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BEHIND THE SCENES MMA ARTICLES & INTERVIEWS! 01/31/09
“Blood in the Cage” Preview with L. Jon Wertheim & Pat Miletich
By Dave Carpinello
Last week L. Jon Wertheim, a seasoned reporter from Sports Illustrated released his first book based on mixed martial arts. The star of the book is no other than the “Croatian Sensation” Pat Miletich. Wertheim and Miletich recently spoke with PDG to give MMA fans a preview of the new book, the experiences both had while doing the project and some of what they can expect when they read ‘Blood in the Cage’. L. Jon Wertheim
PDG: For those that don't know; what is your experience as a journalist?
L. Jon Wertheim: I've been working for Sports Illustrated for about 13 years but until I started my research for this book and the initial article that came out before about two years ago. I didn't have a lot of experience with mixed martial arts. To tell you the truth, I don't think I've ever had as much fun covering a subject as I have had with the story and the new book. I like talking to the athletes, I like going to the shows and I like to see the fan's reactions at the events. When I did the original story, I figured there was so much more to it and so I decided to write the book. So I wasn't one of those guys that was watching the UFC back in the 1990’s but I have definitely taken a big interest in the sport over the last couple of years.
PDG: I attended the first to UFC events here in Colorado back when I was in high school.
L. Jon Wertheim: Yeah, someone was telling me a story about a Belgian fighter....
PDG: Gerard Gordeau from Holland?
L. Jon Wertheim: That's right; he ended up kicking a sumo wrestler in the mouth and knocking out a couple of his teeth. The version of the story I was told was that one of the teeth was stuck in his foot and they didn't want to expose the wound so they left the tooth in his foot and wrapped it up so that he could go back out there and fight again. So when he was fighting the next opponent he still had his first opponent's tooth stuck in his foot.
PDG: That is something that I honestly didn't know.
L. Jon Wertheim: Yeah, I was pretty shocked when I heard the story.
PDG: How did you get involved with Pat Miletich?
L. Jon Wertheim: I first talked to him when I was doing the Sports Illustrated story and we just kind of hit it off. I thought he was a great source of information because he was able to explain everything in such detail. He had been through so much in his career and had so many different successful fighters come through his gym that I just thought he would be a great person to peg to the book.
PDG: So being fairly new to the sport; what have been the biggest things you've learned about mixed martial arts since you started doing your research?
L. Jon Wertheim: Early on I realized just what ridiculous athletes that these fighters are. How real the sport was and the high skill level of the fighters. I also realized how far the UFC still has to go. When I was writing the story, mainstream sports fans and writers found out what I was doing and they were asking me questions like; do the guys get killed? Do they use props?
PDG: Who were you talking to? Tony Kornheiser?
L. Jon Wertheim: Exactly. I don't mean older people like my parents but mainstream sports fans and writers who thought the UFC was something like pro wrestling. So there is definitely still a lot of work to be done educating sports fans and journalists. Other than that, I thought that the fighters were great, for the most part they were very honest, willing to talk and overall were very educated. It was really a very enjoyable book for me to do.
PDG: What do you thank the future holds for mixed martial arts in comparison to boxing?
L. Jon Wertheim: I think boxing is in trouble. I was your typical journalist that used to watch a lot of boxing, I covered boxing for a long time but now I barely watch it. It is almost like playing Donkey Kong as opposed to a game on the Nintendo Wii. I went to a fight in New York a couple of weeks ago and it was just the same old thing. Where the promoters were building up a fighter who had beaten a bunch of tomato cans and the fight went on and they just kept punching each other in the head. I found myself waiting for one of them to get a takedown or throw a kick and then I realized....oh yeah, I’m at a boxing match.
PDG: You talked about the educational aspect in mixed martial arts; what is it about your book that can help educate and familiarize newer fans with the sport?
L. Jon Wertheim: I really tried to make the point of what the sport is and what it isn't. It's real athletes and not prison yard fighting. These guys are in the best shape of any athlete that you will find in any professional sport. These are not hooligans with ankle bracelets; I am sure that there are more college graduates in this sport than in other sports such as professional baseball because of the lack of a feeder system to get into mixed martial arts. I also tried to put an emphasis on the injury and fatality aspect of the sport. It is a violent combat sport but fighters are not getting brain damage from a leg lock. There are parts of the book that I wrote about that I didn't necessarily like or condone but overall I don't think anyone could read this book and say that they don't think the sport should be sanctioned in their state.
PDG: Out of all the fighters that you talked to during your research; who stood out as the most interesting?
L. Jon Wertheim: Overall, I would say top to bottom there wasn't one boring fighter that I talked to. I got a kick out of talking with Luke Cummo and Jens Pulver is one of a kind. Something else that stuck out to me was the diversity of the fighters from the amateurs all the way up to Randy Couture. The average sports fan probably hears the word cagefighter and thinks of someone like Kimbo Slice or someone that they just yanked out of the WWE. When they see that a lot of these guys are college wrestling champions, I think a lot of them would be very surprised. Then you have guys that are black belts in various martial arts that have extraordinary skill levels. I think the whole deal with Kimbo was a real setback in the sport because the average sports fan who was flipping through the channels or reading Sports Illustrated saw Kimbo. They didn't realize that he had nothing to do with the UFC or the majority of the fighters in the sport. I was constantly getting questions about him from other journalists and radio show personalities while I was doing my research. I think little by little though that more sports fans are able to see the real sport now since it is easily accessible on TV. I also think that Brock Lesnar is a big positive for the sport even though he came from the WWE because he was an NCAA champion before that. He was almost able to walk onto a professional football team and he runs a 4.7 40-yard dash even though he weighs 275 pounds.
PDG: What do you think about the use of a cage as opposed to a ring?
L. Jon Wertheim: I think it's great for the marketing aspect of the sport but a lot of mainstream sports fans see that as almost barbaric. I mean, I think they're going to have a lot of trouble getting the sport into the Olympics using a cage.
Pat Miletich
PDG: How was the overall experience of working with L. Jon Wertheim on this book?
Pat Miletich: It was a lot of fun talking with Jon. I think that we had a real good repertoire and he is a bright writer that was very easy to get along with. I felt comfortable that he was a senior writer from Sports Illustrated and so I trusted that he would do the story justice. I would have to say that the book came out great.
PDG: With him being relatively new to the sport when you guys started working together; how did the fighters in your gym react to that?
Pat Miletich: That's part of our job. To educate as many people as we can about the sport and to put it eloquently in terms that will help new fans understand mixed martial arts. In order for the sport to continue to grow it is our duty and we were lucky enough to have someone like Jon write the story for us.
PDG: Being that your gym has been around for so long; how did it feel to be chosen as the subject for the book and what did the fighters in your gym think?
Pat Miletich: It felt great. I know a lot of people helped steer Jon our way including the guys from the IFL, Jerry Milani and others who helped make this possible and I am very thankful to them. As far as my fighters go, I am not really sure that any of them know how to read [laughs]. I honestly don't know if any of them have had the chance to read the book yet but I have gotten tons of e-mails from people who have read the book and I have yet to see a bad review. They may be biased or just trying to be nice to me but I really think it is because the book was written so well. My manager Monte Cox was a long time writer and editor and so he helped Jon with some of the fact checking of the book. In the process of doing that, Monte continually commented to me about what a great job Jon was doing with the book.
PDG: What type of learning experiences will newer fans be able to take from reading this book?
Pat Miletich: First and foremost, they will get a sense of the pure dedication that it takes to be successful in this sport. I think that even if someone who has never watched the sport reads the book that they will be drawn to it just because of the human nature aspect of the story. People like to read about the lives of other people and in this book they're going to get that chance. I think that is a very important aspect of the book and for the average fan, to be able to read about the process that all of us went through to build the sport to where it is today. Everybody was part of a giant army that helped build the sport and I think that everybody that was a part of that deserves the benefits of the labor. It is definitely going to provide readers with an extensive background on parts of the sport.
PDG: What will hard-core fans that have been there since day one get out of the book?
Pat Miletich: A behind the scenes look at some of the things that go on in this business that they may not know about. The truth about how fighters can be mistreated and how that has run amok even now in the sport; it is like a snowball rolling down a hill picking up steam. It has really gotten out of control how some of the organizations out there treat their fighters.
PDG: Can you elaborate on that a little bit?
Pat Miletich: I think it is any organizations right to demand certain things from their fighters to a certain extent. It makes business sense but in the end it is going to wind up being a double edge sword. The harder you push these guys, the harder they are going to push back.
PDG: In the process of doing the book; what kinds of emotions and memories did it stir up inside of you?
Pat Miletich: It reminded me of why I do what I do and the passion that I have for the sport. It also motivated me to return to fighting against Thomas Denny at Adrenaline II. It really got that fire inside of me going again as I retraced the steps I had taken over so many years to help build mixed martial arts into a sport. Like back in the day when I was training for a fight that politicians were trying to ban. So not only training and trying to prepare mentally for a fight but also having to debate these politicians about why they should allow a mixed martial arts event in their state. I know one thing, I am undefeated in debates. Then you look at the sport today and see how far along we have come and how many people have been involved. This experience helped remind me of who I am because sometimes you can just rest on your laurels and kind of forget how you got to where you are.
PDG: I appreciate the time that both of you guys took. Is there anything else that you wanted to add?
Pat Miletich: Just that I hope the fans out there who pick up a copy, read the book and tell their friends about it because the more people that we can educate about mixed martial arts the better off the sport will be for the future. Spread the word and thanks.
To read Reviews of "Blood in the Cage" and Pick Up your Copy - CLICK HERE!! **Special Thanks to Jerry Milani for his help with this story** 
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