Legacy FC 8 Interview Series – Josh Foster Bringing a Blue Collar Work Ethic and a Love of Violence to Houston

LONGVIEW, TX, September 13, 2011 – Friday’s Legacy Fighting Championship 8 event on HDNet is nearly upon us – set to hit Houston, Texas like a ton of bricks!

Another fighter that hits like a ton of bricks and then some is Josh Foster of Team Jorge Gurgel – Texas MMA. Arriving at Legacy FC fresh off three wins in a row with three ending in a submission or TKO, Foster has built a reputation for himself as a hard-nosed and dangerous fighter willing to take on all comers. Simply put, he’s got a great work ethic and he loves to see the results of his work.

If you knew his history, you’d make no mistake about it. You’d know this guy is blue collar to the bone.

Putting in 60-plus hours a week as a licensed plumber and training another 15-20 hours week, Josh Foster commented to us that “sometimes it gets hard” but he has to do what he needs to do to get things done – and that means both in and out of the cage.

This isn’t some new attitude or fight talk for him. Josh has had to think this way for a very long time. We’re talking about a person that experienced tragedy at a young age with both his parents dying by the time he was eighteen, leaving him with a younger brother and sister to look after. On top of that, he now has four kids he has to support on top of his commitments as a fighter and everything else going on in his life.

Working hard isn’t an option for him. It’s second nature.

Come this Friday, Josh will be taking on one of the toughest challenges of his career in the form of Bubba Bush – a stud wrestler and fellow blue collar prospect that just took the Legacy 185 champ through a five round war. Beating him stands between Josh and a chance at titles, the UFC, or whatever the future has in store for him.

How does he plan on dealing with the pressure of this occasion? Our guess is that he’ll just go and do what he’s been used to doing all his life – work.

Something tells us this one’s going to be a good fight.

Josh, thanks for taking this interview before your fight at Legacy FC 8. How’s life been for you heading into this one man?

Everything’s been going great man. I’ve been working a lot, making a lot of time for my family, my girlfriend, my kids, and all that stuff. Training is going well. Everything has been for me going into this one so far.

I know you’re coming off a big win out in Dallas for your last fight at XKO 11 against Hayward Charles. Tell us a little bit about that fight before we talk about your next one.

First of all I didn’t even know I went against him before but at weigh-ins he was telling everybody he already beat me at a grappling tournament. It got me thinking and was like, “man I don’t remember, I don’t think so,” then I went on YouTube and I was like, “oh yeah, I did.” It was like my sixth match or whatever for the day and he caught me with a rear-naked-choke and choked me out or whatever. Then I saw an interview here where he said he already beat me there and now he was going to stand up and knock me out so I said “Okay, we’ll see what happens.” I was never so excited about fighting somebody.

So we got out there into the cage and within four seconds, barely after the bell rang, I went out and dropped him. I was surprised the ref didn’t stop it but I went down and tried to finish him. He recovered pretty well and went after me with an armbar and a triangle but them we ended up in a scramble and I wound up catching him in a kneebar.

I mean, I knew I could beat him on the ground before we even got there and then when he said he wanted to stand up with me I knew I had this for sure. I like the way it worked out though. Nobody’s ever seen my ground work in MMA before really and most people think that I’m just a guy that goes for knockouts but I’ve been training on ground for over six years now.

That’s probably accurate. Most people may think of you as more of a striker with your past KO against Terrance Ferguson and some of the other performances you’ve turned in. So how does it feel for you to win by submission?

It feels good. Before that I fought Edgar Verdin at IXFA and I beat him by triangle choke in the first round too. A win’s a win I guess.

But what if you had your pick, would you prefer to win by submission or knockout?

Oh I want the knockout for sure. That’s what people want to see and what fans want. That’s what they pay money to see. They don’t want to see two guys rolling around on the ground. They don’t or may not understand that but they always understand the KO and the TKO so that’s what I want. It seems like the more violent fights get, the more fans respond to them. So that’s what I’m always going for – Violence.

This Friday you’ll be fighting for the Legacy Fighting Championship for the first time and it’s a pretty big card. How do you feel about fighting at LFC 8 in Houston?

Oh I feel great about it. I’ve tried to get into there before about two or three fights ago but for one reason or another it didn’t work out so it feels good to finally be fighting there at Legacy in Houston this time around. I’ve got a pretty big fan base out there in Houston so it’s exciting. Legacy is a great show and they always put on a great show. It looks like they’re growing big too and that’s what I want to do to – take it to the top.

You’ll be fighting another top prospect in Bubba Bush who’s also looking to make a name in this business. What do you know about Bubba as a fighter?

As both a person and as a fighter, I respect this guy a lot. As far as in the cage, I’m not talking bad about him or whatever but I think he may be a bit one-dimensional. All I’ve seen as that he wrestles his opponents to the ground and tries to hold them there. He hasn’t really shown much of anything else based on what I’ve seen on film. But you know, he’s really good at what he does which is wrestling.

In my opinion, a good striker can catch a good wrestler and if it gets to the ground, well wrestling can only do so much before submissions play a part of things. They can control you but they really can’t beat you just using just wrestling alone. So it’ll be a good match between me and him. I think all in all, he’s just like me. Everybody always has room for improvement, whether it’s wrestling or anything else. I’m sure he’s working to get better and will come in to this fight ready. On top of that, he’s really humble and he seems like a great guy. I just want to go and get things done but from what it’s looking like, it looks like it’s going to be a great matchup.

Are you doing anything special to prepare for this one? Are you working with any wrestling specialists at all?

Yeah, actually I’m working with two or three really good wrestlers in this area (Longview). It seems like that’s all we’ve been doing – them working on taking me down and shooting in on me so I can get my hands and feet to positions where I can get going without him just controlling me and laying on top of me. I’m working on my own takedowns too. That’s the whole game plan – just getting in there and being ready; putting it out there and seeing what happens.

How would you like to win this one if you had it your way?

Well if you look at all the polls and all, everybody wants to see a knockout. I’m not too sure if he has a great chin because I think he got rocked when he fought Andrew Craig so I’m going to try and test him, maybe stick him right off the bat and see what happens. From there, I don’t know really. I’m going to try to knock him possibly in the second round if I don’t it in the first and go from there.

What’s next for you after this fight?

I wouldn’t mind fighting for Legacy again but we’ll see what happens. Maybe I can get a title fight or see what all comes down the pipe as far as opportunities go.

Any last words before Friday’s fight Josh?

Definitely. I want to thank my sponsors, for one. Mark Watson with Five Star Grills has taken care of us really good. My team at Tean Jorge Gurgel Texas MMA and my BJJ Coach J.C. Cox take great care of me. My training partners like Josh Lee and all the guys are great. I also want to thank my girlfriend and her family along with my family, my brother and sister, and everybody else that’s been supporting me to get to where we’re getting. Thanks to everyone, especially my family.

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