Fight Life documentary director interview
K: Did you have some previous background in MMA before you filmed fight life? J: I’ve done some BJJ (Brazilian…
K: Did you have some previous background in MMA before you filmed fight life?
J: I’ve done some BJJ (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu), but not much. I did come from a martial arts background though: jiu-jitsu (Japanese), kendo, and kung-fu (wushu). So I’ve always dabbled in martial arts and then I played sports.
K: So when did you make that transition from MMA as simply a hobby, to it being a serious passion?
J: I think when MMA came out I wasn’t sure what to think of it. To be honest, I didn’t really get passionate until right before I made this film when I met my neighbor who was a fighter. He was going to his first fight, and invited a bunch of family and friends to watch. It wound up being a small MMA fight in San Francisco in some rusty old gym with strippers everywhere. It was crazy.
K: Wow.
J: And then after he lost one day I talked to him and he told me he made $3,000, and said they were going to give him $2,000 for his next fight. He was trying to debate whether or not it was really worth it. He had to lose thirty pounds for that last fight, trained like hell, and had to take daily supplements. And he was saying to me, Dude, I paid more than $3,000 in the last 6 months. That was when I started getting into MMA, and trying to understand what it took. I started my research reading all the books, the history of the sport, watching documentaries, and read all the autobiographies. I watched the fights and was very fascinated.
K: How did you begin building relationships with many of the fighters in your videos?
J: It’s been a trip. I did some research on fighters in the SF area and found Jake Shield’s website, so I asked some of my MMA friends if he was legit. They said he was good and so I hit up his dad, got past his dad, and then eventually got to him. I went and met him during training, along with Gil [Gilbert Melendez] and all the guys. We got lunch and eventually I just started showing up at their training sessions. We’re all good friends now. But I’d always be there at the gym filming and after they’re done training we’d go out and eat. It was like I was part of the crew. At Jake’s fight in St. Louis they didn’t have a car and I had a rental, so I had to drive those hobos around for three days, haha.
K: You got to make your bones somehow. Hah!
J: It was cool. That’s when I met Nick [Diaz] and his boxing coach Rich Perez, and got them involved in the film, too.
K: Well for those who haven’t watched your trailer on fightlife.tv, what is the main focus of your film?
J: It’s a documentary about the real lives of fighters. And when I say real, I mean how they live, train, prepare, and their stories. The main focus of my documentary is to educate people on the sport of MMA. Many don’t realize how difficult it is, and I want help legitimize it as a sport. I want to show people fighters’ struggling lifestyles, which is not as glamorous as people think. I surveyed a bunch of fighters and also interviewed experts within the sport: Big John (McCarthy), Sam Sheridan, and Frank Shamrock, just to name a few, to tell the story of the sport and the history of MMA in general.
K: What is one of the biggest challenges to these professional fighters?
J: Money. It’s a business of supply and demand. There are only so many fights, but too many fighters. Nowadays, everyone is a fighter, or wants to be one. Sure, the sport has boomed, but the promoters control the cards, not the fighters. Imagine there are one hundred Michael Jordans out there, all wanting to be THE Michael Jordan, and there is only one spot available. All these guys would be playing to prove they are the best; they would probably even do it for free. It’s the same in fighting. All fighters, in their own mind, believe they are the best fighter. Otherwise they wouldn’t do it. Even fighters with poor records; in their own mind they believe they are one fight away from being the best. That’s what keeps them going. But fighting and preparation for a fight can cost a lot of money.