Looking to step onto a bigger stage after his recent Full Force Fighting victory, we caught up with Jason Lee in advance of his upcoming bout in the Ring of Fire…

FF: What’s your record?

JL: My amateur record was 4-1 and my professional record is now 2-0.

FF: Who is your opponent?

JL: My opponent is Christopher Clark. He’s from Oakland California and he fights for a group called Pacific Fight Team.

FF: How did this fight get set up?

JL: I was introduced, after a couple years now in the game, to Sven Bean. A friend of a friend introduced me to Sven. We sat down and had a meeting about what my goals were, what I was looking to do, kind of stepping outside of Colorado a little bit and he told me that he had the ability to bring in a qualified opponent and give me some options. So I chose to sign a contract with him. A one fight deal to try to get a little out of state competition, if you will.

FF: So what are the goals that you talked about with Sven, mostly to fight out of state competition?

JL: At this point I feel like I have a pretty healthy record inside the state of Colorado. What’s going to add to my credibility as a professional is to kind of spread my wings a little bit. Whether or not that means me traveling somewhere else to train or bring in competition here for me to compete against…so this is the first step to doing that and building myself up to the next level; Strikeforce, Bellator, UFC, whatever that may be.

FF: Is that because you don’t think there are enough 185ers here in Colorado?

JL: No. No, I definitely think that there are plenty of qualified fighters here in the state and there are a lot of good fights that are going on currently. I think that through the quick successes that I’ve had as a professional my goals are a little different. No disrespect to some of the organizations but I’m not looking to be the baddest man in Colorado. I want to set my own path and do my own thing a little different than everybody else is. So I’m choosing to spread my wings at this point and try to get my name out there.

FF: Tell me about your training camp for Christopher Clark. Have you changed anything?

JL: Not at all. If anything, as I’m becoming more of a seasoned professional I’m getting  a little bit more experience. I’ve been training with a professional fight team throughout my amateur career as well but, as my body and my mind are able to wrap around this professional career a little bit more I’ve been able to add in some more challenging things to my fight camp. Just cardio and conditioning wise and new styles of training and things like that. And my goal, we talked about goals, my goal isn’t necessarily to be the best fighter in the world. It’s to push my body and my mind as far as I can possibly handle. That’s really what my goal is, to figure out how far I can go as an athlete and not who I’m competing against or what organization I sign with. I know that if I trust in my body and my mind it will take me as far as I want to go.

FF: What would be an example of a way you push your mind, for instance, farther than you’ve ever pushed it?

JL: Yeah, something that I added to one of my training camps recently: I went down to the incline at Manitou Springs and set a minimum record. I’ve never tried the incline before. As well as pushing myself physically it was also a lot mental. I set a maximum time from bottom to top of 30 minutes and I was able to do that recently. So just small stuff like that. I always tell people that I’m not in love with fighting. I don’t like to fight. I’m in love with training. And I know that if I can train at my peak performance, I know that it’s only a matter of time before my opponent will present an option for me to finish the fight. So I focus more on my training and my state of mind rather than I do the fight and the opponent.

FF: What would you say is your strength?

JL: My strength is my strong mental attitude. I’m a positive mental attitude kind of guy. My sole motto is to always finish strong by whatever means necessary.

FF: Are you healthy for this fight, any injuries?

JL: I’ve had a couple bumps and bruises. In my last fight, even though it was only a couple seconds long I had a couple issues, bumps and bruises. You know, I’m getting older, 32, they don’t heal up overnight. But at this point in time I’m one hundred percent. Mentally I’m extremely focused. I’m very excited obviously just to be part of the Ring of Fire event and make that next step in my career as well.

FF: You mentioned stepping outside the state of Colorado for various reasons. Have you thought beyond this fight assuming you win?

JL: One hundred percent, absolutely. I’ve already been in talks with an organization just outside of Boston Massachusetts called Combat Zone. Pending the outcome of this fight and injuries and anything that may come about, I’m already focused on a potential matchup for July 29th just outside of Boston Massachusetts. And myself, being a Boston boy, I grew up there. I was born and raised in New England.

FF: How long have you been out here?

JL: Fifteen-sixteen years. Half my life. I have one relative that lives in this state and every other one of my relatives lives in New England. So I’m very excited for that opportunity to hopefully go out and be able to perform for my hometown crowd and Aunts and Uncles and everybody as well.

FF: Anything you want to say to your opponent?

JL: You know what, I always wish my opponent the best. I hope that he’s able to make it through his training camp as healthy as possible. Hopefully he’s able to get to Colorado all in one piece and we can go out there and put on the show that everybody’s hoping to see.

FF: Do you want to talk about your bullying program?

JL: I’d like to say that I’m blessed and I just want to thank everyone for what little bit of time that they’ve (contributed). Thank you to everyone that’s been helping. It’s slow growth but there are a lot of great things that are going on and I’d just say that if anybody’s out there and wants to help donate their time and their potential that the kids need it and we would absolutely love it.

FF: What’s the name of the program?

JL: Bully this! Exclamation mark right there. A lot of the school districts I’m working with have their own bully-proofing program. Every school district that I’m working with currently calls it something different so I just figured my logo would just be simple. Bully this! And my idea behind that name is that, we’re not teaching kids how to fight. I know a lot of people think, “well he’s working with a fighter, this guy must be teaching these kids how to fight.” Well, I’m teaching them mental stability, confidence, and life skills so that eventually they’re just saying, “Hey, you know what, you can’t bully this anymore because I’m confident, I’m accepting who I am and I’m no longer going to stand here and be bullied. So we’re trying to create more of a strong mental attitude like I said before rather than physical strength. I don’t have all the answers and that’s something that I experienced first and foremost as people came to me and were like, “What’s the answer?” I don’t have the answer, I’m just a professional fighter that chose to take that little bit of notoriety I have and say hey, “I don’t have all the answers but if my five percent of my time or twenty percent or whatever I can help with will help, tell me where to go and I’ll bring my guys and we’ll come and help.” There are only three or four of us but we’re willing to help anybody that wants it.

FF: Anything else?

JL: I’d just like to say thank you very much to all of my training partners, Grudge Fight Team, my friends, my family…I couldn’t do it without everybody’s support.

FF: Saturday night, Jon Jones and Shogun Rua in UFC 128, who are you taking?

JL: I got Jon Jones one hundred percent. Absolutely, he’s a teammate of a team down in Jacksons it’s kind of our brother/sister school. Definitely sticking with Jon Jones on this one. It would have been a little bit better a little bit earlier in Shogun’s career… I still think it’s a great matchup but I foresee Jon Jones pulling off the victory.

FF: I think Shogun’s only about 29…

JL: I know. It just seems like he’s been doing  this forever and a day (laughs).

FF: Do you believe in that, that there can be a lot of wear and tear on a fighter?

JL: I do. I do, I mean, I’m an older fighter. I only started three years ago training to fight mixed martial arts. So, to each his own. For me personally, I wouldn’t have been able to start training at 21 years old. I didn’t have the wherewithal in my brain to focus on training and to be a full-time athlete. So for me, it was something that was supposed to have happened a little bit later on. But, I have trained with Jon Jones. I’ve trained in the room with him. He’s one of the most amazing people I’ve ever seen so that’s why I’m going to go with him on this one.

FF: What got you into it three years ago?

JL: Watching Chuck Liddell on television. I was one of those guys drinking beers with my buddies watching MMA. You know, I came from a strong wrestling background and I always had the heart of a fighter and one day I said, “You know what guys, I’m done with this (being a spectator). I can do this. I need to find the right people to train me, the right gym, and for me that was where my buck started. I searched around a little bit. I found Nate Marquardt’s gym, High Altitude Martial Arts, met Cody Donovan pretty much upon walking in the door, and I’ve been guided properly the rest of the way. I just trusted what they taught me from day one and it’s taken me here in a fairly short period of time. So, I’m lucky. As much as I am well trained, I’m lucky.