At Last Word on Sports we’ve been following the progress of well-known MMA veteran Chad George for some time now. In 2013 we followed him with an especially keen eye as he declared at the start of the year that this would be “The Year of the Savage”. This would be the year that Chad would return to proper health and come back stronger than ever.
With Chad’s recovery from surgery now put to rest, and with his recent return to fighting now in the books we sat down with him to reflect on 2013 and get his take on “The Year of the Savage” closed out for him…
You came into this year and declared it “The Year of the Savage”, with everything that’s happened do you like you’ve achieved what you set out to do?
Well, I think this year was about me getting back into the game and getting healthy again – and that’s something that I definitely think that we did. I am feeling 100% again physically, and I’m getting back to a point where I am comfortable competing again and being injury free. You know, we had one fight and didn’t go the way that we wanted to, but the goal was to make sure that we got back in there and now I know that I can still do this – and I definitely think that I did that.
Let’s talk about the fight. This was your first fight in some in some time, and it didn’t necessarily go the way you wanted to – what do you think went wrong?
I think it was still a very good fight. The kid that I fought, Cody Gibson, not taking anything away from him, he’s a great fighter, he’s coming up in the ranks and I had on off night and he was on. It was one of those things where he was on a roll, he had a handful of wins coming in, and (me) coming in after almost a 2-year lay-off… it’s tough trying to get that competitive momentum when you have a lay-off and you’re coming in against someone who’s on fire. You know, it was great timing on his part to take the fight when he did, and it is what it is. We look forward and move onto the next one.
So, do you think some ring rust came into play in that fight?
Yeah, you know, I don’t want to take anything away from him – he capitalized when he needed to. However, when I got in there it definitely didn’t feel as comfortable as I when I’ve had multiple fights in succession. I got in there, it almost seemed like ‘alright, I’m not really used to this. So, getting momentum going in the ring was a little tough for me. Even when the fight got started, and we were exchanging and scrambling, I seemed to not really not know where my right foot was as opposed to my left. The thing is, we got in there, and now the ring rust is off. Call it ‘ring rust’, call it ‘time off’, call it whatever you want. I got back in there, and I said ‘ok, that what it feels like’ again. Little time off, and were ready to go again.
With that said, do you have anything planned for your next fight?
No, not yet. We were hoping to get something for the immediate after my last fight, but nothing was available. Now we’re looking at January/February match-ups. Even with Cody, originally that was going to be something for me to get my feet wet again, and then when the opportunity came up to fight Cody we just couldn’t pass that up. It was a big opportunity for him and a big opportunity for me. I don’t need to take an easy fight coming out of back surgery – I am capable of being in there with the best guys in the world, and I still believe that. Looking forward, I am wanting to fight those guys that can put me back in the UFC.
Where do you think you are on the road back to the UFC?
Definitely this fight set me back a bit, but at the same time what’s kind of nice about it is that because I know that I am able to go back and have fu in the sport. You know, every fight for the last couple years has been about the pressure – ‘I have to win this fight because it’s going to get me into the UFC’. That’s a lot of stress of itself. Now because of this fight, I’ve taken a little bit of a step back in, I actually get to go into my fights without the stress of it. I get to go back being what made me ‘me’ – enjoying being locked in that cage, and getting into a scrap without any expectations.
Are you still maintaining your mentor coach/mentor role over at Team PKG?
Yeah, absolutely. Actually, just the other night I had one of my students win his first Muay Thai fight – that was pretty exciting. He had this big goal, and he had always wanted to do it, so you know the timing came about and he trained hard… the whole PKG family came out and he had a dominant performance – he won his fight 30-27, and it was a great fight. So yeah, I am definitely still doing the coaching thing, and I still love coaching these guys. It’s great to be able to have a hand with them and helping them to fulfill their dreams, and doing things that they never though they could do until they did it. So, it’s great being a part of it. Even our MMA team is growing now – I’ve got two of my guys turning pro, which is pretty amazing. So, it’s been pretty exciting and fun.
How do you think Silva versus Weidman is going to play out in the coming match at the end of this month?
You know, honestly, I’m a huge Anderson Silva fan don’t get me wrong, but I just think style-wise it’s a bad fight for him. Even if Weidman doesn’t clip Silva like he did last time, Weidman is such a good wrestler – and we’ve seen Silva in the past have a lot of problems with wrestlers. It’s just one of things where, it doesn’t matter how much you train, if your pedigree is high calibre wrestler, and you’re going against someone who’s not, it’s tough to close the gaps in a training camp or two. Even if it’s just stopping the takedown it’s tough. So, stylistically I just think it’s a bad match-up. For the sake of Anderson Silva’s reign, I just think Weidman has his number.
With Silva losing his last fight, and GSP looking a little rough in his last outing – what’s that “superfight” that you think everyone wants to see? Do you think there’s still a hunger to see Silva versus GSP?
I think the idea of the “superfight” has kind of gone away. As much as everyone wants it, I don’t think they’re as prominent as everybody wants them to be – because, the iconic fighters aren’t really that iconic anymore, people are realizing that they’re just like everybody else. These guys can be beat, they have a chin, they can be caught. You have all of these incredible up-and-coming fighters, and to be honest, I think what everybody wants to see now is Mark Hunt vs. Bigfoot Silva II; it’s like the Gatti trilogy in boxing. People are more excited about that fight right now, than putting GSP versus Anderson Silva, because Anderson lost the fight, and GSP (in my opinion) didn’t look that great in his last fight.
We’re really looking forward to seeing Chad back in the ring in 2014, and making his way back to the UFC. One thing for certain is that we’ll be continuing to watch him. Follow Chad on twitter @savage135!
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