Zak Jensen: Former "TUF" Contestant Talks Time on Show, Upcoming Boxing Match

As is the case with many former "The Ultimate Fighter" competitors, in the coming years, Zak Jensen will be looking to prove to everyone in the sport that he is more than a reality TV show contestant.

Boasting a record of seven wins with three loses before his run on the show, as a member of Team “Rampage” on "The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights", Jensen lost his first and only bout of the tournament against Darrill Schoonover.

Following his tenure on ‘The Ultimate Fighter’, Jensen won two straight contests—both first round stoppages—before dropping three consecutive bouts in mid-2010.

Jensen, who notched the 10^th professional victory of his mixed martial arts career in late November, was slated to take on Neil Grove at Bellator 43 earlier this month. The bout, however, was cancelled when Grove, citing a lingering injury, had to withdraw from the contest.

Jensen, in what will be his second professional boxing match, has since agreed to square off against Aaron Green in St. Paul, Minnesota on May 27^th.

I recently had the opportunity to speak with Zak Jensen about, among other topics, his early days in the sport, his time on ‘The Ultimate Fighter’, and his upcoming boxing match.

How did you get involved with the sport to begin with?

Well, I grew up doing Tae Kwon Do—from the time I was about five to the time I was 12—but then started playing football and focusing more on other sports. It was kind of weird how I got back into it; I wrestled in college and boxed for a little bit.

One of my friends from boxing was an MMA promoter and he found out that I was wrestler, talked to me for a little bit, and asked me if I would ever be interested in doing MMA. He called me, and I said, “Sure, what time?”

He said, “About an hour and a half. How close are you to Northfield, Minnesota?” I was about 45 minutes away, so I got into my car, drove down, and weighed-in. I fought that night, took the guy down, and ground-and-pounded him. I fell in love with it and that’s how it started.

Was there any hesitation on your behalf to fight?

None whatsoever. I grew up doing combat sports. Like I said, I grew up doing Tae Kwon Do and I boxed a little during and after college and there was no hesitation whatsoever. I love competition.

What was going through your mind during the car ride to your first fight?

I was a little nervous, but I was just taking it as any other sporting event—the pregame jitters. I basically looked at it as a wrestling match where I could actually hit.

That’s kind of funny, because I took him down with a headlock and, kind of, forgot that I could hit him. So I’m holding him there, and everyone was screaming, and I thought, “Hey, I can actually hit him.”

So I mounted him and started throwing punches—at that time, I didn’t really know how to throw punches from the mount with a lot of force, so they were all arm-punches.

I wasn’t really hurting him—it was funny to see on tape afterwards. I forgot I could actually hit him for about 30 seconds after I took him down [laughs].

[Laughs] You were passionate about the sport from the start?

Yes. I remember watching the first UFC on TV with my dad when I was little and I grew up watching boxing with him—I grew up a fight-fan.

I loved the sport before I was even involved in it, and it’s just kind of grown since then.

When did you realize that you had what it took to make a career out of your passion?

I don’t know. I was just doing it because I loved it and I started winning fights and I got the opportunity to go on "The Ultimate Fighter"—which didn’t really go the way I hoped it would. I know I have the guts to get in there and do it.

I’m working hard and I’m with a great camp. I think the most important thing is having the guts to get in there—I obviously have that—and it’s just building my skills after that.

Where are you training these days?

I’m training at The Academy—it used to be the Minnesota Martial Arts Academy, but they changed to The Academy.

Greg Nelson is the coach and it’s where Jacob Volkmann and Sean Sherk train. I’m also doing my cardio at API—the “caveman training” with the gas-masks and the tire-flips and all that stuff.

Is that caveman training as crazy as it looks?

Ah, yes. I actually did it last night—I do it twice a week—and that gas-mask Sherk helped design, I put that on at the end of every session and go and ride the Airdyne and that thing is just crazy.

They have it blacked out, so I can’t see anything. It makes your lungs work so hard; the first time I wore it, my lungs hurt for two days, because the muscles around them were working so hard to get air.

It was definitely an experience, but you get used to it.

How much do you think it helps in an actual fight situation?

This is the first time that I’ve used it, so it will be interesting. It helps you focus more—it is more mental.

Let’s say that you’re stuck in a guillotine and you can’t breath—you might freak out—but with this gas-mask, it’s restricting how much air you get and it puts you in that mental state where you just have to focus, relax, and work through it.

It will help in situations like that.

I saw a picture of Pete Spratt with the gas-mask on Facebook, and he was talking about how people—regular gym-goers—would look at him when they saw him. Has anyone seen you walking around town or in the park or anywhere with that mask on?

[Laughs] I don’t put it on just to walk around town, but when I’m there training at API, they have classes that overlap with my workout.

You can hear people, like, “What the hell is he doing?” People ask me about it—it looks freaky; you look like a Stormtrooper or someone in the military—and it is crazy, but it’s a good thing and I’m glad that I’m doing it.

I guess as long as it helps—that’s the main thing.

It doesn’t matter how goofy it looks, as long as you get results.

What inspired you to try out for ‘The Ultimate Fighter’?

It’s like my soap; I’ve watched every single episode since it started [laughs], and I always wanted to try out for it if I ever had the opportunity.

I was sitting in my apartment the Sunday before the tryouts and I was talking to my manager at the time and I asked him if he knew when the next tryouts were—I had heard rumours that they were doing heavyweights. He said that he’d find out and he said it was tomorrow.

I said, “Okay, where?” and he said, “Seattle.” And I went online, bought a ticket to Seattle, got there at around 1:00 AM, woke up the next morning, and went and did it. It was kind of an impulse-thing, but I’m glad that I did it.

Did you think that you would make it through?

I had no idea—I was just going to go out there and do everything that I could with the grappling.

With the striking, you’re hitting mitts—some people are good at hitting mitts but really suck applying the striking in a fight, so I was kind of worried; how can you gauge someone just by watching them hit Thai-pads?

But I got through the grappling and I got through the mitts—I was more worried about the interview part than anything. After that, you have no control; you have control over how you do your grappling and your striking, but after that, it’s up in the air.

I wasn’t worried about what I could do; I was more worried about the stuff that I had no control over.

Were you surprised when you got the call-back?

I was. It was kind of a surreal moment. I was walking into my apartment with groceries and I got the phone call and I, kind of, just put them down and thought, “Did I really just get that phone call?”

It took me a minute to take it all in. It was like, “Oh, yeah; you’ve got to drop everything you’re doing and you’re leaving in four days.”

Were you at all apprehensive before you went on the show?

A little, but not really. It was more of one of those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities—where you have to do it. I was getting kind of antsy.

With the forms that you have to fill out—there was an encyclopaedia of paperwork that you had to read through before you go in [laughs]—that was the really daunting thing; am I really signing my life away?

It was just more hoping that everything would go well—I trained really hard before I got in there and it was just show-time, I guess.

Did you know Kimbo would be on the show before you went to Las Vegas?

Had no idea. When we got there, we counted 15 people and were wondering who the 16^th person would be. We didn’t know that it would be 16; we didn’t know if we’d have to fight to get on or what.

We were staying at a hotel for the first night, and the first day is when they took us to the training center. We got in the van to go, there were five people in the van—so you don’t know who’s there yet—and then, slowly, people keep on trickling in.

And then, we went up and we were trying to figure it out. We thought that there were two possibilities out of this; I thought that Fedor [Emelienenko] might be an option, but then Dana said, “Well, he’s a fighter, but we’re not sure if he’s a mixed martial artist.”

And then when he said that, we knew that it was Kimbo.

[Laughs] You knew right away?

When Dana started talking about who the next guy was—when he said that we were all mixed martial artists—we knew exactly who it would be.

It was interesting, but I don’t think anyone was worried when he walked through the door [laughs].

What was going through your mind when you saw Kimbo?

“Are you kidding? Really?” I thought, “Okay, we’re going to have very high ratings—people are going to watch this one.”

No one was worried, though. He has no wrestling or ground, so no one was really worried about that, and we’re not fighting in the street without gloves on—it was a different game.

How would you describe your relationship with Kimbo on the show?

It was interesting. He’s an interesting individual; the way he told stories about his life and everything.

One day he was marinating a steak, but he was stabbing it with a knife and twisting it. I said, “Why are you doing it that way? You can just take a fork and, you know, stab it.” He said, “No; you’ve got to stab it and twist it like you’re shanking somebody.”

We were just like, “Okay.” [Laughs] Like, “Have you done that before?” We were wondering if he was trying to intimidate us by showing us that he knew how to shank someone.

He’s just a laidback guy—just like anyone else.

Do you feel that there are a lot of misconceptions of Kimbo?

He’s actually a soft-spoken guy—like most fighters. It’s like we go in there and flip a switch—because it’s work—and that’s all it is. After that, you just relax and hang out.

I don’t want to focus too much on Kimbo, but did you notice an improvement in his skill-set during his time on the show?

I mean, he got a little bit better. He never really worked with us that much; in the beginning he did a little, but other than that, he was off doing stuff with “Rampage” and Tiki [Ghosn] on his own.

How would you describe Quinton as a coach?

He would show us stuff that would work for him and he’d say, “If this works for you, use it and if not, don’t.” He said that he’s not a coach and that’s why he had his assistant coaches—because they would be showing us stuff.

I liked the fact that he was my coach; he did show me how to cover and roll and I’m one of those guys that doesn’t really care if I get it, so I didn’t really have any defensive-stuff.

I use that to this day and if that was the only thing that I took from that, than it was something that has helped me. He was a great guy; one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met, actually.

Do you think your experience would’ve been any different had you been chosen to Team Rashad?

I think it would be different, but I’m happy with what I got. I actually wanted to be on Quinton’s team.

Before the show, I didn’t like Rashad because of how he fought; how he acted around the cage and everything—I don’t like that sort of thing. When I found out who the coaches were, I thought that I wanted to be on Quinton’s team, so it worked out the way I wanted it to.

I think it would’ve been different, but I’m happy with who I got as a coach.

Would you go through the tournament again?

Yes, I would. I would go into it knowing more about it.

Like the fact that I’m quite and like to stay to myself—I wrote in my journal a lot while I was there—and it was interesting to see how that got portrayed.

I would definitely go in with a different attitude towards it; knowing what it was like.

Do you feel that you were portrayed in a negative-light?

Not a negative-light, but it didn’t help that you have Wes Sims—that greatest storyteller of all-time in the house. I’m a shy person, and in that atmosphere, it played out like it would with anyone else—if that makes any sense.

If someone is shy and sticks to himself in a house full of extroverted people and people that like to poke at people, you know? I wasn’t expecting Wes to be so crazy, but I had a feeling that something like that would happen at some point.

Was there anyone that left a particularly lasting-impression during you on your time on the show?

Yes; Mr. McSweeney. Afterwards, he apologized for locking me in the bathroom. I’m claustrophobic—if I can leave a space, I won’t get freaked out, but if I can’t, I freak out [laughs].

That wasn’t cool. It’s too bad that he dropped down to 205.

He apologized after the fact?

Yeah; after the show was all done. I’m not sure if it was a heartfelt apology or if he was just saying it to say it, but he said, “I hope everything is okay. TV is TV, man.”

You think he was just trying to get more TV-time?

Yeah, but it’s still, kind of, a B.S. thing to do, so I still don’t like him for it [laughs].

With Wes Sims, I knew who Wes Sims was—I knew that he was a goofy guy—but with McSweeney, that still, kind of, leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

What else did you take away from your experience on the show?

To be able to go out and be a part of something like that meant a lot. I also learned that finding a good training-camp is a must; I could tell that I was behind some of the guys that were training at Greg Jackson’s and bigger gyms—that’s one of the reasons that I’m at The Academy now.

It’s a great gym and everyone is there to train. Cole Konrad, Chris Tuchscherer, Jon Madsen was there—when all of those guys are there, it’s a great camp for me.

It’s hard to find big-guys—that’s another thing. When I was on the show, that’s the most heavyweights that I’ve ever been able to train with—that was awesome [laughs].

You said that you were a big fan of the show—and I guess it might be hard to do this objectively—but did you enjoy your season?

I watched it because I had to; I had to do interviews about it afterwards. I’ve seen about three episodes since that season. I have not seen any of this season’s—at all. I don’t know if I’m over it, because I was on it and I saw everything that goes into it.

It was, like, familiarity breeds contempt—if that makes any sense. I’ve been on the show, I know how they do it, so I’m not too interested in it.

How did you come into contact with Bellator FC?

I was asking my manager, Monte Cox, what was next on the plate and he said that he was talking to Bellator and he would let me know if we had the fight-offer or not.

A couple days later, he texted me and asked if I wanted to fight Neil Grove on May 7^th. I said, “Sure. Why not?” I just train and don’t really think about who I’m going to fight.

How did you find out that Neil had to withdraw from the bout?

My manager sent me a text message and said that Bellator just contacted him and said that Grove got injured, so they said that that fight was off and they were trying to get me a replacement.

Were you disappointed when you heard the news?

Yeah, I was really disappointed. They said that it was an injury that was slow to heal and that kind of confused me; if he had an injury, why would he train for a fight? You know?

I was kind of confused, but at that point I was just ready for the fight; I thought it was going to be a great fight and I think I matched up really well with him. It was like I was all dressed up with nowhere to go.

How do you think it would’ve gone?

It would’ve been an interesting fight. My game-plan, obviously, was to take him down, but I always tend to throw my game-plan out the window when the bell rings.

Is that a match that you’d like to have in the future?

Yeah, I would love to have that fight. We’re trying to get it set up for when Neil is healthy again.

Any idea when that will be?

I have no clue. I don’t know how bad Neil was hurt or how bad he was actually injured. Hopefully it happens, because that would’ve been a good fight.

Do you have anything else lined up at this point?

Actually, I just got offered a boxing match on May 27^th, so I’m going to take that.

Have you boxed professionally before?

Once. I took the fight on four days notice and it didn’t go too well, because I was thinking about all of the openings for kicks and takedowns [laughs]. It didn’t go too well, but with this one, I’ve had a bit more time and I’ve been working my boxing.

How did this opportunity come up?

I’m friends with a boxing promoter and they had an opening. Every time that there is a heavyweight opening, he’s always asking if I want to get in.

I used to do the “Tough Guy” and I used to do amateur boxing before I got into MMA. He always gave me the option to fight on one of his cards.

Did you ever think about taking him up on an offer like that before?

Yeah, I have. It’s either been too close to a fight that I had scheduled or after I had an MMA fight, so I’ve never had it work out like this. It was the day after I announced on Facebook that my fight was cancelled that I got the phone call for this fight.

Was there any hesitation to sign the contract?

No. I’ve actually sparred with the guy that I was supposed to fight, so I’m not too worried.

What do you think Aaron Green has to offer you?

He’s a really good boxer; he’s a two-time Upper Midwest Golden Gloves champion, so he’s obviously got good boxing, but he doesn’t like to get hit. I’m just going to go out there and be like the bully MMA fighter [laughs] and take the fight to him.

If I stand there and try to box with him, then obviously that’s not going to go my way, because that’s not what I excel at.

If this goes well for you, are you going to pursue more opportunities to box in the future?

If that happens, that’s great—but I’m an MMA fighter and that’s what I’m always going to focus on.

If things like this come up, especially when I’m geared up for a fight and I have a good training camp and I’m ready and that falls through, I’d be more than happy to do it again.

Do you have any MMA-bouts lined up?

We were talking to Titan Fighting Championships for something, but that fell through. As of right now, though; nothing.

Have you gotten any word from Bellator about their heavyweight tournament?

I have not.

Is that something that you’d be interested in?

Of course—I would be very interested in that. Maybe they’ll just schedule me and Neil to fight and make it a tournament-fight—that would be nice.

After your boxing match, assuming you win, what’s the next step?

I’ll get back in the gym and refocus on MMA and if another boxing opportunity comes up, I’ll look at it and if it’s something that fits, I’ll take it. Like I said, though, I’m a mixed martial arts fighter and I’m going to focus on that.

What do you feel the future holds for you?

I’m going to keep training hard and, hopefully, more opportunities will come to fruition and I’ll start getting some big-fights with name-guys and I can come back. I want to start getting bigger fights on bigger stages.

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

Thanks for the support. I’m sorry that the fight fell-through; it sucks but it happens. Hopefully that fight can get rescheduled when Neil is healthy and the fans can watch a really good fight.