Exclusive; Q&A with Tim "The Machine" Cook, Who Makes Pro MMA Debut at ICF

Tomorrow night (March 14, 2009) at Turfway Park in Florence, KY, Tim “The Machine” Cook will make his pro MMA debut, competing at 160lbs for Intimidation Cage Fighting.

Tim has been featured in two other FightTicker.com articles (3/2/09; 6/24/08) and took a few minutes to do a phone interview with me yesterday evening, discussing his motivation for fighting, family life, and perspective on his pro debut. FightTicker.com’s Brian Furby will be in attendance covering tomorrow’s event. Go to http://www.icfmma.com for more information.

FightTicker.com: So what weight are you taking this fight at?

Tim Cook: I’m actually taking it at 160lbs, so it’s not as bad as what I’m used to. I usually fight at 155lbs but I took this fight on ten days notice. Just due to the (short) timeframe, they told me that I could make 160.

I just weighed myself a little while ago, and I’m at 164.4, so I’ve just got about four and a half pounds to go.

Right before I started making the cut I was walking around at about 172. I was on a pizza and beer diet after my last amateur fight and I got up to about 180 (laughs). That was right at about a month ago. I work at a gym, a fitness gym, and on my breaks I’ve always got 30 minutes or an hour and I’ll just get a body part and crank it out (lifting).

FightTicker.com: So is it hard being with your daughter (Lily) and family while trying to make weight?

Tim Cook: Yeah, I’ve got her tonight. Cutting weight is always hard when I’ve got her. My mom just got pizza from Papa Johns, so they’re all eating pizza right in front of me, and I can’t deal with it (laughs).

FightTicker.com: Can you talk about who you’re training with?

Tim Cook: I'm now training in Jeffersonville, Indiana with Team Full Force, coached by Brent Maddox. He comes from Team Quest with Dan Henderson out in Temecula, CA. He fought for them once and went 1-0. I wouldn’t say we’re a limited resource gym, but we’re definitely smaller than what I’m accustomed to. I try and cross train with a couple of other gyms around town, but this is my home team.

FightTicker.com: So this is going to be your first pro fight. What’s going through your mind now?

Tim Cook: It almost feels like my first MMA fight all over again. The other amateur fights, it just seemed like nothing, easy stuff, go in there, do my thing. But now I look at it knowing this guy is also good enough to be a professional. He’s actually 1-2 as a professional, and he’s 6-4 as an amateur (also Tim’s amateur record). So pretty close record. The thing that makes me nervous about this guy is he’s a state champion wrestler in Ohio.

I mean I never really get nervous about getting hurt, but I guess I’m just nervous about losing my first pro fight. That’s not what I want to do. I’m a little nervous about the fight, but I took it on short notice because I was pretty injury-free. I’ve fought pretty tough guys under pretty weird circumstances. This guy that I’m fighting, I’ve actually fought one of his trainers out in Louisville in an amateur fight.

FightTicker.com: So he knows something about you.

Tim Cook: Yeah, and I know nothing about him. I mean I’ve seen some of his fights on YouTube. He looks like a pretty tough guy. I mean I’ve gone through my game plan over and over and over. His wrestling is definitely something to watch for, so I’m gonna try and stand and strike with him as much as possible, but I’m sure his game is gonna try to get it to the ground, but I’m not stranger to the ground. I feel like my jiu-jitsu is pretty decent. I really don’t have anybody to give me a belt ranking, but I would say I’m well above a blue belt status, but I just don’t train under anybody that has a black belt.

FightTicker.com: What’s your favorite discipline to train?

Tim Cook: Muay Thai. I started karate, and then boxing with my uncles and cousins, but muay Thai, you know, the most vicious type of striking you can think of.

FightTicker.com: Do you prefer the ring or cage?

Tim Cook: I’ve fought three times in a ring. I actually do prefer a cage to the ring for the fact that different organizations have different rope rules. If I get pinned up against the cage fighting a wrestler, I’ve got cage walks and a little bit of offense I can throw from there versus if you’re underneath those ropes, you’re pretty much stuck, you can’t kick off with your feet or anything like that. Definitely fighting his style, I feel better that it’s going to be in a cage.

FightTicker.com: That’s interesting because a lot of wrestlers like being in a cage too.

Tim Cook: Yeah, getting takedowns and cramming your opponent’s head into the fence, but I train that constantly mainly against walls. I try to label myself a striker, but of course it usually goes to the ground in MMA. It usually ends on the ground. But I feel more at home in the cage.

FightTicker.com: How do you feel about the judging in MMA?

Tim Cook: As far as the Kentucky Athletic Commission, who is going to be in charge of this fight, especially stepping from amateur to pro, I feel better as a pro because sometimes they stop fights prematurely at the amateur level. People get maybe a scrape or small, small cut and the official will stop the fight. As far as the judging, it feels like we’ve got a lot of boxing judges because the boxing commission has taken over in Kentucky. So as far as the ground game, jiu-jitsu styles, it’s kind of still an iffy thing in this area.

FightTicker.com: You’re with your family now. Can you talk about them, in particular your daughter (3 years old)? Does she know what you do?

Tim Cook: I’ve got her three nights a week, and she knows daddy goes to train, but she also knows daddy fights. If somebody asks her, “What does your mommy do?” her mommy works with an optometrist, so she’ll say “Mommy talks to people.” And we’re not together. If somebody asks her, “Well, what does your step daddy do?” She’ll say, “Andrew makes food for people.” “What does your daddy do?” She’ll say, “Daddy fights” (laughs).

With her being so young, I think she thinks it’s kind of like pro wrestling. She thinks it’s fake. We were watching UFC Unleashed last night, and they showed the Octagon from an outward view, and she asked, “Daddy, is that your work?” And now it kind of is, so that’s pretty cool. She’s very smart and understands it pretty well for a three year old. She’s seen me fight on YouTube, but she has yet to see me fight in person.

FightTicker.com: And what about your mom, what does she think about you fighting?

Tim Cook: My mom, she kind of has her moments with it. She’ll say, “I hope you go in there and really kick this guy’s ass. Win, make me proud,” all that stuff, but I can tell deep down inside she hates it (laughs). Yeah, she says no matter how much she supports me, she could never come watch it. I don’t blame her.

FightTicker.com: When they announce your name on Saturday, what will be going through your head?

Tim Cook: When they announce my name, I know I’m gonna go through that same thing – butterflies, that sensation of it being like my first fight. I’ll go through that, then I’ll see my opponent and understand this is what I’ve worked my whole life for. Just growing up as a kid, this is a family thing. I’ve always watched the UFC since I’ve been 10 years old in 1993. I remember watching the very first UFC with my uncles. They were huge UFC nuts. So it’s always been a thing in my bloodline. I never imagined that I could take it to this level.

Around here anybody can say they’re pro, you know take one fight and get knocked out. I’ve fought ten amateur fights and I feel pretty validated (as a fighter). There’s a sense of pride going into this fight, but more than anything I don’t want to let my friends and family down. I want to prove to everybody, that I deserve to be a professional MMA fighter.

FightTicker.com: And will your uncles be there?

Tim Cook: Well, that’s just it. One of my uncles had a stroke earlier this year and the other one passed away a while ago. In a way this fight is for them too.

FightTicker.com: Well, best of luck Saturday. Is there anything else you’d like to say or people you’d like to thank?

Tim Cook: I would like to say thanks to a ton of people, but mainly to my friends and family for believing in me, and thanks to my daughter, Lily. Maybe one day when she’s old enough to read, she can look back at it, but she’s the biggest reason I do anything, especially this.

By David Mayeda, PhD, FightTicker.com Social Issues Contributor

David Mayeda, PhD, is lead author of Fighting for Acceptance: Mixed Martial Artists and Violence in American Society, the first political book on mixed martial arts that attempts to reform the sport by increasing violence prevention measures through interviews with forty mixed martial artists, including Randy Couture, Dan Henderson, Guy Mezger, Antonio McKee, Chris Leben, "Rampage" Jackson, "Mayhem" Miller, Travis Lutter, Frank Trigg, and Cleburn Walker.