Fighter Interview: Catching Up With Paul Georgieff

I recently did an e-mail interview with Paul Georgieff. Georgieff was on last season’s Ultimate Fighter reality show and I was wondering where he had disappeared to since the show. It turns out he has been living my dream, which is to be a ski bum in Colorado during a season of record snowfall. I had the opportunity to ask him about his training and background in BJJ and MMA, his release from the UFC, and what lies ahead in his future.

Wisconsin Combat Sports: Hi Paul, first I wanted to say congratulations on graduating from UW – Madison with your masters in structural engineering. I had read reports that said while training for the Jonathan Goulet fight you were still going to school full-time and working a part-time job doing research. That to me seems like a pretty full plate, how did you handle the time and did it affect your ability to train for your fight?

Paul Georgieff: The months leading up to my fight with Goulet were definitely not ideal for preparing for a fight in the UFC. In all my interviews, I said that I was training full time, spending 4 hours a day in the gym. But this was far from the truth. Almost all my time and energy was consumed by the thesis, which I had to write and be prepared to defend 4 days after the fight. I barely slept at all and lost contact with most of my friends because I just didn’t have time to do much of anything except write. I lost close to 20 pounds, and could have easily made 155 for that fight.

As a result, I had to be really flexible with my training schedule in order to get a couple hours in every other day or so. For example, Mark Plavcan would have me run rounds on Sunday night, and then I’d go to my office and stay up all night writing a chapter of my thesis. Or, Nick Klein would come over to my place at 8 in the morning before class and hold Thai pads or focus mitts for me. I’m really fortunate to have teammates who were flexible enough to work around my schedule and push me to train when all I really wanted to do was sleep. It sucked, but we made the most of the time that we could find. Each training session was intensely focused and well thought out. We tuned the parts of my game that needed work, specifically my stand up. WCS: I heard that after the Goulet fight you took some time off and went to Colorado to ski for a while. Are you still out there or are you back in Wisconsin now? Also what resorts did you hit up and how was the snow? Did you get any fresh tracks while you were there?

PG: After the Goulet fight, I moved to Aspen, where I currently reside. I’ve skied or snowboarded every day since I moved here at the beginning of January. I definitely picked the right season to be a ski bum, as there has never been so much snow here in all of recorded history. I’ve had some really epic days with as much as two feet of champagne powder. I mainly ski Ajax, Snowmass, and Highlands.

WCS: Sam Caplan of Pro Elite reported that you, as well as Hightower, Kolosci, Price, Barrera, and Miles were all released from your UFC contracts. Did the UFC give any reason for the release and how do you feel about the whole experience of the show and fighting Goulet in the finale? Would you do it again?

PG: Joe Silva emailed me to tell me that the UFC was cutting my contract because I need more experience. And from what they saw, I can’t really blame them. The hard part is knowing that if I had trained full time like a professional athlete is meant to, there’s no way that I would have been cut. On one hand, I feel like I blew a great opportunity. On the other hand, getting a masters means a lot more to me than being in the UFC. At the same time, I’d do it again in a heartbeat. Even given all the struggles and the two losses added to me record, it was all an incredible experience that I don’t regret at all.

WCS: The big question I want to ask is about your future. I’m sure there are plenty of other MMA shows that would like to sign you as well as some of the local shows? Are you going to continue to fight in MMA or are you going to hang up the gloves for a job in structural engineering?

PG: As far as my future in the sport is concerned, I plan on shifting my focus back to BJJ and submission grappling. I’ve always said that competing in Abu Dhabi would mean a lot more to me than competing in the UFC. I believe that submission grappling is a far more technical sport than MMA, and that really appeals to me. There are so many slick moves that can be countered by simply punching someone in the face, and it takes a lot of what I like out of the sport. I mean, how often do you really see any cool Jiu-Jitsu moves in the UFC? So, once I leave my ski bum life in Aspen, I’m going back to grappling...but I’m sure I’ll fight again too.

WCS: Can you tell me a little bit about where you train, who your training partners are, and your background in BJJ?

PG: I became interested in grappling when I started training at Midway Judo in St. Paul my senior year of high school. My Jiu-Jitsu training started under Chris Owen (currently a black belt at Boston BJJ) at the University of Vermont in Burlington in 2001. The university paid all of my competition fees and even flew me out to the PanAms in LA. I took full advantage of this, and competed in every tournament that I could. While at home for summer vacation in St. Paul I trained with Team Bison and began fighting on local MMA Shows. After graduating from undergrad, I moved to Madison, where I trained with coaches Mark Plavcan (BJJ) and Ron Faircloth (MMA). Besides my coaches, my main training partners in Madison were Nick Klein and Kain Rizzo, both of whom are excellent rolls and solid competitors in both BJJ and MMA.

WCS: Do you follow the MMA scene in Wisconsin? We have a number of good welterweights including Jon Friedland, Jake Kuester, Gerald Meerschaert, Caleb Krull, and Charles Brown. Is there anyone in particular that impresses you?

PG: There are a lot of good fighters in Wisconsin. I’m most impressed by Nick Klein. He’s going to be big, so keep an eye out for him. He’s got slick Jits and his Muay Thai is crisp as hell.

WCS: Finally, will you be competing in the King Grappler in Madison on March 15?

PG: I wish I could make it to the King Grappler tournament, it’s a good one. Unfortunately, I’ll be busy skiing in Aspen still. But I really recommend to anyone who wants to get good at BJJ or MMA to do as many tournaments as possible. Competition is what drives us to perform; it gives our training a purpose, shows us our weaknesses, and often teaches us humility.

I would like to thank Paul Georgieff for taking the time to do the interview. Best of luck in your future and I look forward to seeing you either back in the cage or in the Abu Dhabi tournament some day.

To read my earlier articles on Paul Georgieff click on the links below:

Paul Georgieff Released From the UFC

Madison’s Paul Georgieff in the Ultimate Fighter Finale

For some video clips of Paul Georgieff click on the links below:

Training with Paul Georgieff

Paul Georgieff Highlight Reel


This article originally appeared on Wisconsin Combat Sports on 03-12-08.

Paul Georgieff released from the UFC

According to Sam Caplan at ProElite:

In recent weeks, the UFC has released several fighters from the cast of the
sixth season of The Ultimate Fighter including Richie Hightower, John
Kolosci, Dorian Price, Paul Georgieff, Dan Barrera, and Billy Miles.

As you may remember, Madison resident Paul Georgieff (7-2) was a contestant on the Ultimate Fighter 6 Finale last month. Georgieff was the only cast member who had to fight a UFC veteran in his UFC debut. His opponent, Jonathan Goulet had an MMA record of (20-9) going into the bout with a UFC record of (2-3). Goulet won the bout with a rear naked choke submission late in the first round.

Caplan claimed he believed the cuts were due to the depth of the UFC’s Welterweight Division. There has been no word yet as to whether any other promotions are in the process of picking up the reality show star and signing him to their roster. In any event, I’m sure a number of local organizations would like to get Georgieff signed to do a show and pit him against one of the state’s top welterweight MMA fighters. Wisconsin has a wide array of welterweights that would make for interesting match-ups including Jon Friedland, Caleb Krull, Charles Brown, Jacob Kuester, Donovan Foley, or Jason Allar.

Jon “White Trash” Friedland would make an interesting opponent in that he also auditioned to be on the cast of the Ultimate Fighter Season 6. The (14-4) BJJ blackbelt came close to making the final cut but was selected as an alternate for the season. Friedland most recently defeated Derek Abram via first round TKO (Ground and Pound) on the Combat USA: Seasons Beatings show last month.

This article was originally published on www.wicombatsports.com on 01-14-2008

Madison’s Paul Georgieff in the Ultimate Fighter Finale

by Nathan Schafer



Madison, Wisconsin resident and student Paul Georgieff is going to be fighting in The Ultimate Fighter 6 Finale tomorrow night against UFC and TKO veteran Jonathan Goulet. The team here at http://www.wicombatsports.com/ and all the MMA fans here in Wisconsin would like to congratulate and support him in his upcoming bout tomorrow.

Paul Georgieff is a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at the Madison Jiu-Jitsu Academy and trains at the Twisted Fitness Gym in Madtown. Mark Plavcan is the owner and head intstructor and the school is a Jorge Gurgel affiliate. Other fighters at the gym include Ron Faircloth, Pat and Mike O’Malley, Jason Cleasby and Dennis Anderson.

Georgieff sports a (7-1) MMA record according to fcfighter.com and is the current middleweight champion of the UCS. Ultimate Combat Sports is an organization based out of Minnesota, which is his where he originates. In Minnesota he trained with Team Bison, which is located in Bloomington, Minnesota.

Georgieff is primarily a ground fighter with all of his wins coming via submission. On the Ultimate Fighter he was notified that his 19-year old cousin had passed away. He would have to leave the show to attend the funeral, but not before having to fight. Paul faced off against Troy Mandaloniz in episode 5. Not fighting with a clear head, he ignored his fight strategy, which was to keep the fight on the ground. He decided to exchange blows with Mandaloniz and a single shot would knock him out.

His opponent, Jonathan Goulet is no stranger to the Octagon. His UFC record is (2-3) is not characteristic of his ability and this fight is a must win if he wants to continue to fight in the UFC. He is riding a two-fight losing streak in the UFC to Dustin Hazelett and Josh Koscheck. With a MMA record of (20-9) he has a wealth of experience.

Georgieff is also the only cast member of the show to have to fight a UFC veteran. While it may not seem fair, he could earn instant credibility with a victory over the French Canadian, who has a weakness for submissions. Georgieff must stick to his fight strategy in this bout because Goulet is more well rounded, and a much more dangerous striker than Mandaloniz was. The fight is not on the televised portion of Spike’s program but a quick submission victory could get him on the air.

The question remains how seriously Georgieff trained for this bout. He is a full time grad student at UW-Madison studying structural engineering; he works part-time in the research department and is training for a fight. That seems to be a full plate for anyone. This bout could determine whether he devotes himself full time to the fight game or goes out into the career world. Either way, we’re behind him 100%. Good luck tomorrow night.

Guida vs. Huerta: Preview, Analysis, and Opinion

By Nathan Schafer

Another season of the Ultimate Fighter has come and gone. This season has lost some of the luster due to Matt Serra being injured and no longer able to compete at UFC 79. We the fans were rewarded with a more than appropriate replacement in Georges St-Pierre. Unfortunately for the cast members of season 7, they are being overshadowed in their finale by a fight that is simply creating more hype than the season itself. The Guida vs. Huerta bout is almost a sure thing if you are looking to be entertained and the UFC is usually good at getting an exciting fight set up for the finale. While this fight probably isn’t going to earn either fighter a title shot, it will put one man into title contention with a shot happening with another quality win or two. Despite what I read about the light heavyweight or the welterweight division being the deepest talent pool in the UFC, I believe the lightweight division is hands down the most talent filled division in the organization. It’s only shame they shelved it for such a long period of time. In a short period of time stars have risen up, and Roger Huerta and Clay Guida are two of the notables with bright futures. Here is my fight breakdown:

Clay Guida (22-5) (2-2) vs. Roger Huerta (20-1-1) (5-0)

Roger “El Matador” Huerta

Roger Huerta fights out of Minneapolis, Minnesota where he trains with Dave Menne. As some of you may remember, Dave Menne was the first 185lb middleweight champion in the UFC. Huerta has a MMA record of (20-1-1) including a no contest to Melvin Guillard. His only loss came at the hands of Ryan Schultz.

Huerta made his debut at UFC 63: Hughes vs. Penn 2 in September 2006 against Jason Dent. The first round of that fight immediately showed us how fast his hands are. He showed an excellent clinch with good knees. He then picked Dent up ala Matt Hughes style, carried his opponent across the cage and threw him into the fence. From there he unleashed some ground and pound. Rounds two and three consisted of more ground and pound where Huerta simply punished Jason Dent for the remainder of the fight.

After only one fight in the UFC Roger Huerta had already achieved PPV main card status. He would fight John Halverson in the swing bout of UFC 67 in February of 2007. It would only take Roger Huerta 19 seconds to dispose of John Halverson. The fight is shrouded in controversy, as it appears that Huerta may have thrown an illegal knee to the head of a downed John Halverson. Huerta quickly jumped on Halverson’s back and began winging punches until the referee stopped the contest. I probably don’t have to tell you that the referee was Yves Lavine, probably the worst referee in all of MMA. Huerta’s post fight speech was in Spanish and he would become a Hispanic poster boy for a new target demographic of the UFC.

UFC 69: Shootout in April of this year might as well have been named UFC 69: Falling Stars. On the card, Georges St-Pierre, Mike Swick, Diego Sanchez, and Heath Herring all lost their fights. Roger Huerta did not follow suit and remained a rising star. He fought a bout with the scrappy Leonard Garcia that was a sloppy war, taking place on both the feet and on the ground. He won the bout via unanimous decision and managed to become the first MMA athlete ever to land a cover shot on Sports Illustrated.

Huerta’s win streak would continue at the Ultimate Fighter 5 Finale in June. He would face undefeated Doug Evans from Alaska making his UFC debut. Evans, who has a wrestling background, would give Huerta a good fight and win round one. Huerta came out in round two and began to let his hands and kicks go but Doug Evans would return to his wrestling roots and get back in the fight by scoring two more takedowns. Huerta was able to reverse him, take the mount, then Evan’s back, flatten him out and work his ground strikes. With Evan’s not defending himself, Steve Mazagatti was forced to stop the bout.

Huerta now had four straight victories in four UFC appearances. The UFC was beginning to get a reputation for coddling fighters who represented the target demographic of markets they were looking to break into. It appeared Huerta was taking over the role from Diego Sanchez as the new Hispanic poster boy. He had the looks, spoke Spanish and proudly wore the Mexican flag on his tights. Many wanted to see Huerta face an opponent who was not a newcomer to the UFC but a fighter who had some experience on the big stage.

At UFC 74 in August, Huerta would face yet another newcomer to the Octagon in Alberto Crane. The undefeated Crane put up a good fight and showed magnificent jiu-jitsu continually looking for submissions throughout the fight. The fight looked more like a grappling match for Crane as he threw very few punches. He did manage to get Huerta in multiple submission attempts, however Huerta was able to survive. As the third round opened it was obvious Alberto Crane’s cardio was failing him. Huerta took full advantage and finished the bout via TKO within the first two minutes of the final round.

Clay “So Easy A Caveman Can Do It” Guida

“The Carpenter” Clay Guida made his UFC debut against another experienced fighter from the Midwest. At UFC 64 in October of 2006, Guida fought Iowa’s Justin James. Initially, James gave Guida some trouble early in the first round by utilizing his height and a clinch to punish Guida with some powerful knees. As the round continued the tables quickly turned in favor of Guida, he worked his takedowns and his famous ground and pound attack. With only thirty seconds left in the first James pulled an armbar that appeared to be sunk very deep. Miraculously, Guida survived the armbar attempt. Round two was all Guida who took it to James the entire round. Late in the second round he effectively used his ground striking to set up a rear naked choke to finish the fight.

Guida’s next fight would occur at UFC Fight Night 8 in January of this year. With only one UFC fight in under his tool belt, Guida would be tested against the old school Din Thomas, who was looking to resurrect his career. Thomas had appeared on TUF 4 and had recently beat Rich Clementi in the finale of that series via rear naked choke in the second round. The Guida-Thomas fight would appear on the undercard and was not televised. Guida would lose via unanimous decision and many Guida fans claimed the judges robbed him.

Guida would look to rebound at UFC 72 in Belfast, Ireland in June. In order to do that, he would have to take on another tough wrestler in Tyson Griffon. Many fans predicted this would be fight of the night. Few predicted it would be fight of the year. Both fighters were coming off losses and both were looking to get into title contention. The fight was a back and forth battle of two ground fighters. In round one Guida managed to survive a very tight guillotine attempt. He was also out struck on the feet and Griffin managed to sprawl many of Guida’s takedown attempts. Round two began with more takedown attempts and scrambles for positions. Guida was able to sink a deep knee bar half way through the round but Griffin survived, only to have his back taken and have a rear naked choke applied. With a round apiece going into the third it was still anybody’s fight. Griffin continued to outstrike Guida in the first half of the round, but the second half was all Clay Guida asserting his ground control, dropping elbows and punches, while continuing to look for guard passing. In the end, the fighters faces told the story of the fight. Griffin looked dejected and Guida looked confident as the scores were read. Unfortunately, for Guida he lost a close fight via split decision.

At UFC 74 in August, Clay “I Got Robbed” Guida would again face another tough opponent in Marcus Aurelio on the undercard. He managed to win this fight with a different strategy, instead of using his wrestling and ground and pound. He intelligently kept the majority of the fight on the feet respecting the impressive ground skills of Aurelio. In a fight that was not one his most exciting, he easily coasted to victory, however the cards were read as a questionable split decision.

Prediction

Both fighters have a wealth of experience with over twenty bouts on their MMA records. Don’t be fooled by Huerta’s (5-0) UFC record vs. Guida’s (2-2) UFC record. Tyson Griffin, Din Thomas, and Marcus Aurelio are in a different class than Huerta’s opponents. Clay Guida holds a significant edge in the experience department with higher caliber fighters appearing on his resume. He’s also fought Josh Thomson, Gilbert Melendez, Joe Jordan, and Bart Palaszewski among other notable fighters. Being from the Midwest I was able to see him fight Palaszewski at an XFO show in Illinois. While Roger Huerta has good wrestling ability, he showed difficulty defending the takedowns against a good wrestler in Doug Evans, so I give the edge goes to Guida. I believe Roger Huerta holds a significant edge in the striking department. He throws great knees in the clinch and it appeared that Guida had eaten some big knees in the first round against Justin James. Guida also lost a close fight against Tyson Griffin due to the simple fact that he was out struck. In the cardio department I think it’s dead even. Excellent cardio is the reason both of these fighters are exciting and have excelled in this sport; both just simply outwork their opponents. Submission advantage belongs to Clay Guida, as he regularly uses his ground and pound to set up submissions. Roger Huerta’s submissions have been almost non-existent as he looks for the TKO by using his ground and pound skills. Huerta has shown good submission defense against his opponents and I don’t see Guida being able to finish him. This bout will be close and it will be exciting. Prediction: Clay Guida wins via split decision.


Here is the fight card thus far:

The Ultimate Fighter Finale 6
The Pearl at the Palms
Las Vegas, Nevada
12/08/2007

Roger Huerta vs. Clay Guida

Ben Saunders vs. Dan Barrera

Jared Rollins vs. John Koppenhaver

Troy Mandaloniz vs. Richie Hightower

Roman Mitichyan vs. Dorian Price

Paul Georgieff vs. Jonathan Goulet

This article originally appeared on www.wicombatsports.com on 12-03-07