Nov 21, 2006 Fighting since 1989 Jonathan Ivey Is the Extreme Combat International Heavyweight champion. Ivey is currently training at the SSF gym in Clarksville, Tennessee and looking forward to a rematch with Dan Severn. Check out this great interview where Ivey talks about his fights with Jeremy Horn and Justin Eilers and why he feels that Heavyweight fights need to be more entertaining.
Brad Doerges – Are you currently training for a fight?
Johnathan Ivey – Yes, in the end of December I’m hoping to defend my ECI (Extreme Combat International) Heavyweight title against Dan Severn.
Brad – Didn’t you fight Severn before?
Johnathan – I fought him before on real short notice and I lost a decision. I knocked him down in the second but on the judge’s scorecards he still won the second round. Kind of a bullshit decision. I would like to get a crack at him now.
Brad – With over 50 fights on your record you obviously love the sport, what got you into this sport.
Johnathan – Well I love it but it’s also the only thing I know. I was going to college to become a high school athletics coach. Then NHB just fell into my lap. I started out just power lifting and met a guy that was fighting in Hook N Shoot and he got me into it and 2 days later I was fighting. I fought my first fight with 2 days of training.
Brad – How did that fight go?
Johnathan – I won that fight in 44 seconds. I met the guy on a Wednesday he taught me guillotine choke and a key lock. I won the fight by guillotine choke. My arsenal has increased a bit since then.
Brad – I noticed that… you do a lot of leg locks, who taught you those?
Johnathan – I learned some of them from John Renken (Interview) he is a certified instructor under Erik Paulson and spent some time up with Jason Godschy up in Indianapolis. He kinda tightened me up with a lot of things. A own lot of it was on my I got together with Yves Edwards and kinda kept playing with them and now its something I can bank on. People always give me their legs… especially heavyweights.
Brad – How did you like training with Yves Edwards?
