This past Saturday night’s Strikeforce was a pretty good way to round out a solid week of MMA. Nate Marquardt turned in a surefire entry to knockout of the year, Keith Jardine showed what being tough really looks like, and Jason High subbed Nate Moore in a mere 26 seconds of the first round. Wait a minute. Something isn’t right here. Oh yeah. We didn’t actually get to see Jason High’s lightning quick guillotine until late yesterday, and at the time of this interview (Monday afternoon), Jason had not even seen his fight. We didn’t even get to hear about it on the broadcast. So, what was going on there? In an effort to get to the bottom of this mystery, Jason recently did an interview with TapouT Radio to give his thoughts on the fight that nobody talked about.
*Note: Interviewer is either my co-host, Evan Shoman of TapouT Radio, or myself. When I don’t conduct these interviews by myself, I just put “Interviewer” to eliminate having to bounce back and forth between three different names.
Interviewer: Is there a back story as to why your fight was not show or even discussed on the Strikeforce broadcast?
Jason High: Um, I don’t know. I guess I must have sh*t in the wrong sunroof or something. I really don’t know.
Interviewer: Have you asked around to see if you could get the video? Who do you even go to in a situation like this?
Jason High: My manager is looking into it right now. I’m sure they recorded it, so I don’t really know what the delay is about. It’s not a huge video, so I’m sure it will be up in the next week. Everybody has been asking me about it, but I’m in the same situation you guys are in.
Interviewer: Do you feel that Twitter has helped you or hurt you, career-wise?
Jason High: I love Twitter. I don’t know if it’s done either, but it’s a nice outlet to talk to the fans. I don’t think it’s necessarily helped or hurt. If I had to lean towards one, I’d say it’s helped me.
Interviewer: Have you thought to maybe tweet to Dana White directly?
Jason High: I saw somebody tweet to Dana and ask if he’d seen the card, and he said he didn’t even watch it, so that pretty much tells you all you need to know about how Dana feels about Strikeforce. No, I haven’t tweeted him.
Interviewer: Do you kind of feel like the red headed step child here? You’ve got Lorenz Larkin falling to his knees begging for bonuses and you with a dark match that seems to be relegated to stay that way, so you’ve got to be wondering what’s going on, right?
Jason High: I don’t think anybody knows what’s going on. It’s hard to say. There’s a lot of good fighters in Strikeforce and they have good fights, but it’s just not clicking with somebody. I’m clueless, just like everybody else.
Interviewer: Is the overall situation at Strikeforce frustrating, and if so, do you have your management actively working to get you into the UFC?
Jason High: I like Strikeforce, and honestly, I just want to stay busy. I’m hoping that they get some of their issues resolved because I like the organization. All the people are cool, so I hope they can resolve whatever is going on, and do what they say they’re going to do.
Interviewer: In your opinion, what direction would you like to see Strikeforce go?
Jason High: If they’re going to keep it around, I’d like to see more promotion, more shows, all the fighters staying busier, and bonus money.
Interviewer: What did you think of UFC 148, especially considering all the marketing and promotion that went into it.?
Jason High: It looked really good on paper, but then it kind of sucked. I actually fell asleep during that card. I don’t remember which fight it was, but I was up for the main event, though. Sometimes that happens. It’s not really anybody’s fault. When fighters are really well matched, sometimes you’re going to get decisions, and people don’t always like that.
You can follow Jason via his Twitter, @KCBanditMMA