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Post-fight Interview with Aaron Stark

Little Creek Casino - Shelton, Washington

Interview and photos by Mike Renouard


Aaron Stark, veteran of the defunct International Fight League, took home a Main Event victory November 22nd at Carnage at the Creek 4 by securing a Rear Naked Choke midway through the first round on Militich Fighter, Rashad Brooks.

NW Fightscene had a chance to speak with Aaron after the fight... 


NW Fightscene: In the main event tonight against Rashad Brooks out of Militich Fighting Systems. How do you feel the fight went for you?
Aaron Stark: The fight went well. I guess you can't ever really predict what's really going to happen out there. I guess I saw it maybe a little bit different. I thought... for whatever reason I knew nothing about my opponent... but I thought he might have been more aggressive. And then when he wasn't it made me a little bit nervous thinking he might be playing possum to uncork a two or something. I think that means I'm thinking out there a little too much. ...but at some point I just decided well he's not going to come forward. If he is going to try and uncork something I might as well be coming at him with something when he does that and not just sit and move into it. I was happy with the overall performance. I was able to get off a good 5 or 6 combo against the fence, which is something I've been working on, as opposed to throwing and maybe getting the guy to back up and then backing off of him. So at least making him pay and putting in a good number of shots before letting him off the hook. 

And then when I finally got him down, I got into a front quarter situation, and I was happy that I didn't go for a guillotine or an anaconda because its something that I've kind of become reliant upon. So when I let go of that and kind of used a different tack it was good. I mean I would be kicking myself in the ass had it not worked out but it did work out. I was able to get his back and punch him a couple times and soften him up and then bring in the rear naked choke.


NWFS: And then when was the last fight previous to this for you?
AS: The last fight I did I fought out in North Carolina. I believe it was in the last weekend of September.
That was a unique situation because I fought the weekend before at Sportfight and had a three round battle. I ended up submitting the guy but it was only with 13 seconds left to go so it was essentially a three round battle. So I got a call on that following Wednesday to come out to North Carolina. It was kind of cool to fight back to back especially as I ended up winning both the fights. The guy I fought out there was a very tough guy, a guy from Brazil, who was also a Brazilian Black Belt. So that was a little different, not actually wanting to go to the ground it was a little bit different for me. I had the unique experience of actually calling a guy up in the first round because I didn't want to be down there with him when he was dry. So that went well too.

Aaron Stark def Ron Fields via Anaconda Choke - Sportfight 24 (9/19/2008)

NWFS: how has life been for you since the IFL?
AS: I miss it. (laughs) I do. I mean there were some definite immense positives to being in the IFL. A-number One being the money, that's always nice. But in addition to that, they were a good group to work with. You got enough notice on the schedules and stuff that you weren't having things occur where you're getting a call on Wednesday saying "Hey what are you doing this weekend?". So that was nice but it is what it is, business being business. Obviously they had maybe a model that I embraced but it wasn't that great for the general public or else they'd still be around. 


NWFS: You're still at Team Quest, under Matt Lindland.

How do you feel your development as a fighter is coming along?
AS: I can't complain. I've trained at Team Quest since the beginning. I cant imagine ever leaving there. For one, I live in the area, I enjoy the area, and I want to stay in the Northwest. But also, because I've known a lot of the guys for quite a while from wrestling. It's just a really really good team. We got a lot of guys in there, we work well together, there's not a lot of animosity. Everyone's competitive in the room, but competitive in a friendly manner. You don't take it anywhere outside of that room. Overall I think my development's been coming along. My hands are the big shortcoming that I had, you know just coming out of a very long wrestling background, coming into this. And you know they're not perfect by any means. And never will be. But I mean that in a positive way... even with my wrestling, wrestling as long as I have, especially bringing it into the MMA context. You always want to evolve and be looking for stuff that you can do.

NWFS: Who are you working standup with?
AS: We actually have a guy, a boxing coach right now. We've had him for over a year now. His name is Clayton Hires. He's 52 and you would never guess it in a month of Sundays. He's very energetic but also he brings good technique. I've worked very little with other boxing coaches, but some of them that I had seemed they were so entrenched in that boxing background that they're not willing to accept that hey, if I stand sideways like a boxer I'm going to eat a gang of kicks and it won't matter what my punching is like if my legs will be smashed, you know little things like that... But he's very adaptive and willing to learn but at the same time he does bring those solid boxing credentials and solid boxing technique. And also he's a fun guy, a guy you want to work hard for. I mean that's a special gift. Its something I know I don't have, nobody ever wanted to work hard for me a day in their life in that workout setting. But he's the type of guy, he comes in and works our ass off. There's a little bit of grumping and groaning just because you know you'll be working hard but everybody still works hard for him, and they're happy at the end of the day with him and his attitude and everything he brings.

NWFS: Do you have goals for the coming year?
AS: You know, throughout my athletic history you always hear about goal setting. Near term, mid term, long term. And I hate to say it but I never really... especially now, the fighting world... with wrestling you had a set amount of time, what do you want to do by the end of this year. What do you want to do by the end of high school, what do you want to do by the end of college...

 MMA is a little less predictable. The only thing you can do is go out and try and find fights. And try and find fights that are hopefully challenging, competitive fights. And do well and win and continue to develop. So it makes it hard to say "Oh, Well, by the end of this year I'm going to..." I don't know who's going to call, I don't know... so like I said when the calls come in and they say "Hey you want to fight here, here, or here", you pick the best ones and go out and try to win those fights so that it progresses your career.

NWFS: Anything lined up then?
AS: Nothing lined up. Probably Sportfight in April if I can't find anything else.

That's my one Ace in the hole.


Be on the lookout for Aaron in 2009 to continue his winning ways.

Online you can hit him up at myspace.com/aaron_stark


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