Don Frye on what top MMA fighters can learn from pro wrestling

MMA legend Don Frye appeared recently on Submission Radio for another no holds barred interview. There were happy Don Frye moments, and Don Frye Don Frye moments.

UFC 197 made Don Frye not happy.

I had to have somebody hit me with a cattle prod every couple of minutes to wake me up,” said Frye. “Jeez Louise, was that a sleeper?

Criminy, they were all bad. Jeez-a-freaken louise. I mean, Jon Jones – what’d they throw about seven punches the whole fight? Criminy, they stayed about ten feet away from each other.

“[Jon Jones] has so much talent. You know, for him to let that thing out of the first round was insulting. But I had some guy tell me, you know, Jones always has problems with somebody as tall as him. And it’s true. I mean, who did he fight? Gustafsson, right? Yeah that was a tough fight for him. And that OSP fellow, you know, just as big, he was a tough fight for him.

However, Demetrious Johnson made Don Frye happy.

“He did a great job,” said Frye appreciatively. “Man, that guy is one of the best of the fighters walking the planet. That guy is so impressive, man. And you know he’s a good fella. That Henry, what a dumbass. Criminy, it looks like he just keeps wrestling and didn’t have time to learn any martial arts skills – how to fight, how to throw a punch, how to move his head, you know, how to fight a sleeper or armbar. Jeez Louise. I don’t know who the hell is managing him but he’s doing a bad job of it and he needs to get a new trainer.

“He needs to be making twice as much money as he is. I don’t know what he’s making, but I’m sure they’re not paying him what he’s worth.

Well I would get a pro wrestler to teach him how to shoot a promo. I mean that’s his problem. That’s why Conor McGregor makes more money than anybody else, he knows how to shoot and cut a promo. And it’s an art form and you work at it just like you work at fighting and any other skill. You know, it’s a skill and a talent, and you gotta work and train at it. And most people don’t. That’s why they aren’t making money.

Don Frye is not impressed with Daniel Cormier.

Cormier is the most overrated, underperforming, worthless trash talker I’ve ever heard,” said ‘The Predator’. “And he sounds like one of the Cosby kids – just bedee-bedee-bedee-bedee. You can’t understand a damn thing he’s saying. You know? And he keeps repeating the same stuff and he’s not producing anything. And I don’t know what the hell’s going on up there at AKA, but you know, either get a new trainer or new training partners or sparring partners. You know, they’re all getting hurt. Geez, they gotta do something differently and be smart enough to protect their fighters or they’re all going to starve to death.

I don’t think he puts any effort into [his promos]. My god, I think they’re terrible. You know and he’s acting like a badass, like he earned that belt. He didn’t earn that belt. Criminy. You know as far as I’m concerned, that belt still belongs to Jon Jones.

However, Frye does appreciate Conor McGregor, and backs him in the fight over media duties.

I think he’s right,” said Frye. “He’s spot on. I mean that takes so much god damn time away from you. You’re hired to be a fighter not to be an interview, you know, or interviewee. You’ve got things to do. When you’re training for a fight it’s a 24/7 job, and if they got you doing more interviews and promoting than they do fighting, well then you’re not going to last long. You’re not going to have a long career.

How do I say this without being rude? I guess I can’t, so I’ll piss on it. You know, Dana likes everything his way and if he doesn’t get his way he throws a fit, and that’s what’s happening. You know, and Conor’s spot on, man. You can’t spend more time doing interviews than training. This is a dangerous sport, okay? And the thing is, it went from a fight to a sport to a TV show. And it’s still a dangerous thing. And so you gotta prepare yourself for it, because s***, just training – if you’re in one of those fights and you’re not hurt, you don’t get hurt, it still takes two weeks to recover cause of all the hard training. But if you’re not training you’re going to get hurt.

“[If I ran the UFC] I would fly Conor in and take him out, wine him and dine him, tell him ‘okay, what do I gotta do to get you on the fight card and how many promos can I get from ya? We gotta push the show so we’re going to need some interviews. So how many are you willing to do?'”