Seth "The Silverback" Petruzelli is the most talked about mixed martial arts fighter these days. He defeated internet-famed backyard street fighter Kimbo Slice via KO within 14 seconds of the first round back in early October of 2008. Discussions have been made in regards to a possible rematch, but nothing is certain just yet.
Here’s the complete interview with Seth Petruzelli (props to FightersOnlyMagazine):
Question: It was big news when you knocked Kimbo Slice out earlier this year. Looking back, what is your take on that fight?
Me fighting Kimbo and people saying it was a huge upset, I was a huge underdog, this and that, it kinda ticks me off. He was…
…4-0 but its ridiculous. He had a bunch of streetfights, I’ve been doing martial arts my entire life. I turned pro in 2001, I knew I could beat him the entire time. I am confident on the ground, I am confident standing up.
Question: So there was never any danger of him beating you?
I was just a better all-round fighter and I think people that saw him on the internet just thought was The Thing and it proves you wrong when somebody that is actually trained in MMA comes and actually fights for real.
Question: Are you up for a rematch if someone wants to put it together?
They were trying to work on that and get the money put together, I don’t think that’s going to happen. They are trying to put it on in Florida again, in the Tampa area, so it’s all in the works but who knows? It’s all about if he agrees to it. I already agreed to it, I already agreed to what money I would need to do it and its just all up to his camp now.
Question: How do you think a rematch would go? Could you beat your previous time of 0:14?
I think the exact same thing will happen. If not that fast (laughs), if I didn’t want to stand up with him I know I could take him down and just ground and pound him the entire three rounds. If not that then I would just definitely go for the knockout again.
It might not be as fast but I definitely think I’ll win the fight again.
Question: Aside from the Kimbo rumours, what is going on with you right now?
What’s going on with me right now is I just opened a gym in Orlando, Florida. Myself, Tom Lawlor – who just won on the Ultimate Fighter finale – and Michael Lee, who is a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and has over 30 MMA fights.
That’s going really well actually, we just opened a couple of weeks ago and got a lot of students signed up. We got about 15-20 pro fighters out of there and things are going great.
Question: Sounds good. Any message for the fans before we go?
Thanks to all my fans!
Oh, and all the people that were talking after the fight, I’m not gay! I have a wife, I’m happily married for two years now (laughs). The pink hair was for Breast Cancer Awareness Month and I just wanted to do it the whole year to raise awareness to that.
Thank you to everybody for all the support and that fight, by the way, has fuelled the fire in my heart and I am going to fight the same way in the rest of my fights, so just watch out. I’m going to come back with a vengeance and do the same thing to the next person I fight.
