TUF Times 6 with Justin Wren, Darrill Schoonover and Zak Jensen

Another episode of TUF season 10 is behind us and (SPOILER ALERT) Team Rashad continues their dominance of the competition bringing their record to 6-0 as Darrill Schoonover choked out Zak Jensen. We finally got to learn more about two of the quietest guys in the house and as luck would have it, both of them were awesome enough to answer some questions for The Fight Nerd! So without further ado, here is Justin Wren and Darrill Schoonover from Team Rashad and Zak Jensen from Team Rampage to talk about the sixth episode of TUF 10!

Q: Darrill, they showed you boozing alot, including in the morning. Were you a big drinker in the house?

Darrill Schoonover: There was a lot of editing done. The first couple of days I drank and after that, I stopped drinking completely up until after my fight, which was my birthday. It seemed like I was drinking every single day but I was not. The first couple of days I was drinking just to drink but after my fight I was drinking since it was my birthday and I wanted to celebrate my win.

Justin Wren: When we first got there Darrill would drink with breakfast but he really stopped early. That showed it like it came later, but that was maybe the first week and after that he did not drink the entire time he was there. So I think it was really just editing and of course, James McSweeney exaggerates a ton so whenever they show him calling Darrill an alcoholic he just had a drink every now and then. So it was more editing than anything else and nobody was drinking the first week but him but after coach talked to him he stopped cold turkey.

Q: What were you drinking when you did drink?

DS: I was drinking Jim Bean and coke since thats what they had there.

Q: How often was Rampage calling you titties? Was it just him or everyone in the house?

DS: It was just Rampage and Tiki. It was basically them non stop, probably every day. Every time I walked by they made stupid comments.

Q: It seemed like alot of times Tiki would just go along with whatever Rampage said. What kind of vibe did you get from Tiki?

DS: Tiki is Rampage’s little puppet. Whatever Rampage says or does Tiki will follow him.

JW: Tiki was Rampage’s little cabana boy and would do anything that Rampage wanted. They would wear matching jeans! You would see Rampage wear a shirt and then a couple of days later you would see Tiki wearing that shirt a couple of sizes smaller. Tiki was exactly Rampage’s puppet and anything he said Tiki would repeat. It was pretty humorous, I had alot of fun just watching that guy.

Q: Let’s talk about the Schoonover and Rampage confrontation. What happened and what are your thoughts on the situation?

JW: Rampage just went after him too much. Every single day, we would see Rampage 2-3 times a day and every time Darrill saw Rampage, he would call him titties. He was getting harassed by Rampage and all of his coaches, no one called him Darrill, they just called him titties. That was several weeks in and Rampage had called him titties a hundred times at least, so I can see why Darrill was that way with him.

Zak Jensen: Darrill just finally snapped back at Rampage for the Titties thing. I think the whole thing was stupid.

DS: I wanted to fight Rampage the whole time I was there but that was the only time they showed it. I took it in stride and did not let it bother me at first, but later on it was just constant and constant. If nobody separated us I am pretty sure we would have been fighting.

Q: Zak, Kimbo said “If shrek had a little brother, it would be you, and he nicknamed you Lindermann. Any idea how that name got stuck to you?

ZJ: Kimbo just pulled it out of no where. He said it it stuck and that was that.

Q: Why was there all this hazing and borderline bullying in the house? Was it as bad as it looked on TV?

ZJ: I have know idea why I was the target. It was all very immature.

DS: It was actually worse. Those guys would not leave Zak alone. It was his own teammates giving him grief too. He is a pretty nice guy with a good heart but they just preyed on him. Only Zak got picked on mostly.

JW: It was worse. The hazing that went on with Zak was awful. The only thing I ever did was put my name on that list, but everyones name was on that list. McSweeney and Sims and a couple of other guys really went after Zak and harassed him the only time. Darrill got harassed by Rampage but the only hazing that went on was Zak, he was the sacrificial lamb like Rashad said.

Q: Now that you were getting one on one attention, what were your coaches showing you to prepare for this fight?

ZJ: They just told me to wrestle and than ground and pound.

DS: My coaches said to me that Zak is a wrestler and likes to throw bombs, so we decided to go straight down the middle and throw them back and that is what happened. Whenever Zak got too wild I would put him up against the cage and drop some bombs.

Q: Zak, you got a bad cut during practice but it seemed to light a fire under you instead of deter you, what happened?

ZJ: It was just a cut, the thing that pissed me off was that people thought I wasn’t going to fight because of it.

Q: What did Phil Nurse work with on Team Rashad? It looked Keith Jardine was there too this week.

DS: Phil is a really great coach, he went over alot of great stuff, alot of flashy stuff that I would not necessarily use but alot of good stuff. Superman punches, things like that that GSP would use. Keith just sparred and rolled with everybody which was pretty good.

JW: Phil was awesome! He showed us alot of knees and elbows from the thai clinch and superman punches! It was stuff that i would not have been able to pick up in that short amount of time otherwise but I am trying it out now and he is just phenomenal! Keith was there at least 2-3 weeks of filming and he worked with us a ton. He would come in and do regular practice with us but afterwards he would spar with us and everything. He was a great guy and helped out alot!

Q: Darrill, what did you think of Rampage writing titties on your door? Did it affect your mindset?

DS: Actually no! I just walked straight in there and said “look at these dicks” and just walked in and sat on the couch. Justin Wren ran over there and put tape over it. It did not bother me at all. As for the painting, I never saw it until i saw the episode and honestly, it was pretty damn funny!

JW: It just showed Rampage trying to get into Darrill’s head so they could finally win a fight. It did not happen and it just makes Rampage look bad. He is at least ten years older than Darrill and he is harassing him! It was really childish. It got to a point where it was pathetic where no one thought it was funny other than Rampage. I do not think they are showing that enough, how much he harassed Darrill to make him blow up. Rampage was going after him since day one non- stop.

Q: What is it like putting on the gloves with the UFC logo and getting ready to fight? Is that the moment where you realized you are in with the big boys?

DS: It was pretty exciting getting my gloves on there and stepping in the cage! This is what I want to do and I was going to go in there and kick some butt!

ZJ: It is the most amazing thing ever. It is a dream to be in the UFC for all MMA fighters. I remember watching the first UFC with my dad and have loved the sport ever since. Now that I am in MMA it is surreal. I can only describe the feeling as awesome.

Q: Time for the fight analysis – Zak Jensen VS Darrill Schoonover – what happened in this fight?

JW: Beginning of the fight, looked like rock em sock em robots. They were not using much head movement and just nailing each other. Zak took him down and did not get an angle he should have had to pass and just sat in there for a minute and half.

ZJ: Me and Darrill went at it and than I took him down pounded him a little and then got cought in a triangle and went to sleep.

DS: Basically we just came out and started trading hands. I took him up against the cage and wore him out a bit and then got in there and started dropping bombs. He took me down and I immediately got him in a triangle choke. He started working ground and pound but it was not worrying me at all, I just kept thinking to myself to choke him tighter and tighter and eventually, he went unconscious.

JW: I think Zak fake passed out. You can kind of see him catching himself on his elbows, grabbing his head and he knew where he was and knew what happened and that is not what happens when you get choked out. Watch what happened when I choked out Wes Sims. He does not know where he is, did not know he was in a fight and his eyes were big. Even Zak’s teammates were saying he fake passed out. If you get choked out cold you will not catch yourself to make sure you don’t hit your face.

Q: Darrill are you happy with your performance?

DS: Honestly, yes. I thought it was good. I thought Zak took alot of good hits and showed he had some balls.

Q: Zak, what would you have done differently?

ZJ: Passed guard right away.

Q: Zak and Darrill, since you both are blogging on thefightnerd.com, do you have anything you want to say to each other now after seeing the episode?

DS: I actually just talked to Zak the other day for the aftermath, we still talk and text every now and then.

ZJ: Darrill, good fight and don’t let the titties thing bother you, they are all just immature asses.

Zak would like to thank Gorilla Combat. Darrill would like to thank Three Legged Monkey, Fighters Forge and American Top Team. Justin Wren would like to thank World Fight Shop, Texas MMA Shop, Rockwell Time and Buffalo Wild Wings. Justin and Darrill will also be appearing this Sunday at the MMA World Expo in NYC, check out www.mmaworldexpo.com for more info on their appearance, as well as how to meet other fighters including Wanderlei Silva and Matt Hughes.