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Las Vegas based Bristol Marunde (14-6), fighting out of the Throwdown Training Center, will battle
UFC veteran Jay Silva (7-4) for the SCC Middleweight title this Friday, Nov 4th in the Co-main Event of Superior Cage Combat 3 in Las Vegas. NW Fightscene's Spaniard had a
chance to talk with Bristol the night before weigh-ins about the fight and more...
NW Fightscene: Let's get into right away the opponent change. Your first opponent was Elvis Mutapcic and now it's changed to former UFC fighter Jay Silva. How long have you known about the switch?
Bristol Marunde: I guess Elvis got hurt a little less than two weeks out from the fight. It's a title fight. This is an important thing on the card. We're co-main event for the SCC Middleweight Title, so they needed a tough opponent. They can't just bring in anybody to fight. A former UFC fighter is a great guy to come in. I'm excited they found someone tough to fight me because this is going to be a huge fight.
NWFS: This is the first middleweight title in SCC history, correct?
Marunde:
Right. This is the 3rd SCC event and they've been putting on great shows here in Vegas. And it's nice to have a good show come out of Vegas, a smaller show that's not the UFC. There is definitely a big gap of small shows to the UFC and the SCC is going to bridge that gap. They're doing a great job and I'm excited to fight for the first middleweight title. There is a lot of buzz going on about it and pictures of the belt are up. They're sparing no expense on this fight.
NWFS: What are the differences you've found between Jay and Elvis?
Marunde:
The first difference right off the bat is that Jay is a southpaw. The movement's going to be a little different. Punches are going to come from a little different angle. Elvis throws a lot of kicks and I don't know if Jay throws that many kicks. The main similarity is that they're both standup fighters. They both want to stand and trade. So the gameplan really hasn't changed, just movement.
NWFS: What have you done different for this fight being that it's a title fight so it's five rounds.
Marunde: For my last several fights, I've won and I've had plenty of gas left in the tank and my endurance has been great. If it's not broke, don't fix it is my thought coming into this fight. So did I change my training? No, my training is the same. The only thing I did was add more rounds when I was sparring. Instead of doing 4 or 5 rounds, I did 6 or 7. Other than that, the training is the same. When those rounds come down and we're trading punches and wrestling.. being a fighter, 15 minutes or 25 minutes, you should really be in similar shape.
NWFS: You obviously have a plethora of guys down there at Throwdown. How did you switch it up this last week as you're now going against a southpaw?
Marunde: My training partners are cool. Forest Griffin, he's a good training partner of mine. He switched to southpaw. And some of the other guys did that for me. So everybody in the gym was suddenly a southpaw, which was cool that they were doing that for me. And I went around town and found a couple real southpaws and started sparring with them. It definitely poses a different look. A southpaw's stance and the punches come from a different angle. You really have to be prepared for it.
NWFS: With the weight cut and weigh-ins tomorrow, tell us about what you go through.
Marunde: As I've been fighting for awhile now - I hate to use the word technology - but technology or the information on cutting weight is getting a lot better. So it's not quite as painful as it used to be. Let me just say, I won't be running. I won't be going to a sauna. I'm still going to lose 15 to 20 pounds over the next day and a half. We're just getting better at learning how to cut weight, so it's not as painful. It still sucks no matter what you do. You got to cut a lot of weight to be competitive in this sport. So I'm looking forward to being big and really strong for this fight.
NWFS: You've been fighting for a long time, since 2004. You've fought in M-1, Sportfight, you're a former IFL Tigershark. Talk about what it means to be fighting for this title and what it would mean if you do get the title.
Marunde: I've fought in a lot of shows and a lot of bigger shows and been on TV a few times. It's good to be here in Vegas and it's good to be in this big show. There's a lot of buzz in the local area. I know that [UFC matchmaker] Joe Silva and some of these higher up UFC guys know about my fight. They've seen it on the billboards. The SCC is marketing this really well. I think it's a big step for me. In getting this title, I think a lot of people are going to notice. A lot of higher ups in this world are going to see this. I think it's basically going to be a cap on the year for me and hopefully the UFC will pick me up after this fight.
NWFS: What was it like driving around and seeing the billboard in Vegas?
Marunde: It's awesome seeing the billboard of myself. It's motivating to me. I get a taste of it and it makes me want more.. to continue to work hard and become a more proficient fighter and to make the bigger paydays in the fight world to come.
NWFS: You have a lot of fans in the Northwest. Anything you'd like to say to them?
Marunde: Yeah. I come from the Northwest and I never forget my roots. I think that all the fighters that come out of the Northwest always have that home away from home. Even though I've located to Vegas, I'll always be a Northwest boy. And I think we're tougher and we're better. So I'm looking forward to taking this belt. Although I live in Vegas, this belt is going to come with me to my promotion on November 19th. I'm still real tied into the MMA community in the Seattle area, so I'm going to bring that belt with me and look forward to showing it off.
NWFS: We definitely look forward to that. Any sponsors or training partners you'd like to thank?
Marunde: Yeah. I want to thank Throwdown Training Center and Forest Griffin who helped me out a lot for this fight. Cameron Diffley and my trainer Peter Pinto. And also my sponsors, Massive Tattoo, Bulky Boy Clothing. We're going to come out and everyone is going to see an awesome performance from me. I'm feeling great. So November 4th, the SCC Middleweight Title is mine.
NW Fightscene would like to thank Bristol for taking the time in talking with us. He fights Jay Silva this Friday for the SCC Middleweight belt in the Co-main Event of Superior Cage Combat 3 at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. More info on the show at superiorcagecombat.com. Bristol's own fight promotion, Reign Promotions LLC, will hold their next event on November 19th at the 7 Cedars Casino in Sequim, WA. More at reignfighting.com. Bristol is on facebook at facebook.com/bristolmarunde.
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