© Marc Wickert
www.knucklepit.com

13 Dec. 2006

Toronto Dragons light-heavyweight star, Brent Beauparlant, is preparing to go training after playing with son Krieger between sessions.

"Tonight I'll be working the Thai pads, and a drill where people try to punch and kick me and I try to take them down. This morning was wrestling techniques and jiu jitsu," says Beauparlant.

I'm about to ask Brent MMA-related questions, but obviously all this training leading up to the IFL World Championship Final in Connecticut on December 29 has sharpened his reflexes, and Brent beats me to the punch.

"Hey, I've got one hero, and you know what his name is?"

No.

"Chopper."

Chopper Read?

"Yeah. Have you ever watched the movie? It is the ultimate movie: I bought the DVD. It's awesome. Do you remember the scene where he head-butts the mother in the bathroom? It's kind of a cult classic here in Canada: Everybody that I get to watch it, they're like, 'Oh, my God – we have to go to Australia.'"

So you reckon I should see if he's up for an interview?

"You know it, man. That guy's for real. He's the best thing to come out of Australia besides Dame Edna."

Getting back on track now, with December 29 fast approaching, Brent is gearing up for his bout with Pitbull, Andre Gusmao. But Beauparlant says he's been experiencing some setbacks partly due to the festive season also fast approaching.

"This close to Christmas, you set up your training and people back out. It's the one disadvantage of being with a smaller team, so it's been quite a comedy of errors. And it's been hard getting some consistent training in. But the big weakness with my last fight was my cardio, so I've just been biking or running in the mornings and biking or running at night – my cardio is up, and my fat is down, which is always good.

"What else are you going to do? That's fighting. I was stressed out for a bit, but my wife told me, 'You know, it's the same with every club you've been with.' And it's true – around Christmas things happen. Not everybody's a professional fighter. You have to train through it – it's part of the game."

Being totally professional is something Brent has always been. And he learnt not to take anything for granted in this game when he was in Brazil, as a spectator at Storm Samurai: "My friend Luis Azeredo was supposed to fight a capoeira guy, and everybody was laughing, telling Luis he was going to have such an easy match. But those capoeira guys are all liars: They don't do capoeira. As soon as they fight, they all do Muay Thai. The dance routine goes out the window and they go straight into pure Muay Thai."

Brent, were you at Andre Gusmao's fight against Mike Ciesnolevicz?

"Yes, I was."

So you're aware of his game?

"Oh, yeah. And he's very aware of my game: There are not going to be any surprises."

Andre tried to submit Mike twice with 'the infamous guillotine' as you call it. Have you been practicing your defense against the hold?

"Just mentioning the guillotine sends me into convulsions because I have to practice it every night. Every night my friend slaps a guillotine on me… Basically I'm going to be guillotine-proof… 99.9% guillotine-proof."

Would you agree there seem to be similarities between you and Mike physically and technically?

"Yeah, we have a similar game."

When Andre fought Mike, he was regarded as the 'mystery man' against Mike. Now that Andre has fought in the IFL, will that benefit you?

"For sure. I've seen him fight and I know how he fights now. There are no surprises; no mystery."

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