Bodog Interviews Matt Lindlind

By Jeff "Wombat" Meszaros
Bodog Nation Contributing Writer

The sport of mixed martial arts experienced an enormous influx of wrestlers in 1997. Fighters like Dan Henderson, Matt Lindland and Randy Couture exploded onto the scene with big credentials and even bigger body slams. These days, they’re ruling the MMA world. Couture is the UFC champion and Henderson closed out the final Pride show by winning his second championship belt. Now, after a crushing loss to Fedor Emelianenko in St. Petersburg, Russia, Matt Lindland has set his sights on winning the Bodog Fight middleweight title.

Bodog Nation: First of all, let’s talk about your fight against Fedor Emelianenko. What’s your opinion of him?

Matt Lindland: Fedor is a quality guy and an all-around good sportsman. He’s a big strong guy and I think that’s what everybody knows him for but he’s also a fighter with a lot of skills. He’s very savvy and he understands positions. He’s a great fighter.

BN: So you aren’t pissed off that he held on to the ropes when you fought him in St. Petersburg?

ML: It’s not his job to follow the rules. It’s the referee’s job to enforce the rules. He warned Fedor multiple times, and even threatened to take away a point and he continued to do it and the referee didn’t have the sack to do his job and that was the bottom line.

For the rest of the interview, click Here