Gary ‘Big Daddy’ Goodridge Interview

Over the course of a seven-year career Gary Goodridge offered nothing more than his best. For fans, that was enough, but for a competitor with the intrinsic resilience that Goodridge possessed, it wasn’t nearly sufficient. He brought bombs to the table, and each time in the ring offered the perfect foil to boredom.

For a man who was tagged as an expert in Kuk Sool Won his first go into the Octagon at UFC 8: David vs. Goliath, Goodridge grew with a sport that obviously ate it’s veggies as it got bigger, stronger, and better. Men like the native Canadian have become bridges for the brutality of the past, and the sportsmanship of today. He’s seen the best of both times as well as the worst, and now in his retirement, brings an entirely new way to view him as ‘Big Daddy’ as time marches on and fans globally say a possible farewell to one of the toughest cookies in the jar.

Derek Callahan: Tell me about your martial arts beginnings.

Gary Goodridge: I was a national boxing champion in Canada in 1993, I was just a strong, athletic individual, that’s it.

DC: How’d you first hear of the UFC?

GG: I watched it on TV, actually I think UFC 3 was my first introduction to the UFC.

DC: And you decided to give it a shot?

GG: Yep, I thought that I could do it.

DC: I guess you were right.

GG: Actually my friend’s were the ones that pushed me into it I didn’t want any part of it.

DC: That’s interesting, why not?

GG: It looked a little too dangerous for me.

DC: How’d your feelings of it change from before you saw competed in the UFC to after?

GG: Really when I first saw it I just wanted to win a belt, that was a big thing for me just to win, to win a belt. Now, I’m employed.

DC: What do you mean?

GG: I’m just an employee, it’s my way of making a living.

DC: Was it as dangerous as you thought it would be?

GG: No. It’s not as dangerous as I thought. It was dangerous because you don’t know what you’re doing, but if you know what you’re doing it’s not that dangerous. It’s like a snake catcher, people go in and charm snakes, they grab the snake at the neck, and you would look at them and say, ‘you’re crazy!’

DC: When you started the sport was young and as you grew as a fighter the game did as well. How did it get tougher or easier as time went on?

GG: Everybody got tougher in terms of they started knowing more things, more submissions, more stand up, better ground, so I had to train differently. It didn’t really affect me that much, it’s just evolving, it’s just like driving as you grow old. You’re 16 going for your driver’s license, you start driving, then you start driving with one hand.

It’s different because you have to get better. People that stay stagnant, for instance Tank Abbott and stuff like that, and [ken] shamrock, it’s a shame because they were on top of the game in their time, they left and came back and you can’t really start off where you left off at.