Dan Severn Talks Changes He'd Make To Pro Wrestling & UFC, His 100th MMA Fight, More
WrestleShark.com recently interviewed UFC Hall of Famer and former WWE Star Dan "The Beast" Severn. The full interview can be found on iTunes or by searching WrestleShark in the iTunes store. Here are some highlights:
Celebrating his 100th MMA victory: "My most recent match was actually over in Davenport Iowa and I just chalked up my 101st victory. This is all based on the Internet, I've never checked how accurate my record was, but it could be down by as much as 15 to 25 matches. Just because, the record keeping wasn't very good in beginning of the no holds barred fighting... Sherdog.com, etc. didn't exist at that time, so there really was no great record keeping. Someday when I have more time and if I care enough, I might go back through my fights and add up the exact total."
The current MMA and pro-wrestling landscape: "Both areas are prospering well, you know you look at WWE today and it continues to show that with the proper marketing and storylines they are a very solvent company.
"Same with UFC, there is no other company that can rival the UFC, but there are a lot of other companies that are emerging. Across the U.S alone, on any given Friday night, there are hundreds of shows taking place. I live in the state of Michigan, and there are probably four or five different shows in my area alone. I predict it will have maybe three to five years more growth before it starts to? starts to taper off."
If he would change anything in the current UFC: "[Laughs] I think there's a few things that could possibly change that could affect the outcome of the matches, but it's their show, it's whatever they want to do to benefit their company.
"On the same note, I would like to see a few more companies emerge, just because competition is a good thing amongst companies: bottom line, who will benefit? The athletes will benefit. You know, the UFC is just a company and if it wasn't for having the athletes they have, they would not exist. I guess my point is that I would like to see the athletes taken care of more. And the UFC are doing a few things that take care of the athletes, they have a lot of athletes that are under contract and they have health benefits now, just over the last year, to 2011. A lot of them though, they don't have health benefits and if they get hurt that is their financial downfall. So I'm just glad to see there is more and more change taking place, the athletes are the ones taking the risk, they are providing the entertainment and if it wasn't for them, these companies would not exist in the first place."
What he would change in pro-wrestling: "Well [laughs] realistically, WWE is number one in the world hands down. But all professional wrestling companies could benefit more?they all have a creative team, coming up with storylines and things of that nature. Sometimes I feel that these? creative members, are living in a world of fantasy for so long they soon forget where does fantasy end and reality begin.
"Right now you have Brock Lesnar, who is coming in and showing the influence of MMA, who was an amateur wrestler, was a professional 'wrassler' and was a mixed martial artist and is now going back into pro-wrestling. So there will be some new elements that he'll be bringing into it. Personally, I prefer a stronger style, the Japanese shoot style they used to do. I prefer that as opposed to the theatrics that most professional wrestling companies show."