JAY WHITE: “I WAS HOPING TO FIGHT ROY NELSON”
By Percy Crawford | August 21, 2008
“I haven't fought all year, but I don't think it's going to affect me at all. Chase just fought Eric Pele, one of my training partners, so I'm pretty prepared for what he will bring,” stated MMA heavyweight Jay White as he talked about his upcoming clash with Chase Gormley at the October 11th Affliction card. Check it out.
PC: How is everything going my man?
JW: Alright. It's going pretty well.
PC: You're scheduled to be on the next Affliction show in October. Can you tell us more about that?
JW: Yes. I'm fighting October 11th. I will be fighting Chase Gormley. He's 6-0.
PC: You're known as the guy with one of the most deceiving records in MMA. Can you explain how you sort of jumped in head first and were misguided?
JW: I started off and my first professional fight was against Christian Wellisch in the WEC and it was a tough fight. I felt that I won. It was pretty controversial. The fight got restarted and it was a bad fight. My third fight, I was fighting Jeff Monson on 10 days notice and I was winning that fight. I was beating him and he ended up winning because I got injured. I rematched him and he won fair and square; he caught me in a choke. Then I fought Burch, who was a last minute opponent, and then I lost to Jake O' Brien. I don't know man, nobody really looked out for me and who I was fighting. No one really built me up. I just fought whoever; I didn't really care. I just wanted to fight.
PC: Now, you're over at Xtreme Couture. How much has that helped your career and your training?
JW: It's helped both tremendously. Randy has been great to me. The gym is wonderful. They have a ton of big guys to train with. A lot of great guys like Robert Drysdale, Shawn Tompkins and Chris Ben, the boxing coach, so we have great trainers and great workout partners. My game itself has came up tremendously and plus you have Randy himself pulling for you so that can get me a better deal when I have Randy telling people how good I am. People tend to listen to him, you know?
PC: Definitely. The last time you fought, I was actually there live when you submitted Patrick Castillo. That was nearly a year ago. Do you fear you will have some rust or have you been in the gym enough for it not to affect you?
JW: Yeah, my last fight was in December. I haven't fought all year, but I don't think it's going to affect me at all. Chase just fought Eric Pele, one of my training partners, so I'm pretty prepared for what he will bring. I don't think the rust will really matter in this fight at all.
PC: You've helped a lot of big name guys train for their fights. I remember Juanito thanking you for helping Kongo prepare for Herring. Who are some of the guys you've helped and how much does that help your game?
JW: It all started with Randy calling me up and asking me to help him out for the Gonzaga fight and then, training at Xtreme Couture, I got Throwdown as one of my sponsors and that's how I got hooked up with Rampage and Cheick. I was Cheick's sparring partner for the Heath Herring fight. It was great working with Cheick Kongo; great experience working with him, Rampage and Juanito. Just recently, I was Herring's sparring partner for Brock Lesnar. I work out with great guys every day: Mike Whitehead, Mike Pyle, Jay Hieron, Eric Pele, Randy, Wanderlei and Forrest Griffin. I work out with a lot of those guys so it's stepped up my whole game tremendously.
PC: Affliction's heavyweight division is stacked with talent. How does it feel to be a part of that? Also, how important is a win against Gormley to assert yourself in the mix of the division?
JW: It's great! Affliction is doing great things and I couldn't ask for a better contract or to be with a better organization. The heavyweight division is stacked. Chase is 6-0 and he just beat Eric and Eric has a really good record, so this would put me on the map. Guys look at my record and think I'm just a stepping stone, you know?
PC: Your record is very deceiving. How many wins do you feel you are away from people thinking you're a stepping stone?
JW: I was hoping to fight Roy Nelson because that would have catapulted me huge, but unfortunately, he's fighting Paul, but it is what it is. They'll start to see. A couple of wins from now, depending upon who I fight, they'll see who I am and what I can really do.
PC: We'll get a lot more from you on the site Jay. Good luck against Gormley. Is there anything you want to say in closing?
JW: I just want to thank my sponsors, Xtreme Couture, Throwdown and Mainline Nation. Thanks to all of my training partners and everybody that has helped me out.
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