Matt "The Attack" Kovacs, fighting out of Arlington Kickboxing Academy (AKA) under pro fighter Landon Showalter, will take on Corey Williams in the main event of Cagesport MMA at the Emerald Queen Casino on Saturday, May 15th. The fight will be for the Cagesport Heavyweight Championship. If Kovacs wins, he will adding to his collection of titles as he is currently the U.M.M.A Super Heavyweight Champ, the P.F.A. Heavyweight Champ, and formerly the U.M.M.A. Heavyweight Champ. Kovacs spoke with NW Fightscene in the week leading up to Cagesport fight about his career and a whole lot more...

NW Fightscene: Lets start out with your record and how long you've been fighting.
Matt Kovacs: My [professional] record is 6 and 3 actually. Sherdog's got it wrong. 6-3 and I've been fighting for about five years now in MMA.

NWFS: How'd you get into the sport and how'd you hook up with Landon Showalter up at AKA?

Kovacs: I started out doing the Toughman contest when they used to come to the Tacoma Dome until they were banned out of Washington State. And then a couple of friends of the family suggested that I try out MMA so I began fighting as an independent first off. And then I actually fought against one of Landon's students and we kind of talked afterwards and I decided that he would be the right fit for me. So I've been with him ever since.

NWFS: Did you ever win the Toughman competition?

Kovacs: I made it to the championship two years in row. I lost to the same guy, Eric Boose, who actually became a pro boxer. He won a couple local titles as a boxer. I lost to him both years in the finals. So I did fairly well.

NWFS: Tell us about your training partners up at Landon Showalter's gym, AKA.

Kovacs: My training partners are Landon himself. He's a big partner of mine. Ken Alexander. He's a big up and coming heavyweight with us now. I work with Kyle Ozechowski. Joe Rossini, he's our jiu-jitsu coach up there. Matt Coble, JJ Lopez. I work with a lot of guys in a lot of different weight classes. I hear a lot about heavyweights primarily working just with heavyweights. I actually think its beneficial to work with guys in different weight classes because they're faster. They don't necessarily fatigue as fast as a heavyweight would. They push me to another limit. I think with me being a smaller heavyweight, its benefited me having these training partners that have exceptional cardio. They push me to that next limit so I'm used to fighting with faster, speedier opponents. In sparring I think it benefits me because most of my training partners are faster than any opponent that I've faced thus far. I think its really helped me.

NWFS: You mention being a smaller heavyweight. Have you ever thought you want to go down to 205 or is that too much of a cut for you?

Kovacs: I think 205 is something that eventually I'm going to go to. I still have my Super Heavyweight title out there in Minnesota that I'm going to defend pretty soon here. If all goes well in Cagesport, I'll have another heavyweight title there. So what I really want to do is try to get down to a functional weight. What I'm thinking is about 225, 230. I'm usually fighting about 250, 255. So if I could lose about 25 more pounds, I don't think that cut would be such a difficult cut, and then who knows. Maybe I can shoot for holding a belt in three different weight classes. Something I can bounce back and forth from.

NWFS: Talk about this fight coming up with Corey Williams. Seems like he's had a lot of fights in Wyoming and Colorado. What are your thoughts about him?

Kovacs: You know, I don't know much about him. I know he's a tough guy. I know he's not afraid to stand right in front of me. Doesn't seem like he gets too intimidated with names or people's records. I just know he's a big tough guy. He's going to come in and stand in there and bang with me. Ultimately, I like to entertain the fans. That's why I've always preferred to standup and try to knock people out. So I think its tailor-made for fight of the night.

NWFS: You've fought a lot of the heavyweights in the Northwest, such as Mike Hayes, Dan Stewart, Josh Queen, Tim Perales, Josh Bennett... Who do you think is the toughest heavyweight in the region, and how do you rate these other guys?

Kovacs: Well, I got to be honest. I think I'm the toughest heavyweight in the region. I think what my problem is that I took a couple unfortunate fights. Mike Hayes, I didn't train for. I took that fight on real short notice. I'm not taking anything away from Mike Hayes. He's done a lot of phenomenal things with his career and of course I want that rematch if I could ever get it. I know he has a lot of big proposed fights on the horizon so I don't know if that's going to be a possibility. Dan Stewart, he was a gamer. He did everything right and unfortunately I had an injury to my eye in the fourth round so the fight was stopped.

But really, there's no doubt that these fighters in the Northwest are as tough as they come, and I can't take anything away from any of them. Unfortunately for me, I didn't really get serious into my training, especially my cardio aspect of my training until more recently. And I have to look back on these fights and ask if there was something I would have done differently and I guess not. Just besides I try to learn from mistakes and move on. But I definitely think I wish them the best. I think Dan Stewart and Mike Hayes are definitely tough guys and both are going to have bright futures in the sport for sure.

NWFS: As you prepare for a fight, what is your training week like? 

Kovacs: You know, its a lot of the same. I'm up at 6 am. I go for my am jog and then I go through strength and conditioning by myself down here in Everett. And then I'm up at AKA in the evening for two, three hours a night, working on kickboxing, jiu-jitsu, wrestling, and then we'll finish it off with sparring. I try to do that at least four times a week. And then the other two days, I'm going to local fields around here and putting myself through ploymetrics and more for agility drills. Working on my agility and my flexibility and also my core strength. I never really took it into consideration before. I just wanted to be as big and strong as possible, and I realized that wasn't the answer. I have to train like an athlete and be well rounded... not just strength and speed but also flexibility, agility and endurance as well. 

NWFS: There was an article about you in the Everett Herald written a few years ago and it talked about your troubles in your younger days. Mentioned football, mentioned fighting. It sounded like you got into a lot of scraps growing up. Tell us about that.

Kovacs: Well, I was primarily raised by my mother. Dad wasn't around. Dad was gone from a really early age. My mom moved a lot so I actually was born in Bellingham, raised kindergarten through 8th grade in Tacoma, and then actually moved up here and went to high school here in Everett. So I moved a lot and I was always the new kid and people always wanted to pick on the new kid in school so it wasn't something that I liked to do but unfortunately it was something that in some situations I had to do. Unfortunately, I was fighting a lot growing up.

NWFS: The article also mentioned that after some legal issues that you kind of spiraled down with alcohol playing a factor. Tell us about your internal struggles there and how has MMA helped you out.

Kovacs: You know it wasn't necessarily just the drinking, it was more the people I associated with and the direction my life was going. Being involved in MMA after football gave me something to focus on in a positive light and it really got me involved with people that were motivated, that were driven, that were disciplined. And it really was my associations with those people that really influenced me to focus on getting my life back on track and staying away from people who were just going to bring me down. 

NWFS: Awesome. So what are you doing for work, if you are working?

Kovacs: I'm a personal trainer. Also, I have some great sponsors that help me out. Joe Boland with Fife BMW, Frank at Korum RV, Pro Body Nutrition. John L Scott Real Estate. I have a lot of people that believe in me that have been able to sponsor me, a lot of local sponsors. Ryan with Zipfizz has helped me out a lot. Klench Mouthguards. A lot of people have been helping me and sponsoring me and giving me some assistance there which has helped me focus more on training. But yeah, when I can, I do some personal training on the side independently.

NWFS: What do you like to do for fun when you're not training or working?

Kovacs: I like to play softball, flag football, anything outdoors. Camping, fishing, anything like that. I'm an outdoors guy. When I can, that's definitely my passion. And singing karaoke every once in a while is also fun.

NWFS: What are your goals for the rest of 2010?

Kovacs: To get some big fights and definitely prove that I belong. I definitely want to fight the best that the Northwest has to offer and hopefully take my career to the next level. And maybe towards the tail end of the year, move down to 205 if more opportunities present themselves there. Definitely just keep on a winning track and keep exciting the fans. That's my goal.

NWFS: Anyone to thank, or anything to add?

Kovacs: Just my friends and my family, and everyone who stuck with me through the good times and the bad. They know who they are. And of course my sponsors, Zipfizz, Klench Mouthguards, John L Scott, Fife RV, Fife BMW. And my mother, of all people, because she puts up with me. And AKA and my coach Landon for putting up with me and being there for me as well. He's a big influence in my career. So definitely Coach Landon, and Coach Matt Coble and Joe Rossini up there at AKA, and everybody else up there that helps me.

NWFS would like to thank Matt for taking the time in doing this interview. Catch him fight in the main event of Cagesport MMA this coming May 15th at the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma where he will be battling for the Cagesport Heavyweight Title against Corey Williams. More about the event at halquistproductions.com. Matt trains under Pro Fighter Landon Showalter at Arlington Kickboxing Academy (21108 67th Ave. NE in Arlington, WA). More at arlingtonkickboxingacademy.biz.

Matt is online at myspace.com/matttheattack and he has a Facebook page as well.