Andrew Hoogeboom – KickDown 96 – Denver Fight Force

FF: So you’re going to be fighting Larry Williams this Friday night…
AH: Oh hell yeah!

FF: Do you know who he is?
AH: I’ve looked a little on the internet about him but that’s about it.

FF: What’s your MMA experience?
AH: Well I’m going to be a blue belt at the end of September in Jiu Jitsu. Other than that, I’ve studied some Muay Thai.

FF: What’s your record?
AH: My pro record is 1-4. My amateur record is 9-2. When I went pro my first four fights were four weekends back to back to back. I fought Joe Pearson who was the Pride Lightweight title holder, I fought John Murphy from the IFL…so I’ve fought some big caliber 155ers.

FF: When did you fight these fights?
AH: Those fights were two and a half years ago. Then I fought Nick Laney last weekend up in Brush Colorado.

FF: So you had a couple years of inactivity MMA-wise…
AH: Yeah, I actually joined the National Guard. So I went off to boot camp and then I went on deployment. So I’ve been back in the gym now since January.

FF: So do you have any cage rust to shake off or did you get that done against Laney?
AH: I really feel as if I got that off in the Laney fight. I guess I just kind of hesitated to let my hands go and then I got one-upped on the ground.

FF: Where do you train?
AH: I train out of Joint Forces MMA in Colorado Springs. We train at the Wounded Warrior’s Training Center so we have a really big, nice gym.

FF: Is there a fight team down there or some guys to spar with?
AH: Yeah, if I’m correct, we have an 18 man fight team.

FF: Any fellow team members we may know?
AH: Yeah, on this card coming up we actually have Justin O’hara fighting for the Lightweight title and then two first time guys, Tyrone Mason and Matt Sena.

FF: Tell us a little bit about your training camp for Larry…
AH: My training camps are good. I train with a three time Division I college wrestling champion. Training with him gives me a heads up on the ground game because his wrestling and takedowns are so good that it really allows me to work a good defense on that. Besides takedowns I’ve read about Larry getting dropped a lot by some big hits so I’ll try to stick and move and keep boxing around.

FF: What part of your game are you focusing on the most?
AH: Right now I’d have to say what I lack the most in would be Jiu Jitsu but I’ve been working really hard on that and I take my blue belt test on September 23 or something like that.

FF: How tall are you?
AH: I’m six foot.

FF: Oh, so there will definitely be a height difference…
AH: Oh yeah.

FF: How do you think you can fight the fight to your advantage being about 5” taller?
AH: Well, like I said, due to the fact that I train with a college wrestler I don’t think he’ll be able to take me down and I’m just going to keep it standing up and finish it.

FF: Is 145 a natural weight for you or…
AH: Well this will be my first time fighting at 145. I walk around at like 163 to 165 so at the 155 division I was just a little bit small. So an extra drop in weight class should help.

FF: What will be next for you?
AH: I’ll probably take a week or two off of practice and then look to fight again in about eight weeks.

FF: Okay, well I’m looking forward to your fight with Larry Friday night. Good luck.
AH: Thanks man.