McKenzie Says He's Ready For FW Debut
Posted on 05 Jul 2012
by MMAScoops.com Staff

Cody McKenzie recently spoke with MMAjunkie about his fight this weekend with Chad Mendes, which is his debut at featherweight. Check out the highlights:

On being inspired by a street billboard: "I saw this cool little drawing of (Street Fighter character) Ryu when I was walking down the road, and it said something like, 'Quit your job, something or another, train every day, and live free' or some [expletive]. I really like that because that's how I've been for the last eight years of my life. I'd go commercial fish to make money and then come back and fight. Go make a little money and come back and blow it all fighting. Whenever I got credit, I'd go into debt for martial arts and fighting. I've never really had any possessions and still really don't have any possessions. I spend all my money on training and living life."

On being friendly with Mendes: "We never had no problems. "We weren't best of friends or anything. We've never went on trips together or hung out. When we ran into each other, we were always civil and shook hands and [expletive]. But once you sign that piece of paper to fight me, our friendship goes right out the window. It is a fight. A lot of these guys are out there touching gloves, shaking hands, hugging, kissing babies. Not me. I'm not going to do that. I don't get why they do that. To me it's not a sport; it's a fight. Nobody plays boxing, and nobody plays MMA. This isn't a sport. It's called Ultimate Fighting Championship. Yeah, you go in there with a game plan, but it's a fight once you're in there. All that game-planning goes right out the window once you sign that piece of paper."

On the fight being a tough test for him: "(For) this fight I did a lot of grappling because I know Mendes will want to get it to the ground. This fight the game plan is pretty obvious. We've all seen want Mendes likes to do, and we've all seen how I fight. I come right at you, and he likes to kind of pin guys."

On both fighters being fans of the guillotine choke: "I always grab that neck, especially with all the wrestlers in the sport trying to come in and hold me down and pin me."

On switching weight classes: "I'm a UFC fighter, so I'll fight at any weight. I'm a money-weight fighter. If they're giving me money, I'll fight anybody. My brother is a foot taller and 40 pounds heavier, and I grew up fighting him, so weight only changes the fight with the strategy. A real martial artist knows that, but a lot of these guys are wrestlers, so they're trying to cut as much weight as they can. I'll fight wherever, but they wanted me down to 145 I think. I do what the bosses say. I was cutting weight, but I enjoy fighting at 155 or even 170. I'm pretty tall, so I can put weight on pretty easy and take it off. It's not a big deal, just kind of a pain in the ass."

On his recent lifestyle changes: "I don't watch TV anymore. Any free time I'll try to read more books I like to draw a lot, study art. I've always been in to art. That's why I think I was drawn to martial arts."

On Lyle Beerbohm coaching him: "He never really looks at himself as a coach, but once I look back, I've never lost a fight when he coached me. He doesn't want anything from me. He makes his own money. He's always done everything for me. The fights that I've lost are all because I thought I could do it on my own without him. I really need that guy. I never really considered him a coach until just this fight. I give him credit for all us guys coming out of Spokane, Wash. There's a lot of tough guys out there who haven't even been recognized yet but will be."

On his summer vacation: "I definitely want to go up to Alaska. I heard somebody might need a deck hand, so I might be up there for the summer."