A few weeks ago I sat down and thought to myself, if I could interview 1 person about the fight game….who would it be??? My ass had barely hit the seat when I had my answer. It could only be 1 man, ‘The Voice’ Michael Schiavello! We caught up with him recently……
Warriors Of MMA - Tell us a bit about your schedule recently? How do you manage such a hectic schedule and home life with family and friends?
Mike ‘The Voice’ Schiavello - My schedule lately has been insane. I think I have spent half of this year already on the road, which is crazy but I absolutely love the job so it makes getting through the travel much easier.
I’m very fortunate that I have a girlfriend who understands the demands of my job and while it is hard on her that I travel so often she understands that this is how I earn my living and create our future. As for my family and friends, well, they’re so used to it I think half the time they don’t even notice I’m gone!
Some trips are harder than others, such as the one I just completed which was an entire month on the road doing shows in Tokyo, Edmonton, New Mexico, Bucharest and then Tokyo again. Those tours can get long and lonely. Thank God for Skype and Facebook!
Warriors Of MMA - UFC 110 was a great event in Australia. MMA is obviously hugely popular in Australia, but how is MMA progressing there?
Mike ‘The Voice’ Schiavello - UFC 110 was a tremendous boost for Australia. Often in Australia the nation doesn’t become interested in something (no matter how big it is abroad) unless there is Australian participation in it. For example, the World Cup of soccer. Before the last World Cup in 2006 which Australia qualified for, nobody outside of the ethnic community really gave a crap about the World Cup and the media coverage of it was poor. Now, with Australia qualifying again, it dominates the media. That attitude shits me to be honest. I’m like, “Where the hell were all of you now expert media people when Australia wasn’t in the World Cup?!”
Same too with MMA. With UFC 110 in Sydney and the success of James Tehuna and George Sotiropoulos, a lot of people instantly paid attention to MMA. The sport is growing greatly here though unfortunately in the sporting capital, Melbourne, cage fighting is illegal, which is just ridiculous. Once that changes watch MMA really take off Down Under.
Warriors Of MMA - Which fighters have been the most memorable to watch and commentate?
Mike ‘The Voice’ Schiavello - Wow this is a tough question because I have commentated so many superstars and legends. I would say that Badr Hari is always memorable to watch and commentate, so too Masato. In MMA I would say Sakuraba, Akiyama, Fedor Emelianenko, Gegard Mousasi, Mayhem Miller were all very memorable to commentate. Marius Zaromskis, Melvin Maenhoff, Shinya Aoki are also names that need to be mentioned.
Warriors Of MMA - Who do you think is the most underrated fighter currently in MMA?
Mike ‘The Voice’ Schiavello - This is another very good question. I don’t know if I would say he is underrated but I tout him as literally the next big thing in MMA heavyweights and that is Nick Gaston, aka Afrozilla. Mark my words, under the right management, in two years time he will be the UFC Heavyweight champion or Strikeforce Heavyweight champion. I mean, he will be big time. The guy is an amazing specimen, incredibly athletic, monstrously strong with insane striking skills and amazing wrestling.
Warriors Of MMA - Do you think Fedor will eventually fight Overeem and how do you see that fight going?
Mike ‘The Voice’ Schiavello - Fedor’s Strikeforce contract is coming to an end soon so there is only one more window of opportunity for him to fight Overeem in Strikeforce, unless of course he signs again with Scott Coker. Then again it could happen in DREAM, mostly likely at Dynamite. I don’t know, it’s not as easy as saying he will fight him, etc. There is so much that goes on behind-the-scenes in the fight game that makes these fights happen or not. A lot of money talk, television deals, venue talk, management interests, rules talk, purses, percentages, etc etc.
If they did fight, right now, it would be the blockbuster match of all blockbuster matches, even moreso than Fedor versus Brock, because Alistair’s striking is so fucking good. Alistair’s striking is some of the best in MMA if not the best. I mean he fights at an elite striking level in K-1 and wins there! That is insane! Fedor’s striking is also of a very high level. Both men have superb ground games too with great submissions and both and very strong. I don’t know, I still lean toward Fedor, I mean I have trouble ever picking against Fedor…but Alistair man… wow… he is just a fucking machine. Insanely big and powerful. I mean he rag-dolled Brett Rogers. Threw him through the air! Fedor couldn’t do that. Alistair handled Rogers like he was nothing. It would be an amazing fight.
Warriors Of MMA - Who do you rate as the pound for pound best fighter in the world?
Mike ‘The Voice’ Schiavello - Best fighter? So you mean any fighter of any code? This is difficult too as I would put Fedor and Manny Pacquiao up there and also Saenchai and Giorgio Petrosian. They would be my top four, for sure. People are quick to do pound for pound lists and forget all the great Muay Thai fighters out there, all the great amateur boxers, all the fantastic female fighters like Germaine de Randamie who I put in my top ten of any pound for pound list.
Warriors Of MMA - How far do you think that striking in MMA has to develop before it is at the level of K1 or boxing?
Mike ‘The Voice’ Schiavello - Oh man, a long way to go and it will never get there. Sorry but that’s just a fact man. They are different sports. Completely different. MMA striking cannot get to a K-1 level and even less chance of getting to a boxing level because the distancing is so different, first and foremost. You get into striking range, be it K-1 range or boxing range in MMA and you have to watch for takedowns. In boxing and K-1 you don’t have to worry about that, so you can just hone those striking skills as high as you can. A K-1 fighter can go to MMA and have mixed success. Doesn’t mean that K-1 is bad against MMA, just that the range is different. The footwork is different. The balance is different. Your balance changes, so too does your footwork when you have to defend against takedowns.
So in closing, MMA will never achieve a striking level of boxing or K-1 because it doesn’t have to. That said, the striking level in MMA has a lot of improvements to make for the most. I would love to see what someone like Rashad or Forrest or Takaya or King Mo or Mousasi could do if they went to Thailand and trained for three months solid at somewhere like the WMC camp in Koh Samui. Their Muay Thai would improve drastically and just give them an added striking edge over the competition.
Warriors Of MMA - Some people may not know that you are a 3rd degree Freemason. Why did you get involved and how does it fit into your everyday life and busy schedule?
Mike ‘The Voice’ Schiavello - Life is one long lesson and I like to learn how I can improve my life, contribute more to society and basically become a better human being.
I once saw this slogan for Freemasonry that said “Making good men better” and I thought to myself I’m a good man but if there is something out there that says it can make me a better man I’m all for having a closer look at it. I attended some Freemason dinners and started reading up on the subject and it really intrigued me. The history, the symbology, the moral lessons for making a better life, the philanthropic endeavours of the organization all really appealed to me.
Going through the three degree was an amazing experience, especially the Entered Apprentice Degree (first degree). It was a night I will never forget. It was just mind blowing.
Unfortunately due to my schedule I don’t get to attend Lodge as much as I would like but whenever I am on the road I take my Freemasonry books with me and read and consume as much literature as I can to keep up my Masonic education.
Warriors Of MMA - You are known for your unique commentating style, energy, and one liners. With one liners such as “He’s taken more shots to the mouth than Belladonna”, and “He’s been mounted more times than Jenna Haze!”, which is your favourite line? Or maybe i should be asking which is your favourite porn star!?
Mike ‘The Voice’ Schiavello - Believe it or not I am not a big porn fan. It’s like window shopping. Looking but not touching? Forget that. I want to buy the shop! That said the funniest porno I ever saw was called Black vs Asians and it was these black men with huge members banging this little Asian women. Funniest thing was that it was commentated! They had a black man and an Asian man commentating and the black guy was like “Oh look at his monster cock, that’s a fucking huge cock…” and the Asian man would chime in with this thick Asian accent and say “Oh no! He not human! He too big! He going to break her in half! He cock too big!” Just so fucking funny!
As for the one liners… I don’t know which is my favourite. The Jenna Haze one was probably the most memorable. I dropped that during DREAM 10. The timing was just perfect!
Warriors Of MMA - Thankyou for your time. Would you like to give a shout out to anybody, or any websites etc?
Mike ‘The Voice’ Schiavello - Thank you for interviewing me! Follow me on twitter @SchiavelloVOICE or add me on facebook and please make sure you check out the HDNet schedule at hdnetfights.com and keep it locked on Hdnet. All of us at HDNet from myself and El Guapo to Mark Cuban himself all the way to the chicks who do the closed captions have an intense passion for the fight game and delivering the best broadcasts in the world. Keep supporting HDNet and we will keep entertaining you!
