Razor Rob MCullough’s resume reads like this…Former WEC World Lightweight Champion. IMTC Intercontinental Welterweight Kickboxing Champion, IAMTS US Kickboxing Champion, IKKC US Kickboxing Champion, 5x United World Muay Thai Kickboxing Champion, IKBA International Kickboxing Champion, ISKA California Kickboxing Champion, and PFC Eight Man MMA Tournament Champion. 2x K-1 veteran. The Razor does not come to play. This is a man, who knows how to take care of business in side of a ring or cage or basically any environment you put him in. Early 2008 found Rob as the Lightweight division champion of the WEC. An extremely gifted stand up fighter with a background in Muay Thai and kick boxing, Rob lost his title in February to Jamie Varner due to strikes. Beaten at his own game. Still, Rob has not exactly sat around and sulked. Head long into a venture of his own clothing line and looking to regain the title, Rob will face, Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone this Wednesday, November 5th at WEC’s televised bouts on the Versus channel. McCullough and Cerrone were originally scheduled to meet in the September WEC event in Hollywood, Fla., but the event was postponed with concerns over Hurricane Ike’s looming presence off of the coast. Rob believes the extra two months have only given him more time to prepare and made him hungrier. Rob stopped to talk to 8COUNTNEWS.COM recently.
8 COUNT: Rob, what’s up man?
Rob McCullough: Just living the dream bro.
8 COUNT: Tell me about the upcoming fight with Donald Cerrone. What do you know about him and what are you expecting?
Rob McCullough: I’ve had a great camp. Good training partners. I’m looking forward to it being a good fight. Looking forward to winning it as well.
8 COUNT: I see all of his wins are by submission, so he’s probably looking to take you down pretty early huh? I’m sure he doesn’t want to stand with you.
Rob McCullough: Yeah, I’m sure he’d like to. He’s probably thinking, take me down and pull guard as early as possible.
8 COUNT: How do you feel if that happens? Do you feel good about your ground game matching up with his?
Rob McCullough: For sure. I brought in an extra sparring partner with long limbs. Super tight jiu-jitsu game. Good wrestling partners. I’ve got good stand up guys, thai boxers that are over six foot. As far as a game plan goes…I’m gonna do my thing. I’m not gonna be too set on a game plan…what if it doesn’t go my way…the way of my plan. What then? I gotta be ready for anything.
8 COUNT: I was watching some highlight videos of your Muay Thai days before you were fighting MMA. You were absolutely destroying people. What does it feel like to wreck your opponent like that?
Rob McCullough: When you train hard, you expect the best from yourself. When you get in there and destroy someone it’s the best feeling in the whole world. It’s like I trained for it, put the work in and then it happens…that’s a great feeling. Nothing get’s close to that.
8 COUNT: Rob, when the critics of the sport read something like that, they would claim fighters have a unhealthy lust for violence and that ‘destroying someone’ per se, is taking the sport too far, what do you say that?
Rob McCullough: (Laughing) It’s a sport. It’s a chess match. We use our bodies instead of chess pieces. As far as violence…c’mon, it’s sanctioned. It’s regulated. There are rules. It’s not dog fighting. This is the way I pass my time. If I wasn’t doing this, oh god, what else would I be doing? People have different ways they get stuff off their chest. Some people see a therapist. This is what we do. This is what a fighter does.
8 COUNT: Ok, we’ll say, when you win this fight, is the WEC telling you how long it will take to get a shot at Varner again…or whoever holds the title after his defense?
Rob McCullough: I don’t totally know, but I am assuming this is the unofficial contender fight for the title. I would think whoever wins here gets a shot at the title next. Hopefully, January that fight for the title could take place. That’s the way I’m looking at it.
8 COUNT: What would a rematch with Jamie Varner look like? How would it be different?
Rob McCullough: Oh god, I will impose my will on him. I did not really do what I know I can do that first time around. Whether he has the belt or not, I wanna smash his face. I just gotta do my thing. Punch and kick him. Last time I would punch him or kick him and then shoot for the take down. That’s not me. I was sort of playing with him. I can’t do that next time. I gotta go back to doing what I do best.
8 COUNT: So, you’re saying you don’t see a rematch going to a decision this time around?
Rob McCullough: No. Not gonna happen.
8 COUNT: You said training camp is going well. You are staying in Hunting Beach, instead of going to train in Big Bear?
Rob McCullough: Yeah, I’m staying here. Going to Big Bear takes a lot of my training partners out of their element and is tough logistically. The high altitude is awesome and we have a cool gym up there, but my guys are here. So, I’ve had a really good training camp staying here.
8 COUNT: Rob, you are a busy man, you’re a fighter at the elite level, you have your own clothing line, you even ran a Baja desert race recently…how do you manage all of that? How do you keep one career pursuit from affecting the others?
Rob McCullough: Well, I’ve got a lot of good people around me to help me out. To take on all the repsonsiblity myself would be mind-blowing, but thankfully I’m surrounded by good people. Besides fighting and my clothing company, the rest is just living on the edge. Whether I’m in a cage, or a truck or on the beach I’m always going to push the envelope. I guess you could say, I’m an adrenaline junky. I’m just trying to have fun. You only live once.
8 COUNT: There are lots of stories floating around about Razor Rob. I haven’t seen the highlight video but, supposedly in the Richard Crunkilton fight, you actually waved at him with one hand and then finished him with the other? Is that true?
Rob McCullough: Yes. I’m afraid to say, that is true. (Laughs) That’s something I picked up sparring. I had a trainer back then who would point while he was holding pads for me. He may point up in the air to see how I would react. So, I took that from him. In the Crunkilton fight I kept doing it to him. I’d point or wave and he’d look and then I’d clip him. I could tell he was a little out of it, so I wound up waving at him, he looks and I come over the top and hit him good. It’s pretty funny to watch. When we went back and watched in slo-mo…people were like “did you really just do that?”
8 COUNT: So, you and Tito Ortiz are good friends. Tell me a story that happened while you were with Tito.
Rob McCullough: A Tito story huh? I don’t know, I have too many Tito stories. One of the best ones would be…when I first got on MySpace a couple of years ago, people were making fun of me. They all said I was lame for getting on there. So Tito decides he wants to do it and comes to me and says ‘show me how to do that’. So, I helped him out and we made him a profile. He comes back to me shortly after that and says I’ve been talking to Jenna Jameson on MySpace. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that it probably wasn’t her he was talking to. People use MySpace and fake personalities all the time. No way he’s talking to the real Jenna. Well, the rest is history. Now, they are together and he seems to really love her so…
8 COUNT: With babies on the way.
Rob McCullough: Yeah, pretty funny stuff man.
8 COUNT: So, everybody wants to be a fighter these days. You’ve been in the fight game a long time. What advice do you have for up and coming fighters or the wanna-be’s?
Rob McCullough: Do what you love. If you love fighting then do it. I did it, when I wasn’t making anything at all. It was an adrenaline rush for me. I’ve loved to do it since the day I started. There are definitely people out there now wanting to do it because it’s the cool thing to do. That’s not good. Remember if you have a bad day at the office, no big deal, you get over it. If you have a bad day in mixed martial arts you getting something broken on your body. Broken eye socket. Broken arm. You’re getting busted up. If you don’t love it, stick with your regular job, go home in the evening. You gotta love it.
8 COUNT: You’ve been able to capitalize on your fighting success and take it to a whole new level. What’s the secret to your success and being able to market yourself so well?
Rob McCullough: You know, I don’t really know. I think people notice that I’m having a lot of fun. They realize there is something different about me. I love to fight and that comes across in the way I fight. Sponsors see that and think, ‘you know that the type of guy I want to wear my stuff.’ I think you just have to have fun doing what you do. I do live by one thing…If you are a good person, then good things happen to good people.
8 COUNT: No doubt. 8 COUNT is obviously primarily a boxing site read by boxing fans. What would you say to a bunch of boxing fans to better help them appreciate what you guys do in the cage?
Rob McCullough: If you sit down and actually watch a MMA fight, you may at first be put out with the grapping and wrestling. Once you understand the whole dynamic of what is taking place it all changes. It’s a move for move contest. It’s like, how many moves do you know? If you learn a little about the grappling game and learn some terminology it all changes. I think it’s addicting in some ways. Fighting is reality. You realize these guys are really going for it. It’s much more like a real fight in some ways than boxing.
8 COUNT: Ok, to humor us at 8 COUNT, if you stepped away from MMA and took a boxing match with a current pro, who would you want to box with?
Rob McCullough: I’d have to go after Mayweather. He’s the best. I would want the best. He’s close to my size and he’s quick, so it would be fun.
8 COUNT: Ok, last words for your fans about the upcoming WEC fight Wednesday night?
Rob McCullough: Make sure you tune in November 5th for the fight. I would say, ‘don’t blink.’ It could be over that quick.
8 COUNT: So, the prediction is…?
Rob McCullough: The prediction is...Dramatic win by Razor Rob.
8 COUNT: Ok, we’ll heed the advice. No blinking. Good luck and thanks so much for your time Rob.
Rob McCullough: No problem Matt. Anytime.
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