Former UFC lightweight Jesse Ronson looks for his third straight win since his UFC release when he meets Frodo Khasbulaev at Absolute Championship Berkut 22 on September 12th. The 29-year old is also booked to fight Tiger Sarnavskiy in October. Ronson (15-5) caught up with MMAOddsBreaker on Episode 119 of The Parting Shot Podcast and discussed a variety of topics. How this two-fight booking came together “Fights are actually hard to come by these days. Originally I had been wanting to fight on the Abu Dhabi Warriors card but they hadn’t gotten back to me, so I kind of gave up on that. The same day the Russia guys messaged me about Frodo [Khasbulaev]. I agreed to that and I couldn’t turn down the payday. A couple hours later I got a message for Ken Pavia, who is now matchmaker for Abu Dhabi Warriors and [offered me] Tiger Sarnavskiy. I’ve never been impressed with Sarnavskiy so I agreed to take that fight even though it was three weeks later; I managed to negotiate a catchweight. The feeling of booking two fights at once “Anyone, any time for me. I didn’t get in this game to pick and choose my opponents and I don’t like guys that do that. There are guys that pad their records and don’t want to fight guys that are a bad stylistic match up. You know what? You’re in the fight game for a reason step up and fight. You should be ready to go on the drop of a hat. I used to be a guy who cut down from 190lbs; I had enough of that because I spent my whole training camp was just cutting weight instead of training. That’s what I did in the UFC and I had some pretty shitty fights there. Now I’m in shape all the time, I’m actually pretty ripped. I’m ready to go and plan on staying this way, I’m healthy. My training is actually better, so my skills are improving. I don’t have to worry about cutting weight because I could make 155lbs in a weeks notice.” Matchup against Frodo Khasbulaev “His last fight was against Mike Richman in 2013 and he hadn’t fought since then which is actually a lie, he’s fought three times in Russia. But we’ve looked at it and he’s looked lacklustre to me and he’s a smaller guy so I jumped right on that too.” Speaking with Bellator bantamweight Mike Richman (past opponent of Khasbulaev) “Only thing he said to me was his reach is deceptive. For a guy that’s 5’6 I don’t know what that means unless he’s got long monkey arms but I’ve got guys here with exceptionally long reaches. What I think from that is he’s just very explosive which he is, he can cut distance. Like his distance and timing is really good. If he’s got a long reach good for him. He also told me that he’s not weak. Now that I know he’s got a deceptive reach and he’s a pretty strong guy.” Preparing for two opponents “This is actually exceptionally awkward because Frodo is a powerhouse 5’6 guy. Sarnavskiy. Is a 6’0 tall lanky guy. But at Adrenaline I have got all the tall, lanky guys in the world here. I’ve got like 10 different guys to train for Sarnavskiy. But I’ve got nobody that’s the size of Frodo, so I’ve been getting T.J. Laramie from Windsor. He’s phenomenal, I can’t wait for this kid to get fights and expose himself to the world. With his help I feel absolutely confident I’m going to smash Frodo, I’m not even worried about getting hurt.” Concerns about not being 100% in the second fight (against Tiger Sarnavskiy) “My fight with Gadji Zaipulaev, the guy that I fought in Abu Dhabi in March, I went in there with a torn MCL and I had a couple of ribs that kept popping out of my back. It was a very tough time down there. Still I managed to fight him and managed to beat him. In the UFC when I fought Kevin Lee, it’s embarrassing to say this I got impetigo on my face the last three weeks of training camp. So I couldn’t spar, I couldn’t do anything really because if I put my hand on my face with my gloves, impetigo spreads so ridiculous. I couldn’t do anything for the last three weeks. Before that when I fought Francisco Trinaldo my left foot was broken and I had cracked ribs. So I’ve always fought injured and I’ve always done well. Going into the Tiger fight is nothing if I’m hurt because he’s coming off a full blown knee surgery, so it’s his first fight back. He’ll have ring rust, I might be a little hurt, and I don’t care.” Cornermen for the Frodo Khasbulaev fight “For the [Khasbulaev] fight, my main coach Andrew Elliott is back in school, so he can’t come. My jiu-jitsu coach is at a wedding that day. My striking coach has kids to look after and I can’t afford to pay his child care. So I’m bringing Jesse Gross, he’s a good friend of mine and he said he’s there for me. I’m a bit of a pain in the ass to cut weight with and he knows it. So I feel comfortable with him coming and because I’ve trained with him lots he knows my style. I’ve taught him a lot of things and I feel very comfortable with him being in my corner.” Lack of regional MMA in Canada “There is really no money in MMA. With the commission fees in Ontario it’s absolutely ridiculous, it’s like $50,000 just for commission fees then you got to put another $ 50,000 into production. Then you got to pay the fighters, then after is when you can start making money. Elsewhere in Alberta and Quebec, commission fees are cheap, I think at most are $3,000. Promoters here are paying the fighters shit so nobody wants to fight because the promoter wants to make more money. Once the commission fees go down I’m sure MMA in Ontario is going to sky rocket up.” Tough time getting fights in Canada “For now in Canada I feel like I deserve a decent buck to fight, but nobody is willing to pay it and I have no opponents to fight me. So even out West, the only fight I could get was Ryan Machan but still the money wasn’t worth my time. By the time fight him and do my training camps I’m breaking even. How am I supposed to make a living off this?” Return to the UFC “[After these fights] they’re no way [the UFC] can deny me. I’ve talked to Joe Silva on the phone and [told him] I’m ready, I’m on weight, I’m in fight shape and I have all my medicals done. He said he’d keep me in mind for things. But taking on someone like Frodo who at one point was a Top 3 featherweight, now moved up to lightweight, like there is a lot of weight behind his name. Somebody like Tiger Sarnanvsky who’s also well known, even though it’s that close together, they can’t deny it. Even if I beat one, the UFC should come calling. Even if they don’t, I have another one lined up right there.” Lack of UFC events in Canada “I really don’t know [why the UFC hasn’t come back]. Everybody I talked to is all about being behind their Canadian fighters and everything else. But then I look on the forums, all its all Canadians chirping Canadians. When I fought in Brazil people were throwing batteries at me saying they were going to kill me. They were cheering like crazy for Trinaldo. People come from Ireland to the States, because they support [Conor McGregor] so much. Just in Canada, it’s a lack of support. People aren’t behind their athletes like they say they are. Maybe if it was hockey, you know? People love hockey they’d come out. I think since GSP semi-retired we don’t really have anybody else in Canada that’s making an impact that people are care about. So they just aren’t interested in going.” Concerns about competing in Chechnya “There’s like a lot of terrorism, a lot of wars. I’ve been told by a few people there is no alcohol there, like you have to be very respectful, and don’t talk to any of their women. In the stadium, the President of Chechnya is going to be there and there’s going to be 5000 fans. [My coach told me] good luck winning a decision, even if you have 10-8 scorecards everywhere else, you’ll probably lose a decision down there. Don’t do anything stupid; don’t be overly cocky because you’ll probably get shot by somebody in the stands. But you know I need the fight.” Shane Campbell being in the UFC (who Ronson defeated in 2013) “It bothers me a little bit that they went to him. But he deserves it, he came back after I beat him. He beat two guys by TKO. He went on to fight in K1 and made it to the quarterfinals I think. That’s pretty f**cking big in my mind. He trounced Derek Boyle and did that Hadouken. That went viral, that got millions of hits. They loved that kind of stuff. But then you know he gets in the UFC and Makdessi makes him looks stupid. It kind of bothers me that he did it but you know what I had my chance. I shit the bed and it happens. Now I’m working my way back. What really grinds my gears is that when I got cut they’re like go out and win a couple of fights. If you finish two fights we’ll have you back or win three fights. I went out, I fought twice and I finished twice and I was like ‘Aren’t you going to have me back now?’” Pulling off a Street Fighter II move to get back in the UFC “I’ve got something special planned for Tiger Sarnavskiy, I’m going to do the Tiger Uppercut. I think Sagat does that. Do a fake shot, slide in and jump up and do a 360 and yell out “TIGER!” as I do a lead uppercut. Hopefully knock him out with that. Either that, when I get it to the ground, I’m going to put it in a toe hold and I’ll be like ‘I told you guys, in order to beat a tiger you got to get a tiger by the toe.’” 17-year old Teammate T.J. Laramie “100% he’s the real deal. Endless cardio, his wrestling is top notch. I’ve trained with some really good wrestlers, like all these pro fighters in Ontario. He’s as good, if not better then them. He’s actually the guy who tore my MCL before the Gadji fight. His hands are unreal; he’s got the full package. Because he’s got that teenager endless energy, he’s ahead of the game for sure at his age.” Training Camp “For this training camp I’ve mostly been at Adrenaline. I’ve been getting guys to come down [and train with me] instead of me going up there for three days. I don’t really have a whole lot of money, like I said the MMA scene doesn’t pay much. That’s why I’m going overseas because they’re actually paying decent money, money I actually deserve. When I ask these guys in Canada for this kind of money ‘What? Are you crazy? We can’t do that, f**k you’” and I’m like ‘Alright fine.’” So I’ve been having guys come in because I don’t have the money to travel, feed myself or shelter myself elsewhere and I can’t afford to pay the coaches out there. I’m just been getting training partners to come down here.” Adrenaline Training Centre not being the same since Shawn Tompkins’ death “I would have to say it’s kind of true. When Shawn was here these guys were fired up, ready to go. They had like a killer mentality. It’s not like they don’t have that killer mentality still it’s just the fire just doesn’t seem to be there anymore. Mark [Hominick’s] retired, [Chris] Horodecki when he goes for training camp goes up to Montreal now, he’s gone for eight weeks [at Tristar]. Sam’s the only guy that sticks around but he’s been training with Rino at MTC Windsor. He’s kind of back and forth. Chad’s left for Montreal, so there really nobody here any more and we don’t really have any up and coming athletes. It’s a great gym to train at; we’re got a lot of members and a lot of pro fighters teaching classes. Fightwise we’ve got a lot of guys that are between that 0-5 amateur fight record but it’s going to take one or two years to get up to a decent pro status.” Cross-training at different gyms “I would 100% go up to Tristar, Chad Laprise is bugging me all the time. Thing is I just don’t have the money. I can’t leave here and go up there. They said I could stay up in the dorms for free but how am I going to feed myself? I can’t just stop training people and stop making money. I’d like to, after these two fights I’ll have decent amount of money where I’ll be able to travel. It would either be Tristar or I would go down and train with Dustin Poirier [at American Top Team] He’s invited me to stay at his place.” How his Indianapolis Colts will do this season “Oh man after that Eagles game, I was like this better not reflect what’s coming up because that’s embarrassing. What I hope for is just a playoff berth, that’s all.” You follow Jesse on Twitter @Ronsoff You can listen to the full audio version of this interview on Episode 119 of The Parting Shot Podcast below (18 mins in)
