Interview - Mike Caulo

I had done a interview recently and figured its a good way for the readers to get to know me, and a little bit of my background with regards to MMA. Hope you enjoy and for the rest of the interview check out my blog which is listed below.

Q: First off I'd like you to describe life before your MMA career briefly. What were your living conditions like growing up? What forms of education have you accomplished?

A: I was born and lived in Park Slope Brooklyn where I lived for four years. Both my parents were struggling to make money,so we lived in my grandparents house in an upstairs apartment. My parents were both accountants and eventually started there own company and when we had enough money we moved out to Long Island. I lived in Deer Park,NY til I was 17 yrs old. I graduated High School and attended Stony Brook University for Athletic Training and that led me to BJJ and eventually MMA. My parents got divorced when I was 10 years old and I think that had a big impact on my life in every aspect.

Q:What was you first exposure towards combat sports (Note: If you started in a combat sport other than MMA please describe this)?

A: When my parents got divorced I started to do Tae Kwon Do to release some frustration, and I always had an anger problem growing up so that seemed to help with it. I got my black belt at 12, but stopped with martial arts until college.

Q:What made you decide that you wanted to participate in a combat sport?

A: When I was a kid I loved playing sports, but I had a serious anger issue so my parents figured why not put me in a contact sport that wasn't football since my mom hated that. Also I was always fascinated with Bruce Lee and my grandfather always had me watch Chuck Norris movies and shows. So I started to enjoy combative styled sports at a young age.

Q: What was your first experience of being good or achieving success at it?

A: When I got my black belt at 12yrs old I took 2nd place at a junior Olympic tournament for Tae Kwon Do.

Q:What fighting and (or) training experience taught you the most?

A: Brazilian Jiu Jitsu has gave me the best perspective on fighting and caused me to re-evaluate what I thought I knew about fighting. BJJ is all about the smaller guy winning and using leverage instead of strength.

Q:Who influenced you the most in MMA?

A: My first BJJ instructor Mike "Mikey Triangles" Sandford who is a skilled BJJ Fighter, and my first mma coach Eric Uresk who is a Pro MMA Fighter and at the time was a fighter out of Xtreme Coutures Camp and is currently training at ALLIANCE in California.

Q:Who influenced you most outside the sport?

A: My mom has definitely been the strongest influence in my life.

Q:What do you say to the people who think MMA should not be a legal sport?

A: I first ask them why, because if you really watch the sport its not the blood sport that is depicted by most politicians. Also I would say go to a gym and watch them train and interact with one another, people have the misconception that fighters are juiced up meat heads that want to just hurt one another. On the contrary most fighters even myself don't like confrontation unless in the ring or cage.

Q:What have you accomplished in MMA?

A: I have won the North American Grappling Association North Eastern Championship at my weight and skill level, taken 3rd at the Las Vegas Cup No GI OPEN at my weight and skill level. Currently undefeated in Muay Thai and MMA 3-0 officially (4-0 unofficially)

Q:What do you hope to accomplish in the future?

A: I want to become a pro muay thai, submission and mma fighter and hold championships in each specific sport as well as be an ambassador for the sport and create a fighters union to protect the fighters that don't make the kind of money they deserve.

Q: I'd like for you to describe to me your training procedure before a fight please, when and where do you start training?

A: Well I like to keep myself close to fight shape year round so that preparing for a fight isn't as challenging, but currently I am training At Vamos MMA on Long Island,NY. I usually like to have a solid 8-12 week period set up before a fight to really focus my training specifically for that fight. I will incorporate, striking, grappling, conditioning, and weight training to be in the best shape and the most prepared I can be.

Q:How much time do you put in every week when you are preparing for a fight?

A: I will spend a solid 2-4 hours a day training, and usually an hour or two with recovery techniques to stay fresh and able to go hard again the next day so total at the end of a week preparing for a fight I'll put in a solid 30-40 hours between training sessions, lifting, cardio, stretching, ice baths, and recovery treatments.


READ THE REST OF THE INTERVIEW AT http://www.mikecaulo.com/blog