Cody Stevens entered the atmosphere of mainstream MMA when he took on Japanese MMA superstar Shinya Aoki at ONE FC: Total Domination. On Saturday, Stevens will take on Frank Caraballo at NAAFS Rock N Rumble 8 for the Featherweight Championship. Stevens talks about his training camp for the fight, the controversy from his fight with Aoki and his NAAFS title shot.
Michael Hutchinson: You are currently training at Strong Style MMA, but you have trained with Tiger Muay Thai. Did you any training with TMT leading up to this fight with Frank Caraballo?
Cody Stevens: “No I did not. I left Thailand in November of last year. I’ve been training at Strong Style MMA since May, so this whole fight camp as been right at Strong Style, as well as my strength and conditioning with Outlaw Barbell Strength.”
MH: Any particular reason why you left Tiger Muay Thai?
CS: “I have a fiance and a nine year old daughter, I was gone for 14 months away from them, and I wanted to get back home. Financially if I was able to fly back and forth, do a 3 or 4 month stay then come back home, then maybe it would have worked out, but yeah my family is the main reason.”
MH: You’ve trained with Roger Heurta, who I’ve heard puts people through hell when it comes to workouts. How tough is the training at TMT?
CS: “The training is very tough at Tiger Mauy Thai. You also have to get acclimated to the weather there, cause it’s gruelling at times. The training, like Mauy Thai training, is outside, so if it’s a 101 Fahrenheit and you’re training then it’s gruelling. It can also be gruelling inside the MMA/wrestling room due to the fact that Roger cuts off the air conditioning, or Fernando is in there and it gets like a giant sweat lodge, and it gets almost hotter than it is outside.”
MH: How do you think your training there developed your MMA game?
CS: “It’s really helped me develop a lot of skills at Tiger Mauy Thai. My jiu-jitsu, obviously my striking, my elbows my knees. It also helped me in my mental aspect of my game, being away from my family for that amount of time. But being up their at Strong Style MMA, it’s starting to bring all of that out of me. I had all of these skills but now everything starting to blend together and kind of marinate now. I’m really excited to go perform on October 4th.”
MH: You fought to a decision against Shinya Aoki, a very impressive feat considering Aoki submits almost everyone he fights. After the fight he said the illegal groin strike affected his performance and he would have submitted you if not for that strike. What are your thoughts on those comments?
CS: “It makes me laugh. He had his five minutes of rest and I’ve never in my life have I seen them bring a stool into the cage and allow him to sit on the stool once they finally helped him up. He was just playing it. I don’t think he knew how to cut weight and diet correctly. What I heard he cut his weight around midnight the night before, and we did weigh-ins at 10am that day. You know, I’m pretty sure he had a steel cup on too, unless he’s really well endowed (laughs). Yeah I don’t know how it could have affected him like that. I think he’s just playing it because he didn’t have a good performance. He shot in, I sprawled, I came up with the knee, it’s a basic technique, and I thought I hit him in the gut, right above the waist line. Regardless, he went on the next three rounds. You see it all the time in ONE FC and UFC, a guy takes a groin shot and he keeps going. All I wanted was my respect out of it, and he wasn’t even trying to give me that.
“I’ll tell you what, I’ll give you another little insight. After the fight I was going to the locker room. I was kind of shocked by the outcome, that I didn’t win, because I didn’t get submitted by him and I thought I put a pretty good performance on. He was the one laid over the sink, dripping blood coming out of his nose, coming out of his mouth, cause I caught him with a knee to the nose when he was coming up one time and I caught him with a few elbows from the clinch. So I don’t know how the groin shot affected him for the entirety of the fight. I would do it again any day of the week.”
MH: We saw in the GSP vs. Hendricks fight that based on who won the rounds GSP won, but based on the entire fight, for who received the most damage you would have to give it to Hendricks. Do you think that MMA scoring doesn’t give it to the winner of the entire fight, but who wins the individual rounds?
CS: “Yeah that is what I liked about how ONE FC, actually, if you read the ONE FC guidelines they’re suppose to judge the fight on the entirety. They’re the only organization I know that does that. But yeah, I agree that they should judge the fight in its entirety. I understand round by round, that they’ve adopted the boxing system that they’ve had for a hundred years. To tell you the truth, I would rather fight with no time limits, just until someone goes unconscious or taps. That’s a real win.”
MH: I believe someone in the MMA community, correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe GSP said something similar. Something that he would like no rounds in MMA.
CS: “Well I’m with GSP if that’s what he said (laughs).”
MH: You’re facing a dangerous man in Frank Caraballo. He has been dominate as NAAFS featherweight champion. You’ll arguably be his toughest test to date. What part of your game is better than his, and what will you do to leave the cage that night as champion?
CS: “Well I’m just going to go out there and implement being a better mixed martial artist, more well rounded. I’m going to blend everything together and I’m going to come out with a victory, there’s no doubt in my mind about it. Tell Frank Caraballo that I’m looking forward to the event. He’s a tough individual, and it’s going to be a good quality win that will get me back on track.”
MH: Thank you for the time Cody and good luck on October 4th at NAAFS Rock N Rumble 8.
CS: “Thanks for the time Mike, I appreciate it greatly.”
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