B/R Exclusive: Frank Trigg on BAMMA, Pride FC and Kurt Angle

Frank Trigg is not happy about his next opponent.

Originally, the former UFC and Pride star was set to face Tom Watson for the BAMMA middleweight championship. Shortly after the announcement, Watson pulled out with a back injury, and Trigg was left without an opponent.

The less heralded Jim Wallhead (21-6) stepped in for Watson.

“Tom’s the champ, and it’s a championship fight,” Trigg said. “Wallhead is not a champ. I go from getting another title to add to my resume to just another fight.”

When asked what he thought about Wallhead, Trigg coyly said, “I’m fighting a guy with two arms and two legs.”

Trigg is clearly disappointed with the change. However, he does not believe that will adversely affect his preparation for the fight.

“I’m pretty self-motivated,” Trigg said. “[The opponent switch] doesn’t matter.”

The fight with Wallhead will be Trigg’s third since leaving the UFC for the second time in February 2010. Trigg (21-8) is ready to get back into the cage.

“No,” Trigg said, when asked if he thought about pulling off of the card. “Fighting is what I do.”

Now that Trigg competes for the BAMMA organization, he has some interesting potential opponents. Besides the aforementioned Watson, both Nate Marquardt and Paul Daley both fight in the organization and previously competed at middleweight.

“They’re not coming up to fight me,” Trigg said about the potential matchups.

Working with BAMMA has Trigg re-energized. Following his February 2010 loss to Matt Serra, Trigg was the subject of retirement rumors.

“Everybody keeps mentioning that [retirement talk], but for the life of me, I can’t remember saying that,” Trigg said. “I’ve looked and I’ve had no idea. I think I said I’d rather not be fighting if I was in the minor leagues.”

However, should Trigg decide to leave the cage, he could work more often for HDNet. He is the current color commentator for HDNet fights.

With HDNet, Trigg is paired with the quick-witted Mike Schiavello.

“He’s smart, funny,” Trigg said. “He makes you think the entire time. He’s great to commentate next to.”

The two have not always gotten along though. While commentating on Dream 16 on Sept. 25, 2010, Schiavello grabbed Trigg’s handkerchief and used it to wipe his nose.

Trigg was not very pleased. He stood up and pushed Schiavello down. The cameras quickly cut away.

“I don’t like being touched,” Trigg said about the incident. “He grabbed my handkerchief, and I smacked him.”

The two still had to announce the rest of the card, so Trigg alleviated any future problems.

“We quickly made peace.”

Prior to broadcasting for HDNet, Trigg was the color commentator for Pride Fighting Championships.

“Pride, in their heyday, was the best show on the planet,” Trigg said. “Artistically speaking and the volume of fans going to it. Let’s not forget the money was pretty good.”

“It was fun to be at ringside for those events.”

A few years back, Pride was thought to have a comparable level of fighters to the UFC. Trigg is not so sure that was correct.

“At the time, UFC and Pride were battling back and forth,” Trigg said, when asked who had the better fighters. “You could arguably say that Wanderlei Silva was the best in the weight class at the same time as Chuck Liddell. Dan Henderson was the champ in both 205 and 185.”

“When Pride was bought by the UFC, these guys came over, and the UFC proved that was untrue.”

Besides MMA, another entertainment form that Trigg has recently participated in is professional wrestling. Trigg was a competitor with TNA (Total Non-Stop Action).

“Definitely, I would do it again,” Trigg said about pro wrestling, “but I sucked. I was no good. I couldn’t work with someone else. I’m used to working against someone else.”

Trigg was trained at TNA by former Olympic gold medalist Kurt Angle. Angle often stated that he wanted to be a mixed martial artist.

“He could have made it in MMA 10 years ago, but not now,” Trigg said of Angle. “His body is beat up now, but for sure, I think he could have made it 10 years ago.”

Now, Trigg has left pro wrestling and is back focused on fighting.

His next bout with Wallhead is set for Saturday, Sept. 10. The entire show will be available to everyone outside of the UK and Canada through Facebook at www.facebook.com/bammauk.

UK fans can see the card on Syfy, and Canadian fans can see it on The Fight Network. A tape delay of the show will also be available on Hulu.com starting Monday, Sept. 12.

Trigg does not believe Wallhead will last very long in the match.

“It’s going to end quick and early like all my fights,” Trigg said. “I’m going to try and get out of there as fast as I can.”