you expect from a fight with B.J.? Penn?
Yves Edwards: B.J. is a great athlete, but I would expect him to take me down or at least attempt to because the only person in the UFC - I’ve said it time-and-time again, there’s only one person that will stand up with me at 155 lbs and that’s Bang [Duane Ludwig].
B.J. would definitely try to take me down and keep me there. I see him spending a lot of energy to get me on my back. I know he’s an exceptional athlete, but my takedown defense is just improving in leaps and bounds. I think it will be a good fight. I think it will be action packed for the whole time whether it goes one round or five rounds. I see him trying to take me down and me defending the shot very well and making him pay for missing.
BoxingInsider.com: Maybe you could try a submission?
Yves Edwards: [laughs]
BoxingInsider.com: How long before you think you are ready to fight for the championship? Are you ready now?
Yves Edwards: Looking at styles, B.J. is a great fighter, but I think our styles match up better for me. Like I said, he’s a great athlete, but he hasn’t been a wrestler all his life. He has a decent takedown, but it’s not a wrestler’s takedown, it’s not a Division I takedown. I think I could pose some problems by defending the takedown and making him stand-up with me . . . He’s knocked some people out and everybody is going to say, “B.J. can stand-up with you and do this and do that.” It can’t happen, if B.J. stands up with me. He knows it – I know it. I could care less what anybody else says. He’s going to have to change that part of his game substantially between now and whenever we should fight. If he doesn’t, that is going to be his downfall.
BoxingInsider.com: We are assuming that Penn is going to win, what if Uno wins the rematch. If you faced Uno again what would you do differently?
Yves Edwards: What would I do differently? Uno is another guy that keeps coming. You can see that in his fight with B.J. and in his fight with Jens [Pulver]. He went five rounds and kept going. When I fought Uno, he would shoot in, I would defend the shot, he would make a second attempt, I would defend that, and then on the third attempt I would give up and fall back to guard. That is something that I realized that I was doing that I just cannot afford to do. I have to fight the takedown until he’s earned it one hundred percent or I escape. That would be one thing that I would do differently.
The second thing that I would do is when we were standing; I would stay in his face. There would be no time when I wasn’t pushing something in his face or throwing shots at his body. I would constantly attack; constantly put the pressure on him. He’s a great fighter. He’s physically not as strong as I am. He’s strong, just not as strong as I am and I would try to use that to my advantage as much possible.
BoxingInsider.com: Your ground-game over the last two fights has probably been as good as anybody’s in the UFC.
Yves Edwards: I have been working really hard on my ground game. I have some really good guys to work with. I’m working with Travis Tooke, Tim Credeur and Carlo Credeur. And those guys, those guys, man! Carlo, he doesn’t have the level of ju-jitsu that Tim Credeur and Travis Tooke have, but his energy and just his natural ability makes him just as dangerous as those guys. I am just working my ass off to improve my ju-jitsu and have a lot fun. I am training with these guys and getting a lot better at it, so I am just really excited.
BoxingInsider.com: Well it’s paying off.
Yves Edwards: Thank you.
Stayed tuned for part two later this week!
ThewoodlandsMMA.com - For Information on Yves Edwards and the Third Column Team.
Chris Colderley is a freelance writer and a boxinginsider.com contributor.
Chris can be reached at colderley@hotmail.com
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