Congratulations to Maurice Smith for his victory over Marco Ruas. The interview below was taken two days before this fight.

Anybody who knows anything about MMA knows the name Maurice Smith. He is a pioneer of the sport as well as a legend and is making his return to fighting after a 6.5 year break. He was kind enough to take time out of his hectic schedule to talk to ProElite.com just 2 days before his upcoming fight with Marco Ruas. After talking to him over the phone we find out what he has been doing over the last few years, his thoughts on the evolution of MMA, his experience with the IFL, and more.

ProElite (PE): I want to start of by saying thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to talk to us.

Maurice Smith (MS): Youre welcome.

(PE): Alright, so last time you fought was in 2000, what made you decide to fight again?

(MS): Technically I never left, I never officially retired. After the last time I fought Babalu (Renato Sobral), the UFC kinda passed me up, I mean it was one bad fight and who in this business does not have one bad fight. So they just said well, why dont you retire and thats kinda what happened. I didnt go out looking for other companies cause other companies dont pay that good of money cause you know they are smaller companies.

(PE): You have been coaching the IFL, besides that, what have you been doing the past 7 years?

(MS): I have been training guys, you know, Gary Goodridge and Bob Sapp and Mike MacDonald and helping these guys train so I have been busy, I have been involved in the game still. I was really close to leaving this business though, before the IFL, cause I was getting tired of the ways these companies were treating the athletes, so I was thinking of leaving, but outside that I have been helping other athletes.

(PE): So everything with the IFL at this point is pretty good?

(MS): Everything with the IFL is beautiful, I mean they are a good company because they look out for the athletes and that was my main attraction cause everybody is short-termed. I mean there is a lot of competition now with EliteXC, Bodog, and Strikeforce and it makes it better for the athletes in general.

(PE): Now, lets talk about your fight with Marco here. So you guys fought in 99 ended with an injury, how do you see the fight materializing this time?

(MS): Well it depends on what his game plan is. If his game plan is to do the same thing as last time, he is gonna wrestle me and that is what I am gonna anticipate. I dont forsee him…I mean anything can happen in this game. You can knock somebody out or get submitted. Keep it on the feet, I doubt it. Nobody in this business can out-strike me to this very day.

(PE): You are one of the first to bring kickboxing into MMA and actually use it successfully….

(MS): And nobody has done it since can you believe that. No kickboxers come across as well-rounded guys. I’m just an amazing guy! (Laughs)

(PE): (Laughs) You are man for sure. You are definitely a legend in the sport thats for sure. Now lets talk about your team, the Tigersharks, you guys are fighting the Anacondas in a couple of weeks correct.

(MS): Yeah, we are fighting in our hometown, fighting in Everett which is about a half hour up North of Seattle. We are looking good. I am hoping to win at least 3 and 4 would be nice to qualify for the Semi-finals and then hopefully go for the Championships. I think I have a pretty strong team, we had a bad start. I am happy with my team, you know, they are performance is good. If we dont qualify this year and we have good performances, I will be happy with my athletes.

(PE): Say you do make it to the Championships, is there a team that you would love to meet there?

(MS): Well if we beat the Anacondas, that leaves the Silverbacks. Those are the 2 top teams as far as how it went last year. And also the Sabres, they are doing very well too. You want to go against the best out there to see what you as a coach has done to improve their skills.

(PE): So you said you have been coaching over the last few years, now what is the difference between coaching individuals and a team?

(MS): I like individuals better cause they have thicker skin. Coaching different guys at different weight classes and different personalities can be a pain in the ass (laughs). Nah Im serious. Like with Frank (Shamrock) with his upcoming fight with (Phil) Baroni. I like training individuals.

(PE): Give us your take on the evolution of the sport as a whole.

(MS): I have been doing a lot of interviews lately and that seems to be the biggest question. My thing is this, the sport evolved as far as notoriety, and one thing I find interesting about the sport that hasnt changed is that a lot of guys still use the old technique of quote unquote Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu guard which I think is a dumb position to be in for MMA. The jiu-jitsu, the grappling great, but I teach my guys that you dont want to open the guard, you want to get away. My thing is why let a guy take you there and keep them there, whats the logic behind that?

(PE): Do you focus your team training on sprawl-and-brawl to try to keep them up?

(MS): The thing is I have wrestler guys that already know how to sprawl. My thing is simple; wrestle the guy and strike, thats it. There is no secret behind that. Its just a matter of those guys being able to do that. If most of the guys are strikers, its hard to teach them to sprawl, on the average. Its kind of a weird situation but its cool.

(PE): Well Maurice, thank you for taking time to talk to us and good luck with your fight this weekend.

(MS): No problem man thanks.