An In-Depth TXMMA.com Exclusive with Legacy Lightweight Champion Ray Blodget; Taking on Daniel Pineda on April 9th!

Ray Blodget, the current Lightweight Champion for Houston’s flagship Legacy Fighting Championship promotion is an anomaly. From the outside looking in, he’s a fairly quiet unassuming fighter, not really much of a talker or a self-promoter, preferring to make statements with his performances instead of his mouth.

With ones look at tape of his fights within the Legacy cage, what anyone would come to find out is that as a fighter, Blodget displays nothing short of Spartan-like courage in delivering ‘fight of the night’ eye-for-an-eye type performances for his fans despite what odds local pundits have staked against him.

Labeled as the underdog in past fights with Arron Barringer and most recently in his title fight against Rey Trujillo, Blodget has silently won the Legacy 155 title, a quiet storm amassing an undefeated 5-0 record along the way, despite everyone from MMA.tv to Sherdog not even knowing or bothering to spell his name correctly.

Blodget, NOT Blodgett.

Now, facing the biggest challenge of his professional mixed martial arts life against a surging beast named Daniel “The Pit” Pineda on April 9, 2011 – the equivalent of hell on earth for most fighters but a date Blodget looks forward to, unshook and ready to do battle.

With a mentality depicting this fight as the survival of the fittest, Ray is training harder than ever, laser-focused on the goal in front of him, Ray Blodget now seeks to defend his Legacy Fighting Championship belt and cement his reputation as a worthy champion and a fighter to be respected inside and outside the cage.

If he wins, perhaps people will know his name then.

Ray, you’re gearing up for the first defense of your lightweight title, on April 9th at Legacy. How’s training going?

Training is going good man. I’m just trying to get in the best shape that I can. I did things a little differently this time though. I went out to L.A. for a little bit where I trained at Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Boxing gym working with his top trainers out there. I was also at Legends MMA while I was out there as well.

Going out to LA, what did that do that changed what you normally do striking-wise?

A lot of fundamentals, mainly. To be honest, the training as far as our boxing coaches here is just as good. The only difference was that I got to see, just being in that environment with so many elite pro fighters and fighters… I got to see how they work, what they do, and what their training schedule is like – things that I can fine-tune and tweak for my own benefit.

What was your schedule like while you were out there?

The thing I liked most is that I didn’t have to worry about work. I could just focus 100% on training. For the first week, it started out where I was exclusively at Wild Card Boxing Club. I trained in the morning, the afternoon, a couple of times a day. Then I found the MMA gym so then I was training at Freddie Roach’s in the morning and then at Legends at night for the duration of my time out there.

Who was teaching over at Legends MMA?

It was primarily Chris Reilly and Eddie Bravo. They had a wrestling coach there also (Conor Heun) and others.

How would describe yourself as a fighter NOW versus who you were  just starting out at ‘Lonestar Beatdown’ almost three years ago?

I don’t want to say I’m completely different but I’d like to think I’m always improving. I think I’m definitely a different fighter. I always try to work on being well-rounded and work on everything because there is so much knowledge that MMA encompasses. I just try to keep up with everything, work everything, and try to stay well-rounded. For sure, if people aren’t doing that, its hard to continue winning so you definitely have to keep up with it.

Looking back at your fights, you’ve been in some brawls and wars. Is that something you look specifically to bring to the fans when you’re out there?

I think it just kind of happens. I can understand the want and desire for it and I definitely want and desire to give a good show because all in all, it’s about how many you can get in the seats and you want your fans to be there to support you. Above that, you want people that previously didn’t know you to want to see you fight but the thing is, all-in-all, that’s great and I want to give people a good performance but above all, I want the win so I’m going to do whatever it takes to win.

So your upcoming fight with Daniel Pineda on April 9th – you’re currently the defending champion yet when you look at what is being said online, it seems like most of the hype is on Daniel. Do you think people are looking past you at all?

I think that’s kind of been the case with my last few fights and I don’t mind that. That actually gives me the desire and drive to just train harder. So that’s great for me; it just gives me more motivation. And you know, I can understand that Pineda has got a lot of fans and he’s got a record and he’s very experienced so I’m not putting anything past him and I’m definitely going to train hard for this fight. For sure.

What do you think about Daniel Pineda both as a fighter and even more importantly as a challenger to your belt?

I think he’s a great fighter! He’s well-rounded, he’s got a great wrestling background – which not a whole lot of people in Texas do, so he’s got that advantage. He’s beat people at all weight classes and levels so I’m glad to be fighting someone of that caliber.

What do you believe you have to do to beat him?

I think you definitely have to be on your P’s and Q’s. You can’t put anything past him. He can definitely end a fight a few different ways and he’s got a great submission game… I just want to be on top of things and train hard. If I stick to my game plan, I think things will work out for me.

Provided you win this next bout, and given you’ve got close to some other opportunities (getting far in process with Ultimate Fighter Tryouts, etc.), what do you hope to accomplish from here-on-out with MMA?

I just want to see how far I can take it while my body allows me. I’m 32 years old and I don’t have a whole lot of time left so I want to give it my all, see how it goes, and see how far I can go with it.

A few other random questions Ray – What do you think of the UFC buying Strikeforce?

I don’t really like it just because it seems like they merged in every organization they’ve bought into the UFC. That definitely works out for their benefit but not really for the fighters. I can understand that they’re a company and they want to make their organization the largest most-successful organization in the world but it may not be the best thing for the sport. That’s just my personal opinion.

Other than MMA, what do you do for fun when you’re not training?

I like to…. <thinking…> Well I haven’t done anything in a while, to be honest with you! This is pretty much consuming my life right now, training and fighting, but I like to spend my time with my friends, and try to do as much outdoors as I possibly can because I’m in here (gym) so much so if I can bike ride, run, go watch movies, spend time with people outside… Oh, and I love to eat!

What’s your favorite type of food?

There is no favorite. Anything fat and nasty! <laughing>

If you couldn’t be a fighter and trainer, what do you think you’d be doing for a living?

I don’t know. This is probably it. Well, I do have a couple of business ideas that a friend and I are working on but I’ll keep that under wraps for me.

You said earlier that you’re getting older but you want to take MMA as far as you can. What motivates you to keep doing what you do?

Because I love to train. I love to fight but I don’t like punching my training partners and my friends hard in the face so why not do it to someone I don’t really know that well.

Any last words to your fans, friends, and everyone out there?

I appreciate all the support from the people that watch me for my fights. I also appreciate all my sponsors like Johnny Ramirez with Bi-Tech Landscaping; Bill, Sam, and Ajay with Bizarre Bazaar, Keith with BONA Fitness; and the guys over at Arkham Clothing.

Bonus – Elite MMA Strength and Conditioning Coach David Campbell was nearby while I was interviewing Ray. Upon the conclusion of our interview, I grabbed him and asked him the question, “How would you describe Ray Blodget?”

  • An absent-minded Korean! <laughter erupts in the room> But seriously…
  • Ray’s got tremendous heart.
  • He is always willing to share his knowledge.
  • He’s a loyal friend.
  • The guy’s got balls bigger than Texas.
  • And he’s just a humble guy that’s willing to go to work.

In-Depth Coverage of April 9th’s Legacy Fighting Championship

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