Photo credit via UFC.com
Anthony Perosh chronicles (2003 one night heavyweight tournament)
Anthony Perosh is a pioneer of MMA in Australia. He has competed at both light heavyweight, as well as heavyweight and is a UFC veteran.
In the first part of the Anthony Perosh chronicles, The Hippo discusses his mixed martial arts debut where he fought three men in a single night, heavyweight tournament.
Anthony Perosh
I was seeing you had some fights there towards the end of 2003 from what looks to be a one-night tournament.
So what was that first foray out there into MMA competition like?
“Yeah, that was my MMA debut. I think it was like the last eight-man tournament in one night that happened in Australia. So I thought oh I’ll give it a go. It was in a boxing ring and wasn’t in a cage. It was my debut, I had three matches in one night. I won all three.”
The introduction point to mixed martial arts for Perosh
“About 1995 was my first intro to BJJ. Much like many other people, only about a year before that was the first year of UFC. So back then it was just VHS tapes. A few VHS tapes people had of the UFC and different cage fighting shows. The martial arts, that’s what got me into BJJ. And I was always a BJJ competitor first. I guess for me being a competitor I wanted to test my skills in the MMA arena. So it was a natural progression.”
Methodology differences fighting three times in a one-night tournament vs fighting a sole opponent
“You can only take one match at a time. I remember quite vividly, just had to take one match at a time. My style of fighting I like to close the gap quickly and put them against the ropes or cage. Grind them down to the ground. You just have to take it one match at a time. Fortunate enough for me, each match I was able to win in the first round. So almost at the end of the night after my three matches, it was like having one three-round fight.”
