Interview: Andy “The Little Axe” Ogle

Fuck predictions but what I will say is I will walk out smiling.

Newcastle‘s Andy Ogle will look to end his current-losing streak in the UFC as he takes on the debuting Makwan Amirkhani on January 24th in Stockholm, Sweden. I caught up with ‘The Little Axe’ this past Friday to discuss everything from his next opponent, Jon Jones’ recent antics and brain damage. 

So first things first keeping it topical, what do you think of this whole Jon Jones fiasco?

I’m just a small man in the company you know but just from whole role model perspective, it’s bad. Is it a performance-enhancing drug? No. Does it make anyone in a sporting position less desirable? Yes. If he were working 9-5 job and they asked for a drug test and they found cocaine in his system would he get fired? Yes. They’re all facts, I’m just blatantly pointing out facts. Is he a role model? Yes. Does MMA already have a bad name in parts of Europe and around the world? Yes. It’s not good. It was before the fight camp so it shouldn’t have actually had an effect on his actual camp and even if he was a drug addict on cocaine all the time then fucking well done, he beat Daniel Cormier whilst he was on drugs. If he was a coke head then fuck me he done well with it, that shit will fuck your training up. Maybe the rehab is a publicity thing but there is no such thing as bad publicity. Everyone’s talking about CM Punk. Everyone wants to watch CM Punk fight. It’s going to be on the PPV, its going be on the main card, you’re going fucking pay for it, the UFC are going get loaded and we’re going to see who’s really fucking laughing.

Now focusing on you. You haven’t competed since May, is there any particular reason why?

There’s two ways of looking at this. Firstly I was bottom of the shelf and they didn’t see where I was going to fit in. Two they fucking like me and they’re giving me time to develop. I’ve made some changes, I came out to Sacramento and I’ve been training with Team Alpha Male. They must like me because they’ve given me another chance, I’ve been given time to develop.

That leads into my next question, the majority of fighters who suffer three consecutive defeats in the UFC usually receive their walking papers. Why do you think the matchmakers have given you an additional chance?

Let me return the question, have you ever seen me get my ass absolutely handled to me? You see that fucking guy Maxmio Blanco did; did you see what he did at the start of the first round? That would have finished any other man. Ask me about the first round? I couldn’t fucking tell you because I don’t fucking remember. I got kicked straight in the fucking lips and I don’t remember the rest of the round. The third round I was just absolutely fucked, I didn’t fucking want to be there but I did it. Sometimes it’s not the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog but fuck me. We went out there after a good fight camp and that kick in the lips knocked me down a peg or two, I was fucked. I don’t ever ask for rematches but he’ll get his comeuppance. There are so many featherweights in the division but his time will come.

Along with Nova Uniao, Team Alpha Male are regarded as the premiere camp for the smaller fighters. Obviously besides that attraction, is their anything specific that drew you to their camp?

I knew Urijah (Faber) and T.J. (Dillashaw) and I knew needed to come out and train but it was my girlfriend Kerri who gave me the push. She told me “you need to be with guys that are higher above you, champs like T.J., guys who are lower than you and guys who’re where you’re at like (Andre) Fili. That’s what you need”. Alpha Male has got so many different looks in the gym. My brains always working, there’s always a different obstacle. Everybody strikes and everybody rolls in a different style, different manner, different rhythm, orthodox, southpaw and everything. It’s always different.

Has your entire camp been spent in Sacramento?

Yes, I’ve been out here since the start of June.

And what about your relationship with Team Kaobon, will you still train with them when you’re back home?

I’m thinking short-term right now; I don’t exactly know where my life’s leading. I’m being a maverick. For the first time in my life I’m letting go, I’m not making plans and I’m enjoying my life. Fuck predictions but what I will say is I will walk out smiling. I’ve put in everything, everything I’ve got. The only thing I can guarantee I’m going to walk out to the cage smiling and I’m going to walk out of the cage smiling. Life’s short you know, I’m doing what I love and I haven’t been loving it for a little while and it’s time to start loving it again.

What do you know about your opponent ‘Mr Finland’ Makwan Amirkhani?

He’s a southpaw, he likes to lead with a lot of winging hooks and he doesn’t throw too many kicks. If you hit him he’ll go back straight and after one, two or three he’ll stop. People will throw three stop and then let him throw and let him do his thing. I’m going have to fake, bounce back, come back in and work my combos. He doesn’t set up his shots too well either; he tends to lunge a lot. He’s got long arms and quite long legs and he seems quite strong and very fast in scrambles. He seems a very scrambley kind of fighter. But you know what? Fuck it, its a fight. He has been a hammer a lot of times but he hasn’t been the nail, I’ve been the nail. Thank you to Charles (Oliveira), I really enjoyed that fight and I’d love to have another one like that. You learn more from your losses than you do your wins and I’m going give this guy a learning lesson, I’m going to make him learn.

Keeping on the subject of your opponent, what specific advantages do you see yourself having in the bout?

He’s walking on grass he’s never walked on before. I’ve been in the UFC; I’ve been in that octagon. People say it’s the same cage as every other cage but it’s far from it. Once that cage door locks the pressure is real. Plus the guys train with. I trained with TJ for his fights; I tried to be (Jose) Aldo for Chad (Mendes), being a Thai boxer throwing left hooks and smashing in low kicks. I’ve helped Danny (Castillo) for his last two fights, Faber and Fili too. Fuck man, I’ve been through six fucking fighting camps already. 

What’re your thoughts towards the elephant in the room, brain trauma in MMA?

When (Martin) Kampmann came in as a replacement for Duane (Ludwig) he asked me: “When have you rested?” and I was like: “What do you mean?” He was like: “When have you rested? You’ve helped all these guys with their training camps but you need to look after your brain. I’ve got a contract with UFC, $50k to show and $50k to win, there are three fights on there and I can’t fulfill it because of head injuries.” I’m not an idiot but I never thought or contemplated about my brain and brain recovery. I feel like if you write for a fight magazine everyone wants to know what colour is in this season. Oh I really like blue tight shorts. I really like Fairtex gloves. I really like Hayabusa. I don’t give a shit about all that stuff that’s in the fight magazines. There’s something serious going on behind the scenes and people aren’t talking about it and that’s brains.

Joe Rogan recently brought it to light on a podcast with Brendan Schaub, I’m sure you’ve seen it.

Yeah I’ve seen it. He went about it in a horrible way but yeah, it’s real. (Chris) Holdsworth has been out for a little while. He had a concussion, went into another fight and got a concussion on his concussion. It’s called secondary impact syndrome, it’s like a double concussion. That can be fatal but we don’t talk about it. I’m trying to be intelligent now. I’m trying to use my brain. We don’t get paid to smash each other in the face in gym. The sparring days are few and far between now. I’ve showed that I’m fucking tough, I’ve showed I can take a punch and a kick to the lips. It doesn’t need to be done behind closed doors with nobody seeing. Sometimes we could sell tickets to the gym, you could come watch us spar in the gym but that’s few and far between now. I’ve learned I’ve got to really look after my brain. I’m only 25 and I’ve got think about what I want to do after I’m done with the sport.

Obviously you should never look past your opponent and I know you’ve hinted about re-matching Maximo Blanco, but do you have an opponent in mind if you leave Sweden with a victory?

All I want is people to see me and be like ‘Oh, that’s Andy Ogle!’ I’m an entertainer and I feel like I’ve been forgotten a tad and I don’t like it. I know I’m not the latest flavour. I’m not a pair Nike compression shorts that everyone fucking wants in every different colour. I’m your old faithful. I’m the pair of shorts you love to wear to the gym every fucking day. The fans that I’ve got will be there through thick and thin. I don’t mind who jumps back on the bandwagon after I beat this kid, I don’t give a fuck because I’ve got the old faithful ones. I’ll fight any motherfucker. After my fight there’s an interesting fight happening, Diego Brandao is fighting Jimy Hettes and I wouldn’t mind taking on the winner. Another one would be Mike Wilkinson; I don’t like what he had to say. I said to Ross (Pearson) after his fight: “I thought you looked great until you got clipped”, and I also said something to Al (Iaquinta) and this fucking Mike Wilkinson turned around and said: “How dare you, Ross is from your home country, he is from your area”, implying I was supporting the enemy kind of thing. I was like bro you’re fucking starting a fight with someone who’s 0-3 in their last three, you won your last fight. You should be trying to climb that ladder. He’s a fucking punk, that’d be sweet knocking him down a peg or two. Charles Rosa’s too, he was saying who wants to fight in Boston, who’s #BostonReady, #922motherfucker and all that shit. I was like “Bro, I’ll dance” and he got all “Fucking dickhead” like I was slagging off his mother or something. I’m sitting on the shelf right now collecting dust and all I want to do is fight and he got all upset. This is business. This isn’t personal. I’d fight anyone.

For those who’re unaware you’re currently hosting a contest whereby the winner gets to be your third corner-man for the Amirkhani fight. What inspired this?

What inspired that is I need to get some fucking money. I’m taking over Buccholz and Faber is getting a guest spot with the UFC. We’ve got one more spot and we thought why not, lets throw that out there. Its marketing, it gets people talking. Maybe other people will think about doing something like this afterwards. Maybe put it on eBay or something. If I’m honest I should have probably put it on eBay.

Lastly, what’re your predictions on the main event? Gustafsson or Rumble and how?

This one’s tough because I thought Gustafsson beat Jon Jones but to be the champion you got to truly beat the champion, like what T.J. did to (Renan) Barao. Johnson’s a beast and yeah Gustafsson should have won the title but Anthony Johnson would have taken it from Jones’ hands no matter what. He’s a fucking animal and he doesn’t fuck about. 

 Andy thank you very much for your time, it’s been a pleasure and best of luck in Sweden.