Glover, who is looking to work his way back to the top, is relying
on his jiu jitsu skills, his dedication and determination and his
teammates at Grudge Training Center to get him there.

Tyrone Glover has fought all over the world against some of the
greatest fighters in the lightweight division. Glover started off
with a bang, defeating some of the very best fighters of the time
including Din Thomas in 2005. Despite quickly garnering a 4-0 re-
cord, Glover decided to put his mixed martial arts career on hold
so that he could pursue his law degree. Glover earned his Juris
Doctorate from the University of Colorado but never took his eye
of mixed martial arts. During his time at the University of Colo-
rado, mixed martial arts grew and so did the lightweight divi-
sion. Glover knew he could still compete so after graduation he
began training to make his return to mixed martial arts. Glover, a
practicing attorney by day, began training at Grudge Training
Center.

Glover made his return to the sport on November 12, 2010 at The
Professionals. Glover overwhelmed his opponent, Nick Busch-
man, and earned a submission victory via armbar 4:20 of the first
round. On February 25th, 2011 at MFC 28: Supremacy, Glover
hopes to continue his winning ways against a very tough opponent
in Robert “The Beast” Washington.

“Washington is a very tough guy. He has some good wins,” Glover
stated. Washington, with an MMA record of 9-1, trains with the
likes of Matt Hughes and Robbie Lawler at the Hit Squad. He has
shown both excellent striking and solid wrestling with good
ground and pound in his nine victories. “This will be a very tough
fight for me; I expect Washington to bring his best and that is what
I am preparing for,” Glover further indicated.

MFC takes place in Edmonton, Alberta Canada on February 25,
2011, and will be televised on HDNET. Tyrone Glover and Robert
Washington are two of the top lightweight prospects in the world,
and the winner of this fight will certainly put themselves one step
closer to their ultimate goal.

Glover is currently sponsored by Knockout Brands, Full Tilt Poker,
Nogi, Character Restaurant, Inked Out Apparel, Sheppard Law
Firm, Relentless Fight Gear, Easton BJJ, Paragon, Grudge Train-
ing Center and Grudge Sports Management.

To schedule an interview with Tyrone Glover please contact Ricky
Vasquez at ricky@grudgesports.net. For more information re-
lated MFC Supremacy 28 or for ticket information please go to
www.maximumfighting.com.
HEIGHT 5’8”
WEIGHT 155
RECORD 5-0
AGE 31
TRAINS AT Grudge T.C.
OPPONENT Robert
Washington
SPECIALTY Jiu Jitsu

It takes a lot to gross out a seasoned fight promoter. Once you’ve seen enough blood on the mat and enough broken bones, you start to become immune to it all. At least, that’s what Jamie Addie of Fight to Win promotions in Denver thought. Then he saw what happened to Justin Salas‘ foot.
“It was gross, man. I’ve seen a thousand fights and many different situations, but I’ve never seen that in my life,” Addie said.

Neither had Salas. Neither had his trainer, Trevor Wittman. It hadn’t even occurred to them to be worried about something like this.

At first, neither even realized what was happening in the Jan. 29 fight. To Salas (8-3), it simply felt like he was having trouble getting his footing against UFC vet Rob Emerson in the main event.

“I wanted to work my combos and move to the right, away from his power,” said Salas. “I tried to get that angle there on the corner, on my right, but I was having a tough time because of my right foot, which is the foot I pivot off of. I noticed I wasn’t able to pivot on it and a kind of panic set in. I was slipping and it just wasn’t working, but I didn’t know why at first.”

As the first round wore on, Addie, who was sitting cageside at Denver’s Paramount Theater that night, got a glimpse of the problem.

“I think about two to three minutes into the first round we noticed the flap of skin kind of hanging off his toe. He went back to his corner and then came out for the second round and the flap of skin wasn’t on his toe anymore, it was on the ball of his foot. By the third round, it was easily a half-dollar sized flap of skin just kind of hanging there and bleeding everywhere.”

After weeks of training, Salas thought he had prepared for every possible scenario. But of all the things that might happen to you in a professional MMA bout, who expects to lose the skin off the bottom of his foot?

The culprit, it seems, was the lights. According to Addie, whose company joined with Full Force Fighting to put on the event that night, it was the first time the Paramount had hosted an MMA fight.

“It’s more of a music venue,” Addie explained. “[The Paramount] required that they use a certain staging company to do the lighting and all that. We actually own all our own lighting – LED lights and all that, so they don’t get too hot – but we had no choice. They used the good old-fashioned cam lighting, and it was a bit of overkill.”

Salas and Emerson were the last bout on an eleven-fight card, which meant that by the time they stepped in the cage the mat had been soaking in the heat of the stage lights for hours.

“It wasn’t like touching a burner hot, but it was uncomfortably hot,” said Salas. “I think it softened up the calluses on my foot and blistered it a bit, and then it just ripped off down to the middle of my foot.”

I was running on adrenaline, so it hurt a lot after, but at the time I was just trying to zone in on the fight.
– Justin SalasWhile Salas said he wasn’t the only fighter to suffer some negative effects from the hot mat, his were by far the worst. At first he hardly noticed, but as the skin tore more and more and exposed the raw flesh underneath it to the hot mat, then things got really painful, said Salas.

“I was just trying not to think about it. I was running on adrenaline, so it hurt a lot worse after, but at the time I was just trying to zone in on the fight.”

Salas was so focused, in fact, that he failed to tell his coach what was happening to him.

“He never mentioned it,” said Wittman. “I could tell he was having problems with his footwork and he wasn’t doing what I’d seen him do in the gym … I was like, man, what’s going on? But he never said a word during the fight. That kid’s so tough, man.”

As Salas explained afterward, complaining about the foot would have given him an out. In his mind, the moment he said something he’d have a reason to lose. In a fight this important to his developing career, he couldn’t risk that.

“I knew my foot was hurting, but I was thinking that I didn’t want to make any excuses or give any reason to quit. It’s like, if I start telling my coaches that my foot’s hurting then it’s like a built-in excuse for myself, and I didn’t want that. I just tried to stay in the zone and push through it. Even if your game plan is kind of messed up by it, you’ve got to find a way to win, because this was a big fight for me.”

After a three-round, fifteen-minute battle, Salas got the unanimous decision nod from the judges. As the adrenaline faded, the pain started to settle in. Over the next few days Salas could barely walk. When he was offered a fight on an MFC card in February he had no choice but to turn it down, since getting right back in the gym to prepare was hardly an option.

“It was kind of a bad deal, but in a roundabout way it probably got me more exposure than I would have otherwise,” said Salas. “Between the pictures that they got of it and me getting the win, getting a unanimous decision and looking dominant, it was actually kind of a blessing.”

He has a point. Without the gruesome and unusual foot injury, most MMA fans might still have no clue who Justin Salas is. Now they not only know about his victory over Emerson at a small show in Denver, but they know he’s the kind of guy who will fight through just about anything without complaint – and they’re not the only ones.

“It was unfortunate,” said Addie, who admitted that, in hindsight, his promotion should have done more to educate the Paramount staging crew about the potential dangers of their overzealous light use. “But one thing I can say is that Justin Salas is a tough, tough kid. He didn’t hesitate and didn’t say a word about it. He kept fighting and came out with a victory over a UFC vet. I was really impressed. He’s someone who could go a long way in this sport.”

Ben Fowlkes MMA Writer

WHEAT RIDGE, Colo. – Trevor Wittman has a case of strep throat. Maybe. At least, there’s a chance he does, and for a top MMA trainer, a chance is too much.

In his line of work, which requires getting right in the faces of elite professional fighters who are anywhere from several months to several days away from important fights, he can’t risk the possibility that he might accidentally infect them. They have enough to worry about, and he can practically feel the white spots popping up on the back of his throat every time he swallows. This explains his uniform for today.

“I swear I don’t normally dress like a ninja,” the 35-year-old Wittman explains as he leads me into his little office inside the Grudge Training Center.

He sports a long-sleeved black shirt with matching gloves, a knit wool cap, and a face and neck gator to ensure he doesn’t accidentally breathe on anyone. In preventing the spread of germs, he’s also hidden his most recognizable feature – his ubiquitous, infectious smile. Only the creases around his eyes can convey how happy he is to be at work in a job where calling in sick is hardly an option.
Trying to create a heart for a guy who doesn’t have it, that just ain’t going to work.
– Trevor Wittman
Wittman’s days start early. He’s usually in the gym by eight in the morning, sitting down for some quiet “visualization” time before the fighters start to trickle in. He thinks about the day to come, what he wants to accomplish, and how to make it happen. Then it’s on to watching film.

Today’s movie is a present from Lex McMahon at Alchemist MMA management, who wants him to take a look at young fighter they’re thinking of signing.

“He’s got heart,” Wittman says as one of the kid’s recent bouts plays on his Macbook. “But he’s very, very green.”

Then again, green is okay. Green is where he’d prefer to first get hold of a fighter, before he’s learned too many bad habits. Green you can work with, as long as the guy already has the core attributes that nobody can teach him.

“I see so many more guys who are talented not make it just because of their lack of a willingness to train,” says Wittman. “Guys who are gifted sometimes grow up getting away with things. They can be the best on the team without hard work. But then they get to a certain point, and you can’t give them a work ethic. Just like you can’t create them a heart. Trying to create a heart for a guy who doesn’t have it, that just ain’t going to work. If they’ve got a little bit of quit in them, you just can’t change that.”

For instance, take one of Wittman’s brightest young stars, UFC heavyweight Brendan Schaub. He walked into the gym one day just looking for a place to train. A short time later and there he was in the Golden Gloves, knocking out a 6′11″ boxer from the Army squad.

Wittman gestures to the framed photo of that very moment that adorns his wall – one of many in the office that is essentially a museum to his career in fight sports. The photos and memorabilia come in handy, serving as exhibits he can point to as he makes one point after another about the fight business.

One photo of a certain boxer is the launching point for a story about how relatively few fighters he’s ever quibbled over money with. He puts nothing down on paper with any of his fighters to guarantee his ten percent as their trainer, so if they wanted to – as this one boxer apparently did – they could easily deny him his share. Of course, they could only do it once, he points out.

Another photo reminds him of how world champion boxer Verno Phillips would take so much head trauma during a fight that it was routine for Wittman to sit with him in the hotel room afterwards and answer the same questions over and over again.

‘Did I get knocked out?’ Phillips would ask. ‘No, you won a decision,’ Wittman would tell him. ‘Yeah, that’s right. I did win,’ he’d say, as if he remembered it vividly now.
The thing I like about MMA is, MMA is so freaking safe compared to boxing.
– Trevor Wittman
This is just one reason why he’s glad to be out of the business of training boxers and on to MMA instead, Wittman explains.

“The thing I like about MMA is, MMA is so freaking safe compared to boxing. Boxing is a brutal sport. Just brutal.”

In the fifteen fights he worked with Phillips, for instance, Wittman says that Phillips urinated blood after at least ten or eleven of them. In all his time training MMA fighters, he says, he’s only seen it once – “and that was after a war.”

“I love boxing. The sweet science. I love it. But I’m sort of glad to be away from it. I love the science of boxing, but it’s just brutal. A life in that sport is absolutely brutal over the years. Put it this way, I wouldn’t want my son to box. If he wants to grow up a little bit, learn to defend himself, that’s fine. But not as a career. I see now why my parents didn’t want me to box.”

MMA takes a different toll, such as the one that’s growing out of the side of Schaub’s ear when he shows up for his morning one-on-one training session with Wittman.

“Look at that thing,” Wittman says, gesturing at the bulbous mass of fluid and tissue on Schaub’s left ear. “Seriously bro, it looks like a butt cheek.”

Schaub nods and fingers the ear self-consciously, admitting that it hurts so much it even wakes him up in the middle of the night if he happens to roll over on it in his sleep. He’s been draining it twice a day, and now it’s a tender red mass that he can’t forget about, in part because Wittman’s constant jokes won’t let him.

“He used to be such a good-looking guy,” Wittman needles. “Every girl who came in here would always say to me, ‘That Brendan is fine.’ Not going to happen anymore.”

You can’t see Wittman smiling beneath his homemade hazmat suit, but you can almost feel it. Everyone in the gym takes the good-natured ribbing in turn. It helps to alleviate the stress of the long training camps, particularly for those fighters nearing the grueling end, such as lightweightTyrone Glover.

Glover’s just getting back into the swing of a professional career after leaving MMA behind to finish law school. Now he works full-time as an attorney for a Denver-area law firm and also fits in a full training camp for his upcoming bout with Robert Washington at the MFC: Supremacy card in Canada on February 25.

“The hard thing is not necessarily even the training, it’s making sure you get enough rest and making sure your nutrition is right,” Glover says in between swigs of a protein shake after another hard day on the mats. “Most desk jobs or jobs where you have to be in court, the diets aren’t always that healthy.”

Glover left the sport in 2005 after a decision victory over Din Thomas in Japan. After surveying the dim prospects for 155-pound fighters at the time, law school just made more sense. These days it’s a different story, and forgetting about his former life as a pro fighter isn’t so easy.

“One thing I realized after going to law school is that fighting wasn’t just something I was doing and then I can be done with. It wasn’t like a first career before my second career. It’s something that’s in me, and I wasn’t done. I’m still healthy. I have great resources, with a place like Grudge Training Center right in my back yard. So why not keep going and do it until it no longer makes sense? It still makes sense now, so why not?”

These are the guys Wittman lives to train, he says. Ten percent of a purse from the small local shows is barely worth mentioning on his tax return, but if the fighter is a true worker he never has to think about whether it’s worth his time to train him.

It’s the guys with a constant hunger to improve who can make a lot out of very little, he points out. Give him heart and a willingness to work over natural talent and ability any day. Give him the Clay Guida’s of the world, he says, and he’s a happy trainer.
Guys like Clay Guida are a trainer’s dream.
– Trevor Wittman
“Guys like Clay Guida are a trainer’s dream,” says Wittman. “He comes to Greg Jackson when he’s honestly at about .500 or even, let’s say, gatekeeper level, and now here he is submitting [Rafael] dos Anjos and [Takanori] Gomi, who was, five years ago, one of the pound-for-pound best in the world. … And Guida just comes out there bouncing around, keeping his hands up because he’s fixing his hair, but his work ethic, his ability to want to learn, his willingness to do every little thing in his power to become a better fighter, that’s a coach’s dream. That’s what you want.”

Somewhere out there that dream is waiting to start up anew, maybe via another link to another video waiting in his email inbox. Maybe it’s waiting to walk through the door to the gym on Kipling Street, in the form of some kid with more enthusiasm than skill.

Someone who will work. Someone who, like Schaub, sometimes needs to be forced to go home, but never needs any encouragement to show up.

That, Wittman can work with, he says. That’s why he’d rather cover every potentially disease-spreading surface on his body than call in sick. That’s what he’s here for.

This is What the Hybrid had to say!

“I think guys get so caught up in respecting Mirko so much they don’t approach him with a killer instinct. They don’t look for the finish. If you look at his last few fights he fought some tough guys, Frank Mir and Pat Barry, but they go out there and show him too much respect. I respect the guy just as much as those guys do if not more. It was the same with Gonazaga. I respect these guys so much that I give them the best fight I can on the night. That’s my way of showing respect to these guys – I go in there and try and take their heads off. I put the pressure on them. There’s going to be no high-fiving. There’s going to be no hugging. I can tell you that.”

Is Mirko Filipovic a legend? In the eyes of many the answer to that question is yes. Does that mean he should be given more respect in the cage? That depends on your definition of respect. His opponent at UFC 128,Brendan Schaub, says he plans on showing his by going out there and trying to take the Croatian’s head off. He also takes an oh so subtle jab at Pat Barry by making sure to point out that he won’t be hugging or high-fiving his legendary opponent once they get in the Octagon.

As much as anyone, a friend’s pregnant wife could be considered the cause of Justin Salas’ improving mixed-martial-arts career.

It was about five years ago when Salas was back home in Green River, Wyo., joining his father in working in the town’s well-known trona mines. He hadn’t finished his final wrestling season or academic year at the University of Wyoming, so he was looking for a course in life

Then an old wrestling buddy from Colorado called.

“He said, ‘I’m supposed to do this fight, but my wife’s about ready to have a kid and I don’t wanna leave the guy high and dry,’” Salas told MMAjunkie.com(www.mmajunkie.com). “I asked if it was pro or amateur, and he asked which I wanted. I said, ‘Do I get paid?’ He said, ‘If it’s a pro fight, you get paid.’

“So, I got a week-and-a-half notice before becoming a professional fighter.”

With no training beyond his standout high school wrestling career and Division I college experience in the sport, Salas competed well but was beaten by an armbar submission.

The experience, though, got him out of the mines and started him a career that has led to a 9-3 record and an upcoming 155-pound fight against Rob Emerson at a Full Force Fighting show on Jan. 29 in Denver.

The bout will be a chance for the 28-year-old Denver-area resident to fight in front of his adopted home crowd but also to take on a seven-time UFC veteran while trying to show he continues to improve with more training.

“Denver is a huge hub for fighters, so there are a lot of connections,” Salas said. “I’m here with Grudge (Sports Management), and I just got back from training at Greg Jackson’s camp for two days, so I’m just trying to be the best.”

Out of the mines

Green River, Wyo., contains the world’s largest known deposit of trona, a mineral mined for uses including making glass containers. The workers can mine up to 1,700 feet below ground for long hours.

Salas’ father worked this job when he was born to young parents in the town. His father was from California, but his mother was a town native and worked as a waitress to help support the family. Salas’ parents were 16 and 17 when he was born.

Aside from the mine, the town was also known for its high school wrestling team, so by eighth grade Salas was participating in the sport. During his time in high school, the team was nationally ranked, and so was he. He won two Wyoming state championships.

Many of those who drew up in Green River ended up working in the mine, but Salas moved on to a wrestling scholarship at the University of Wyoming. It didn’t end the way he would’ve liked.

“I fell off, did the college thing, was partying too much, so I ended up not finishing my senior year,” Salas said. “It’s like a lot of things, you never know until you make the mistake yourself.”

His main option was returning to his home and joining his father in the difficult mining work. It was a comfortable living for many, but not one Salas wanted.

“It’s a trap life,” he said. “You work very hard, but you make good money and can have a nice life. The community’s pretty solid, it sticks together, but if you get into it, that’s your life. You buy a nice house, get a nice truck and have a family.”

It wasn’t Salas’ dream to continue that life, but he didn’t have many other options until a friend’s eminent fatherhood caused him to reschedule an MMA opportunity.

Moving around

Salas had been back at home for about three years when he got the call to fill in for his friend and make his MMA debut. He knew nothing about jiu-jitsu and just as little about submissions, but he used his wrestling instincts to stay competitive in the fight.

Afterward, he thought if he could find some training, he might gain success in this sport. That was May 2006, and Salas quickly found some MMA education. Six months later, he met the same opponent again and won with a first-round knockout.

It seemed he had found his way out of the mines.

“I just didn’t know what to do,” Salas said. “I had no idea how to go about being a professional or making money.”

He turned to the wrestling community he knew so well, which had embraced MMA. In making connections with old friends, Salas made several moves to try new training. He went from Colorado to Arizona to Las Vegas and, finally, settled in Denver with a variety of training now in his background.

After starting 2-1, Salas took a year-and-a-half break from taking fights to train, and he returned to take a 7-2 stretch into his upcoming matchup with Emerson.

Salas has finished several of his fights early, winning four times by first-round stoppage. He hopes to continue that against Emerson.

“This is a big night for me,” he said. “I’m been doing well, finishing a lot of guys, and I’ve been around some of the best. It’s time for me to take that next step.”

Jen Berg dominated kickboxing vet Lisa Jeanson Friday night December 18th in the main event at the Battle of Champions.. Berg controlled the action though-out the 1st round winning the exchanges and taking Jeanson down at the 4 minute mark and finishing the round with vicious ground and pound. Jeanson did not answer the the bell to start the second round. Berg wins TKO of the 1st round.

Cody Debuted Friday December at Battle of Champions against Greg Aldana. Mumma submitted Aldana in spectacular fashion via armbar in the first round of their scheduled 3 rounder.

As the sport of mixed martial arts continues to grow so does the amount of females that want to participate in the sport. Though mixed martial arts has been referred to as human cock fighting, many females still want to not only train mixed martial arts but compete at the professional level. With mixed martial arts gaining main stream acceptance, more and more fight promotions are starting to promote female fights. Strikeforce has even headlined an event with female fighters. MMARanked recently sat down with Grudge’s rising star Jen “Lil Ice” Berg to discuss the rise of the female side of MMA as well as her current and future plans for her own fight career.

MMARanked: What got you started in MMA?
Berg: I kick boxed in high school and college just as a way to work out. I needed something rough, I did not want to just run or light weights, I needed something more physical. I started MMA after college. I took a fight that I thought was going to be a kick boxing fight and was completely surprised when I showed up for my first day of training and we were on the mats working armbars and other submissions. I actually fell in love with mixed martial arts that first day. I knew that I wanted to compete, I wanted to push myself, I wanted to learn how to fight, I wanted to be able to fight and the type of person that jumps in with both feet. I immediately started to train four hours a day everyday and I figured that if I was going to put this much effort into then I needed to compete and I need to be the best.

MMARanked: So how does it feel to be a part of a sport on the ground floor and helping it grow?
Berg: It is an incredible feeling. I feel honored to be in the position that I am in. I am incredibly honored to be a representative of the sport, to participate in this sport, to be able to be around the other athletes and my teammates. I do feel incredibly lucky everyday. I also feel that it is a big responsibility to be in this position and I take it very seriously.

MMARanked: Where do you see the female side of the sport in the next 10 years?
Berg: I think that obviously it has grown significantly over the past few years and I certainly believe that that growth is going to continue. I do not it see it slowing down any time soon. I also think that this sport has the potential to explode if the right people get behind it. With organizations such as Strikeforce and Belator adding females to their cards I think that they are helping to launch the female side of MMA and it could get bigger than any of expected.

MMARanked: What are your goals as a female mixed martial artist?
Berg: As a competitor I want to be the very best. I want to be world champion. I want to be the best though, I do not just want to win fights, I want be the best mentally, physically, and emotionally. My own personal goals are to continue to improve my game, improve my skills and get it down to a perfect system so that when I am done with this sport people can look back and Jen Berg was a great athlete, a great competitor not just a world champion.

MMARanked: What do you think you as a female fighter needs to do to help the sport grow?

Berg: I think as a female fighter I have a responsibility to train harder then the males do, I need to constantly work on my skills and techniques. I expect perfection from myself in every way I think that it is important that I put in one million percent in everything I do. I do not think that it is enough to just be a girl that is tough or a girl that can fight, especially coming out of this gym. If the sport is going to grow then I need to cash the check that my mouth is writing so to speak, I need to use my skills, my cardio my strength, the total package to compete the same ways that the males do or people are going to be excited about seeing females fights. I think that is important for all women to see not just me. If we want the female side of the sport to succeed then we need to put in the time and do the work just like the males did.

MMARanked: Your are currently on a two fight losing streak, what do you need to do to get back to your winning ways?
Berg: I think that I need work on not questioning myself and trusting my skills. I think that in my last fight I held back a little bit because I had lost the fight before that and I think that it inhibited my performance a little bit. It made so that I fought her fight, I let her do what ever she wanted and I responded versus going in there and imposing my will. So my commitment to myself for my next fight is to make sure that I have confidence in my team and in my training camp and to go in there and leave it all in the cage. I think that win or lose if I go out there and leave it all in the cage then I will be happy but I think that if I leave the cage feeling like I held back then I think that I will feel like I sold myself short.

MMARanked: How quickly do you want to get back into the cage?
Berg: As soon as possible. You know I haven’t fought since July so I have taken a little bit longer of an off season then I typically do but I felt like I really needed to take a step back and refine my basic skills so that I could have the confidence that I need to go into my next fight with. I think that is was good for me to take a step back and developing myself a little bit more but I am really competitive and I like to stay active so I am itching to get back into the cage. I am hopeful that I will get one more fight before the end of the year. I am in shape and I have been training like I have a fight coming up so I am really eager to get back in there. However I also need the right fight. I can not take a fight just to take a fight. I need to fight some one that is close to my size so I am willing to wait for the right fight.

MMARanked: What do you consider to be your biggest strength as a fighter?
Berg: I definitely think that my kick boxing is my biggest strength and I think that unfortunately in my last two fights I did not showcase that. I have worked very hard over the past year developing myself as a well rounded fighter, working on my wrestling, my submissions and that kind of stuff but my kick boxing is my biggest strength it is what I have done the longest.

MMARanked: What has been your biggest obstacle as a female fighter?
Berg: I would have to say that I have been blessed in my journey and incredibly lucky to stumble across on some great people who believed in me and given me really great opportunities so I can not say that I have faced a ton of adversity or that I have had major obstacles. I think at my size my biggest obstacle is finding another fighter my size and finding the right fight for me that is not against someone that is a lot bigger then me.

Jen wanted to make sure that she thanked Trevor and Christina Wittman for their friendship and support.

Berg:Trevor is an amazing coach and I thank him for the opportunity for working with me and taking a chance on me. My husband because he has to put up with me everyday and I love him dearly. I really could not do what I do without him. In order for me to train full time he has to take care of everything at home and there is lot of thankless work that goes on behind the scenes. I would like to thank all of the coaches here at Grudge, Fareed Samad my boxing coach, Bryan Youngs my Mual Thai coach, Mark Huerta my wrestling coach, Paulino Ibarra also boxing coach. I want to give a special thanks to these guys for all of the time that they spend with me. Without them I would not be here. I would also like to thank Ricky Vasquez my manager for everything that he does for me. I would like to thank Greg Jackson for all of his coaching and I really want to thank my teammates for working with me, teaching me and supporting me.

Even though Jen Berg is coming off of back to back losses she is still one of the most exciting fighters that the sport has to offer. She consistently trains hard and continues to put herself in a position for success. As the female side of mixed martial arts continues to grow so will the name of Jen “Lil Ice” Berg.

Eliot Marshall is one of the best light heavy weight fighters not to be fighting on the big stage. Marshall earned himself a UFC contract after his performance on the Ultimate Fighter Seaon 8. Marshall won his first three fights against Jules Bruchez at the Ultimate Fighter Season 8 Finale, Vinicius Magalhaes at UFC 97 and Jason Brilz at UFC 103. Marshall lost his fourth fight to Vladimir Matyushenko at UFC Live Vera vs Jones and was later released by the organization. Since being released, Marshall has earned two straight victories over former UFC fighter Josh Haynes at Ring of Fire 39 and Adriano Camolese at the Bring the Thunder MMA: Someone’s Going Down event in September. Marshall is now looking for his third straight victory when he fights Chris Davis at Nemesis Fighting: MMA Global Invasion November 13, 2010 in Punta Cana, La Altagracia, Dominican Republic. Marshall took time away from his current camp to talk to MMARanked about his upcoming fight as well as the future of his career.

MMARanked: You are fighting November 13, 2010, how is camp going?
Marshall: Camp is going great. I have had an excellent camp. There are so many people in camp training for fights right now, Nate, Duane, Brendan just got done fighting, Chaun Sims is fighting on the same card as me, so everybody’s mentally is “kill” so it has made for a good camp.

MMARanked: Chris Davis is very tough opponent, what do you need to do to get a victory in this fight?
Marshall: Go. Just Go. I just got to let it go. If I let it go we are not going to see the end of the third round. That has been my problem in recent fights, holding back a little bit. I was just winning. I can win all day, it is time for me to not let them see the end bell.

MMARanked: What made you decide to take this fight?
Marshall: Why not? I won’t turn down any offers. I will take any fight. The only offers that I will turn down is if they want a long term contract. Now if they pay big money that is different. Also I will say this, I am not going to fight anybody that I have already beaten because that does not do anything for me. If I have already beaten you then don’t ask to fight me.

MMARanked: This will be your third fight in four months, how have you been able to stay healthy?
Marshall: I have the best strength and conditioning coach in the world, Loren Landow. He is a genius. He is just an absolute genius. My weight has never come off easier. I have been able to eat as much as I want the entire camp until a few days ago. Normally I have to eat salad for like eight weeks and I’d be all grumpy and moody. And now I can eat more. Loren is just a genius.

MMARanked: Assuming that you come away from this fight without any injuries how quickly do you want to fight again?
Marshall: Next week. I will fight again whenever there is another fight. Actually, I am going to go away for a couple of days after this fight so give me two weeks.

MMARanked: Is there any chance that we will see you fight in December?
Marshall: If I get the offer I am fighting. If I get the offer and its not for like a thousand dollars then I am fighting.

MMARanked: Your last five fights have gone to a decision, do you feel any added pressure to finish this fight?
Marshall: Oh yeah, I have to finish, it is a must. If I don’t finish this fight then I lose. That is just how I am seeing it from here on out. If I don’t finish my opponent then I lost.

MMARanked: Do you believe that a third straight victory will be enough to get you back into the UFC?
Marshall: No. A win alone is not good enough I have got to finish.

MMARanked: You recently signed with Alchemist Management, how do you believe that they will help your career?
Marshall: You know they have someone that is a huge face. Look at someone like MC Hammer, you know. Hammer has over two million followers on twitter. There is something to be said about that. I do not have two million followers. Even the most famous MMA guy does not have two million followers. So the thing is, you have to look at how Hammer is able to cross over to the different genres and the different people. I don’t care who you are, I am 30 years old and if you are 5 years plus or minus my age you liked MC Hammer and if you say you didn’t, you are lying. Everybody remembers him, so it is good. And my actual manager is Lex McMahon and he is a total work horse. I have been with him for two weeks and he has just been a work horse for me and I’m not even in the UFC.

MMARanked: You are widely acknowledge as an excellent jiu jitsu instructor and coach, is teaching and training fighters full time something that you are interested in?
Marshall: I am going to teach when I am done. Jiu Jitsu is what I love to do most. Like I love to fight. Fighting is a personal thing that I don’t think everybody can do. I think only a very select few can really fight, I mean not just take a fight here and there, but really fight. I think that it is a one percent type thing and it is not for everybody but Jiu Jitsu is for everybody. If you look at the true philosophy of Jiu Jitsu teaches not beating people up and making people tap but the discipline that it teaches as well as the idea of how to finish someone and how to come up and be a good black belt. It can really teach you the proper to way to live.

MMARanked: Many of your teammates and the guys that you teach and train with really look up to you, how have you accepted that role?
Marshall: I don’t even though that I have even accepted it. I don’t know, I guess I’ve been very fortunate in my life. I come from a good family, I have a good mom and dad and I never needed or wanted anything. So really that is just luck. It is just luck. I just happened to be born to the parents that I was born to and to have been given the opportunities that I have been given. So if I am lucky, then I need to help other people be lucky too. So when they meet me and they want to be around me and be my friend then I am going to do everything I can to help them and right now this is what I am doing. This is the area where I can help people. At the end of the day I don’t care about what happens in the fighting world, I want Chaun Sims to be the world champion. If I am the world champion then thats great but if Chaun is the world champion then I have succeeded. The world is bigger then just me.

As Marshall continues to work his way back to the top of the mountain he knows that he could not do it without his team. Marshall wants to thank everyone at Amal Easton Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Please go to EastonBJJ.com. Also, he wanted to thank everybody at Grudge Training Center as well as all of his coaches and teammates. Marshall knows that if he is going to get back to the UFC, he is going to need to rely on his excellent team of training partners, management and sponsors to help get him there.

Tyler Toner (145lbs.)  vs  Ian Loveland (145lbs.)