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Pre-PRIDE Talk From Guy Mezger
March 23, 2001
by Brian Piepenbrink

During his usual preflight training stop over in San Diego I once again met with Lion's Den fighter Guy Mezger to get the scoop on his upcoming fight with Egan Inoue. Not only did I pester him during his morning workout, but being the world class journalist that I am I wetn with him to the E street Alley Restaurant/Night Club where Mr. Mezger was enjoying a nice piece of sea bass. Unfortunately it was St. Patrick's Day and even the best journalist can succumb to the curse of Asahi beer when served by the beautiful (and I mean Beautiful) waitress Tina. Due to my holiday buzz nothing news worthy came out of that evening besides a few diet tips from Guy to my friend, and a couple of unseemly noises that seem to flow effortlessly.

What I will say is that though this may be one of my shorter writings, it is the only one where I will shed my duty to be nonbiased and say that I want Guy Mezger to win! Not only is Guy a great person and someone who I have come to call friend but he has done something that no other MMA fighter in history has ever done… HE PAID FOR MY BEER! And now on to the interview:

Brian Piepenbrink: So you're signed to fight Egan?

Guy Mezger: Yeah, I got him in about a week.

Brian Piepenbrink: Have you watched him much and if so what do you think about him?

Guy Mezger: Well I've seen Enson fight a lot more. They fight a little bit alike but I think Egan is a little more cautious than Enson. Enson kind of likes to throw down and wherever the cards fall they fall. I think Egan is a little more decisive in his technique. I think Egan is better on the ground. I think he's a better juijitsu player.

Brian Piepenbrink: So Tra's going to be fighting Igor?

Guy Mezger: That's the rumor yeah.

Brian Piepenbrink: Have you talked to him about it or anything?

Guy Mezger: Yeah, when the possibility came up I suggested that Tra take it. He's been out of the loop a little bit and been discouraged a lot with the stuff that comes up. It's hard to get into your fighting and your training when deals fall through and all this kind of stuff so I don't think Tra has really shown his best performances in the past because of circumstances being the way they are sometimes. I think this is the perfect opportunity, it's the perfect type of fighter for Tra. Tra is a slugger. He goes out there and he throws down. And that's what Igor does so I think it's going to make a great looking fight. And I think of the two of them, Tra's more polished. I think that Igor is more naturally a middleweight a 190 pound thing. He's just more of a heavy guy because of weightlifting and that wonderful Russian diet of his around his waist. I think that Tra is a natural heavyweight. There's no doubt that Igor hits hard and all this kind of stuff, I think the general consensus is that Tra is going to get killed in this. I expect Tra to win. I expect him to go out there... and I don't know if he's going to knock Igor out but he's going to knock the shit out of him and I think it's going to be a lot different than everyone thinks. I actually see Igor trying to tie up with Tra because Tra is going to bust him up with his punches.

Brian Piepenbrink: I heard that Sakuraba in an interview said that the fight between you and Silva should have been declared a no-contest. Did you hear that?

Guy Mezger: No, I didn't hear that.

Brian Piepenbrink: What do you think about that?

Guy Mezger: You know, he head butted me. It was intentional. He was catching the worse end of the stuff, but in this business that's the way it goes. I aint crying about it. He fought hard. To him it's by any means possible to win. Me, I believe in a sense of honor to what we do, I don't intentionally break the rules. But I do expect my opponents to so I should guard against that. So I don't cry about it. Being a no-contest it doesn't matter. The thing is people who talk about how I got my ass kicked and stuff, the way I look at it is that anyone can get knocked out in this business.

Brian Piepenbrink: Do you want a rematch?

Guy Mezger: Hell yeah. There's a bunch of guys I want to fight. Anybody that asks me to fight I fight. I want to fight Shoji again and knock him out. I want to fight them in the order that I lost. I'm healthy and well I don't want to talk about it but I want to beat the crap out of him, I felt I won that fight anyway. Let's do it again. I'd like to fight Silva again because I think it was a good fight, marketability wise it was a good fight. I'd like to keep the fight clean but this time I'm going in realizing that it aint going to be clean. I don't have any hard feelings towards him or anything but that's the fight business and I know what his mindset is and when I go in there my mindset will be right for that fight. Then obviously I want the fight with Sakuraba which is never going to happen, they're never going to let me fight him again. I don't know why but it's never going to happen I don't think.

Brian Piepenbrink: That brings us to the last UFC which I actually watched here with you. And I saw the look on your face when Tito won. What about the UFC? What about Tito?


Guy Mezger and Tito Ortiz tie up at UFC 19.

Guy Mezger: Well, obviously I want a fight with Tito (Ortiz). I probably want a fight with Tito more than anybody. Again I have nothing against anyone who beats me that isn't the problem. I'd like to fight Tito again just because I'd like to set the record straight. His victory against me, he didn't hurt me one single time. I was tired. He didn't hurt me. And yeah he's gotten better but he still can't hurt me. There's nothing he can do to me. I don't know why they haven't put that fight together either in Pride or the UFC.

Brian Piepenbrink: So if you could say one thing to the new UFC owners what would it be?

Guy Mezger: Give me a call, let's see a contract [laughs], you know with the UFC I feel like the redheaded stepchild of that organization. I only lost one time in that thing, but in my opinion it was a good fight. Whether I lost or not it was a good fight and good fights sell. Maybe they don't find me marketable or something I don't know. Pride finds me marketable and Pride's been good to me. I don't wish any fighter bad luck or anything but I don't know why some of these guys get called back. I lost one fight and I was their champion, I was the UFC 13 champion and I don't know why I'm not getting a phone call from them.

Brian Piepenbrink: Well good luck against Egan.

Guy Mezger: Thanks.