Seth Petruzelli: “The win over Kimbo Slice was not a fluke, I am here to stay!”


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Seth Petruzelli: “The win over Kimbo Slice was not a fluke, I am here to stay!”

INTERVIEW By Benny Henderson Jr., DoghouseBoxing (Oct 13, 2008) DoghouseBoxing.com

It had been eight years, fourteen fights, nineteen rounds and a stint on the hit series, “The Ultimate Fighter”, for the mixed martial arts combatant Seth Petruzelli (10-4) to finally reach stardom, but it only took fourteen seconds for “The Silverback” to reach that pinnacle, and the Floridian hit that goal in a big way.

October 4th on EliteXC-Heat, Petruzelli, who was scheduled to step in against Aaron Rosa, was faced with a chance of a life time to face the internet sensation Kevin Ferguson aka Kimbo Slice, when Slice’s opponent, the

legendary Ken Shamrock sustained a last moment injury which took Shamrock out of the game. Seth took the gamble and won big with a first round fourteen second romping over Kimbo Slice, not only earning himself the TKO win, but the biggest victory in his career.

In this exclusive conducted by Doghouse Boxing, Seth speaks out on his win, enjoy.

Benny Henderson Jr.: First off I just want to say congratulations on your big win over Kimbo Slice, give the readers your thoughts on the W.

Seth Petruzelli: My thoughts are that everything is going in my head at once. My adrenaline is still up and I have not gotten much sleep at all, it is like a whirl wind. I am just overcome with a sense of accomplishment. I have been busting my butt for a long time, in and out of the game, a part time fighter pretty much. Then you have something like this happen, it is a great feeling, it is unbelievable.

BH: You were scheduled to fight Aaron Rosa on the under card, then with Ken Shamrock’s injury you got the last minute call to fight Kimbo. What was running through your mind when you were approached with the fight, and how confident were you going into the cage to face Kimbo on such a short notice?

SP: It was actually really good, as soon as they offered it to me, it took about ten seconds to negotiate with myself a little bit, I said hell yeah, I will fight him, let’s do it. Then as soon as they approached him he took some time and watched tapes of me, but as soon as he said yes, they filmed him in the back room asking him about how he felt about Ken dropping out, he was visually nervous, the look in his eyes, there was a grim look in his eyes, he looked nervous so it gave me all the confidence in the world. As soon as I went in there I was not nervous at all, I was having a good time, it was an opportunity of a life time and I was going to make the most of it.

BH: I was doing some reading on your victory over Kimbo on a few sites and getting different opinions, and one headline caught my eye right off the bat,” Seth Petruzelli Destroys Kimbo Slice; EliteXC Star Is the Ultimate Fraud”. If I can correct, Dana White has said that Kimbo sucks. What are your thoughts on the opinions of Kimbo not being up to par by the media, does that hinder your win?

SP: I don’t think so, Kimbo was a name, whether he was a great fighter or just a street fighter, he was just a name period. So, you are pretty much beating the name Kimbo, you are not beating an actual participant in the MMA. It is still a great victory for me but he trying to be a MMA fighter, he is going into training with other camps so you have to give him all the credit in the world, he is training hard and trying to be a professional at it. People are dogging him but to tell you the truth he is laughing all the way to the bank.

BH: That is what I say, kudos to the guy who got big by using You Tube, I wish I would have done that because I sure would not be driving a truck for a living right now.

SP: (Laughs) yeah really, he made like a half a million for that fight, I have not made that much in my entire career.

BH: All though you have been fighting for years and was featured on season two of the “Ultimate Fighter”, this win over Slice has really propelled you into the lime light. Has it sunk in yet, and how are you handling it?

SP: Like I said in the beginning, it feels like a dream, it has not sunk in, I have not had time to set back and relax and think about all the things that I have done. I am good, I am keeping a level head, I know that this could be gone just as fast as it got here. I am going to try to make the most of it and make all the money I can off of it, and to let them know that I am here to stay and this was not just some freak thing that I popped out of the blue, I have been around for a while and I am a tough fighter and it is going to continue.

BH: What was running through your mind when you had him down just whaling on this guy?

SP: It was actually my body taking over because my mind went blank. The only thing that I saw was the ref next to me and I was waiting for the black shirt to jump up in my face. It was my body on over drive. I kept pummeling until I seen his eyes roll in the back of his head and the ref step in.

BH: In my research and preparation for this interview, I read somewhere that your wife was threatened by Kimbo’s entourage, is that true?

SP: Yeah, it is all true, they threatened to spit in her face and they threatened to shoot my corner and all sorts of crazy crap. Now it was not Kimbo at all, Kimbo was the nicest person in the world, he was super humble after the fight. It is always the people you are with who gets you into trouble. I had to get escorted out with security.

BH: It is funny to me that his people were bitching and griping but neither any of them were the ones jumping in the cage.

SP: No they didn’t, and Kimbo was not bitching and griping, he was happy with the stoppage, he did not complain.

BH: Well hell, I would not complain about the fighting being stopped either if somebody was beating the hell out of me. (Joking)

SP: (Laughs) Right.

BH: What is next for you?

SP: A bunch of names has been thrown out but I am going to take a little time and possibly fight in January or February, the 205-belt is open, whatever EliteXC wants to put in front of me it is ok.

BH: Anything in closing?

SP: I would like to thank my sponsors, www.socialmenace.com, my gym that I just opened up www.thejunglemma.com and www.smoothieking.com, I just opened up a Smoothie King with my wife and we are about to open up another location real soon.

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