TUF Times 9 with Justin Wren, Darrill Schoonover and Zak Jensen

Another episode of TUF is behind us, which saw Roy Nelson defeat Justin Wren in a match that just about everyone thinks should have gone to a third and not end with a decision. Team Rashad, meanwhile, is forced to train for their opponents while they are in the room with them and Matt Mitrione has continued to complain about his head, with no end in sight for his misery for himself or the viewers at home. Joining us to talk about this weeks episode is Darrill Schoonover and Justin Wren from Team Rashad and Zak Jensen from Team Rampage.

Q: Justin and Darrill, how odd is it to train with your opponents only a few feet away from you?

Justin Wren: It’s pretty awkward. Definitely a unique situation and the only time I think you can ever experience that is when you are in the TUF house. Roy and I were pretty much main training partners in the house, we played “Horse” every day, several times. We were both really competititve and time each other, I’d be in the hot tub and he’d be in the ice bath and we’d alternate between. Then they paired us up against each other and it turns weird real quick.

Darrill Schoonover: It did not affect me as much since I was getting ready for Marcus, everybody else was fighting each other so it worked well for me. A lot of the guys were watching each other and we had to split up the rooms, but it did not affect me.

Q: Life goes on for Team Rampage, did training differ since only one fighter on your team made it into the next round?

Zak Jensen: No we just kept going and working out and training hard. We just wanted to make sure Marcus was ready for Darrill and it was like if he kept winning we all would be winning.

Q: Was Kimbo still getting special treatment despite being out of the tourney? Was Marcus getting any special treatment for that matter?

ZJ: Marcus got no special treatment. Kimbo was just laying in wait for someone to get hurt so he could get another shot. Marcus was just training hard and focused on his fight.

Q: Should Mitrione have thrown in the towel at this point if his head was as bad as it seems? Was it as bad as he played it off to be or do you think he was exaggerating?

DS: I don’t know. I am pretty sure he had a concussion but on the other hand, we are all there for the same reason so you got to toughen up and go through with it. I think Matt had some migraine head aches and did not know how to deal with it so he was acting a little off.

ZJ: No, he is really hurt and needs to go to the doctor again or he is just screwing with James, maybe it is just like his injured shoulder. No one really knew the answer to that only Matt did and he wasn’t really talking to many people. He thought he fought Marcus, and then in the confessional he said Justin he might have been a little rattled.

JW: I think he was milking it. He may not have fought because the doctor told him he couldn’t but that doesn’t mean the doctor told him he couldn’t fight. The doctors felt comfortable that he was gonna fight but he wasn’t. He was claiming brain bleeding, brain damage, brain swelling and all this stuff. The boxing coach got really upset since he saw guys sidelined because of brain trauma and we don’t have a problem like that in MMA and don’t want that stigma in MMA and saying ridiculous stuff. If you watch the fight again, I think Scott Junk took alot worse blows than Matt did. I don’t know if he is making excuses but he is playing some mind games for sure.

Q: Have you ever had a concussion or any head trauma from your past fights?

ZJ: Nothing from any of my fights but I did have a concussion once when I was around 8 or 9 I had a sledding accident when I flew off the sled and a soccer goal post stopped me when my head slammed into it.

DS: I never had a concussion but I have had bad migraines.

Q: Justin, what were you wearing this time at the weigh-ins and where do you do your shopping?

JW: I was with my girlfriend and some of her friends and we found it at some funky underwear shop in Dallas. My senior year in High School, even before Borat came out, I would wear what I called a singlet. It was a leopard white thong thing on the weigh-ins for the state championships. It was just something funny to have a good spirit, I just have a goofy personality!

Q: Justin, How hard is it to get ready to fight a friend?

JW: I just had to throw it out the window. Fighting, you have to be a little selfish that it’s either him or you. You can’t let him win because you are friends, you can’t let that get in the way of your dreams and aspirations. It was more difficult than preparing to someone I didn’t like but I went out there and did not let it play in my head too much.

Q: Give us the play by play of Wren VS Nelson?

ZJ: Justin won the first round Roy won the second and than Justin got screwed out of a third round. Roy got beat up the first round. It is funny to see what Dana says about him.

DS: I was in Roy’s corner. The first round went to Justin and the second went to Roy. I really think it should have gone a third round but at the same time, Justin was very gassed after that second round, but it really should have gone a third.

JW: I think I could have fought a lot better. I hate to say I could have, but I definitely gassed. It was a combination of things. I could have been in better shape for sure and, I hate to make excuses, but I had four staph infections on my body at the time. You can see on my back right shoulder I had one. Before I even got in the house, I had a staph infection I covered up whenever the doctors looked over us. I just had staph the entire time I was there. Several guys got it, I am not sure if they got it from me but I think I was. I wish I had a better game plan and more composed. It showed Roy’s experience and composure. He was picking his shots. If i could have done that more, and shot for takedowns, it could have gone differently.

Q: Justin, what did you think having McSweeney in your corner, the man who you have said in other interviews has been a drama seeker? Was he helpful during the fight?

JW: James was helpful. He was a good corner guy. Me and him were really cool until the end of the season. He was a good guy and in my corner he did well. He was cool and I have nothing bad to say about the guy.

Q: Darrill, you were in Roy’s corner. Was he responsive to your commands? What did you think of his performance?

DS: A little bit, not so much. He was really doing his own thing. I kept telling him to throw his right hand every time he backed up. The first round I had to give it to Justin and the second for Roy, but it was not too impressive.

Q: Justin, what would you have done differently if you could fight Roy again?

JW: I would have shot for takedowns. We did not have any coaching so I went in there with a game plan to just wing it. That is not a smart way to fight. A lot of fighters like to wing it, I do not. I stood with Roy and if I could ahve taken him down, that would have been ideal. He was world class BJJ, but I train with enough world class guys that if he put me in a bad position I would have stood back up. I wanted to make it exciting, I did not just want to lay on him. I have never done that. I would have changed up a lot of things.

Q: Should there have been a third round in this fight?

ZJ: I think so and so did a lot of the other people. I think just the two judges and Roy did not think a third round was in order.

JW: I think so. Reason being because not only do I as a fighter feel empty because it went to the judges, but so do the fans. Even if I went to a third and I got KO’ed, I would rather have that happen than just this controversy. Just something decisive, to swing the fight more to one of us rather than having a fight that could have gone to a third round not. I can see him winning, I can see me winning, the only thing I can not understand is why it did not go to a third. If it is that close, it should always go to a third. I think all the fights should be three round fights. I know they do it for exhibition rules, but too many fights don’t go to the third round that should.

DS: It could have gone either way. I know Justin fights with alot of heart and he would have been fighting just as hard in the third but at the same time, if it went to third, anybody that got a takedown could end it so thats what I think would have happened.

Q: Do you think Roy Nelson coasted to a victory?

DS: I don’t think he took it an easy way because it was a slugfest. I don’t think he coasted through that one, I think Justin caught him off guard the first round and then the second round Roy started to come back and the Judges scored it for Roy.

ZJ: I think he did enough in two judges eyes to win but I do not think he won the fight. It should have go to the third round.

Darrill would like to thank ATT, Fighter’s Sports, and Three-Legged Monkey. Zak would like to thank Gorilla Combat for being his home gym and also Octagon MMA in Dallas. Justin would like to thank World Fight Shop, Texas MMA Shop, Rockwell Time and Buffalo Wild Wings. Zak would like to thank Gorilla Combat and Octagon MMA in Dallas, TX and Bruno Bastos and Sayif Saud, the coaches he is currently working with. See you here next week, same TUF time, same TUF place, for another episode of TUF Times!