DENNIS HALLMAN
UFC PRE-FIGHT INTERVIEW
With "The Mouth of NHB" Joel Gold
He was able to beat the unbeatable [Matt Hughes] once before. Can Dennis Hallman do it again? We will find out December 16th, but until then, let’s see what Dennis has to say.
Hallman on upcoming bout with Hughes…
I expect Hughes to come out like he does with everybody else, he’s pretty confident, with maybe a one-two punch and then take the shot. I think he is going to try and ground-and-pound and cut me and try to get a stoppage…that is usually what he does. That is pretty much what I expect from the fight. I expect to be better on the stand-up than he is and definitely better on the ground in the grappling part and submissions. With the advantage to him being strength and the takedown, and the advantage to me being the stand-up and the grappling.
You beat Hughes a few years ago…
It was early in both of our careers. Matt just made a rookie mistake. I threw a 110 which is a jab with a rear round house. He grabbed my rear leg and I was able to sprawl back and at the same time grab his neck and he was actually trying to lift me up and he was basically choking himself out at the same time with the squeeze and stuff. A mistake I doubt he’ll make it again.
Do you feel you will be able to get your punches off?
Hopefully I’ll be able to get my punches in before he dives in on my legs.
A lot of people don’t know that you also pick your opponents up and slam them to the mat, something Hughes is known for…
That is usually my style too. If I get picked up and slammed, I mean…I’ve wrestled all my life; it’s not a big a deal. He is not going to bring me down with enough power to…I know what I am doing in the air to counteract by the time I hit the ground. It is not like he his going to pick me up and slam me and end up in side mount or something.
Who is the more skilled wrestler?
He is more of a college wrestler where I am more of an unorthodox wrestler. I stopped my first year in college with an injury. I was a state wrestling champion in high school, wrestled in junior college and then broke my leg, so I stopped, where he continued and was an All-American. When you wrestle in college, you get the college type mindset of wrestling, which is pretty strong, so I give the wrestling advantage to him. I am not far behind him, I’d say.
He takes you down, what do we look for on the ground?
Look for what kind of happened–but I won’t get mounted–with Josh [Barnett-UFC 28] and Gan [McGee] where Gan was striking him and Josh was able to neutralize a lot of the strikes. I think it will be a lot like that. I am going to look to go back on my feet, maybe look for some submissions. I know Matt a lot of times puts himself in arm-bars and into triangles and stands up out of them…well, that will catch up to him someday.
Prediction…
VICTORY! I predict I will win, I hope. It would be by submission or decision. Anybody can get cut and anybody can get knocked out.
For an interview with Dennis’ opponent Matt Hughes, scroll down to Tuesday, December 12th.
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