Legacy 14 Pre-Fight Interview with Paradigm’s Patrick Greene

HOUSTON, TX, September 14, 2012 – Finishing up our comprehensive interview coverage for Legacy Fighting Championship 14, we speak to resurgent fighter Patrick Greene, who’ll be taking on Kaileb Cummins on the local undercard at the Houston Arena Theater.

He feels like a new man after an extended training camp at Paradigm Training Center, his new team and one that’s helped him grow from traditional martial artist and Jiu-Jitsu player to a more complete fighter in MMA.

He believes that will carry him through this latest challenge and bring him something he truly desires even more than a win – and that’s a conclusive finish.

Here’s more from Patrick prior to tonight’s fights.

Interview – Patrick Greene (Paradigm Training Center)

Patrick, re-introduce yourself to Houston’s MMA fans so can get to know you a little better.

My name is Patrick Greene, and I like long walks on the beach, and… just kidding. Well, where do I start… I’ve been in the martial arts since I was a kid. I started fighting as an amateur , in both Muay Thai and MMA, around 2006. As an amateur Muay Thai fighter, I’ve fought in different states, and fought in Canada once as well. My MMA fights have been local, with the exception of one being in Louisiana. I don’t fight as often as some guys, so even though I’ve been actively competing since then, I don’t have a crap load of fights under my belt. I fight mainly for the challenge and the experience. It’s a way for me to stay sharp, both physically, and psychologically.

Describe your last fight for us. Also, what have you been up to since then?

My last fight was against Mark Garcia, and I lost by split decision. Honestly, I still get upset even now when I think about that fight! I won that fight. You can ask ANYONE who’ve watched it. I did more damage, I controlled the fight, both standing and on the ground, but in the end, the judges gave the decision to him. It really sucks when you know you’ve won a fight, everyone you talk to, including random people you don’t even know, and other fighters, said you won that fight, but on paper you lost. I tried to contest it with the TDLR, but nothing really came about on that, go figure. My biggest lesson from this was to really go out there and try to FINISH the fight, not just go out there to WIN. There’s a difference. And to try my damnest to never let the fight go to decision.

In the past, I found myself holding back a lot on my techniques when I sparred. I couldn’t and didn’t want to hurt the guys I was sparring, so I couldn’t use everything I knew I could do. Well, the problem is when you do that, you do that in your fights as well. Not so since training at Paradigm! Now, I have to use what I can do to survive! <laughs> I tell you, there is no easy training or sparring there. Having other fighters around you who fight MMA as well does wonders for your fight game. There’s always guys in top fight shape, which makes you work even harder to keep up. And I’m not talking about “chumps” either. I’m talking about some of Texas’s top fighters.

How about you? Where are you now in your pro career?

This will be my third pro fight. It’s been almost a year and a half since my last fight in April of last year for Legacy. But I wasn’t hibernating, I was charging up! I made the official switch to Paradigm after that fight, and have been training there exclusively since. I wanted to make sure I felt that I was ready, and that my team felt I was ready, before I fought again. Paradigm has a great reputation, and I personally did not want to ruin it by jumping into a fight too soon. So I waited until I felt I was ready again. Now is that time.

How do you think you’ve improved specifically most since moving over there?

I think I’ve improved my overall game, but the most on my standup, transitions, and takedown avoidance. Before, coming from a more jiu-jitsu based school, I was so comfortable on the ground and being on my back, that if the fight went there, I didn’t really care, I was fine with that. Believe it or not, my background before I started training jiu-jitsu was in Muay Thai and boxing, and some other systems as well that many people aren’t familiar with, such as Savate, JKD (Jeet Kune Do) and FMA (Filipino Martial Arts) under Professor Joseph McDaniel. Not a lot of MMA guys know who he is, but the martial artists who’ve been around since before MMA spread like wildfire on the local scene may have heard of him. So I was primarily a standup fighter. I knew I needed to increase my ground game, so I started training with Jeff Messina, at Revolution Dojo. Then I became much more comfortable on the ground. Well, fast forward to my switch to Paradigm. I learned some valuable lessons while training here. The most important one, is if you’re on your back, you’re losing! Not necessarily from a fighting perspective, but from a viewing perspective. Many inexperienced people who are watching you, especially some of the judges, will see you as losing if you’re on your back. So I had to pretty much train myself out of that jiu-jitsu habit and either get top position, or get back up. And that’s exactly what happened to me in my very first pro fight against John (Malbrough). I should have gotten up way quicker than that, but I went into “jiu-jitsu mode” and got stuck.

What do you do when you’re not training?

Well, I have a lot of other interests besides MMA. Oddly enough, I’m actually an artist. People who only know me from my martial arts background and find that out are usually like WTF? <laughs> And people who know me from my arts background and found out I’m a fighter are like WTF? It’s like two different worlds that don’t seem connected, but deep down, I think they are because it takes a high level of mental visualization and creativity for both. And of course the best fighters make fighting an art form. So, yeah, I paint (mostly acrylics, sometimes oil), draw (charcoal, pencil, color pencils), and sculpt (mostly metal sculptures). I also like philosophy and love to work on new ideas and inventions. My background in the arts, along with design and fabrication have allowed me to come up with and work on new inventions. I received my first US Patent back in 2002 and still work on stuff in my “spare” time.

How do you view your fight against Kaileb Cummins?

I think this will be a good matchup. From what I’ve seen, he’s a pretty active fighter, who doesn’t mind standing and banging. I’ve never met him personally, but he seems like a pretty cool guy. This will be a good fight!

On September 14th, I will be thinking about DESTROYING my opponent. Like I said before, I’m not just going out there to win. I’m going out there to finish the fight. I’ve been burnt in the past before, and I’ll be damned if I let it happen again. No disrespect to my opponent, but that’s just the way I feel. I feel like I’m in the best shape ever. I’ve never had that type of team support before, and it makes a hell of a difference. We’ve all been training hard for our fights on Friday. Believe me when I say, September 14th, you will see a totally different fighter!

Any predictions?

I don’t like to give away too much, but I do see myself with my hand raised in victory.

Any last words before the fight?

Well, I’d like to thank my coaches and teammates at Paradigm for getting me ready for this fight, and for pushing me to new levels. I’d like to thank my family and friends for all their support, and most of all, my other half, Monica, for all the support and understanding. Fighters can’t go through this journey we call fighting alone!