Part #1 of 3, Sit Down Interview From Oakland, CA

Some background info on this MMA Legend (First Striker to dominate in MMA)

Maurice's MMA record is 11 - 9 with 6 KO's, 2 Submissions

Also is a former UFC Heavyweight Champion....

Today Maurice works as the head coach for the IFL's Tiger Sharks

• Pro kick boxing record :75 Fights 62 Wins (45 KO's), 9 Loses, 4 Draws
• WKC Light-Heavyweight World Champion
• WKA World Kick boxing Heavyweight Champion
• ISKA World [Muay Thai] Heavyweight Champion

13thround: OK Maurice, lets start off with, How did you get involved with the IFL? Why did you want to coach the Tiger Sharks?

Maurice: They had four coach's they were going to use, Randy Couture, Renzo Gracie, Bas Rutton and Pat Miletich at first.

Randy could not do it (he was already under contract and could not do it) so I got bumped into the first four coach's.

They had already called me about doing it but I basically just got bumped up. The main reason I got involved with the Tiger Sharks, They sold me on the fact that they were looking out for the fighters, offering the fighters a salary, Injury insurance and so on..

I have seen first hand that they (The IFL) stand behind their fighters and keep their word, they also offered me a good deal as well but that was secondary, that did not even come up until later in the conversation.

13thround: I have spoken with a few IFL fighters and they all like the fact that they are getting a salary, compared to a lot of boxers who are getting paid per fight. What are your thoughts on the ILF's payment format for the fighters? It seems to be working great, can this type of format transfer to boxing as well?

Maurice: Yes, I wish that boxing and kick boxing would follow suit, this is already working for the IFL. Look at "The Contenders" that was a huge hit, we are a team based sport and so far it's working great, the IFL has the sponsors and everybody else should follow suit; The Contenders got the right idea, now they should have something like that for the top 10 ranked fighters in the world or maybe the top 20.

13thround: Maurice can you tell me some of your thoughts on how the IFL's format as a whole could transfer in to other fighting sports like boxing, kick boxing, wrestling and so on? Also could you give our readers some insight into how the IFL actually works?

Maurice: Sure, I think the thing for boxing is to follow the Contenders, Make it more reality, it's all about TV. Just look at how well known these guys are, they are more known than the top ten ranked fighters. Boxing as a whole should follow suit with our model and then the contenders model and start something similar for boxing, and so on.

They (boxing) are not doing like they were, now look at MMA, who would of thought it would become this big.

I'll tell you how the IFL works, The fighters have a salary, insurance, a show fee, win fee, KO bonus, "fight of the night" bonus, Brave Heart and team bonus'. Again I want to stress I have been in this business for more than 26 years, this (the IFL) is doing great I really think boxing should follow suit, we are going in the right direction.

More will be posted from this interview shortly, please stay tuned...

Here is some more general info about Maurice Smith:

Maurice began studying Martial Arts at age 13

Was a world champion kick boxer for more than 9 years

Won the UFC Heavyweight Title, July 27, 1997