10 Questions With Steve Carl (by Darrick Patrick)
Steve "The Landlord" Carl is a professional mixed martial artist who has competed in organizations such as M-1 Challenge, Warriors 4 Warriors, Max Fights DM, Midwest Cage Championship, King Of Kombat, Conquest Fighting Championship, Masters Of The Cage, Ultimate Texas Showdown, and Renegades Extreme Fighting. At the time of this interview, his next scheduled match is against Brett Cooper in the first round of the second season welterweight tournament of Bellator Fighting Championships at BFC 15 on April 22nd, 2010.
Darrick: What was the road that led you to professional mixed martial arts competition?
Steve: I was always the small kid that got picked on while I was growing up. I was a good athlete, but too little and underdeveloped to stand out in high school. I went into the Army straight out of high school just as I was finally hitting my growth spurt. After six months of training I had grown over an inch and gained fifteen pounds.
My first duty station was in South Korea, which I hated. I worked retardedly long days and afterwards I would put in two to three hours at the gym. I was determined to come back a completely different person where no one would even be able to recognize me. I put on another twenty-five pounds of muscle before I returned home.
From the beginning of my military career I never let a challenge pass by and I always made myself the top dog in the company. This ultimately led me to mixed martial arts. After grappling, boxing, and beating everyone around me, people started urging me to try fighting out. After awhile I decided I should and as soon as I did I fell in love with the sport. It's been my passion ever since.
Darrick: Who are some of the people that greatly influenced you while growing up?
Steve: A lot of people have helped influence me. My parents divorced when I was just a baby and I was bounced back and forth between the two homes my whole life. Whenever there was a problem, I would just get booted to the other parent. One thing was always constant though and that was family. My aunts, uncles, and grandparents played huge roles in my life while I was being brought up and they still do to this day. However, I also received plenty of guidance from both of my parents as well.
Darrick: What brings you the most fulfillment out of martial arts?
Steve: Knowing that it was just me in that cage when my hand gets raised brings me the most fulfillment, especially after being made to feel like I wasn't good enough while growing up. Nobody can take that away from me. Also, being able to help my teammates better themselves and achieve their goals makes me feel really good. These are the people that help make me who I am. The better I help make them, the better they can help push me in return.
Darrick: Your next scheduled match is against Brett Cooper on April 22nd. What are your thoughts about this upcoming fight?
Steve: I think this is going to be a great fight that nobody is going to want to miss. Brett is a very nice guy, I met him down in Atlanta for a photo shoot. Anyone who is as humble as him or myself you just know is going to be dangerous in the cage. We are both young, hungry, and talented fighters, so don't blink because anything could happen.
Darrick: Do you have any words of advice for other individuals looking to compete in MMA?
Steve: The best advice I have is to dive in head first. Completely immerse yourself in the training and love every minute of it. Don't do it to say you are a fighter either because a good fighter never brags about being a fighter. The real fighter knows who they are and doesn't have to tell the world. Those that just run their mouth about being a fighter are actually the ones we call posers. Those are the people who train twice and do a bar room brawl, then call themselves fighters.
Darrick: Who are a few of the people in the sport that you highly respect?
Steve: I respect all of my coaches I've had along the way. They put in so much effort and in return all they just want to see is you succeed in your journey. I also respect all of the guys who know they will never be a great fighter but come in day after day and do the sport because they love it. In contrast, I respect the dreamers that come in and know they will one day be great and that they just have to keep trying and it will happen. I know because I was that guy.
Darrick: Outside of MMA, what are your other interests?
Steve: I love getting together with family and friends. I have an amazing family that I have a blast with every time we get together and a great group of friends that just love to have fun. I love boating, riding motorcycles, playing Call of Duty online with friends, parties, poker, camping, playing pretty much any sport, and the list goes on and on. I just love to have fun and hate being bored.
Darrick: What is your oldest memory?
Steve: I'm not positive what my very oldest memory is right now, but one of my earliest memories is from just days after I turned four years old. My dad had bought me and my sister two mini quads which I lived on for years. I had so much fun on that thing!
Darrick: Tell us something about you that most people don't know.
Steve: I'm actually a landlord. I started buying rental property when I got laid up from my car accident. I started going to school for something productive to do because I was told I would never fight again. Really I was just biding my time until I could do it again. (Laughs) Those doctors don't know me that well.
I was receiving the GI Bill and the money started to add up in my bank account. When my mom talked about selling some of her rental houses to buy a farm, I jumped at the idea and bought my first rental property at twenty-two years old with no job. I have bought a house every year since then.
Darrick: What moment in your life have you been proudest of so far?
Steve: I don't know if this is really my proudest moment but it's the one that sticks out the most in my head. After my car accident, nobody thought I would ever compete in MMA again. After eight months with no healing in my leg, I started to wonder the same thing myself. I hopped into the weight room on one leg though and got the rest of my body back to where it was before the accident and just waited.
I started training fourteen months after the accident. Five months later, I went down to Texas to fight Conan Cano who was 5-0 at the time and I won in fifty-nine seconds. From the moment of my accident and even after I went down to fight Conan, almost everyone was strongly urging me to stop doing MMA. They told that I wouldn't make it anywhere and I needed to get a real job. None of my family or friends had ever seen me fight at that point because all of my fights were down south when I was in the Army.
After returning from Texas I had a chance to move up a weight class and fight Des Moines top middleweight Brian Green as the main event at a big venue. I knew this was my chance to show everyone why this sport is where I belonged. I took the fight and even though he was the hometown fighter, my crowd was just as big as his. All of my fans and family had to drive one and a half to two hours to support me. The fight went amazing! I didnt even take a hit. It was complete domination from the bell and I TKO'ed him in the first round. Everyone was amazed. I changed all the naysayers minds, reassured the ones that believed in me, and made everyone proud that came there to see me.
Fighting is illegal outside of a ring or cage, so our fans all win and lose with us when we are in there. There is nothing better than to walk out of a cage to a flood of people that seem as if they all just won the lottery because they were in there with me, going through the same emotional rollercoaster I just rode and came out victorious.
FOR OTHER EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS BY DARRICK PATRICK:
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=4974388&blogID=343519835
You can also check out Steve Carl in the following places:
Official Steve Carl MySpace Profile:
http://www.myspace.com/tcwsteve
Official Steve Carl Facebook Site:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=500020449
Steve Carl on Fight Finder:
http://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Steve-Carl-15123
