Gary ‘Big Daddy’ Goodridge Interview

DC: Throughout your career in all you’ve had 19 losses, how does a fighter question himself during the bad times and what kept you believing that you could win after some tough losses?

GG: The thing is, the bulk of my career was in Japan and they don’t really give a shit about the win/loss record they just want to see a good show. As a fighter, I care about the win/loss record, I don’t want to lose I want to win every fight that I’m in.

So I tried as hard as I could and that’s all they can ask from me. I didn’t know what I was gonna do in the ring and how I was gonna do, all I knew was that I could put on a good show, and try to not quit, to keep going.

DC: You did K-1 and PRIDE, something a lot of fighters don’t seem to want to do. What did you find tougher?

GG: Well I’d say I find K-1 tougher because it’s not my base sport. Boxing is my base sport. I suppose if wrestling was my base sport I’d find it really difficult the way Tom Erikson did. What is tougher? I don’t know,

I’ve seen some really weak MMA people and I’ve seen some really weak K-1 people. Personally for me at this point ‘d have to say K-1 is a little tougher. I’ve been training K-1 style fighting hard for the past two years and it’s tough, it’s a very painful sport. MMA seems to be a walk in the park compared to the K-1 stand-up, kicking and punching. K-1 is going MMA now.

DC: How did boxing differ from K-1 for you?

GG: Because of the timing, the distance are totally different for punching [and] for kicking, it’s just totally, totally different. You can use it, it’s still the same skills and almost the same technique you still use. There’s more added, boxers can hold their hands down, for example

Don Frye and myself, my last fight with Don Frye, my whole thing was he was a typical boxer with a great wrestling base. I knew that he was going to come in holding his hands down low. It’s just a boxer’s style. When you’re not expecting the kick, you’re really expecting it to the thigh and then you surprise somebody and throw it up to the head you’ll get somebody ten times out of ten.

It’s a big, big difference. It was hard for me, I learned a big lesson from Gilbert Yvel when I got knocked out the exact same way. Boxers come in and hold their hands low because they can pretty much take a punch to the head full force when you see it. But with a kick when you don’t see it, a kick is a whole new different ballgame. You’re going to sleep. I find it hard.