Tyrone Spong, called the King of the Ring, is one of the hottest names in fight sports today. A stunning knockout of Remy Bonjasky at GLORY 5 in London, England was his way of declaring himself to be a serious contender for the heavyweight crown.
At 27 years old Spong is entering his physical prime, yet already has a decade of experience under his belt because he started fighting at a young age. He is on his way to becoming one of the breakout stars of the Glory World Series and also wants to make his mark in two other combat disciplines, MMA and professional boxing.
Spong says that his desire to fight in different disciplines comes from wanting to test himself and face tough challenges, rather than any financial motivation. There is such demand for his services that recently Spong was forced to choose between taking part in the GLORY 9 NEW YORK event or fighting under MMA rules in the World Series of Fighting.
Spong elected to take part in GLORY 9 and will be entering the light-heavyweight tournament, an eight-man single-elimination competition in which the winner will have fought three times in one night. The heavy-hitting contender is looking forward to the challenge, as he explained to Fabrice Deters on returning to Florida and his Blackzilians teammates.
Tyrone, welcome back! How are you doing?Â
Thanks! It's good to be back in Florida. I'm happy to be back with my second family, the Blackzilians.
It has been some weeks since your huge knockout win over Remy Bonjasky at GLORY 5. How do you feel now when you look back on it?
It was a great experience. I was very happy to make my debut for GLORY and show the world I'm one of the best heavyweights out there. Beating a legend such as Remy Bonjasky is a great achievement but I was very confident that I would beat him and be the first one to knock him out.
Tell us how you prepared for that fight…
It went great. I have a great team and facility here in Boca Raton, at the Blackzilians. It was great to work with such a talented roster of fighters. I had so many people involved in my training - Rashad Evans, Vitor Belfort, Coaches Henri Hooft, Roberto Flamingo and Pedro Diaz and many more.
There were some things that didn't go as planned… but that's something you will see in my documentary, "King of the Ring II".
The rumor mill was very active recently, a lot of talk that you were going to headline both GLORY 9 NEW YORK and the World Series of Fighting show. The events being only week apart, that seemed unlikely. So can you clear up for us where you will be fighting and when?
I'm happy you asked this question as I heard a lot of rumors so let me set the record straight and tell you what really happened.
Many people know that one of my ambitions is to fight MMA, so when the WSOF approached me for a second fight I told them verbally that I would love to fight for them after my GLORY fight with Remy Bonjasky, as there were no fights planned after that fight.
The promotion then announced that I was fighting for WSOF in June, which I had no problem with. Around the same time GLORY approached me to fight for their event in New York. It was to take place a week after WSOF and I would be fighting at heavyweight. I love to fight, I would fight every week if I could, so I said ‘OK’.
WSOF announced my fight for them. Days later, GLORY announced my fight for them, which made WSOF upset. I can understand that but at that time I hadn’t signed a bout agreement yet with either league.
Truth be told I did give WSOF my promise first and I really wanted to keep my promise to both. Now, during this whole thing I was also waiting on my US visa renewal. This time, it took a lot longer to get my visa than last time and I have to have the visa or I cannot fight for anyone in the US. I can tell you the US authorities are very strict these days and that process can take a while.
Since the visa was taking so long, it made it so that I didn’t have time for a full MMA-fight training camp. Because MMA is a new sport for me, I need a full camp. I didn't train MMA since January because of my fight in March with GLORY.
So we decided to cancel the WSOF fight as there was no clear idea when I could travel back to Florida and training for an MMA fight in Holland is not an option. All my coaches and training partners are in the United States.
On the other hand, GLORY still wanted me to fight for their promotion and although kickboxing is second nature to me, and Holland has all the facilities to train for such a match, we still weren't very happy with the situation.
It is hard to just start training with another coach and team of people. Without my wife cooking for me and with me not in training, I was not at a good starting weight to fight heavyweight. So we also told GLORY I couldn't fight; It wasn't smart to fight a big heavyweight without getting heavier. I lost a lot of weight from not training when I was in Holland.
GLORY was very understanding about the situation and very cooperative. They still wanted me to fight in the States as that's my new home. The owner of GLORY is a real good man; when we talked, the idea came to have me fight in the tournament at 209lbs instead of heavyweight.
For me it was much easier to make the cut as I'm only a couple of pounds over, instead of bulking up over a six weeks camp. So now we found a solution where all parties are happy with; I'm going to fight in an eight-Man tournament at 209lbs.
So you would rather fight in a tournament with the possibility of fighting three times in one-night instead of one superfight at heavyweight? Forgive me but that doesn't sound logical!
Well, if you look it that way you are right but please keep in mind that my motivation comes from challenges. GLORY invests money in me as a big fighter for them and I can't choose my opponents. But risking my heavyweight winning streak by fighting a much heavier, unknown fighter is not something I can motivate myself to do.
I'm currently ranked number 4 in the promotion so if I'm going to fight heavyweight I want to look up and fight guys like Schilt, Saki or Ghita; they are the fighters to beat to become number one. So when you talk to a promotion you have to work out a deal where everybody is happy. Having me fight at light-heavyweight as a superfight is not interesting for the promotion as all the big names are in the tournament.
The main focus for the New York event is the light heavyweight tournament. So to be part of their first event in the States and win a GLORY tournament by beating three top-ranked fighters only proves to the world that I'm the best striker and that I have the ability to become champion in two weight classes. That's just the motivation I need to train hard and become champion.
What do you expect from the tournament? There are some real big names fighting in the tournament - Danyo Ilunga, who was champion of Its Showtime, top prospect Filip Verlinden, veteran Mourad Bouzidi, multi-time Muay Thai world champion Steve McKinnon and knockout machine Michael Duut are just a few...
Just like I said before, it's going to be very tough; in a tournament anything can happen. The fighters you mentioned have a lot of experience and are ranked Top Five. Verlinden and Bouzidi both were in the GLORY heavyweight tournament and did very well. Verlinden almost won against Bonjaksy but lost by decision and Bouzidi beat Aerts in the first round so that tells its own story.
Don't forget, current light-heavyweight #1 Ilunga also trains with Bonjaksy so it's going to be a very interesting tournament. But I love challenges and I really believe in myself. I believe that when I have the proper camp I am the best in the world.
After the tournament are you going to focus on light-heavyweight or heavyweight?
I have been in the game so long that I only want fights that make sense and we all know that if you want to call yourself the best striker in the world you have to beat the number one heavyweight champion.
So I would love to fight Semmy Schilt and see if I can beat him, but I realize also that a lot of fans are asking for a fight with me against Saki. We have improved a lot and our styles will match very well so I understand that's a very big fight, so let's see as long the challenge is there, I'm willing to take it.
How about WSOF, are you going still to fight for them?
I will fight for them for sure but sometimes there are situations which you can't control, I'm very happy they understand my situation and it was an unfortunate turn of events. They were very understanding. They are all very nice and I will fight in August for them, I believe.
You mentioned you are going to release a documentary. When will the documentary be released and can you tell us a little bit about it?
Yes, sure. Eldar Gross, the man behind ‘The Reem’ series, followed me last year when I fought Aerts and I got great feedback and response from my fans, so I wanted him to follow me again for the Bonjasky fight, which he did.
So he came to Florida for a couple of days and joined me in London and followed me during my training camp and stayed at my place in Florida. I think he will release it in two weeks or so. My guess would be the first week of June so there is just enough time to help Glory promote the New York event (laughs).
What's your planning at the moment, you are back in Florida a couple of weeks and how's training going?
I've only been back a couple of weeks and already in full training mode so it's; train, eat and sleep. Not the most exciting lifestyle but you have to sacrifice certain things to achieve greatness.
What is the best part of being back in Florida?Â
It just feels like home. My wife, children and my team are all now based in Florida so being back feels like homecoming. It's good to have a team behind you and without them it’s hard to train and be happy. Furthermore, my management is also a big part of my success as Glenn Robinson - Blackzilians owner and manager - has helped me feeling at home in Florida and I'm very thankful of all the support I'm getting. I’m proud to be a Blackzilian.
GWS SITE: For more information on Tyrone Spong and The Blackzilians fight team, visit www.blackzilians.com