Thursday, October 22, 2009

By Isaac Kuhlman

This is the extended interview of Michael Schiavello's interview with Isaac Kuhlman for the Nov./Dec. issue of Las Vegas Sports Magazine.

Q:You've mentioned that you got your start in broadcasting by way of commentating Track & Field sports while in high school, and that you were "the nerd" in your teenage years. You seem very comfortable in your role as one of the world's best commentators now. So, do you ever look back and think that the girls in your class "missed out?"

Schiavello: I was the biggest nerd. I never ever went out in High School; never drank (I
still don't); never swore; never smoked; read books like David Eddings's 'The Belgariad' series over and over again and was just the kind of guy you'd really want to pick on.  Heck, I am still a nerd at heart, I just don't show it as outwardly as I used to. I guess in a lot of ways me commentating was what helped me break out of my nerdish shell. When I was selected to commentate that Track and Field event when I was 16, other kids
in my level came up to me and said: "What are you going to say during the commentary? Are you going to start reciting poetry and quoting prayers?" That's how I was perceived, as this nerdy, altar-boy type. When that microphone turned on and my cue was given to start commentating, this whole other person came out. It was like Sherman Klump becoming Buddy Love.  "The Voice" was born.  I started screaming "Goodnight Irene" and making all these jokes and delivering this crazy, high-paced style of Track and Field
commentary that I didn't even know I had in me. I still look back at the video tape of that event sometimes and just wonder where it all came from. I'm really thankful that the powers-that-were at my High School gave me the chance to do that commentary. It helped set my life on a specific path that I am still following.

As for the girls and looking back, I'm sure there is a bit inside of all of us that reminisces on High School crushes and wonders what could have been but I don't dwell on it. Those girls didn't pay attention to me then and I wouldn't pay attention to them now. If I see them out and about I'm sociable and give them a peck on the cheek and regale stories about the old days, but I'm not one for flicking through my High School Year Book at the girls I once crushed on and saying, "Now you've got more kids than the woman who
lived in a shoe ... now you're door-knocking selling Bibles..." There may very well be girls from High School who look at my picture in a Year Book and think they missed out, but everything happens for a reason and I just do what I do.

Q: On a more serious note though, you are one of the youngest commentators to achieve the level of international success that you have. Though American audiences might not know much yet, you are on their radar thanks to HDNet and their coverage of international combat sports. Is there anything that you would like the American people to know before you become the leader of our country?...in the realm of commentating that is.

Schiavello: I’m all about excitement and passion mixed with knowledge and information. No matter what I am commentating, be it an international broadcast like the Olympic Games or commentating a video for a local promoter as a favour, I always bring the passion and excitement. I want to take the viewer through a roller coaster of emotions while watching a show and get them as into it as I am. Like Bruce Springsteen once said about performing: my aim is to make my obsession the audience’s obsession. You’re also going to hear stuff that you probably never thought you’d hear on a sports broadcast. My style is very different from what most American sports viewers would be used to from a commentator. I use a lot of humour and a lot of over-the-top stuff. I’ll drop one-liners about Tori Spelling’s bra,  Tara Reid’s nipples and Amy Winehouse’s drinking into my fight broadcasts. You just sit back, grab some popcorn and a beer, and enjoy the show.

I also want to mention that HDNet is the exclusive North American home of K-1, which is the world’s premier striking circuit. K-1 is the bomb. I have been working with them for years branding the sport worldwide and helping make it big in Europe and the Oceania and Asia. I’m told that K-1 on HDNet is rating really really well, which excites me and pleases me enormously. If I can help make K-1 in the USA as well known as it is in Europe, the Oceania and Asia, I’ll be happy. I’ve been waiting years for the chance to show K-1 off to American audiences and now that chance is here.

        Q: You had the commentator's dream honor of covering the Olympic Games this last year in Beijing. Was it just boxing or were there other sports you commentated for, and how was that as an experience overall?

Schiavello: I like that – “just” boxing. That was enough! I commentated every single boxing fight in Beijing, that’s 272 fights in 10 days and all without a co-commentator! It was crazy but I loved every moment of it, even going back to the hotel every night with no voice left. It was an experience I will never forget. I was part of the ABU, which broadcast to 110 countries.  It was just a crazy, insane experience and I learned a lot. I had a lot of fun with it and didn't try to change my style just because it was the Olympics. I got the gig because I am edgy and humorous and over the top combined with genuine knowledge of the sport. I was cracking one-liners about Elton John and Mr T and Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee and the viewers really enjoyed it! I got emails from India and Mongolia and Mauritius and Thailand from people who enjoyed the commentary and said how different it was to every other Olympic sports commentary. Even the broadcast officials in the control room who were sending out the various feeds to every country were tuned into my feed over the NBC guys or the BBC guys because I was keeping them entertained for eight hours a day.

        Q: In our brief conversation, you mentioned your love of Las Vegas. As this is a Vegas publication, tell me what kind of experience is a typical one for yourself? And remember it's okay to tell us, because it will stay in Vegas.

Schiavello: I love Vegas. Outside of my home city of Melbourne it is my favourite place
in the world, and this is coming from someone who has been all over the place from Tokyo to Amsterdam and from Paris to Montego Bay.

I have stayed twice at the Bellagio when we did K-1 shows there and by far and away it is the best hotel in all of Vegas. Everything about the Bellagio says opulence, service and class.

The thing I love about Vegas is not the bright lights, the constant music, the buxom cocktail waitresses (Mandalay Bay has the best I've seen yet), or the MGM lions, it's the vibe of the whole place. I'm a big believer in vibrations and energies and how all of us are energy and therefore create energy. The energy in Vegas is like no other city in the world. Everyone goes to Vegas for one reason: to have a good time. When you have so many
people in one place resonating so much positive, happy, fun energy, it makes the whole feel of that place very special.

My latest trip to Vegas was a five day vacation while I was between shows. I stayed with my mate Ray Sefo (K-1 and Strikeforce MMA fighter) who owns a house in the Southern Highlands. I had a ball. I spent every day with Ray at Xtreme Couture and just sat there mesmerized watching some of the world's best MMA fighters working out, including Martin Kampmann, Vitor Belfort, Jay Heiron, Tyson Griffin and the amazing Erin Toughill. We actually had a Team Xtreme Couture party at Ray's house watching UFC 102 which was cool. I sat on the sofa next to Vitor Belfort all night and he kept picking the winners one after the other and then he would get on the floor and demonstrate how
to escape from all these chokes.

Also on this latest trip I want to say that I shot a gun for the first time in my life. Ray collects guns and I had never shot one before so he took me to the Las Vegas Gun Range to pop my cherry. I shot a Glock 40 and it was intense. I almost didn't finish the second magazine because my hands were shaking. Next to me some guy was popping off a Desert Eagle and the thing just thuds right into your heart. Meanwhile on the other side of me some guy was firing off a machine gun. It was all so intense!

Oh yeah, I also got to taste my first In-And-Out Burger. It was so good I had two!

        Q: You've recently become the official voice of HDNet Fight's ringside coverage of all their events both in the USA and international. How has the ride with HDNet been so far?

Schiavello: It has been amazing and really full on. I just signed with HDNet in July and the schedule is intense but I love every moment of it.

I’ve worked with a lot of broadcast teams around the world but these guys are hands down the best. The thing that I love about the HDNet team is that everyone shares the same passion for the fight game, from the producers to the editors and right down to the graphics people and even the two girls in Denver who sit there and close-caption all the programmes. To be a part of such a passionate team is a tremendous feeling and it makes me want to do better and better every time I call a show.

A lot of networks proclaim to have the best coverage in the business but we really do. Kenny Rice, Bas Rutten, Ron Kruck, Guy Mezger – I’m honored to be a part of this team.

Plus as you know HDNet is owned by Mark Cuban and I am told that Mark watches each and every fight show no matter what. That’s a big inspiration too, knowing that the head honcho is not just sitting there signing cheques but is actively watching everything we do. It keeps you on your toes even more and shows the true dedication to the fight game that everyone has at HDNet.

Q: You are a wealth of knowledge at ringside, and you have worked with some great fighters and other commentators at events. Is it beneficial to work for a guy who knows the fight sports as well as Guy Mezger? Or do you feel that you have to work even harder to keep up with some of his knowledge? Does he have to work to keep up with you?

Schiavello: I have worked with many commentators but I’d have to say that when it comes to MMA Guy is the man! On the last show (XFC 9) I called him the ‘Human Wikipedia of MMA’. He just knows everything not only about the sport of MMA but about all forms of martial arts. If there is a martial art developed by cave-dwellers in the mountains of ice-ridden Siberia, Guy Mezger will know its history and techniques!

I don’t feel I have to try and keep up with Guy nor that he has to try and keep up with me. When we started out I suppose it may have been a bit of a shock to him as I set a very high pace and infuse a lot of humor into my calls, which I don’t think he was used to. But we have developed a good chemistry on air and now he’s even dropping one-liners of his own, which is fantastic! Off the air we spend a lot of time together when on the road and have some great discussions. I respect him not only as a fine martial artist but as a fine human being, a real upstanding guy -- no pun intended.

My knowledge of martial arts is very deep, especially from having edited one of the world’s largest selling martial arts magazines (Blitz magazine) for over seven years and, forever the nerd, studying up on all styles and techniques and history. Guy is studied up even more than me, so when I drop in Muay Thai references to things like Lumpini Stadium or Judo references to things like Ne Waza or Taekwondo references to things like the Kukkiwon, or Aikido references to Morihei Ueshiba, he gets them all straight away. I think combined we bring more genuine knowledge than any other commentary duo out there and an ability to express that knowledge on air in a uniquely entertaining way.

Q: A lot of American fans are going to point out that they don't know you because you don't work for the UFC. Here people still don't fully recognize MMA as a worldwide sport. What would be your best advice to an American looking to get interested in the true sport of MMA?

Schiavello: Turn to Japan. For me Japan is where it’s at for the very best MMA on the planet, and on HDNet we’re fortunate to have exclusive US broadcast rights to the two biggest MMA promotions in Japan, being World Victory Road: Sengoku and DREAM.

Japanese MMA is very different to what you see in the UFC. For one it is conducted in a ring and not a cage. This makes the fights a lot more free-flowing as you don’t have that dependence on the cage and pressing opponents up against it. They also go for a lot of crazy submissions too like flying armbars and gogoplatas from the mount.. In the UFC you don't see as many sub attempts but a lot of wrestling and ground and pound.

Japanese MMA stems from a background of traditional martial arts such as Judo and Karate; hybrid competitions like Pancrase; and takes a big influence from professional wrestling, which in itself is different from American professional wrestling like the WWE in that Japanese professional wresters actually use a lot of genuine submission moves. This is where guys like Kazushi Sakuraba and Kyoshi Tamura come from, and where people like Shinya Aoki and Shibata and Sakurai get a lot of their inventive inspiration from.

American MMA stems more from wrestling like Greco Roman or Freestyle or Folkstyle, which is where you see guys like Brock Lesnar, Randy Couture, Tito Ortiz, etc. They are all tremendous fighters but nowhere near as flashy and as well-versed in submission grappling as the Japanese.

Youtube is a great place to get into the wide world of MMA outside of the UFC. Youtube the name “Fedor Emelianenko” to see the true best heavyweight on the planet. Youtube “Eddie Alvarez vs Tatsuya Kawajiri” for one of the best MMA slugfests you will ever see. Youtube “Hideo Tokoro vs Abel Cullum” for one of the best submission matches.

Q: Have you ever trained with any of the fighters you've become acquainted with just to see if you have any proverbial "fighting chops?"

Schiavello: Firstly let me say I am not a fighter and have never purported to be one. I did however train three years of Muay Thai many moons ago with former Australian cruiserweight champion Mark "The Hammer" Castagnini who I commentate with on Fox Sports in Australia. It is a little known fact that I actually competed in the Australian National All Styles (continuous sparring, light contact) novice division a long time ago and placed runner-up, winning five fights and then losing my sixth in the final. I remember fighting one guy in my fifth fight who had a swastika tattooed on the back of his head. I kicked his Nazi-loving ass!

As for MMA, a mate of mine is a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and I asked him one day to put me in a guillotine choke just so I could see what it felt like. My throat was sore for the next week!

Q: Are there any dream jobs or things you still haven't accomplished that you'd like to achieve?

Schiavello: I want to commentate at Madison Square Garden one day. For me that would be the ultimate. I'd also like to lend my voice to a video game some day.

Q: You are the master of one-liners. Have you ever said something off the top of your head that you couldn't help but laugh at? Or do you try to rehearse a few lines so as not to say something wildly inappropriate on-air, and does any one line stick out as your all-time favorite?

Schiavello: There are so many I have used that it is hard to choose a favourite. I think my Jenna Haze line is up there and I certainly know that viewers loved it after I dropped it on the DREAM 10 broadcast from Tokyo. It was in the Jason High vs Andre Galvao fight and High was continually getting mounted so I just said: "Jason High's been mounted more times than Jenna Haze." (for those of you guys who are reading this with your lady and asking "who is Jenna Haze" don't lie! You know who she is! Yes... yes you do)

Funny thing is that just a few days ago I get a tweet on my Twitter page telling me that Jenna Haze was tweeting about my one-liner on her Twitter! She had actually posted my HDNet highlights video on her Twitter telling people to listen to my line about her and saying how funny it was. I wrote her on Twitter and introduced myself and thanked her for having a sense of humour. We exchanged tweets and she seems really lovely. Anyone who doesn’t take themselves too seriously scores well in my book.

As far as rehearsing the lines, I don't. Sure I have them backed up in my head but it's not as if you can rehearse where you might drop them because we commentate everything live. Most of the time I just let my imagination dictate what comes out of my mouth. I've let out a few that I have cringed about later, trust me, but most of it is in good humour and I feel the humour really adds to the broadcast. I'm all about being both informative and entertaining and having many levels to my commentary.

Q: You are also a published author. You have 4 books to your credit if I am accurate. Three works of non-fiction in Bouncer: Real Life Stories, Offside! and Bodies of the Rich and Famous and a fiction novel called ReflexJack. First off, what's harder to write, fiction or non-fiction, in your opinion? And how did you get the idea to become an author? Was it your time at Blitz that just made it easier for you to transition?

Schiavello: Fiction is definitely harder to write. No question there. When you’re writing a novel you are creating an entire world out of nothing. It takes a lot of time and dedication and some brutal self editing!

I have always enjoyed writing. God blessed me with two talents: talking and writing. I was a long-time magazine editor and that led me into writing books. I’d like to turn Reflex Jack into a feature film one day and Bouncer too. There’s another couple of books I’m working on at the moment during my spare time: one is a thriller novel and the other is an almost fictional retelling of my family’s story dating back to World War I.

Q: If you could use one maneuver to end a fight with someone what would it be? And for a bonus question, who would be receiving the "Big Kabosh?" Would you invent the maneuver just to name it with your signature line?

Schiavello: My favourite finishing technique is the gogoplata but I am nowhere near flexible enough to get that on, let alone even get into a rubber guard. I'd end up making it look like a bad game of Twister gone wrong!

Who would receive the Big Kabosh? Brock Lesnar of course! The move would involve a flying gogoplata, a nipple cripple and a variation of the Chinese Burn finished up with a Wet Willy!

To find out more (if that's possible) about Michael Schiavello, visit http://www.thevoiceonline.info/.