Whether it be from his early days as a Queensland, Australian and South Pacific Champion in traditional Ju-Jitsu, as Australia’s premier MMA fighter, as the leader and founder of RINGS Australia, or more recently, as the Performance Co-ordinator for the Brisbane Broncos.

Chris has been involved in Martial arts since birth, his father is Shihan Mark Haseman founder of Tokhon Ryu Ju-Jitsu.  This impressive lineage was destined to have an influence on the path that Chris took in his Martial Arts training.

Chris has fought and trained all over the world in a wide variety fighting styles and Martial Arts disciplines.  He has had over 50 international fights.  His opponents include names such as Fedor Emelianenko, Evan Tanner, Matt Hughes, Carlos Barreto, Murilo Bustamante, Jeremy Horn, Tsuyoshi Kohsaka and many others.  He has fought in the RINGS organization in Japan, Russia and America as well as in the UFC.  We was also runner-up to Mario Sperry in Australia’s first Caged Combat show in Sydney in 1997

Wayne had the opportunity to catch up with Chris recently after a session with the Brisbane Broncos at their clubhouse in Brisbane.

Chris, what have you been doing with yourself since the Mahood fight?
The fight with Mahood was April 2nd 2004, I try to forget that date (laughs), after that I went to Iraq in August 2004 to set up a Police training program for the National Iraq Police.  I finished up there in August 2007.  I then returned to Australian and met up with Broncos coach, Wayne Bennett, who offered me the job as full time Performance Coach with the Brisbane Broncos.

Chris, can you tell us about your background in Martial Arts and your transition into MMA?
My background is in Ju-Jitsu, I have been training since I was a junior.  My dad has taught Ju-Jitsu all my life and is still teaching today, it was something that I have been involved in all my life.  When I misbehaved, punishment was training five nights a week at the Police Youth Clubs.

Then from the early 90’s, I began challenging the art and travel around and compete in as many competitions and Martial Arts disciplines as I could.  I competed in Judo competitions, Koshiki Tournaments and anything else I could find.  This is one of the benefits of Ju-Jitsu, diversity and the ability to adapt to different situations.

I was then lucky enough to come across Bob Batwin, who was putting on a series of fights that I guess was similar to the concept of MMA, “Full Contact Spectacular”, I think it was called. He saw me fight and saw potential for me to fight in Japan.  It wasn’t long after that that he went to Japan to organise fights.  I signed a contract and the next thing I knew he called and said “pack your bags your off to Japan”. 

I rolled up in Japan, and I don’t think I had ever seen what we now call MMA before this point in time.  I had no idea, and basically that’s how I got started into MMA.

What influence has your dad, Mark, had on your career?
I always say it feels like I have lived such a blessed life, and I know that everything that I have ever done has been because of Ju-Jitsu. I can’t express enough what Ju-Jitsu has given be.  It has been better then any other skill, education or schooling that I have developed.  It has given me a real balance in life.  I look at life as a balance, I might be a fighter in a cage, but I also look at the other side of things, I make sure that I put back in my life.  Not life on just one side of it.  Ju-Jitsu has given me a lot of skill sets that are not just about fighting, but they have supported my way through life.  I got these through my Father and his Ju-jitsu teaching.

How did you balance your work and fighting in the early days?
I was very fortunate, I was working at one of the Jails when I first fought in Japan, but not long after that I started working at the Queensland Police Academy as a Physical Skills Instructor.  It was almost like a government sponsorship. My job was to wrestle recruits and run the fitness sessions. It was a typical day to wrestle over 40 recruits.

We had a good wrestling program happening at the academy.  Also all the other Physical Skills Instructors there had a good sporting background, there was Dave Wilkinson, who represented Australian at the Olympics in Judo, six times Mr Australia Greg Tottman and we also had national class runners and swimmers, it was a perfect environment to cross train.  The job provided me with the training and support to fight in Japan.

We worked a four day week, that is, four 10 hour days.  It wasn’t uncommon for me to fly to Japan on Friday morning fight Saturday night, fly home Sunday and return to work Monday, sometimes with 2 black eyes and no one would know the wiser.  I used to just sit there and think” wow, I just went to Japan, had a fight and came back”, life just went on back here.

I was very fortunate that I had a job the supported my fighting career, not just the fight, but all the in-between bits.  There was always ten people saying, “lets go for a swim, or a wrestle or a run or to the gym”, it was almost like “forced” training.

What influence has Bill “the Bear” Turner had on your life, both in and out of the ring?
No one has had more influence on me than my dad.  But Bill Turner definitely had a lot of influence on me.  He taught me what toughness was about, Dad taught me about diversity and pliability and how to overcome obstacles, but Bill was a person who taught me what tough is.  I always tell a story of how my brother Troy said, “I’ve got to take you to the Police Academy and meet this guy called Bill Turner”.  At this time I was the Australian and South Pacific Ju-Jitsu champion, I was thinking, “how good could this bloke be?”.  I rocked on down to the academy and I think I squealed for about an hour.  I rang Bill every single day from that day asking “can we train again”.  My life changed from then.  I would say that I would not have had the success in the journey that I have had without Bill.  Bill is an inspiration, he showed me what commitment, dedication and routine does.  He never misses a day of training, he is such a person to respect.

What type of training did you do at your peak, did you alter your routine to suit your opponent’s style of fighting?
I will say I was never really a type of person to change who I was, I never sat down and studied and opponent and looking at it today it is probably something I could have done a lot better.  I believed in what I did, and I never really wanted to change my journey in that respect.  I can say that I can’t think of a time that I specifically changed my training to fight an opponent, I wanted to continue to be who I was and fight the way I did and be true to myself, and that was a lot of the philosophy that went with it.

I think the sport has changed now to where it has become a lot more professional.  You have to remember that in the way I was it wasn’t uncommon to called up to fight the week before, and that was who I was, I was that person who would take a fight on a weeks notice, a days notice so a lot of the time I didn’t have the luxury to have 6 or 12 weeks preparation knowing who I was going to fight.

I remember watching you fight Fedor in the final of the “Rings King of Kings”, right at the start of the fight he hit you with a punch that knocked you down, you got up and continued the fight.  Most fighters these days stay down when Fedor hits them.  What was it like fighting Fedor in those days?  Did you see the potential in him at that stage of his career?
I think I was definitely the launching point for Fedor, after that he hit the big time.  I look back know, and I never looked at Fedor then as I look at him now, I never actually respected him to that point.  I actually believed that I could beat him.  He hit me with a big left hand, it did drop me.  I did panic a little bit in that fight, I ended up taking him down to the ground and I can actually remember looking down and seeing my blood out of my mouth drip down on him and I thought “oh god”.  It is just one of those fights that you wish you could have again.

Chris, I noticed a big change in the way you fought around the time of you fight with Joe Slick.  Your stand up really went to another level.  What was the change and why did you change your methods?
Yeah, that fight actually finished him.  It was one of those times when everything clicked for me.  In most instances, my fights are won and lost in the dressing room, its how I feel before the bell.  If I feel that everything just comes together on that day I feel unbeatable, and that was a day that I felt that if it was Joe Slick or who ever, I don’t think anyone would have beaten me on that day.

In regards to the change in my fighting, I met a guy by the name of Dushane Mitrovic (or something like that) and he was probably the first person to click with me straight away and I ‘just got it”.  I tried different boxing coaches, it just didn’t work for me.  Dushane got my footwork happening, my hands happening, he really stuck with me and taught me a lot and it was just that fight that it all came together, I had confidence in my stand up.  It was a time where I actually did change from the old Ju-Jitsu style of the old side kick and in.  To where I actually stood up and fought a stand up fight and maintained the stand up position.

Carlos Baretto was another fight for me where I utilized my improved stand up to dominate the fight and get a win.
But unfortunately, Dushane moved away, I didn’t keep it up and old habits returned.  Once I got the step up side kick in, I was in for the takedown.

Who was your toughest opponent?
It’s interesting, I always say It was the Bill Mahood fight. 
This is a really, really hard question.  Evan Tanner was hard, he has said that I was hard, he wasn’t so hard because I didn’t get the chance to beat him down like he did to me.  I don’t think there is any one person who stands out.

Who hit the hardest?
FEDOR

Who was the hardest to take down?
Matt Hughes, he was a lighter fighter.  He was a standout wrestler.  I loved his shirt that said, “Don’t fear the flight, Fear the landing”.

Who was the best grappler?
Andrei Kopulov, a Sambo practitioner, I learnt a lot from him.  Also Akira Maeda, I can remember rolling around in his lounge room in LA.  It was the first time that I realized how strong he was.

Who had the best stand up?
Valentine Overeem, had great standup, but Fedor was hard to beat.  He was the first person who could throw flat footed bombs with great distance and timing.  His aren’t boxing hands, but still very effective.

What about some of those Russian giants that you fought in the Rings days?  I remember a Teams Tournament that you, your brother Troy and Danny Higgins fought in Japan.  Tell us about that experience...
There was Bitzarde, his brother and Groom Zaza, who was a Silver medalist in wrestling at the Olympics.  It was a teams tournament, three on three, Australia drew Georgia.

The Georgian team consisted of Bitzarde is about 160kg and around 205cm, and his “little” brother who was around 130-140kg, and Groom Zaza, a phenomenal wrestler.  Here was the Aussie team, consisting of myself, at about 93kg, Troy who we had to put leg weights on under his tracksuit so he could make the 90kg weight minimum, and Danny Higgins.

The competition rules were that the winner from each fight stayed in the ring and fought the next fighter from the opposition.  Well, the Georgians sent of Bitzarde, the team captain.  So me being the Australian captain, picked Dan Higgins, he tapped out after about 30 seconds from a choke, so I then picked Troy.  He did exceptionally well, he lasted about a minute, he got knocked out, and then I looked around and I was the only one left.

We were lucky that Bitzarde, being so big was getting tired, he had fought for a whole minute and a half.  I was lucky enough to get around him he was like a huge tree, I hung onto his legs until he fell down, I jumped on him and chocked him out.  The crowd went nuts, I went nuts, until I turned around and here was his brother. I got knocked out cold.

The funny thing was that the entire tournament had to stop because the other two Georgian fighters didn’t even bother to get changed for the fight because they thought Bitzarde would clean house.

What effect did the Bill Mahood fight have on you, physically and emotionally?
I can still tell you that four years on, I still think about that fight everyday (thanks for bringing it up).  I can win or lose fights and generally I say to myself that if I lose, I just wasn’t good enough, I didn’t do this right, he was better, but on that fight , I just don’t have an answer.

I was a fit as I had ever been, I was as strong as I had ever been and I had trained harder then I have ever trained in my whole life.  I did a 12 week program, I diarised everything I ate, everything I did and I set it out and I actually did more than what the program called for.  I spent the last week in Melbourne, fighting everyday.  It was my first home fight for a while, it really meant a lot to me.

The show sold out, all my friends were there, all my family was there.  The fight just didn’t go as I planned, I don’t know what happened.  At the ten minute mark, there was nothing left, and I can assure you that  if the towel wasn’t thrown in,  it’s just the way I am, I wouldn’t have given up, I would have quite happily died that day.  And I reckon I was pretty close to it.  It’s not even a matter of not wanting it, its not that I didn’t want it.

A few people have thrown that at me and said that I didn’t look hungry, I can tell you that I have never been so hungry as that day.

Do you think you could have over-trained for that fight?
Yeah, I think, looking back to it, maybe I did.

There was a lot of pressure on you, first home fight for a while, crowd favorite.  As a member of the crowd, I know there was a huge amount of anticipation for this fight.  I suppose its something that people who don’t fight or perform at an elite level can understand, you can’t block it all out, it does affect your focus.

Maybe is was a compilation of things that added up,  I could have over trained, it could have been the actual moment, the anticipation and all that, but it was just a bad fight.  I must say it was a pretty low period after that, I really struggled with it, and I probably still do because I haven’t fought since that day.  So maybe I will get back on the bike and knock someone out and feel better!

Would you consider a return to fighting?  Your in perfect physical condition, you seem more relaxed, any chance of a comeback for the Hammer?
Yeah, I’m there, I’m ready to go, really its now about me now being a little bit smarter.  I’m a little bit older so I have to be smarter.  I can’t be that journeyman that I was, the next fight for me needs to be fairly well constructed for me, I need to know who it’s, I need to train for it.  The way MMA is now, I don’t need to be back to where I was, I need to be better than that if I am actually going to be at that level.  The evolution of MMA hasn’t stopped while I stopped, it continued to develop, it has become a lot more professional.  The game has changed so there is a lot for me to learn.  Physically and mentally, I’m at a place where I can capitalize on that, I just need to put it together and I think I can do a lot better.  Long answer short, yeah I’m ready to go, let’s go!

What is your current weight and what would your fight weight be?
I was fighting at 93kg, but I will fight at around the 85kg mark

Chris, who are some of the fighters you have trained and what are guys like Kelly Jacobs doing now?
Kelly is still fighting around the traps, he’s lost a lot of weight.  It’s actually been good for him.  He’s down to a weight division that he is fighting very well at.  He’s training with Dan Higgins now.

And speaking of Dan Higgins, I remember watching Dan fight Hans Nyman, Hans hit Dan with a kick to the body that would have killed a horse.  It dropped Dan, but in a great display of courage and toughness, Dan got up and continued the fight.

Dan has done exceptionally well.  He has really come into his own as a fighter and trainer.  In regards to the Nyman fight, Dan was living with me at the time, and when I was in his corner for the fight I told him that if you don’t get up you’ll have nowhere to live!  Dan still talks about that day to me, during that week leading up to the fight, Dan was as nervous to the point of asking me, “why am I doing this to him?”, “why are you making me fight Hans Nyman?”.    I said, “one day you’ll appreciate this”, and he says to me now, “thanks’ for that”.  It was a big thing for Dan to get over that, he got rid of a lot of demons, and I will tell you that I believe that Dan could have beaten Hans that day, but Dan didn’t believe in Dan and that was the reason he didn’t beat Hans Nyman that day.  And now he looks back and I can guarantee you he now knows what I was talking about that day.

What do you think needs to happen to improve the profile of MMA in Australia?
One thing is an organisation that sets up a fighting network that is professional, that is working towards getting the sport more mainstream.  That is only one move away from bringing MMA in the same direction that it is heading in the United States.  In the states, the UFC, which is a fantastic organisation, has captured the imagination of the population, it has overcome all the adversity that the sport has encountered over the years. Now it is prime time viewing.  We will be there, make no mistake about it.  We are not going to stop, for us now, it’s really just a matter of time, when someone here realizes that there is so much potential and that they need to set it up.

Do we have the fighters to succeed?
It’s like the horse and the cart.  You build an organisation that provides the capability and capacity for people to fight, they will come.  “Build it and they will come”.  I think we need to have an organisation that gives the fighters a goal, something to believe in and they will emerge.  We can’t be sitting back and waiting for something to happen.  Fighters are not going to appear if there are no goals, dreams or inspiration that they can aspire to.

Without giving away any trade secrets, what are some of the things you do with the Broncos?
I am responsible for their day to day conditioning, making sure that they are conditioned and match fit and ready to run on the field as well as addressing their rehabilitation requirements.  I also make sure that the injured players maintain a specific level of fitness while addressing their injury rehabilitation needs.  I also wrestle with the players, we do a moderate amount of wrestling.  The majority of my job is conditioning.  A lot of people might think I am here mainly for wrestling, but my main focus is conditioning and rehabilitation.

Do any of the players have the potential to make an impact in MMA?
Maybe Tonie Carroll, he’s a tough nut, he fears no man.  Sam Thiaday, he can throw a punch and he can wrestle.  Nick Emmett has some ability, if he’s not injured.  There are a few guys that have that real aggression and mindset that would suit the cage.

Can they win the 2008 premiership?
Were not in form now, and I think that is a good thing.  If we start to hit form over the next couple of weeks, we have Darren Lockyer back, Justin Hodges is back this week we have a good contingent of players available and we have a good run home.  We have 5 or 6 games at home.  All we need to do now is play like a team.  Through origin and with Darren and Justin missing, we didn’t do that.  I believe that come finals time we just might rock it, I wouldn’t write them off.