Mike Pyle Interview

Mike Pyle broke down the Xtreme Couture camp for me in a recent FCFighter interview. I gave the label, he provided the name.

Here are some of them:

- Funniest: "That’d be me."
- Most likely to cut a rap album: "Jay Heiron. Because he’s black."
- Best dancer: "Me again"
- Worst driver: "Martin Kampmann."
Coolest Nickname: "Martin Kampmann. The Hitman is just cool."
- Most Stylish: "Jay Hieron. He’s always got his diamonds on and shit. He’s gotta be GQ all the time, that kid."
- You’d least like to spar with: "Ray Sefo"
- Best reality show subject: "Me"
- Most likely to appear on Dancing with the Stars: "Randy [Couture]"
- Worst smelling: "Martin Kampmann. He’s a stinky Dane. His training
gear stinks. I don’t know what it is…"

Some, however, might disagree with Pyle's choice for the last category. This is from a four-part Xtreme Couture Blog series on Freeport, NY's finest, Jay Hieron:

"We had a lot of good times in the IFL, (Mike) Pyle and I. At one of the events we were at, the commission guys were watching us wrap our hands and everyone just started farting. Mike has the worst farts ever. Anyone who knows him knows that that is true. He should be in the Guiness Book of World Records for stinkiest farts. I’d bet my next purse that no one has worse farts. Bas had a towel over his face the whole time. It stank in that locker room. It got so bad at one point the commission guys had to leave the room. We were wrapping our hands with nobody watching. We could have put brass knuckles in our gloves. Of course we didn’t, we just wrapped our hands up right and went out and did our business."

That's amazing.

Anyway, my article's below.

A More Prepared Mike Pyle Ready to Test “The Professor”
by Matt Kaplan

In his ten-year MMA career, Mike “Quicksand” Pyle has fought around the world, competing against and beside some of the top competition in the sport. He’s one of three fighters to hold a win over Jon Fitch, his first pro MMA fight ended in a close decision loss to the much larger Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, and he’s seen victory in the IFL, WEC, Elite-XC, and Affliction.

What the veteran hopes to add to his already impressive MMA resume is a win inside the Octagon. Today, Pyle finds himself closer than ever to achieving that goal as he is just days away from taking on Chris “The Professor” Wilson on September 16 at Ultimate Fight Night 19.

“He doesn’t bring anything super unique to the table,” said a confident Pyle.

“He’s a tough guy. He’s well-rounded. He went three rounds with [Jon] Fitch, and the other fight the went with [John] Howard, he went the distance. So I’m prepared to go the distance.”

UFN 19 will mark the second time Pyle and Wilson are involved in the same fight. Back at UFC 98, Pyle stood in for Wilson, also an IFL veteran, against former WEC standout Brock Larson, who submitted Pyle in the first round. Pyle still agonizes over that fight, which was his UFC debut, and told FCF emphatically that if he could re-do any fight in his career, his loss to Larson would be that fight.

“I guess there was a little bit more of me wanting to win [in the UFC], but it was difficult for me because of the situation I was in.

“It was a week notice and I was 23 lbs. over[weight]. I had a week for that fight; that’s all I had. I had a very bad weight cut, and I had no strength or energy for that fight. I wasn’t myself.

“Nothing against Brock; he beat me fair and square, and that’s all there is to it,” Pyle conceded. “I’m not taking anything away from him; he’s a great athlete, but that fight would never go that same way again if I had my training camp like I have now for this fight.”

Preparations for Wilson, Pyle says, have been “business as usual” at the Xtreme Couture gym. Pyle and teammate Gray Maynard are both fighting at UFN 19, and Pyle said that being part of a team laden with UFC stars is an added asset.

“The way we work together as a team is great – for whatever organization. But maybe just the morale of knowing, ‘Hey, we’re all in the UFC,’ we’ve all got to really make sure that we’re staying in shape, and it helps to give a little more fire.”