Kick Down 95 “MMA Showdown” July 30, 2011

Kyle Gould makes up the younger, second half of the family duo fighting at Kick Down 95 this Saturday in Casper Wyoming…

FF: How old are you?
KG: I’m 25.

FF: How did you get your start in MMA?
KG: I grew up wrestling. I started wrestling when I was 3 or 4. I got done with college and my dad (Stan Gould) and I decided to start training and start fighting.

FF: I see that you have your own gym, Swathcutter MMA at 8,000 feet in Idaho Springs…
KG: Yeah. Really it’s in the basement of our house and it started out as a small wrestling and weight lifting gym and it progressed into being the entire lower level of our house. It’s a couple thousand square foot gym and we have people from around the community that work out here on a daily basis. There are people that come over to train and fight and my dad and I are both coaches at (Clear Creek High School) and so we constantly have football players and wrestlers in here all summer long working out. Our high school has a boxing team. It’s the only sanctioned high school team in the nation. It was started by Beau Campbell who is involved with USA boxing and (other things). So they come over and help us with head movement, footwork, striking and all that.

FF: Wow interesting… What weight will you be fighting at?
KG: For this fight, 185. I fought at 170 once also, but that’s a tough cut because I normally walk around at 205.

FF: Your dad mentioned that the two of you have stepped up your training…
KG: Yeah, we were both in good wrestling shape and found out very quickly that good wrestling shape wasn’t good fighting shape. I lived down in Albuquerque with Donald Cerrone and Leonard Garcia for a couple months and realized that they were doing ten times more than what we were doing. One of the things that I picked up was that a lot of their cardio work comes strictly from sparring. They’ll go 10, 12, 15 rounds in a row. So I’m in much better shape now.

FF: What’s your record?
KG: I’m 1-1.

FF: What do you know about your opponent, Jacob Flesher?
KG: Well he’s a debut fighter so there’s not a whole lot to be known other than he’s 18 and he’s a wrestler from Riverton Wyoming.

FF: How have you been preparing?
KG: I’ve been working a lot of takedown defense and a ton of striking. My first two fights went to the ground very quickly and I want to see if I can stand and bang with people for a little bit before I revert back to my wrestling and try to get it to the ground so I’ve been working a lot on my stand-up.

FF: What’s it like fighting on the same card as your dad?
KG: It’s NERVE WRACKING. I don’t know why the hell we do it. Him watching me fight and me watching him fight and then having to fight afterwards is rough. My dad gets more nervous watching me do something than he ever does doing it himself. So this time I’m going to corner for him first and I’ll fight the second fight. It’s cool, we train at the same pace, we both have the same fight date to prepare for. My dad and I are more best friends than father and son.

FF: What’s it like actually watching your dad in there competing?
KG: It’s terrible! It’s absolutely terrible. I’ve never in my life understood why parents get so worked up and freaked out until the first time I watched my dad fight. It tears you apart man, it’s gut wrenching. But at the same time it’s kind of cool that I get to see what he’s gone through my whole life with me wrestling and playing football and fighting and everything, it kind of switches the roles. It’s definitely interesting.

FF: Where do you plan for your fighting career to go?
KG: I want to try to fight once a month for the next five or six months and get as much ring time as I can and as much exposure as I can and if I can continue winning then just work my way up the ladder. I’m not trying to blow my own head up and say I’m going to make the UFC some day but if I did get in a groove and I get the right training that I’d need then I could make it to a higher level and become a pro. I wouldn’t mind making a little money and fighting on the side or if I am any good at this stuff, making a lot of money and only fighting. I’m just going to see where it takes itself.

FF: Any parting thoughts?
KG: I’d just like thank everyone I train with me and my dad more than anything for helping me out and, for some crazy reason, doing all this stupid fighting shit with me (laughs). We have a lot of people that help us out and they know who they are. We’re a close knit group of guys and we take care of each other. We’ve got a guy that trains and corners us named Cal…he’s a ton of help. He’s here every day letting us beat the tar out of him. He’s actually injured right now from my dad beating him up (laughs).

FF: Do you spar with your dad?
KG: Absolutely.

FF: And that goes for stand-up, Jiu Jitsu, wrestling…everything?
KG: Everything.

FF: What’s it like to punch your father in the face?
KG: Sometimes it’s kind of relieving. Everyone wants to punch their dad in the face every once in a while. I actually get to without any repercussions. But were very good training partners. He’s a lot bigger than me so we can’t go full speed or anything but it helps a lot when it comes to rolling and wrestling having a 260 pound guy to have to work out from underneath. We can go for hours on end without injuring each other.

FF: (laughing) Well, thanks and best of luck.
KG: You’re welcome. Good talking to you we’ll see you Saturday.