Dan Severn: Looking
Back At Bart Vale
And Looking Forward To Conan
by Chris Onzuka
Dan "The Beast"
Severn should change his nickname to "The Busiest Man In
The NHB Business." Severn is a true competitor, he balances
competing in NHB and professional wrestling along with promoting
his own NHB events, always on the move, always competing. From
all accounts, Dan Severn destroyed Bart Vale to win the Continental
Free Fighting Alliance Heavyweight belt at the Continental Free
Fighting Alliance Collision. The Beast has quieted the critics
after his surprise loss to Josh Barnett at Future Brawl. This
fight against Vale was fairly low-key and not many people have
heard of the match up until after the decisive results. Now
Severn has been paired up against another fighter who, like Severn,
recently came back and revenged a loss, Marcus "Conan"
Silveira. This looks to be a classic match up of wrestling versus
BJJ. This has the makings of a great match, but then again,
what else would you expect from Jaime Levine's World Extreme
Fighting?
FCF: You just came off
a loss to Josh Barnett at Future Brawl and came right back and
beat Bart Vale on March 25th. Tell us about the fight?
Dan Severn: I think it went a little into the second round,
the rounds being 8 minutes a round. It was typical of one of
my matches where I try to take the man off his feet and take
them to where my strengths are. I tried some submission moves,
which he tried to block and he was open for strikes.
FCF: Bart Vale has been
in this game for a while. I believe the last match he had was
in Extreme Fighting 3, where he got beat by Murakami Kazunari.
It seems like this was a battle of the NHB legends. How did
this match come about?
DS: Basically the promoter of this event contacted me and I
was available and...[laughs] it kind of sounds anti-climatic
there maybe, but I have been busy with all the different things
that I do. I was contacted, I was available and so I did the
match.
FCF: Vale is mainly known
for his striking skills and you are known for taking opponents
to the ground. Obviously, everyone knew both of your strategies
coming into the fight, did you have any trouble implementing
your strategy?
DS: Well, I don't care necessarily for rings, let's put it that
way. I prefer going into a caged environment. I think it's
more conducive to this type of competition in the first place.
He boxed me off pretty quickly in there. I could have stayed
there and let him load up and start kicking away or move and
attack. Whether it be upper body, mid-level, or lower body attacks,
take him off his feet, end up in his guard and try various forearm
chokes, neck cranks, key locks, things of that nature. And as
he defended one thing, you're definitely open for something else.
I just kind of took advantage of some openings.
FCF: It was recently announced
that at the next World Extreme Fighting 9: World Class [May 13th]
you will fight Marcus "Conan" Silveira, who just came
off a big win over Maurice Smith. Did Jaime Levine set this
match up or did you want to fight Conan?
DS: No, he more or less contacted me for the match. It's probably
not the most opportune time for me though. The match was there
so I'm going to go in there and do it.
FCF: Why is this not the
most opportune time for you?
DS: Because I have a lot of things going on around the same
date. I kind of wish people would contact me a bit earlier.
Realistically, I don't think too many people would have taken
the match based on the schedule that I have. I'm busy with the
professional wrestling world and the full contact world, on top
of doing a lot of appearances, autograph signings and seminars,
things of that nature. So, I have a number of things going on
around that time, which are going to affect my training.
FCF: Do you feel that this
is going to present a problem for you in this fight? Or do you
think that Conan won't present that much of a problem for you?
DS: I can't say that because I really don't have any idea what
Conan been doing for a while. You know, I am just finding out
from you that he has had some kind of recent win over Maurice
Smith. I really don't follow the fight game. The girl that
works with me, I'm sure you know her, Becky Levi, she's the one
who kind of keeps me updated on those kind of things. I really
don't follow the fight world at all, I'm busy with a lot of other
things.
FCF: Both of you prefer
taking the fight to the ground. You haven't fought a BJJ practitioner
since fighting Royce in the UFC. Are you concerned about his
submission skills?
DS: Doesn't everyone claim to be a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner?
FCF: I guess what I mean
is a true Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner. A guy whose primarily
training is in BJJ.
DS: Oh, okay. I didn't think that presented that big of a problem
with Royce. I think it will kind of be the same scenario with
Conan. Granted, he is a little more powerful opponent.
FCF: Other than this fight,
do you have anything else scheduled or coming up that you would
like to share with us?
DS: A week after that, I've got our Danger Zone event in Fort
Wayne [Indiana]. That's why I said it wasn't the most opportune
time to take the Conan match because I already had another one
scheduled at our event. Our date was set in Indiana and then
all of a sudden we have another organization scheduling the weekend
before. I kind of think that they should have checked the schedule
and see who was running an event, especially in the same state.
But like I said that's not the most opportune time because the
two events might hurt each other. That's my concerns right there,
granted I would like to see this whole industry prevail, but
I know which companies are doing the most for the fighters out
there and the Danger Zone is the number one fight company amongst
the fighters. Ask any fighter that ever competed for us, we
do more things. I know first hand, I have been the main event
on quite a few shows and know what the competitors want and need,
and we basically try to give it to them. I'm a competitor first
and a promoter second.
FCF: Is there anyone out
there that you would like to fight?
DS: I get asked that question a lot. That's not exactly my
cup of tea. It's almost ironic that I don't even follow the
fight game. Even to this day, I do not consider myself a fighter.
I'm from the world of amateur wrestling. I have been a competitor
my entire life. So when people ask me the question of who I
would like to fight, I say, "well there's really no one
out there that I would really want to fight." When I think
of people that want to fight each other, I think that they have
a dysfunctional problem and can't function in society in any
other capacity other than through physical force. [laughs]
FCF: Alright, what if we
change the question around and ask if there is anyone you would
like to compete against?
DS: There are still a few people who I would like to compete
against. I would like to have opportune time to train for it.
There's a few people out there towards the top of this game
that I wouldn't mind competing against.
FCF: Like
DS: I'm not even going to throw out any names at you. I'm not
throwing out any bones. [chuckles]
FCF: Man, what a build
up and let down. [laughs]
DS: I kind of feel like I'm not giving you what you want for
an interview. My mind's kind of pre-occupied now. When Becky
updates me on what people are saying on the Internet, about people
bashing me for various things like doing quite a few matches
and about me doing worked matches and things of that nature.
You know there will always be arm-chair quarterbacks out there.
There are people in the bleachers who watch life go by and there
are people who go in and engage the game. Well, I have engaged
the game my entire life. Like the Bart Vale fight, people thought
that would be a totally worked match. Go ask Bart Vale if that
match was a work.
FCF: I haven't seen that
fight, but from all accounts, you beat him pretty bad.
DS: Actually, I feel bad about that match. That's the part
when [I am reminded of the question] do I want to fight anyone.
That match I felt bad and a number of other matches I felt bad
about striking people. Maybe I'm losing my fighter's edge, I
don't know. Being out there, striking in not my forte. It's
something that I had to acquire and I kind of feel bad when I
have to utilize it. It's not the right frame of mind to have,
being in this type of competition, but never the less, I still
feel bad when I have to utilize it.
FCF: How old are you now?
DS: I'll be 42 [years old] as of June.
FCF: How long do you plan
on fighting?
DS: Realistically, in my mind, I told myself that I would be
out of it at age 45. But it could be sooner than that if I'm
not enjoying it. I know something that we looked into is the
mandatory drug testing of athletes. I know that there are athletes
out there that are not competing on their own ability and couldn't
carry most people's jock strap if they had to compete on their
own abilities. I guess that's my opinion. I just don't think
that's a true champion. How can you look at yourself in the
mirror and be proud of what you accomplished? At least in my
opinion, you can't. I'm a lifetime chemical free athlete and
I've achieved a lot of success. If you knew literally, how much
I actually trained at times, it's mind boggling how much success
I do have. I even think at my age, I can make a large impact
on this industry, if that's all I did! But I have a life, above
and beyond the NHB world.
FCF: I appreciate you taking
the time out for me, I hope you find the time for some quality
training time and good luck.
DS: I'll do the best that I can. |