Dustin Hazelett: Using Psychology to Defeat Daley at UFC 108

“McLovin” Dustin Hazelett (15-4) is a fast rising star in the UFC and will be facing KO artist “Semtex” Paul Daley (19-9-2) at UFC 108 tonight. Dustin has made a name for himself by getting awarded three “Submission of the Night” honors coming by way of amazing set ups. Dustin joined myself and Gary Friedman live on MMA Gospel Radio to discuss this fight, his future in the sport and much more.

MMA Gospel Radio (MGR): We are excited to have you on the show. You are on of the biggest up and coming fighters right now. Everyone is talking about Dustin Hazelett. You earned your black belt under Jorge Gurgel, you have three submission of the night honors. People see you as a jiu jitsu guy. Tell me about your stand up game because I know you have been working on it.

Dustin Hazelett (DH): I have been working really hard on my stand up for a long time. I have been helped out a lot by my thai coach Dorian Price who is an excellent coach. Also he is built a lot like me so I can utilize alot of the same moves, tricks and tools that he uses. It has been a huge help. I have been looking forward to fighting since I have been working so hard on it for so long and putting so much hard work into it. I am looking forward to kind of showing it off.

MGR: We talked about your submission game. You are being touted as having one of the best submission games in MMA. How does it feel to be compared to guys like Demian Maia and Jacare?

DH: It is awesome to be compared to people like that because they are obviously so great at jiu jitsu and I really don’t think of myself like that so it is cool to see other people think of me like that.

MGR: I asked our previous guest Luke (Zachrich) a similar question, having earned your black belt under Jorge, I know it frustrates me, I know Jorge and it frustrates me watching him fight at times knowing he is going against his strong point. Is it frustrating for you as well?

DH: You mean to watch him stand there and brawl instead of using his jiu jitsu?

MGR: Exactly!

DH: (laugh) Yeah, it’s kind of frustrating but I have talked to him about it a couple times at length. He says he just has fun standing and MMA is one of those things that you can’t get into for the wrong reasons. You can’t get into it if you don’t love doing it. I am a firm believer in that and you should have fun doing it. If you have fun standing and brawling then I guess you should stand and brawl.

MGR: I guess so. Honestly, I scream at the TV when I watch Jorge fight sometimes.

DH: You and me both (laugh)

MGR: Getting back to you, you hold wins over Josh Burkman, Tamdan McCrory. Of those two who do you feel was the most difficult opponent for you?

DH: I would say Burkmann was the more difficult opponent for me. It is tough to say. I caught Tamdan off guard with that head kick and when we hit the ground I believe he was barely conscious so that made my job a lot easier catching the submission

MGR: I watched your fight with Josh Koscheck. I thought for sure you were going to take that fight, it looked like you got clipped on the back of ear. You were doing well with your distance in the fight, moving well. How important is it for you to get that fight again, I know it was a big fight for you.

DH: Obviously I would like a rematch with him but it is not one of my top priorities. I am looking no further than Paul Daley. That is my main priority and I am not looking past that right now

MGR: You mentioned Paul, he is your next opponent at UFC 108. Everyone knows Paul is a striker, the guy has heavy hands. They call him Semtex for a reason. I personally thought in his last fight with Martin (Kampmann) Martin made the mistake of not taking the fight to the ground. Can you scout Daley for us from what you have seen thus far?

DH: I think you pretty much summed it up. He is a great striker. I think his ground game is a weaker point.

MGR: I am looking forward to this fight but all the fans I talked to wanted you to fight Karo Paryisian in the jiu jitsu versus judo battle. Karo seemed to be disrespecting jiu jitsu a little bit. I know he has some personal issues but do you hold a grudge against him?

DH: No I don’t hold any grudges against him. Obviously the things he said about jiu jitsu and eating jiu jitsu guys for breakfast upset me but at the end of the day there are more important things than fighting and he has some of those to deal with. When I found out I was obviously very disappointed and shocked but I was not as upset as I thought I would be. It is fully because and believe in God’s plan. You never know when something like that is happening why it is happening but I believe that if you continue to have faith then good things will come out of it. Now I have this fight with Daley that is the co-main event so I think good things will come of it.

MGR: I have always been a fan Dustin and I guess I was screaming Dustin Hazelett before most knew who Dustin Hazelett was so I am looking forward to you getting to make your mark at UFC 108. My co -host Gary wanted to know what is more exhausting for you when training, striking or jiu jistu?

DH: I am starting to get more comfortable with my striking now so I am not getting as tired doing it now but in the past it had been the striking.

MGR: Let’s step away from fighting for a second. I know you used to be social networking sites like MySpace. It seems like you have dropped away from those. Is there a reason you have gotten away from them while so many fighters are using them to promote themselves these days?

DH: I am not a big fan of hyping up fights or anything like that. I am more of a shy person, not a people person. I have never been a people person, never been overly charismatic or good with large groups of people or anything. My whole life I have been the outcast, never talked to a lot of people and I kind of gotten used to that throughout the course of my life. Once I started getting a little famous everybody wanted to talk to me and it is very odd for me. I feel like all that stuff promoting the fights and stuff, all the smack talking I am firmly against. I feel your previous fights should hype up your next fight. If your last fights aren’t good enough to hype up the next fight then you should be put back on the  under card until you get more exciting fights. That is kind of where I stand on that. Basically all I do all day is train, play video games and read. That is about it.

MGR: One of the listeners in our live chat, Cageside Chat, wanted to know what kind of beard you would be rocking at UFC 108?

DH: I am not sure. I kind of wing it. I go by how I feel and right now I have the thick beard. I don’t strategically plan it out. MGR: So it is not part of your training camp to grow the beard out?

DH: No,actually a lot of times I end up having to trim it because it gets to long and starts getting caught and it is very unpleasant having pieces of your beard ripped out.

MGR: Not looking past Daley, where would you like to be in this sport in two years?

DH: The obvious answer to that would to be the champion, ultimately that is my goal. That is why I got in to this. If I did not believe I had what it took to be a champion then I probably wouldn’t be doing this because just fighting around and losing fights and never making it to the top doesn’t sound very appealing to me. I firmly believe I have the ability to become a champion someday so that is my goal.

MGR: My co-host Gary wanted to know, since you mentioned you like to read, what have you been reading recently?

DH: Recently I have been trying to read the bible cover to cover. I have always wanted to do it, I grew up in church and stuff and I am a christian. I have never actually read the bible cover to cover. I have read a lot of excerpts. Right now I am working on that and it is a massive undertaking. I still read other books on the side to take a break from it. Just today I was reading “As A Man Thinketh” I am really into psychology. I believe the stronger I can make my mind the better fighter I will be so I read a lot of psychology books.

MGR: IF you get a title shot what do you feel it would take to beat GSP? Do you see something you could exploit?

DH: I feel I match up better against St. Pierre than many of the fighters in the division right now because his wrestling is so good. The welterweight division is so wrestler heavy. There are a lot of great wrestlers like Koscheck, Fitch and that is to just name a couple. None of them can take him down and when they get put on their backs, most grapplers are better top guys. I am one of the better guys off their back with jiu jitsu in mma. I think that gives me a distinct advantage over the other challengers to the title, that is to be able to fight off my back.

MGR: I wish you the best of the luck. I am a big fan. Maybe you will get another sub of the night at UFC 108. Any sponsors you would like thank before we let you go?

DH: I would just really like to thank everybody at JG MMA Academy for helping me out. It is tough training through Christmas and the holidays. It is good to have the support of my team there. Also Ecko.