“Ask Gary” #5: Going Out in a Blaze of Glory

(*wipes tear from eye* / Photo courtesy of facebook.com/bigdaddyfightteam)

Well, this is it, folks — Gary Goodridge‘s last column for CagePotato. Big Daddy decided to blast through a bunch of questions lightning-round style, so if he still didn’t get to your question, 1) Learn to write better questions, and 2) Stay tuned for the start of Dan Severn‘s mailbag column on CagePotato, coming soon. Thanks so much to Gary for doing this for us; follow him on Facebook and Twitter, and visit bigdaddyfightteam.com.

‘danomite’ asks: Have you ever known anybody to work a fight or take a dive? You don’t have to name names, just wondering how much it happened, especially in Japan.
Yes that type of stuff happened all the time in Pride. There are some pretty famous examples that the old fans all talk about. Chances are if you think it’s shady, it might have been. Naoya Ogawa’s camp offered me money to throw the fight but I didn’t want to sacrifice my integrity for a buck.

‘ReX13′ asks: I always wondered what Gary’s first thought was after he killed Paul Herrera. Well, after the adrenaline damped down a bit.
I was shocked like everybody. Since I practiced my counter-move the night before I was ready, but surprised it worked that easily. I didn’t have too much time to celebrate though since I had another fight coming right up.

‘RWilsonR’ asks: How do you think your boy Rampage is gonna do against Jon Jones? What do you think his best strategy is to win?
Rampage is gonna win. He will either hit Jones with the type of power he’s not felt yet, or he will power slam Jones to a KO victory.

‘jimbonics’ asks: Even though you have nearly 50 MMA fights under your belt, you’ve only been submitted a few times. Which submission was the the worst? The Erikson Sweat Submission excluded.
The worst was one of my last fights against Alistair Overeem. He got me in a kimura and cranked it before I could tap. It really messed up my shoulder. Oh well, those types of things happen in the game.

‘dim mak’ asks: Who do you think was the smartest MMA fighter you encountered? Who maximized his athletic ability to the greatest extent through game-planning, training, and execution?
GSP uses his athleticism the greatest. I don’t think he is a fighter at heart but he has trained and conditioned himself to be a superior champion. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira was the smartest. He was always two or three steps ahead of me and I never got the chance to catch up.

‘intercept440′ asks: Does it irk you that Shaq has a Superman tattoo on his arm like you do? And why Superman? When you was young was you a fan of comic books?
At that point, I thought I was the black Superman. I got it just before my first UFC. It was first tattoo I got.

‘Stak40′ asks: Your sister looks like she could be related to one of the Williams sisters. They are both dynamic athletes, could your sister take them? Matter of fact could you woop your sister?
No, my sister looks rough and talks tough but she is not a fighter. And yes, I could whoop her if need be 

‘Jawbreaker_46′ asks: Gary, You answered the question about who hit the hardest. How about kicks? What did it feel like to get kicked by Pat Barry?
Peter Aerts throws the hardest leg kicks because they are so precise and perfectly placed. Pat Barry just felt like a good leg kick, nothing crazy.

‘parchy mcthirst’ asks: Sherdog claimed that Goodridge apparently had to take a shit during his fight with Neto. Hence, he forfeited/submitted, so he could go defecate. Perhaps that was that a different fight?
I honestly can’t remember. I don’t think it happened but if Jeff [Sherwood] says it did, then it probably did. I just remember being exhausted. When you gotta go, you gotta go though.