Here’s an interview with Pete Spratt from Sherman, currently training with Saekson Janjira in Plano, TX.ÿ Pete talks about his career, his background, his fight with Ron Jhun in Hawaii, and a variety of subjects – including his desire to be a champion in 3 fighting sports.
Pete Spratt, otherwise known as “The Secret Weapon”, is an explosive fighter from Sherman. ÿ Known for his incredible natural athletic ability and multi-sport background, Pete has been climbing up the ladder of visibility with performances showcasing his speed and fearsome striking skills.ÿ With a schedule that revolves around fighting in San Shou, Muay Thai, and MMA, Pete’s achievements are considerable once you realize he has only been formally training and fighting as a career for a year and a half.ÿ Pete is also a main member of Third Column Fight Team along with Yves Edwards.ÿ We caught up with Pete on his way home from a hard session of training with Muay Thai legend Saekson Janjira in Dallas, and got an update on his latest fight, what it was like to win Fox’s Dallas Toughman competition, and his objectives in the near future. Interview conducted August 31st, 2001
TXMMA Talks to Sherman, TX’s Pete Spratt
TXMMA: Hi Pete, thanks for taking time out of your schedule to do this interview.ÿ For those out there who haven’t heard about Pete Spratt and what he’s about, let’s just get started with some brief background info and some of your training history.
Pete: Well, I’m from Sherman, Texas, you’ve got that part already.ÿ My background, I actually started boxing when I was like 10 years old, at the local Boys’ Club.ÿ After that, little league sports took over, so I kinda got away from that fight aspect of my life.ÿ I continued on with that, and actually didn’t start training again until ’94, and that was my junior year in college.
TXMMA: So you had taken up boxing again at that point?
Pete: ÿYeah, I started training boxing again…. actually I started training in American Kenpo, I have a third-degree Black Belt in American Kenpo.ÿ So I was actually training in that, and then my trainer was like, “You want to box in the Golden Gloves?”ÿ I was like, “Sure, why not, I’ll try anything once.”ÿ So I figured I’d go ahead and give that a shot and see if I could win it, and I went on and won that in 1995.ÿ After that, I kind of stepped away from the sport and was just primarily focusing on teaching.ÿ Then I took a US amateur title bout in kickboxing in 1997, and actually lost that on a technicality: I didn’t get the minimum number of kicks in per round.
TXMMA:ÿ Ah, the old American kickboxing “minimum kicks” rule…. (author note: for those unfamiliar, kickboxing in the US did not always look like Muay Thai – the kickboxing born of the sport karate circuit of the 70’s had certain rules, such as a minimum 3 kicks per round I believe)
Pete:ÿ Yeah, I lost it on that technicality.ÿ And then let’s see, 1997, I was coaching, a graduate assistant at my old college, Southeast Oklahoma State, and started to get fat! And I was like, what am I going to do? Because I wasn’t training to fight anymore, wasn’t playing sports anymore, so was like, what am I going to do now, how am I going to stay in shape? I decided to start fighting again, and I’ve been fighting consistently since 1999.
TXMMA:ÿ So you came back down to Sherman, or were you in Houston, or where were you doing most of your training?
Pete:ÿ I was actually in Oklahoma, because I’m close to the Oklahoma-Texas border, so I was driving back and forth from Denison to school to teach.ÿ I actually didn’t start going out to Houston until 2000, that’s when I fought in Renegades.
TXMMA: Were you training consistently with Saul Soliz back then, or what was your schedule like?
Pete: ÿI’d come down every weekend and train with Saul and Yves.
TXMMA:ÿ These days, how do you see your career as it is now, and what are your objectives over the next year or two?
Pete:ÿ First and foremost, within the next year, I see myself in contention with the top welterweights in the UFC.ÿ That’s what I’m looking at right now, pretty much my primary focus right now.ÿ Also being one of the top fighters in Muay Thai.ÿ We were trying to get fights with Alex Gong or Cung Le but those didn’t pan out, so we’ll see what happens.
TXMMA: So you’re going to try and balance both fighting in the UFC, at that level, as well as doing professional Muay Thai…
Pete:ÿ Exactly.ÿ Muay Thai, San Shou, you know, I want to win world titles in San Shou – that would mean taking Cung Le’s title…and I want to win a world title in Muay Thai, and also want to be a UFC champ.ÿ So, three different organizations, is what I’m looking at doing.
TXMMA: Tell us how you got hooked up with Tito Ortiz, Team Punishment and those guys.
Pete:ÿ Actually I met Tito at the first Bushido event in Arizona. Of course, Yves already knew him, and I met him out there and from then on we kind of kept in touch.ÿ Just kept in touch from when we met out in Arizona, because he liked the way I fight.ÿ We just kind of made, like an affiliation – a lot of people have a misconception that I’m a member of Team Punishment.ÿ It’s been talked about, we’ve discussed it, but nothing is really official.ÿ Right now it’s just kind of like a sponsor thing – I’ll wear his clothes to my fights and things of that nature.ÿ He came out and cornered for me at Warriors’ Quest in Hawaii.
TXMMA:ÿ So then you’re more or less affiliated with Team Punishment, and I guess probably further on down the road they’ll bring you on as a full member…
Pete: Yeah, he’s actually talked to me about that, it’s just going to be a matter of….. I don’t want to be a member of Team Punishment and not actually be in Huntington Beach training with those guys.
TXMMA:ÿ Sure, that would be a great situation for you anyway, crosstraining with all that talent at HB Ultimate Training Center, they’ve got Fabiano Iha, Razor, Tiki, all those guys, that would be a great place to train.
Pete:ÿ Yeah, I’m just kind of caught up in a dilemma now that I’ve got one of the best Muay Thai instructors out there in the world.
TXMMA: Saekson. (Janjira)
Pete: Yeah, so he’s giving me good quality training, the only thing I’m missing out on is my groundwork.
TXMMA: ÿHonestly, I think your style is well-suited to Team Punishment – you’ve got a lot of guys there that like to bang, you’ve got Tiki Ghosen, you’ve got Tito, you’ve got Chuck Liddell.ÿ A lot of guys there, it’s right up your alley, guys with a strong base in striking, very explosive, and I think they they’re a good match for your style.
Pete: Yeah, it’ll be good, it’s just a matter of getting a few things worked out.
TXMMA:ÿ Let’s move on to the recent Fox Toughman competition in Dallas that you competed in and won, what are your thoughts on that experience.
Pete:ÿ Ahhh, it was a fun experience…very easy. (laughing) Those guys don’t have a clue what’s going on.
TXMMA:ÿ You always hear about Jeremy Horn and some of the Midwest fighters cleaning up in some of the Toughmans up in Chicago and around there, it’s not unfair, I think it’s great.ÿ Everyone who’s in MMA has traditionally not been considered professional fighters, and now because they’ve got crosstraining in boxing, they’re going in and cleaning up.ÿ Welcome to the fact that fighters in MMA are not the unskilled bunch that some of the public considers them to be.ÿ Back to the Toughman in Dallas – you found it pretty easy, I know people were expecting you given your fights in the past, to be putting people down, and they were surprised some of the matches went the distance.
Pete: Oh yeah, Saekson told me to just go out and have fun, and that’s just what I did.ÿ I needed a little work before fighting Ronald (Jhun) and that’s what I did, and I had fun. And I got paid for it.
TXMMA:ÿ Great, is there going to be something beyond that, are they going to bring it together for some sort of Toughman championships or some show that you’ll fight in again?
Pete:ÿ The next one is going to be in February, and it’s going to be a full-blown TV show. They want to have me out for that one.ÿ It’s going to be another Dallas tourney, and they want some guys to fight on that particular show that can actually fight, and they definitely want to have me out for that show.ÿ It definitely may be for the championship series, I’m supposed to hear back from Murray about that as the event gets closer, but it’s supposed to be one of their upper level shows so there may be some guys from other places competing in that particular one.
TXMMA:ÿ Well you just got back from Hawaii from your match against Jesus Is Lord team member Ronald Jhun in what’s been described as a real war.ÿ What are your feelings on that match, and would you like to do a rematch with Ronald at some point in the future?
Pete:ÿ Yeah definitely, there is going to be a rematch, we’ve already discussed that, and the people of Hawaii are going to want to see it….. hopefully it’ll be one of those deals where it may be a prelim on UFC.ÿ But that more than likely won’t happen since he’ll be fighting middleweight and I’ll be fighting welterweight.ÿ My thoughts on that fight – it was a war.ÿ It was an all-out war, and not many people stand up to my shots, and he’s a tough guy… he’s got a good chin, I had him hurt several times in the fight, but he persevered and he came through and I can’t take anything away from that.ÿ He did what he had to do to win.ÿ I had a bad decision in Colorado, and I told myself that I’d never let a fight go to the scorecards.ÿ I was going in for the finish, there’s 30 seconds left in the final round, and I’m going in to KO and finish Ron, you know because I didn’t want it to go to the scorecards.ÿ To get something like that you’ve got to give up something, and he caught me with a nice knee to the solar plexus as I was getting ready to land a nice shot on him.. he caught meÿ you know, I felt that, went down, he rushed in and the referee stepped in called the fight.ÿ I think there was only 20 seconds left in the fight, I think I could have finished the fight, but the ref saw otherwise.ÿ Fortunately he (Ron) looks a lot worse than me! He looks a whoooole lot worse than I did, I closed his eye and cut him open, so physically he was in bad shape but he did what he had to do to win and I respect that.ÿ He’s got my respect all the way.ÿ The rematch is going to be something exciting to see.
TXMMA:ÿ I think it’s great for the fans, because many fans don’t appreciate any of the grappling part of MMA, they only really get fired up by striking – and you’re an explosive striker and so is Ronald.ÿ Also I think that your attitude, not wanting any fight to go the scorecards, is one of the great things that helps make MMA exciting and sets it apart from boxing – the spirit and heart of the fighters.ÿ It separates it from some of the things that have made people lose respect for boxing, whether it’s the corruption or people just boxing to collect a paycheck, etc.ÿ In MMA it’s still so pure, you’ve got so many fighters fighting not primarily because there’s a fat paycheck, tons of fame, or Don King sets them up with an easy opponent, etc., but because they love the sport, and they truly want to fight and compete against the best.ÿ And they bring 110% to the ring.ÿ So I think that your attitude is great for the sport.ÿ Moving forward with the interview, you’ve said you want to be a welterweight champ in the UFC, you want to be a champion in San Shou and Muay Thai, and defeat Cung Le, but is there any sort of opponent who you’d really like to fight in any of those arenas?
Pete:ÿ I really don’t have any sort of dream opponent, it’s just whoever’s on top at the particular time.ÿ I want the titles no matter who’s holding them.
TXMMA:ÿ Just to close out the interview, you’ve seen the situation here in Texas first-hand and you’ve read the article I wrote, what are your thoughts on it – good/bad, has it affected your career at all, and looking towards the future how do you see newer rules possibly affecting the local scene?
Pete: It’s DEFINITELY going to help the shows in this state.ÿ A lot of people don’t understand open-hand striking, they think it’s not effective, it’s very effective, but I prefer closed-fist.ÿ Open-hand does reduce hand injuries.ÿ Other than that, so far I think the rules and the legislation are fine in Texas except for the open-hand part.ÿ Once that, the use of the closed fist and the glove is passed, I think mixed martial arts is going to just blow up in Texas.
TXMMA:ÿ Definitely, I’d have to agree.ÿ We’re ripe for the sport to break out here, with the size of the state and the number of people who are interested in martial arts in Texas.ÿ Before we go, whatÿ upcoming fights to you have on your schedule?
Pete:ÿ Actually my next event will be Warriors’ Cup in Burbank, CA, a Muay Thai card.ÿ I believe Walter (“Sleeper” Michalowski), myself, and Jarontong (Kiet Bahn Chong) will all be fighting from Saekson’s camp on that particular card.ÿ No opponent for me confirmed yet.ÿ A couple of weeks later, I should be defending my title at Sven Bean’s Ring of Fire.
TXMMA: ÿThanks again for agreeing to do the interview, much luck going forward with your upcoming Muay Thai matches, and is there anything you’d like to leave the fans and the public with?
Pete:ÿ Yes. Just so people know – people don’t realize I’ve only been doing this for maybe a year and a half! Once I get my training situation locked down soon so I can start training full-time, my career is going to explode! Mark my words… no one is going to be safe.