Preston Parsons Q&A, Pt.1

          Preston Parsons is an MMA icon in northeast Florida, co-owner of Elevate MMA in Jacksonville Beach, and he isn’t even thirty years old yet. He made his UFC debut last summer. His road to gold and glory begins now.

-GrapplerMag: What do you think initially drew you to the fight game?

Preston Parsons: “As a kid I loved the Rocky movies and stuff. I wanted to be a boxer. I think in my elementary school yearbook when they ask, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ I wrote boxer. But at the time, I didn’t know what grappling was. I knew what pro wrestling was, but I never liked it as a kid. I didn’t know there was MMA and jiu jitsu. When I saw that, I was like, I want to be one of those guys. I want to be the guy submitting everybody, not just a boxer.”

-Who were the first fighters that caught your attention when you first became a fan?

“Frankie Edgar was the ’55 champ when I started watching UFC. Anderson Silva, of course. My favorite fighter was Joe Lauzon, he was on a spree at that time. Benson Henderson [too].”

-Did you play any team sports growing up?

“I played Pop Warner football. I played baseball in 2000 when I was four or five, and that was one of the first spankings I can remember getting. It was so boring, I would sneak out of the dugout to eat my parents’ nachos. My dad told me, ‘If I see you sneak out again I’m going to spank your butt’…and he caught me.”

-First memories of being at the gym?

“I try to keep it similar to the way I feel when I train now. I got on Google and found like three schools in the area, and I just showed up. It was good, I was excited and eager to learn. I try to keep the same mentality now.”

-How long did you train before you started to compete?

“Couple months. Then I did a NAGA tournament. I was 16, about to be 17. I won, then I did a bunch of tournaments until I was 18. In August of 2013 I turned 18. A few weeks after that I fought my first fight.”

-Lots of initial success?

“My first six fights were all in one year and I won all six, five amateur, and I went pro that same year. 

When I first started training I was too young to fight. We had two or three guys [at the gym] who were fighting, one would come in the day, one would come at nighttime, because they had jobs. I was there for both, so I’d do the guy in the morning’s fight camp, I do the guy at night’s fight camp, and when it came time to fight, they’d walk out and fight and I wasn’t allowed to. 

I always told myself, as soon as I can fight, I’m going to make a statement. Be aggressive, be dominant.”

-Talk a little about your relationship with Mitchell Chamale and Combat Night. 

“They’ve always done good shows. They’ve always taken care of me as much as they could. [Mitchell] is a fighter himself, he puts fighters up in his house. He understands how it is. It’s gotta be a tough job for him, he’s friends with both guys when they fight. It’s gotta be rough to be a promoter or a matchmaker.”  

-You had to get surgery on your hand after your last fight, how’s it doing? 

“It’s healing up. I’m striking with it again, it’s way better than it was [before surgery]. It’s still swollen, I don’t know if it will ever look normal again, but I have full movement with it. I can punch with it. Three months is the longest time I’ve gone without punching since I was 15.” 

-How would you describe your fighting style?

“I try to be the best I can be everywhere. I try to be the best striker, best grappler, wrestler, all that stuff. I’m not the best at game planning, I don’t really study my opponents like I should, something I need to learn from and start doing better in the future.

I’m pretty good at winging it on the spot, I guess. I’m pretty decent at figuring out what the guy is good at, what he’s catching me with, how to shut that down or take that away from him. Put him in a spot where he’s not as good, read it from there and take them apart where I think they're weakest. 

But I try to be well-rounded everywhere and put pressure on guys and make them tired, then their skills go out the window. No matter how good you are anywhere, as soon as you’re tired, you can’t really do any of that stuff.”

-“Pressure” Parsons, right? 

“Yeah, that’s where that came from.”

-What is a typical weight cut like for you?

“Fifteen pounds. I start five days out, so Sunday if the weigh-ins are on Friday. I’ll have three gallons of water on that Sunday, then it’s just no more than 50 grams of carbs a day, no sugar, no fruit. Then cut sodium on Wednesday. Start real high [water loading] in the beginning of the week, then on Friday it’s six or seven pounds of water to sweat out. Personally I don’t use saunas, I do the sauna suit. So I’ll put the Sweet Sweat on, sweatsuits and jacket, try to do a light jog, jog it off. 

All my amateur fights were at 155, now I fight at 170 just because [at 155], leading up to the fight, that’s all I could think about [was my weight]. I didn’t want to do it. It wasn’t fun anymore. Now I look at it like the old philosophy, when there were no weight classes. If he is bigger, he’s not gonna be that much bigger. Strength has never been an issue in any of my fights, wins or losses.”

-Where would you say is an area of your game you’re looking to strengthen or improve?

“I’ve recently had more coaches come in, like Professor Roberto [Cuartero III of Gracie Barra Jacksonville], and I’ve been working with Bryan Brown [at 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu Jacksonville], getting as many different opinions as I can get, but I’m trying to sharpen up everywhere. In my last fight, the standup wasn’t where it should be. My wrestling wasn’t where it should be, I couldn't get the takedown, which took away the jiu jitsu, so just sharpening up everywhere.”

-Did you know you were on the UFC’s radar before they called to offer you a fight?

“I haven’t been super active in my pro career, maybe two fights a year. I’ve heard talk about it for the past two or three years, maybe longer than that. It was always kind of like a pipe dream, everybody’s like, ‘You’re right there, what’s taking them so long? When are they gonna call you?’ Guys were writing articles, possible prospects for the Contender Series and possible prospects for short notice fights, and I was always on those. It just never happened. 

So I was just gonna keep fighting until eventually something happened, but I didn’t quite know how to get in there. I got connected through Mitchell with my manager, who had the right connections, thought that I was ready for it and put me in there and got me the opportunity, so it’s been a blessing.”

-You had less than two weeks to prepare for the actual fight though, right?

“It was eight days out, we flew [to Las Vegas] six days before the fight. I hadn’t been on a plane in five or six years, I’d never been to Vegas, that’s for sure. It was awesome. It was definitely out of my comfort zone a little bit. I haven’t really had to go out in the world in a long time.”

-What were your expectations for competing in the UFC versus what it actually was?

“I expected it to be just like everything else, all the Combat Night shows, Titan FC shows [I’ve been on], very similar, just more money. They had a guy waiting there at the airport with my name on it, it made me feel good. Chauffeured everywhere we went, a medical lady calling me, media [obligations]. It was the last no-fans-in-the-stands event for them there [at the UFC Apex], so it was a little empty.”

-What’s one thing you learned from that experience that would help the team at your gym?

“Treat it just like all the other fights you’ve had. That’s one thing I didn’t really do going in, wasn’t focused. Focus while you’re there, that’s the main thing. I was so blown away by everything, seeing Bruce Buffer, walking out, hearing my song, being at The Apex, knowing I’m on TV. They made a little highlight, I didn’t even know they made it, pulled up some of my old fights on it. So seeing all that I was smiling, laughing, not nervous at all, and those little bit of nerves always gives me an edge. 

I like to be a little nervous, not so nervous that I shut down, but [being] a little on edge makes you faster, more twitchy not to get hit…We’ll have a full camp next time. Get an opponent, see where he’s good, where he’s weak, put him where he’s weak, get better at his strengths and don’t get caught in them.”

-How did the opportunity to open Elevate MMA arise?

“I was at another gym for a long time, coaching. Me and the head coach kind of had a falling out, we never really saw eye to eye on many things, and he wasn’t much of a coach. 

So me, Cord [Poe, co-owner of Elevate], couple other guys from the gym decided, ‘Why don’t we start our own gym? We’ve been running this place for the last two or three years. You should have your own gym now. We’re tired of supporting this guy. We want to support you instead.’ Lots of support from Cord and my parents. 

The gym has grown, but it’s not just because of me. All the guys that come in…it wouldn’t be a good gym if it was just me in here everyday. Everyone that comes in makes the gym what it is. They like rolling with me and I give them good work, so it works out perfect.”

-When you come here, it sounds like you’re gonna get better regardless.

“Exactly. I can’t speak for everyone, but for the most part, there’s no egos. We have good guys here. You can push them, put them in bad spots, make them uncomfortable, and they're not gonna freak out, get upset or anything like that, hold a grudge.”   

-What are your goals for Elevate in the future?

“I want it to be a huge gym. Different location, beachfront, glass windows all around so people can see while we’re training. People walking down First Street can look in while we’re training. Similar to what it is now. Everyone is welcome, help us keep the doors open by paying your mat fee, paying your membership. More bags, a full cage. A better version of what it is now. I want to grow the gym and I want it to build, but my number one goal [has always been] to be a fighter.”

-30-