"THE TEAM" VOLUME.3 Team Quest/USA (Part.4)

When you're in the ring, fighting is a one-on-one competition. If you want to become truly strong, though, you can't do it all on your own. The support of the fans and support from corner men, trainers and friends becomes an important source of strength. In short, the fighter needs the team, and the team needs the fighter. In this series, PRIDE Fighting Championship puts the spotlight on the "team" and tries to find out the secret behind true strength. In this edition, we speak to Team Quest leader Ryan Parsons, the man who created such famous fighters as Dan Henderson and Sokoudjou.

What kind of person is Dan Henderson outside of the ring?

Parsons: Dan is the most even keeled guy you'll ever meet. I think that's one reason why he's so successful in competition. He's been competing since he was five, something that he's always known, always done. Got amazing control of his emotional state, so if he gets in a bad situation in a fight or he gets injured, he handles it better than almost anybody. It's just his makeup, it's sort of a natural thing for him. He's also got more heart than anyone in his fight game.

What is Dan's approach to coaching his students? How is Dan Henderson the coach different than Dan Henderson the fighter?

Parsons: That's an interesting question. Dan cares a lot about the guys around him. He's not one to go out and express that like some other people do, but he really cares about the guys underneath him, which is a necessity. To have a real team you have to have people who are willing to pick the slack up. Dan's willing to come in and work one-on-one with guys. He's good at explaining stuff. His technique is phenomenal; he's got an interesting take on things. He's probably not as intense when he coaches as when he fights. Dan never wavers too much. You see him in the ring; all of a sudden he's an animal. He gets out of there and he's right back to being where he is.

Why do you think Dan was able to win against Wanderlei Silva?

Parsons: I think there were a couple of factors. Number one is that we had a lot of adversity coming into this fight. He got really sick over New Year's Eve. He was sick for a month, then it turned to bronchitis, and he was just a mess. Then he had a very minor ankle surgery. They left some sutures in that got infected. He sprained his other ankle. He had all these things happen. I was worried for 80% of the training camp. And then all of a sudden he started to come on, and in the final three weeks before the fight, in the gym he was just a terror. Nobody could do a thing to him, and he had that confidence about him. So as soon as we hit that point, I started to feel pretty good about it. We've talked about [a Wanderlei rematch] since the first match.

Dan is not big on rematches, but this is the one that he's always wanted. I think a lot of it had to do with Wanderlei holding the belt. But the other thing is that [for the first match] we didn't have a clue who Wanderlei was. I asked "who you fighting" he said, "ah some Brazilian guy that Tito [Ortiz] beat." Great. At that time, that's who Wanderlei was. During the fight in the first round, there's a moment where Dan smiled. As soon as I saw that, I felt good. I knew that in Dan's mind, the fight was over, and it was just a matter of time. And he smiled a couple more times. He followed the game plan perfectly. When Dan moves forward, there are very few people who can deal with that pressure. He's not an imposing guy, but he creates just this scary pressure when he's moving forward, and that's exactly what he did.

How do you think he's going to approach defending two titles now?

Parsons: He's got a lot in front of him right now. He's got two belts to defend. But there's the guy you put in a situation where there's adversity in front of him, and Dan's your go-to guy every time. Whether it's the Rings "King of Kings" tournament where he fought three heavyweights in one night or whatever, he operates best under these circumstances, where who knows how he's going to pull it off. If something's too easy, he just doesn't get geared up for it. So he's got a big challenge in front of him. I'd like to see him have three belts too. We'll see how Matt [Lindland] does against Fedor. I've told Dan for years I want him to fight Fedor. I think his style matches up well with him.

Would he bulk up?

Parsons: His weight hasn't changed in the past 15 years. I don't think he'd come in too much heavier. One of the things that Randy and Dan's careers are known for is being the underdog and coming through. And Matt, for that matter, has proven he's willing to take seemingly uphill battles, against the likes of Quinton Jackson and Fedor Emilianenko. It seems Team Quest has an ongoing theme of guys who come through in the clutch, who like their back up against the wall. I think a lot of that comes from amateur wrestling. In a college wrestling room, it's about as nasty a place as you're ever going to find. The workouts in a college wrestling room are insane. We have hard practices here, but I don't think theyre as hard as in a Division I. These guys have been doing this for years and years and years, so you get a certain toughness that's very hard to teach somebody. Some people naturally have it. Randy met Dan and they were the toughest guys on the planet. On top of that, they had this training for most of their careers. All of a sudden, you put them in this situation where they were faced with adversity; their natural reaction is to step up. They're not going to shy away.

PRIDE is coming up on their 10-year anniversary. What are your thoughts on the past 10 years?

Parsons: What an accomplishment for PRIDE - to stick around for ten years. I still think they're the best organization in the planet. Look at their history; the shows that they've put on; the fighters that they have. A PRIDE event is like nothing else and they've proved that in Vegas and they've been proving that in Japan for nine and a half years. The people who haven't been to a PRIDE event just don't know what they're missing. It's just that amazing. We've been with PRIDE for seven years, so we've had the chance to get to know everybody and build such a good strong relationship; we've got a ton of respect for everybody there. We're grateful that they've given Dan a place to be for the past seven years and we're looking forward to creating some more memories in the future.
 

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