HOUSTON, TX, February 27, 2013 – When it comes to crazy nicknames and even more outlandish fighter personalities, Larry “Tae Kwon” Crowe may take the cake in Houston MMA. Ever since he entered the local fight scene back in April 2010 he’s been known as much for his gregarious smile and attitude as he has been for his in-cage exploits where he’s been equally exciting. Now he currently holds a 5-2 record and has much bigger aspirations to go beyond local heading into this Friday night’s AXS TV main card fight against Matt Roger at Legacy Fighting Championship 18.
We recently caught up with Larry to discuss the fight, his upcoming goals, and life in general.
Legacy FC 18 Pre-Fight Interview – Larry “Tae-Kwon” Crowe
Thanks for talking to us Larry. Tell us a little bit about your background. Have you always been a fighter?
I actually never took any martial arts growing up but I played football, basketball and every sport the usual Texas kids played. I also played golf too actually. My dad was in the NFL and a Golf Pro at a course afterwards so the apple didn’t fall too far from the tree. I’ve just always been an athlete. I got into MMA after being brought in by some friends and eventually training partners in Dale Mitchell, Derrick Lewis and Carl Carrillo. They knew I was a great athlete and had always been a street fighter when I first talked to them about it. They knew I wasn’t doing anything but bouncing at Mo’s Place in Katy so they invited me to train at Silverback MMA one day and the rest is history.
So you’ve been training and developing for a couple of years now. How would you describe your style and who would you compare it to? Who are your role models in this game?
Man my style is straight brawler. I love to stand and bang or ground & pound. That’s my thing. The only person that comes to mind if I try to compare it to anybody is “old school” Rampage Jackson from his PRIDE days over in Japan.
My two biggest role models I look up to are Daniel Pineda and Derrick Lewis. They’re both beasts in the cage and I’m glad to call them friends and teammates. I love watching Anderson Siva, Chael Sonnen and Jon Jones too. All three have different styles but they bring it when they step into the cage. The speech he (Jon Jones) gave to Uriah Hall on TUF will always stick with me.
What’s life like outside of fighting for you? How has MMA impacted that?
The greatest thing about stepping into cage is you get to learn who has the heart and desire to do what we do and win. It takes hard work to train like most fighters do. You gotta bust your ass day-in and day-out. It tends to seep into the rest of your life also.
Life is definitely great these days. I just had my first son and its truly changed me for the best. Now all I wanna do is be the best for him so I train, train, and train some more. Any free time away from the gym has been devoted to him and starting up my gym TKC Fitness which is coming soon. As for him, he’ll be doing hand pads by 3, wrestling and BJJ by 5, and Muay Thai by 7 so MMA will definitely be in his life. It teaches great discipline and work ethic so I want that for him.
What can you tell us about your opponent at Legacy Fighting Championship 18?
I don’t know too much about Matt Rogers but I know I’ve been training hard and as long as I do that, the rest will follow. It’s been too long since my last fight but I can truly say this has been my best camp. I feel good.
Can you tell us a little bit about your preparations? Who is helping you get ready?
My home is 4OZ so the great “General” Bob Perez handles my stand up. I’ve also been working a lot with Daniel Pineda on my ground game and Chico “Machine Gun” (Artenas Young) is probably my number-one training partner day in day out. Jimmy Gerland is my cardio conditioning coach and I work with Derrick Lewis whenever we get a chance to train together. I also want to give a special thanks to my BJJ coach Jayhson Rodgers. He’s helped a lot too. We’re going at it man. Lots of beasts training together and willing to work with me.
So how does fight play out? What’s your prediction?
It’ll be a great fight but me getting a TKO via elbow strikes is probably what’s going to happen. After this victory I want my title shot with Legacy. They need a 185 champ and I’m the man. Get ready for TKC because I’m bringing it no matter what.
Any last words?
After I win I’ll be headed to Mo’s Place n Katy then partying with my newest sponsor ZRO KOTG.
I’d like 2 thanks all my sponsors: Mo’s Place, Bruce Temporary Services, Geophysical Explorer, ZRO- KOTG, SoSouth, C-Rillo Printing and My Fight Shop. A big thanks to 4OZ and all my teammates, Silverback MMA, my fans and anybody else who believed n TKC but a special thanks tp Brittany Hebert – the mother of my child. I can never thank you enough for him and I think that’s it…. TKC 2013 is here!
