Antwain Britt Talks About Having to Leave The Ultimate Fighter

By Curtis Clontz

The unthinkable has happened to our Hampton Roads hometown hero. In every sport, injuries can dramatically change the focus of a game or season.

Antwain Britt has realized this first hand. On the second episode of The Ultimate Fighter, Britt was dropped because of an injury.

Although this is a big deal, Britt continues to smile and look at things in a positive light. I had the opportunity to talk to Antwain and get his thoughts on the second episode of TUF as well as his injury.

Interview

Curtis Clontz: First off, let's talk about the show and episode 2. The first fight they showed was one with British fighter Wesley Murch. He mentioned in an interview before the fight that he felt that he had the weight of the UK on his shoulders. Do you think some of the fighters on the show that lost put too much unnecessary pressure on themselves?

Antwain Britt: No, it was a lot of different reasons they lost, mostly because they were outmatched. Wesley was in charge of his fight; it sucks that he rolled his ankle; the flying knee attempt didn't make it any better though. Different people handle pressure in different ways, some crumble and some thrive.


CC: Other than your news, the final part of the show was the fight between Eliot Marshall and Karn Grigoryan. Almost everyone seeing this fight scored in favor of Marshall, how did you score it?

AB: I scored the fight for Karn. He was aggressive and stopped his sub. attempts.


CC: Did the coaches ever emphasize finishing fights and not going to a decision?

AB: Oh yeah, its all about finishing. Never leave it in the judges' hands.


CC: Frank Mir's assistant coach Ken Hahn said some great things about you in a recent interview (MMAJunkie.com), saying things like "Antwain Britt impressed me with his hunger for knowledge" and "He improved at least 30 percent in the time that I spent holding pads for him, which only lasted about 20 minutes." Tell us about your experiences with the coaches. Who was your favorite? What was the most important thing you learned from them?

AB: Ken was the man. He taught me a lot in the little bit of time. Frank Mir was a great coach. You can tell he loves to teach. I rolled with him and he is sick on the ground, nothing new about that though.

Frank Mir is considered to have one of the top Jui Jitsu games of any heavyweight fighter in UFC history. This was never more apparent than when he submitted a much larger opponent in Brock Lesnar in his last fight. Mir will step into the cage against a rival coach in this season's TUF after the show ends.

CC: Sorry to hear about the injury. On the show they didn't talk about it much, what happened? I am guessing it was all of the blocking he did with his face, right?

AB: Ha, yea. He dropped his head a lot, he did it during one of my onslaughts, I threw an overhand right and hit him right on top of the head. I felt it as soon as I did it. It was shortly into the 1st round. I walked to my corner after the round and told Ken and Robert (Mir's coaches) that I might have broken it. They asked can I go and I said "hell yeah" and I went. I had a great second round, beat him in every range and won. Frank told me how much heart and talent I had. It felt great to hear that from a guy like Frank Mir.

CC: At what point did you know you weren't going to be able to stay in the house and fight for your chance to be The Ultimate Fighter? You did know well before Dana told everyone in the meeting right?

AB: Yes, as soon as they x-rayed the hand I knew it was over. That is a horrible feeling, knowing you did everything you had to do to get where you needed to be, now this. I have never been injured in a fight until then. It was like "not me, not now." Especially when you know how hard you've worked and how much you've given up.


CC: On the show it appeared that they said you're gone and that was it… Was it really that easy?

AB: No, we had exit interviews, medicals. I talked with Dana and that's about all I can say about that.


CC: Looking at the 205-pounders that made it in the house, who do you feel would have given you the biggest challenge?

AB: They were all good but if I had to pick I would say Ryan Bader. He's a good wrestler and strong. Krystof is a hard striker so I would say one of those guys but I think I would have done REALLY well!


CC: Do you feel that barring your injury that you could have won the show?

AB: YES! I would have won the show!

Not making it on the show is not the end of the world. UFC fighter John Fitch was supposed to be cast for the first season of the show, but at the last minute was held off. He made an incredible run in the 170-pound division and won 8 straight fights until finally suffering his first loss in the UFC against George St. Pierre in a title shot. The show is a great recruiting tool and has provided the sport with great talent. It did provide the UFC with a first-hand look at Antwain and hopefully this isn't the end of Britt's run to the UFC.


CC: Enough with rubbing the salt into the wounds, I have heard that you have been doing good things lately. I heard you on ESPN Radio as well as seen your new website. Have you had a positive feedback from the fans since being on the show?

AB: Yeah, it's really busy for me. The fans' feedback is great, the fans are great. I love to get photos and emails from my fans so keep sending them. Check out my blog on antwainbritt.com and hit me at antwainbritt@gmail.com.

CC: How is training coming along?

AB: Good man, training like I would if I was fighting so stay tuned.


CC: Finally, the most important question and the one that I keep hearing the most, when can we expect to see The Juggernaut fighting again?

AB: I'm fighting at the Patriot Center on Oct.11 vs. Terry Cohen for UWC, should be a good one he's a tough guy!

Terry Cohen is a fighter out of Palatka Florida. He has a record of 3-1.

As always, Antwain was more than happy to answer questions. Stay tuned to TSR for more from Antwain and local MMA.