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NW
Fightscene: Steven Valentine with Benji "Razor" Radach for NW Fightscene. Benji, thanks very much. I
appreciate it brother. How you feeling?
Benji Radach: I feel good man. Just gonna hit some pads here in a moment. Just kind of get the body moving a little
bit, get things feeling good. Then go out, get a bite to eat and chill out for the rest of the day.
NWFS:
Do you have any rituals, after weigh-ins, that you do
every time you fight?
Radach: I
usually like to get up a little bit earlier. I get up about 6 or 7, and eat some oatmeal. Yeah, nothing too crazy.
NWFS: So Scott
Smith. "Hands of Steel". You guys are both strikers.
How do you think this is going to go?
Radach: Well, I think I'll get the win. Its definitely one of those fights where
I got to be careful. He can catch me and hurt me, you
know, so I gotta be on my toes. But if everything goes as planned, and the way I've trained,
I think I should get the win. I definately put my time in and things should be coming together.
NWFS:
Before a fight do you get amped out or are you more of a calm
guy?
Radach: I get really amped out. I got to tell myself to chill out most of the time. So
I get really frickin antsy and fired up.
NWFS:
You moved from Florida back to SoCal and you're working with LA
Boxing.
Is
that why you had to move or you switched teams or...?
Radach: Yeah I got a job with LA Boxing and I had to take it, so
I flew over here and kind of made a change. Its been pretty
wild... Now it's like I'm a transient as far as fighting goes and bouncing around to different
gyms and it gets a little tough sometimes.
NWFS: Do you
like the variety or would you rather be training with the same team?
Radach: I like the variety but it is kind of nice to have tons of different
guys. Because American Top Team has so many different guys, you're getting a variety
everyday anyways. Its all right to be in the same camp, but its just one of those things. You got to do what you got to do. Got to make some money and
that's what I got to do.
NWFS: And
what's that like, having a full-time job and still trying to
find time to train?
Radach: Its almost too hard to do it. I really don't like it. It takes the fun out of fighting
sometimes and training and stuff, because you're always going to practice when you're absolutely beat. Because your body's beat up and
you need some rest and you're like, man I gotta train hard tonight and
feel like shit tomorrow all through the day. So basically, through you're training, you're never feeling really good.
You're just like feeling like shit all the time. So its definitely
tougher. I'd much rather train full-time for sure.
NWFS:
Is LA Boxing understanding with you trying to compete?
Radach: Yeah, they've been cool. I took the last two weeks off and pushed real hard with Bas [Rutten]... So
I think I did everything I needed to do to get ready for the fight. I think
I took the right time off and so I think things will come together.
NWFS: What's
it like training with Bas? He's a pretty energetic, outgoing person.
Is he like that in training?
Radach:
He's pretty serious when it comes down to training and pushes you really hard. No, its no joke. He
definitely got me ready.
NWFS:
It was your [30th] birthday a couple of days ago.
Did you get to celebrate or are you going to celebrate after?
Radach: Yeah, I'm going to celebrate after the fight. I didn't
get to celebrate before the fight of course you couldn't drink. I went to dinner and had a little
bit of wine but I didn't party it up or anything.
NWFS: I remember the last time
I saw you when you were still with ATT that you talking to me about Mike Brown and
man he exploed the scene. Do you have any other up and coming guys that we can keep our eyes out for?
Radach:
Well I think you know about Mo Lawal, he's been tearing it up. I've been training with him a lot and he's going to continue to tear it up. He's going to get an ACL replaced though and some other stuff. He broke his hand too in DREAM over
there in Japan.
NWFS: What's your pick for the main
event, Shamrock and Diaz, what do you think?
Radach:
Man that's so hard and I've been asked that so much, I really can't pick a guy. Its one of those fights where you man... they're both good at submissions, they're both good on the feet, and so its just who catches who really. I want to pick Nick but
you can't count Shamrock out, he's tough. You know, I'm just going to go with Frank.
NWFS: Right on. He likes Nick but he's going with Frank.
Radach: Yep.
NWFS: Anything you'd like to say to your Northwest fans, you got a real big fan base in the NW, everybody loves you and is pulling for you.
Radach: Yeah, just thanks for the support man. Definitely keep expecting some exciting
fights because I got my hands full here at Strikeforce.
NWFS: Is that the future for Benji is
Strikeforce?...
Are you going to pull away from full-time work and stay
full-time fighter?
Radach: I don't know. It kind of depends on how things go. I should have some monthly sponsorships after this fight. I might be able to set myself up
to where I can do that. That'd be nice.
NWFS would like to thank Benji for taking the time to
speak with us.
Fans
can visit Benji at myspace.com/benj4u2nv
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