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Darnell Pettis: I always wanted to go to the Olympics. I'm not the fastest at track though. I did the pole vault back in high school, but I'm not about to be pole vaulting no 25 feet. If MMA was in the olympics, I would be training just for the olympics.
Jerrell Hodge: I would like to be an olympic gold medalist, just to be known as an olympic fighter. It depends on how much money it is. If I can get on a Wheaties box (laughing). I'd like to represent my country.
Lorans R. Jones: Now recently, the UFC has allowed women to start competing and over the years, women have been breaking into combat sports. Like with WWE, you occasionally see a woman finghting a man. 15 or 20 years from now, do you see it coming to a point of a man fighting a woman? Maybe at a lower weight class? Would you consider that if a woman challenged you?
Darnell Pettis: Me personally, I'm big on not putting my hands on females. If it came to that I don't know. I know how I do guys, and my goal is to demolish the other person across from me. To see her hair, her girly eyes, and her girly features, I think I'd do too much damage. Not saying that girls can't hold their own either because they can, but it's a different kind of aggression you have as a guy, like a lion.
Jerrell Hodge: I respect women and the fact that they do this sport, wrestle, and all the other things we guys do. I never wrestled a girl in high school. I trained with one, but if ever, I'd do it like I was fighting a guy. We all know what we're getting into. We know what we was prepring for. I was raised not to hit a woman, but if she come in there, I'll fight like it was a guy.
Lorans R. Jones: Now, I'm just going to leave this question for you Darnell because I don't want to get my man in trouble. What woman would you put a ring on? Doesn't have to be a celebrity or anything?
Darnell Pettis: Because I am a lover and a fighter, and also a deep person. I'm mentally aware of my emotions at all times. And I'm a poet (laughing), I want somebody that's deep and complex. I'm describing the girl I'm with now. She's deep, she can sing, she's beautiful, and I wouldn't feel right putting a ring on nobody else other than her.
Lorans R. Jones: That's love, that's love. So, the question I pose to you Jerrell, is how does your significant other feel about you fighting? Is she antsy when you get in the cage?
Jerrell Hodge: She used to wrestle back when we was in high school, and in middle school. With my first fight, she was nervous. She was pregnant with my son back then, so she couldn't do it. My next 9 fights after that, she was there, and real supportive. She's down, when I got to run in the morning, or late nights at the gym, she's taking care of my son.
Lorans R. Jones: When you're fighting or watching fights, and it's close, do you try to count the points in your head? Do you want to hear that, or would you rather just be able to focus on the fight?
Darnell Pettis: Well in boxing, I always counted my points. If you threw one jab, I threw two or three more just to know I'm up on you. In cage fighting, I don't really care about my points. At the end of the day, all I care about is if I did my damage. With my damage, you got to be limping, or bleeding.
Jerrell Hodge: It's been talk about this, whether judges should start telling the points at the end of the round. Sometimes, it's even, and then you go into the third round and keep your pace. I like to know how I'm doing. I'm pretty down with hearing that after every round.
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