Ryan Jimmo: MFC Light-Heavyweight Champ Talks Upcoming Bout, Life as a Champion

Long regarded as one of Canada’s most promising mixed martial artists, Ryan Jimmo is ready to make a name for himself on the international stage.

Since dropping his first professional bout in early 2007, Jimmo has since gone undefeated, against progressively stiffer-competition, and amassed 14 consecutive wins. Over the course of the last four years, the man they call “Big Deal” has notched victories over Marvin Eastman, Emanuel Newton, and Wilson Gouveia en route to beating out fellow-Canadian fan-favourite Dwayne Lewis for the MFC’s light-heavyweight championship in late February.

Currently, Jimmo is slated to defend his championship against Newton at MFC 29 on April 8^th in Windsor, Ontario.

I recently had the opportunity to speak with Jimmo about, among other topics, life as a champion, free supplements, his upcoming bout against Newton and what the future holds for “Big Deal”.

How is life for Ryan Jimmo these days?

Ryan Jimmo is feeling great and life is good. Except I’m pretty hungry, because I’ve got to eat chicken and vegetables—so that sucks.

How does it feel to be the MFC’s light-heavyweight champion?

It feels great, but what I’ve got to do is take my belt and hide it away—I put it in my closet and I put a blanket over it, if I don’t, I’ll just stare at it. It feels very, very good.

What does that belt mean to you?

Have you seen ‘The Lord of the Rings’? Do you know how Gollum goes up to ‘the precious’? That’s what it’s like for me; I’m holding it and rubbing it all the time. I was talking to my girlfriend on Skype and she said, “Put that damn belt down!” I’m like, “Shh... He’ll hear you.” [Laughs] I named him Belty.

Belty?

Yeah. If someone can give me a better name I’ll change it, but so far it’s Belty.

What would a title-defence mean to you at this point?

It’s really hard to hold onto the 205-strap—I think in every organization—so, it would mean a lot. It would solidify my dominance in the MFC.

What’s the protocol with championship-belts? Do you get to hold onto that for the rest of your life? Is Belty yours forever?

No, no. If I lose it or if I go to a different organization, I’ll have to send the belt back.

How motivated are you to keep it?

I’m very motivated to keep it. Now that I have it, no one will take it from me.

Now that you’re a champion, do you approach the game any differently?

The reason why I put the belt away is I’ve got to almost forget that I’m the champion, you know? I put it away so I don’t think that I’m the champion. I feel that I stay hungrier; I still have to keep fighting and working to get better and training hard. I’m just trying to not remember that I’m the champion and just stay hungry so I can improve.

Do you find that you get treated any differently now that you’ve got that belt?

Yes—quite a bit. That belt is like a credit card; if I take it anywhere, I get a lot of free stuff. People, kind of, bend over backwards if you have a championship title behind your name.

Any examples come to mind?

Free supplements, free everything—you don’t pay for anything. It’s a little bit shocking, you know? But you try to stay humble at the same time.

Is it hard to stay humble not that you’ve reached the top of the ladder in the MFC?

No, not at all. Like I said, I took that belt and I put it in the back of my closet and I covered it up with a blanket. Not at all. I still don’t think I’m a very good fighter, so I’m just going to keep training and training and get better every day.

What would a UFC belt mean to you?

[Laughs] That’s the next one. My manager said that I better enjoy that belt, because after I move on, the next belt that I’ll be going to get is the UFC belt—that one’s a really hard one to get; it usually takes a couple years in that organization before you can actually get it. The UFC one—after I defend this a couple times—is my next goal.

How do you feel about your performance against Dwayne Lewis?

It wasn’t bad—I had a little bit of ring-rust. I was out of the ring for 10 months. I felt that I wasn’t really letting my hands go, but we had a game-plan in our minds and I executed it very well. I could’ve taken Dwayne down earlier in the fight and I think I could’ve ended it quicker, but I wanted to stand with him and play a little game with him there.

If you could rate your performance against Dwayne on a scale of one to 10, what would you rate yourself on that night?

Is 10 the best I’ll ever be?

Sure.

Five out of 10. 10 being the absolute peak that I’ll reach in my life—I’d say five out of 10.

How are you feeling going into your bout against Emanuel Newton?

I’m healthy—except for a couple minor, tiny injuries—very healthy. I think I beat Emanuel in almost all areas. The only area that he can compete with me on, I think, is wrestling. Where my wrestling has come in a year is going to trump where his wrestling has come in a year.

You’re last bout was in late February. Do you feel that you’ll have adequate time to prepare for Emanuel?

Oh, yeah—absolutely. I’m already in good-shape. I had about a week off—week and a half off—and then got back to training.

Do you have a prediction for how it’s going to end?

TKO or KO in rounds two or three.

Yeah?

I figure I’ll take about one round to feel him out and then after that, I’m just going to open up on him.

Do you view this fight as a rematch? O

Absolutely. He’s changed and improved, but so have I. I’m going to be a very different creature than what I was the last time that we fought. We were talking—and Emanuel is a very nice guy—and he said that after the fight, he didn’t feel like he was in a fight, because we didn’t bang; we did a lot of wrestling. If you look at my last two opponents; Wilson Gouveia and Dwayne Lewis—I’m sure that they can’t say that they didn’t feel that they were in a fight. My level of skill and my preparations have improved so much—he’s going to know that he was in the ring with me.

How much do you think you’ve improved since your last bout with Emanuel?

Quite a bit. When I fought him last time—I think it’s been about a year and a half since we fought—and I was just starting to train at the [University of Alberta] for wrestling and at Frank Lee’s for my striking maybe three or four weeks prior to fighting Emanuel. I was just starting to dip my toe in the pool, as far as building my skills, and I’ve been at those places for a year and a half now. I’m a completely different creature now.

Do you think that your previous victory over Emanuel gives you a “one-up” on him mentally?

Absolutely. I think Emanuel is a little-bit intimidated by me—for sure. I’m bigger, I’m stronger, I’m more athletic, my striking is better. The only place he can really compete with me, like I said, is at wrestling. And I think, we’re even or maybe I’m a bit better now—I don’t see where he can win this fight. I think he’s pretty intimidated by me and I’m going to crush him mentally.

Do you still plan on defending your belt once and then moving onto the next stage of your career?

We have a two-fight deal with Mark [Pavelich] right now, so we’re going to fight here and we’ve got one more fight to fulfill and then we’ll be a free agent—then we’ll look at the options that are available.

The last time we spoke, you said that the criteria for your ideal opponent would be a UFC-veteran with a big-name. Do you feel that there is anyone that matches that criteria in the MFC?

No, not in the MFC right now. Emanuel Newton is ranked number-35 at Fight Matrix—he’s the opponent now, but no one really in the MFC now. With the UFC buying Strikeforce, they’re going to be chopping off a lot of guys—cutting a lot of guys—so there’s going to be a bigger pool for Mark to pick from and get me the right opponent.

If you had the choice as to who to defend your championship against, who would it be?

I’d love to fight Tito Ortiz. The guy’s not available, but Matt Hamill—I’ve always thought that would be a fun fight. [Renato “Babalu” Sobral]—he’s with Strikeforce and they’re allowed to fight outside—I’d like to fight “Babalu”. I think that I could convincingly beat any one of those guys.

Do you feel that the UFC is your next step? Or do you plan on going elsewhere first?

To be honest with you, I’d like to fight once over in Asia before I make the jump—but that’s about it. I’m very happy with the MFC right now, but someday I am going to have to make that jump, but I’d like to fight over in Asia once—at least.

Why is that?

The fans are so respectful. The culture really values the warrior-spirit—but real warrior-spirit. Chris Leben doesn’t have warrior-spirit; he’s just stupid and doesn’t mind getting hit. Using intelligence as a strategy—the Japanese culture enjoy that stuff, so I think I would be quite popular over there. They’d really like my robot, you know?

Have you thought about going over to Asia to fight for a while now?

Quite a bit. You’re held as more of an icon over there, as opposed to the North American crowd—it’s something that I’d like to experience at least once. My father also used to compete in karate and he went and competed over in Japan, so I’d like to do that as well—follow in my father’s foot-steps a little bit.

What are your goals as a mixed martial artist?

I just want to be the best in the world—that’s all.

That’s all?

That’s all. And then on top of that, I’m going to use that as a launch-pad for other ambitions that I have on top of that.

What do you think the future holds for you?

Right now, I have a fight with Emanuel Newton on April 8^th and I just want to be remembered for thousands of years—like Jesus. That’s all [laughs].

What are you expecting out of yourself on April 8^th?

I’m going to put on a very good performance. It’s going to be very action-packed—unless Emanuel tries to just hug with me. I think he’s just going to try and clinch-up with me—I think that will probably be his game-plan after I smack him a few times. I want to put on an exciting fight—I want to knock him out for the Ontario crowd.

How else do you plan on making your mark on the history books?

Film, obviously, is the first one. I’d like to devote the last 30 years of my life towards science and becoming a writer, probably.

Is there anything that you’d like to say to your fans while you have this opportunity?

I’m going to try and do the best I can and stay tuned for next week, because it’s going to be quite a show.