Article on Luke Zachrich
The Triangle Choke - Luke Zackrich
Scott Dryden
Sports Columnist
www.thepeoplesdefender.com
I
spent some time with The Ultimate Fighter 7 alumni, Luke Zachrich, as
he sparred with Ruthless Ron Mitchell at Team Gurgel. Luke is a rising
star on the path to the UFC.
TTC - Talk about your experience on The Ultimate Fighter training under Forrest Griffin, and how that has helped your career.
LZ - The Ultimate Fighter has been a blessing and a curse all in one, it really has. Unfortunately my season was a little different. It was the first season they did the 32 man tournament. Everybody had to fight to get on the house and everybody deserved to be there.
It was also different because they only kept three fighters under contract. The whole house situation is really weird. You leave your home training camp, you leave everything you know, you leave your personal life, your training partners, coaches, everything to be thrown into training partners who really don't care about you and the coaches are there for the paycheck and the TV time.
It was a great experience and a bad experience. It took my training to another level. I got to see how other people train. Do I think I could ever train like Forrest does? Probably not. The guy is a freak of nature. He has had some injuries because of his training regimen, but he continues to train above and beyond of anyone I've ever been around.
That is how we trained for the six weeks we were there. There were some guys that were affected by the training. It affected me for sure. I went into my first fight calm and collected and submitted the guy pretty quickly. I felt great and never got tired.
In my second fight I gassed out, my body was tired from the training there. I had never done that before. My conditioning is what I focus on pretty much above everything. I've never wanted to be that guy getting tired in the fight.
In my second fight, I gassed out and lost because of it. Now, I'm just trying to work my way back to the UFC. Joe Silva told me to win 3-5 fights and he will bring me back. I'm finally healthy for once.
Going into the show, I had a bulging disk in my neck, and then I injured my thumb in my first fight. My hand was swollen the whole time I was there. I came home to train for the TUF Finale and tore my quad and a tendon in my knee, which put me out for six months. I trained for a month then fought and broke my hand in the fight. It was a long string of injuries. I'm finally back from it and healthy.
I've been back in the gym since the end of November, training every day. I only take Sundays off. Even if I don't have a fight coming up, I'm training and helping guys out.
TTC- What is your record now, Luke?
LZ- I'm 9-1 as a professional. I was undefeated as an amateur. I went 1-1 on The Ultimate Fighter. Things are going good for me.
I had one of the better records going into the house when I was there. I'm getting better every day. I have new coaches I'm working with. Jorge Gurgel and Jon Stutzman and are helping with Jiu-Jitsu, Nate Fitch (Son of Siam) is helping with Muay Thai. Nate is a bad dude. He has brought me back to a place where I started at with Muay Thai.
TTC- What is the competition like here at Gurgel's gym? There are a lot of big names here.
LZ- On any given day, I'm training with guys that I couldn't ever imagine training with before I moved here. Marcus Davis is here a lot. Tom Murphy pops in on a regular basis. I've got to spar with Joe Riggs, train with Dustin Hazelett, a lot of sparring with Rich Franklin.
Matt Brown and I have trained together since we lived in Columbus. We trained together in a garage. There was Matt, me, Sean Salmon, Rex Holman, Dorian Price and some other guys, all training in a garage. I've had some good opportunities to train with some great people.
The thing that is awesome here is we have some great guys that no one has even heard of. Tommy Hayden is a tough up and comer, and we have John Meyer who is one of the toughest, hard nose kids I've ever met. He fights at 170 or 185. I can handle him sparring with him, but really pushes me. When it comes to grappling he absolutely tears everybody up. John is around my age, mid 20s or so.
It's a challenge everyday in here. It was great getting Ron Mitchell in here today. Ron is a great boxer. That is something you don't see a lot of in MMA. Coming to Cincinnati is one of the best moves I could have made for my career.
TTC- Speak about your upcoming bout on May 16 and if you plan to fight locally.
LZ- I fought at US Bank Arena on April 11, which was really my first time fighting at home. I'll be fighting in Florence, Ky. on the May 16. I love fighting locally. My friends, family and guys from the gym can come watch me fight.
I used to travel all over the place to fight. I've been to Canada, Florida, you name it. I've never really fought in an environment where I'm the home town favorite. It was awesome fighting for the ICF the first time. This time, I'm fighting a kid named JR Hines. I was originally scheduled to fight him at US Bank Arena, but there were some contract issues. I really don't know much about him. He is 2-2 in MMA but has fought a lot in kickboxing matches. I'm just going to go in and fight like I do in a sparring match just with more aggression.
TTC- Thanks Luke for your time and best wishes going forward. We will keep in touch.
LZ- Please do. I want to thank all of the guys here at Jorge's gym, Son of Siam, my sponsors: graphite, Forty Thieves clothing, these guys are awesome. They have given me a ton of cool stuff.
For videos and photos of Luke Zachrich and Ron Mitchell's sparring session please visit, www.thetrianglechoke.com. For a complete previews/reviews of every UFC event, every Ultimate Fighter show and more, visit www.profighting-fans.com. For information on Luke's upcoming bout and to purchase tickets please visit, www.icfmma.com.
Scott Dryden is the founder of www.thetrianglechoke.com, Editor-in-Chief of www.profighting-fans.com, and a sports columnist for The People's Defender.
Scott Dryden
Sports Columnist
www.thepeoplesdefender.com
 |
| Photo courtesy of IFC |
TTC - Talk about your experience on The Ultimate Fighter training under Forrest Griffin, and how that has helped your career.
LZ - The Ultimate Fighter has been a blessing and a curse all in one, it really has. Unfortunately my season was a little different. It was the first season they did the 32 man tournament. Everybody had to fight to get on the house and everybody deserved to be there.
It was also different because they only kept three fighters under contract. The whole house situation is really weird. You leave your home training camp, you leave everything you know, you leave your personal life, your training partners, coaches, everything to be thrown into training partners who really don't care about you and the coaches are there for the paycheck and the TV time.
It was a great experience and a bad experience. It took my training to another level. I got to see how other people train. Do I think I could ever train like Forrest does? Probably not. The guy is a freak of nature. He has had some injuries because of his training regimen, but he continues to train above and beyond of anyone I've ever been around.
That is how we trained for the six weeks we were there. There were some guys that were affected by the training. It affected me for sure. I went into my first fight calm and collected and submitted the guy pretty quickly. I felt great and never got tired.
In my second fight I gassed out, my body was tired from the training there. I had never done that before. My conditioning is what I focus on pretty much above everything. I've never wanted to be that guy getting tired in the fight.
In my second fight, I gassed out and lost because of it. Now, I'm just trying to work my way back to the UFC. Joe Silva told me to win 3-5 fights and he will bring me back. I'm finally healthy for once.
Going into the show, I had a bulging disk in my neck, and then I injured my thumb in my first fight. My hand was swollen the whole time I was there. I came home to train for the TUF Finale and tore my quad and a tendon in my knee, which put me out for six months. I trained for a month then fought and broke my hand in the fight. It was a long string of injuries. I'm finally back from it and healthy.
I've been back in the gym since the end of November, training every day. I only take Sundays off. Even if I don't have a fight coming up, I'm training and helping guys out.
TTC- What is your record now, Luke?
LZ- I'm 9-1 as a professional. I was undefeated as an amateur. I went 1-1 on The Ultimate Fighter. Things are going good for me.
I had one of the better records going into the house when I was there. I'm getting better every day. I have new coaches I'm working with. Jorge Gurgel and Jon Stutzman and are helping with Jiu-Jitsu, Nate Fitch (Son of Siam) is helping with Muay Thai. Nate is a bad dude. He has brought me back to a place where I started at with Muay Thai.
TTC- What is the competition like here at Gurgel's gym? There are a lot of big names here.
LZ- On any given day, I'm training with guys that I couldn't ever imagine training with before I moved here. Marcus Davis is here a lot. Tom Murphy pops in on a regular basis. I've got to spar with Joe Riggs, train with Dustin Hazelett, a lot of sparring with Rich Franklin.
Matt Brown and I have trained together since we lived in Columbus. We trained together in a garage. There was Matt, me, Sean Salmon, Rex Holman, Dorian Price and some other guys, all training in a garage. I've had some good opportunities to train with some great people.
The thing that is awesome here is we have some great guys that no one has even heard of. Tommy Hayden is a tough up and comer, and we have John Meyer who is one of the toughest, hard nose kids I've ever met. He fights at 170 or 185. I can handle him sparring with him, but really pushes me. When it comes to grappling he absolutely tears everybody up. John is around my age, mid 20s or so.
It's a challenge everyday in here. It was great getting Ron Mitchell in here today. Ron is a great boxer. That is something you don't see a lot of in MMA. Coming to Cincinnati is one of the best moves I could have made for my career.
TTC- Speak about your upcoming bout on May 16 and if you plan to fight locally.
LZ- I fought at US Bank Arena on April 11, which was really my first time fighting at home. I'll be fighting in Florence, Ky. on the May 16. I love fighting locally. My friends, family and guys from the gym can come watch me fight.
I used to travel all over the place to fight. I've been to Canada, Florida, you name it. I've never really fought in an environment where I'm the home town favorite. It was awesome fighting for the ICF the first time. This time, I'm fighting a kid named JR Hines. I was originally scheduled to fight him at US Bank Arena, but there were some contract issues. I really don't know much about him. He is 2-2 in MMA but has fought a lot in kickboxing matches. I'm just going to go in and fight like I do in a sparring match just with more aggression.
TTC- Thanks Luke for your time and best wishes going forward. We will keep in touch.
LZ- Please do. I want to thank all of the guys here at Jorge's gym, Son of Siam, my sponsors: graphite, Forty Thieves clothing, these guys are awesome. They have given me a ton of cool stuff.
For videos and photos of Luke Zachrich and Ron Mitchell's sparring session please visit, www.thetrianglechoke.com. For a complete previews/reviews of every UFC event, every Ultimate Fighter show and more, visit www.profighting-fans.com. For information on Luke's upcoming bout and to purchase tickets please visit, www.icfmma.com.
Scott Dryden is the founder of www.thetrianglechoke.com, Editor-in-Chief of www.profighting-fans.com, and a sports columnist for The People's Defender.
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