There were TV, film, and world class martial artists on hand for this event. Severn was honored with the Outstanding Contribution in Martial Arts Award. He was mobbed throughout the day and evening by fans of the MMA and his contribution to the world of martial arts.

FCF:   You and Matt Serra just opened another school out on Long Island, and you teach here in Manhattan as well, you have a lot of talented guys on the team…
RG:    Yeah, we’re gonna have a lot of guys, purple belts…like Joe Scarola, Joe D’Arce, "New Zealand" John, Sean Williams, Matt McTigue, Scott McTigue…Scott just got his purple.

FCF:   You’re going back to Abu Dhabi this year?
RG:    Yeah, definitely.

FCF:   You stayed out last year due to knee problems, how is the knee doing?
RG:    It’s fine, it’s a little bit stiff, but I’m training hard.

FCF:   What weight division will you be going into?
RG:    67-77 kilos I believe.

FCF:   Before that, you have a Mixed Martial Arts match. Who will you be fighting?
RG:    I’m fighting a guy name Kyle Demello. This guy wanted closed fists standing, and open hand on the ground.

FCF:   You been doing a lot of stand-up work for the match?
RG:    Yeah, I’ve been doing a lot of kickboxing with Ray Longo and a lot of Jiu-Jitsu.

FCF:   Is this your first pro MMA match?
RG:    Yes, this is the first.

FCF:   You plan to make a career out of it?
RG:    Yeah, yeah…I think I’m gonna like this. I used to do a lot of Sport Jiu-Jitsu…you know, without the gi, but I think it’s time, I’m gonna try this out and see if I like it.

FCF:   You also have a grappling super-fight match coming up…?
RG:    Yeah, I have one on December 2nd or 3rd I think at the NAGA event.

FCF:   The last time you fought at NAGA, you competed in a 4-man super-fight tourney. How did that go?
RG:    I fought one guy named Quincy Rice, then I fought a guy named John from Tai Kai [Jiu-Jitsu]. I think they were both a little bit heavier than me, but I managed to…thank God…I ended up choking them out, that’s the good thing, I trained hard for that. But they were tough you know? They were definitely tough. My second match [against the Tai Kai fighter] was tough too, the guy came full blast man, he took me down twice…but the training I do makes me in such good shape, and the technique so, it helps me.

FCF:   Okay, thanks. Good luck in your fights.
RG:    Thanks.

Rodrigo went on to win his inaugural mixed martial arts match in fast and impressive fashion. I got a hold of "The Highlander" again to get his thoughts on the match, and also to find out exactly how earned that unique nickname.

FCF:   How did it feel to fight a Mixed Martial Arts match as opposed to grappling-only?
RG:    Fine. It’s a different adrenaline…it’s a little bit different; you know? [laughs] Because you know if you make a mistake, you can get hit in the face.

FCF:   Were you nervous going in?
RG:    Yeah, I was a little bit nervous. But I think when I got in the ring…and the guy was staring at me and I thought to myself, "wait a minute, this is just like a fight in a bar." [laughs] And I got pissed…upset that the guy was staring at me. I think if the guy wasn’t staring at me, I wouldn’t even have been that angry, but the fact that he was staring at me…I was like, "this is just like a fight in the street…in a bar."

FCF:   So you were not nervous after that?
RG:    Yeah, yeah, it was weird…I wasn’t nervous anymore when I got in the ring, you know?

FCF:   Can you describe the fight from there?
RG:    I was coming at him, and he came at me and he threw a jab and a cross. I slipped his jab and I did the double-leg takedown on him. I got cross-side and I moved to the middle [of the ring]; he had his arm across my neck, so I had his head and his arm. So then I turned around to see Renzo and Renzo’s telling me something and [all I] understood was "arm.’ So that’s why you saw me pointing to the arm like, "you mean the arm?" Because I couldn’t quite hear him. Then he said, "no, no, no…do the choke, jump over and do the choke." So he was describing everything for me, "put your elbow first, push with the hip…" everything he was saying at the same time I was doing, so it was cool. So I jumped over to the other side and it was tight already and I think he didn’t want to tap, so he went to sleep.

FCF:   He went to sleep very quickly.
RG:    I know, yeah, it was weird. I thought I didn’t have it, but I saw the tape, and you can see his legs going limp.

FCF:   Thirty-four seconds, quick fight. How did you feel afterwards?
RG:    Afterwards you feel like you’re born again…you feel good, you know?

FCF:   What was your strategy going in? You’ve been training in a lot of stand-up stuff, were you planning on going in and banging with him?
RG:    I was thinking if he tried to prevent my takedown, I would try and punch him. But actually, he came at me, so I think he felt it would last longer, but the fact that he came at me, that’s why it was quick. But, I don’t know, anything can happen in this shit. Sometimes you can fight guys and they’re not that tough, but they can give you a hard time, or you can fight a guy real tough and he can wind up [going out] real quick, it’s very unpredictable…it could be the other way around, the guy could punch me and I’ll get knocked out, just take a punch in the jaw…like that fight in the UFC with John Lewis. You can’t say that he [Jens Pulver] was lucky; he [Lewis] just made a little mistake and boom, that was it. It doesn’t mean he’s a bad fighter because he lost that quick. He’s tough, I’ve seen him fight other guys, I’ve seen him fight Johil…John Lewis is a tough motherfucker, he’s a tough guy, but he lost that quick. That’s the bad thing, when people see that, they think, "he sucks, he sucks." But I don’t see it that way, you know? I see it as…right now it’s unpredictable ’cause everybody is cross-training; everybody’s training jiu-jitsu, wrestling, and Muay Thai/kickboxing…I think in the future, all of the fighters are gonna be just like that. I think if a fighter doesn’t know wrestling, and just knows jiu-jitsu, he has a disadvantage. So I think a fighter has to know everything, he has to be at least decent in everything; you know? [You have to know] jiu-jitsu, wrestling and striking to be a really good fighter…a complete fighter.

FCF:   Now that you’ve entered the world of MMA, do you have any plans for future fights?
RG:    Yeah, well I have this [grappling] fight coming up against Din Thomas, I think he’s from the WEF, and then the Abu Dhabi, and then I might jump in Pride. Renzo wants to put me in Pride.

FCF:   Has Pride made an offer?
RG:    Actually, to tell the truth, if Renzo makes a phone call, he can get me in there. But the reason why I did the [Vengeance At The] Vanderbilt, ’cause I wanted to get experience. I want to get my stand-up better, I just don’t want to go in there like…I feel naked if I’m not good standing. So I want to get experience.

FCF:   So the next thing for you after Abu Dhabi is Pride?
RG:    Yeah, I think so. That’s where the money is anyway. I need to make some money. I think I can make a lot of money in there; I think they [pay] good…especially for a Gracie; you know? So I gotta take advantage of that.

Enter the FCF Caption Contest and you could win a new FCF Classic Sweatshirt.

Here are some other interesting captions that were submitted…

• From Rob Sabine…
  Umm, Baby’s Got Back!!!

• From Jay Gaston…
  A guy will do anything to get his hands on a pair of fcfighter shorts.

• From Dee F…
  NHB – We know how to pick ’em!

• From Keith Hollis…
  Like Mr. Whipple says, "I can’t stop squeezing the charmin."

Semi-Main Event
Paul Savea (SWAT) vs. Jeremy Bell (Team Tiger)