Between The Ropes
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
ESPN Florida AM 1080 and AM 1060
Simulcast online at BetweenTheRopes.com

On Tuesday night, July 1, Frank Trigg joined hosts Brian Fritz, Dickerman, and Vito DeNucci live on Between The Ropes on ESPN Florida AM 1080 and AM 1060 to discuss his future in MMA, the reaction of other fighters to his involvement in pro wrestling, how he got the nickname ‘Twinkle Toes,” and much more.

The conversation kicked off with Frank being asked how an MMA fighter and all round tough guy like himself wound up with the nickname “Twinkle Toes.” Frank said he got it because he paints his toe nails and he had a fan over in Japan who didn’t know his name, but said “I like the guy with the painted toes. My manager heard it and that was the end of it.”

Next Frank was asked about what motivates him to get into the variety of things he does in addition to fighting, such as television and professional wrestling. “I’m a bit of an attention whore. I love being in front of a camera. Whether it’s as an actor, commentator, wrestler, or fighter I just loving being in front of that little lens.”

The guys followed up on that topic by asking Frank how other mixed martial artists reacted to his recent involvement with TNA professional wrestling.

“I train over at Xtreme Couture’s here in Las Vegas and my son and I went in there yesterday to go hit mitts with my boxing coach Ron Frazier and a lot of the guys were picking on me and teasing me when I went in. But they’ve also got a mutual respect because they realize how you get paid in between fights. You get paid the night that you fight,…but if you don’t have something else that you do in between how are you making your money?…A lot of these guys know that for me this is another extension of what I want to do.” Frank then went on to say that at 36 years old and grew up a wrestling fan and wanting to be a part of it.

Regarding how challenging his pro wrestling training has been Frank said it has been “a lot harder than I ever imagined it could possibly be.” Frank then said that he found the mental aspect of the pro wrestling training to be far more challenging than the physical. Frank also admitted that he would love to do an actual match, but said that it would be up to the TNA management.

As a friend and now co-worker of Kurt Angle’s Trigg addressed whether or not he thinks Kurt will ever actually fight in MMA. “His body is pretty banged up, but I do think that if he really wanted to dedicate himself and get the time off from pro wrestling…and get together a good training camp there in Pittsburgh, then he could make it happen.” Frank then said that he thinks if Kurt did go into MMA it would only add new injures and that “as his friend I try and talk him out of it, which is one of the flaws that makes him want to do it more and more.”

Turning back to Frank’s mixed martial arts career, he was asked what he thought about Matt Hughes and Georges St. Pierre since he has fought them both. Frank said that he thinks GSP is the next Matt Hughes, meaning that he sees GSP going on a long title run where he dominates his weight division. Frank then said Hughes was the strongest guy, pound for pound, that he had ever faced, something he referred to as “retard farm strength.”

On his future within MMA Frank said he feels that his body has about 2 years left as a fighter. Within these two years he said he hopes to take on Robby Lawler again in a rematch from about a year ago. He also said that he’s in talks with Affliction to be the lead commentator on their July 19th show.

The interview concluded with Frank talking about some of the challenges MMA fighters face in training for pro wrestling. “In the time that you train to become a professional wrestler you’ve really got to get rid of your ego as an MMA fighter. You can’t sit there and go ‘wow, this is a guy that I could really slap around right now and snap his neck.’ I have to sit there and take it from him and learn from this guy that I could beat up because he knows pro wrestling better than I do…It’s tough for a lot of guys to let that ego go and admit ‘I suck, I’m absolutely freaking horrible, I have no idea what I’m doing, please teach me.’ I’m lucky because Scott D’Amore (Frank’s pro wrestling trainer) worked with Dan Severn while he was still doing the UFC. So Scotty is the perfect guy because he gets the fact that I’m egotistical and I do feel a little uncomfortable learning this new stuff. He talks me through it and gets be through it so that at the end of a session I’m like ‘this is fun, because now I know what the hell I’m doing.’”

To listen to the entire Frank Trigg interview including the chances of him wrestling over in Japan, his thoughts on whether MMA or pro wrestling is harder on the body, as well as the entire July 1 edition of Between The Ropes in streaming audio, visit the show online at http://www.BetweenTheRopes.com. In addition to listening to this week’s show you can become a site member and access hundreds of previous Between The Ropes shows and interviews. Join us for Between The Ropes for two hours every Tuesday night at 6:00pm ET on ESPN Florida AM 1080 and AM 1060 and worldwide on BetweenTheRopes.com.