Suture Magazine - Do you think fighting for Elite XC is the greatest accomplishment of you career?

Jaime Jara – Probably so far… between them and PFC (Palace Fighting Championships) I think there both pretty big events, so yeah.

SM – You have won multiple titles in many different organizations, what would it mean to you to win a title in Elite?

JJ – It would be, to me, just another belt you know, but it would be an honor though.

SM – You hold the Pure Combat belt at Middleweight; would you hold the Elite XC belt higher than that?

JJ – Yeah I have the Pure Combat belt, and if you're asking if I would hold it higher, yeah I think so, because Robbie Lawler has that belt right now, and he's one of the best fighters, that I think at that weight. That would be a big accomplishment if I were to be able to take that belt from him.

SM – With all of your experience, how do you expect to perform under the Elite XC banner?

JJ – I fought for Elite XC before, I did well. I knocked Jeremiah Metcalf out in the first fight that I fought for Elite XC. The second fight, I fought against Seth Kleinbeck and I didn't do so well. So Im 1 and 1 with Elite XC right now.

SM – So what do you think about your opponent your fighting on the 26^th?

JJ – Cheva? I think he's got some really good Jiu Jitsu, you'd have to have some good Jiu Jitsu to have 11 wins with 10 wins by arm bars. I think Im more well rounded than him. I mean he's got good Jiu Jitsu, but I got good stand up and I got ok Jiu Jitsu too. If you look at my last wins, I mean I got just as many wins by submission as he does, but I know he's like a world champion in Jiu Jitsu, Im not going to play his game, my stand up is good so I have no reason you know to go down to the ground, I mean Im going to punish him, he's going to wanna go to the ground and Im going to punish him.

SM – That's what I was going to ask, what kind of game plan are you going in there with?

JJ – My game plan is to not play his game. He wants to do Jiu Jitsu? Fine we'll stand and he has to take me down. And Im a good wrestler so unless he's a better wrestler than me and able to take me down, he's gonna have a hard time with me. Im in pretty good shape, I took this fight on short notice too, and Im in good shape considering I only had 2 weeks to train for it.

SM – Did you take the Pure Combat fight on short notice as well too?

JJ – No, I knew about that fight ahead of time, thank god because it was five 5 minute rounds, so I was in good shape for that fight, I was ready to do it…Steve Heath was a tough opponent too, that guy man, that guys got some heart.

SM – Who do you think your toughest opponent to date is?

JJ – Id have to say Rashad Evans, he was pretty tough

SM – Do you think you earned the right to fight for the UFC?

JJ – I think I've earned the right to fight anywhere, on any organization, I mean I've been busting my butt man, you know.

SM – Seems like you're fighting consistently.

JJ – Yeah Im fighting every 6- 8 weeks, yeah I'll fight anyone, I don't care, you know for the right amount of money I'll fight anyone.

SM – Hows your training regiment? I mean what do you do on training days?

JJ – I wake up, I have breakfast, I have about an hour before I need to be at Cassio Werneck's Gym. Im at Cassios at 11am, you know I'm there from 11am – 12:30pm training. I come home, I eat, I take a little break then Im off to my gym, and I work my boxing there. I was going to Cassio's for his night class but Im working my conditioning pretty hard and so its taking a lot out of me. So I train twice a day, I train pretty hard, Im putting my time in, so you know my opponent better keep his hands up and his chin down.

SM – Team Carnage is going through some facility and location changes, you wanna tell me a little about that?

JJ - Man, every time we get into a location, it seems like its not zoned for an MMA team to be there, so we get everything set up, were training for fights then we get evicted out of the places. There not zoned for a fight team, you know, so were bouncing around, you know, were just trying to make due right now… we gotta do with what we got.

SM – Any goals you want to accomplish before you step away from the game?

JJ – I'd like to collect a couple more belts, Im lookin' to get that PFC belt next. Id like to put myself in a situation where I can somehow, when Im done fighting, make money somewhere along, you know teaching, or coaching, or having my own gym or something along the lines of the fighting game. I got a couple of teammates coming up that I'd like to see get into belts and so I wanna be around to help those guys too.

SM – So on a different note, theres a lot of misconceptions about the tattoo that you have on your chest. The HATE tattoo, do have any background or any meaning of that tattoo?

JJ – The reason I got that, is for my opponents to see, you know, I like getting into peoples heads, the more I can get into my opponents heads, the better it is for me. I got that for my opponents, I got it in big red letters just for my opponents. Hahaha

SM – Any plans on adding more tattoos after this fight on the 26^th?

JJ – Hahaha, man, as long as I have room on my body Im getting tattooed.

SM – right on, right on, so anything you wanna say to your fans and supporters.

JJ -  I want to thank all of my fans for there support when I fight. Especially when I fight here in Sacramento, all the fans that come out and support me, I want to thank them.

SM – Well good look on the 26^th Jaime, Im looking forward to some good action on ShoXC

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Matt

Suture: MMA Monthly

At this point the mag still has limited circulation, this interview appeared in the January issue for those who missed it.

At this point the mag still has limited circulation, this interview appeared in the January issue for those who missed it.

JF: Check out my website fitchfighter.com, I want to thank Toe2Toe.tv for all the help and want to let everyone know that if they want to fight like me they can learn how at MMAInstructional.com


Thanks for the time Jon!

Full contact sports are known for many things commonly associated with fighting; blood, sweat, tears, heart, determination.  The year 2007 ensured we'll include 'unpredictable' in the stable of descriptive words used in reference to mixed martial arts.  Champions were dethroned, underdog's flourished, steroids flourished, new names and faces made their mark, and a major MMA identity sold ship only to sink shortly thereafter.  Despite a huge increase in success, MMA was in shambles for the majority of 2007.  Just to accentuate a point, we'll count down MMA's 7 most impacting moments of 2007.

Steroids

7.  There's an old cliché that goes something like this; 'any publicity is good publicity'.  I'm sure Dana White had second thoughts about that as he faced a media onslaught centered on the use of steroids inside the Octagon.  To his credit, White handled himself professionally and provided the only answers he could.  When asked by ESPN what punishment a fighter who failed his drug test would face, White responded: "They're not going to get paid. I take care of all of my guys. If you fight your ass off for me, you'll get paid. But what I'm going to do is: I'm going to wait and see if they pass their drug tests."  While Zuffa's Ultimate Fighting Championship was the focused target on steroid use in mixed martial arts, it should be noted that plenty of smaller organizations face the same issues.  Legendary MMA pioneer Royce Gracie tested positive for nandrolone after defeating Kazushi Sakuraba in June at the K-1 Heroes – Dynamite!! USA show.  Former NFL receiver Johnnie Morton tested positive after his debut for epitestosterone on that same card.  Plenty of organizations face this problem.  Phil Baroni, Kit Cope, and Jorge Ortiz all tested positive fighting in smaller organizations.  It's no secret that fighters are abusing steroids, at least it's not now.  With the cat out of the bag, it's up to the commissions and each organization out there to step up and punish offenders properly.  Only time will tell how well that works out.

Fedor to M1

6.  Fedor Emilianenko is widely recognized as the best heavy weight in mixed martial arts today.  After Zuffa's purchase of Pride (and subsequently the majority of Prides fighting roster) MMA fans anxiously awaited the announcement of Fedors Octagon debut.  A debut, that at this point has still not happened, and doesn't look likely any time soon.  Due to some contract stipulations Dana White and the Zuffa team were unable to secure a deal with Emilianenko and the Russian cyborg eventually signed an exclusive contract with the solid russian organization; M1 Mix Fight.  As of November, (prior to print) Fedors next opponent is still unknown, however strong rumors of a Fedor/Couture showdown have been circulating all over the internet. 

Upsets    

5. What's MMA without a good upset or two….or three….or four….or how about just about a whole year full?  007 proved to be the most unpredictable year we've seen since the birth of the sport in the early 90's.  All safe bets, out the window.   All fair assumptions, meaningless.  Last year belongs to the underdog.  The years 10 biggest upsets: relative unknown Rameau Sokoudjou arrived with a bang debuting at Pride 33 with a :23 knockout over top 10 Light heavy weight contender Antonio Rogerio Nogueira followed up at Pride 34 with a 2:00 knowckout over another top 10 light heavy weight in Ricardo Arona. At UFC 76 Forrest Griffin shocked the world by beating the 1 ranked light heavy weight in the world, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua.  On the same card, Keith "The Dean of Mean" Jardine earned his biggest win to date with a split decision win over Chuck "The Ice Man" Liddell.  Houston Alexander made a splash by brutally knocking out (now top 10 contender) Keith Jardine at UFC 71.  Dan Henderson earned redemption in his rematch with Wanderlei Silva at Pride 33 knocking the Brazilian out late in the fight.  On the same card Nick Diaz pulled off the impossible by submitting Takanori Gomi early in the second round of their epic war.  Matt Serra stunned the world when he man handled Champion Georges St. Pierre at UFC 69.  Gabriel Gonzaga got the fight world talking after he KO'd Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic in the first round with a right high kick flush to the head.  This list of course wouldn't be complete without the mention of Randy Coutures unbelievable unanimous decision  victory over Tim Sylvia at UFC 68.  He was 43 years old, the oldest man to win the heavy weight crown inside The Octagon.

Randy Couture

4. Since we're on the topic, let's go ahead and give Randy "The Natural" Couture his props for winning back the heavy weight title at 43 years old.  Heading into the fight it was nearly impossible to envision Randy tasting victory against the dominant 6'8" champion Tim Sylvia.  As he's now known for doing, Couture proved the world wrong.  From the opening bell it was obvious Randy had at least one more trick up his sleeve as he sent the giant Sylvia crashing to the canvas after a big right hand landed flush for Couture.  Randy pushed the pace and controlled the entire fight, grinding out a (might I say ONE SIDED!) unanimous five round decision victory.  Randy earns yet another mark in the history books being (as previously stated) the oldest heavy weight to ever win the gold.

Major Media Increase

3. 2007 has been one of the most important years in the sports short history.  Just ten years ago mixed martial arts faced a cable ban and had very little exposure and absolutely nill in the promotion department.  In 2001 then current owners SEG sold all rights to Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta who formed Zuffa LLC.  Since that purchase The UFC and MMA in general has been on a steady rise.  Recently, due in large part to the reality TV show "The Ultimate Fighter" the sport has been exploding.  In 2007 Mixed Martial Arts was nearly impossible to miss.  The internet is flooded with websites and promotional banners, the tube offers a great number of options these days.  If you've seen every episode of UFC Unleashed, you can check WEC Werkcage, Bodog, or even give the team concept a go with The IFL.  The world is catching on, and so are television networks.  Major news outlets have also begun covering MMA.  You can check out Yahoo News and even ESPN to catch the latest scoop on your favorite fighters.      

Randy Walks Away

2. Randy has made a habit of making news lately, especially in this magazine.  "The Natural" one of the sports most respected fighters has decided to walk away from his current UFC contract, citing money issues and the fact that a possible dream match with Fedor Emelianenko is off the table.  While the thought of  a Fedor/Randy match has left most fans salivating, to say that there is no one left in The UFC worth fighting is an insult to Andre Arlovski,  Antonio Nogueira and the fans who have followed this man for years.  While money issues remain unclear, what is clear is that Randy was far from happy with his paychecks.  A mans family is his top priority, and I for one choose to believe Randy made the choice he made with his families best interest in mind.  Regardless of why Couture opted out of his contract, one thing is certain.   Randy will not be fighting outside of the UFC until his contract expires which is reported to be July 2008.  Rumors that Randy's contract states he must finish out 2 more fights for Zuffa is still unclear at this time.

Zuffa Buys Pride

1. For years negative rumors buzzed about Pride fighting Championships financial state.  Last year those whispers became roars as it was announced that Dream Stage Entertainment did in fact plan to sell Pride.  Pride, being the Japanese markets biggest MMA draw, and the UFC's only legitimate threat to total domination was snatched up rather quickly.  The Fertitta brothers dropped a reported $70 million and picked up the rights to Pride FC as well as most of the Pride fighting roster.  Since that purchase, it's been reported that Zuffa failed to secure a television deal, which eventually lead to the extinction of Pride as we knew it.  Since the purchase (and deflation) of Pride, fans have been treated to a number of the Japanese organizations big stars debuting in The Octagon, including, Wanderlei Silva, Mirko Filipovic, Ryo Chonan, Heath Herring and Dan Henderson who fought Quinton "Rampage" Jackson at UFC 75: Champion VS Champion  in the sports first unification bout.