Cage Warriors champion Mads Burnell talks old-school boxing, Japanese neckties, and more!
Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Ed Gallo: In a sport as diverse and complex as mixed martial arts, there are plenty of avenues for becoming a cult hero.
But when it comes to the analyst community, no one panders to their interests more than Denmark’s Mads Burnell.
Fight Site analysts Julian Lung and Ryan Wagner have been publicly infatuated with Burnell for some time.
After narrowly avoiding (unfortunately) competing against Burnell at a regional grappling tournament, our own Ben Kohn sat down with the cross-arm guard king for an extensive interview.
Fight Site Chats: Mads Burnell
This excellent interview is full of interesting conversations, here are a few of our favorite moments.
Why Mads Burnell Actively Competes in Grappling
Ben: You competed in the recent Grappling Industries tournament, what kind of experience was it for you, a blackbelt in Jiu Jitsu with many professional fights, it’s something I’m curious about....what’s it like for you to compete in a tournament that is not a particularly large one? Is it something for you to just have some fun and stay loose? Is it important for you?
Mads: I really use the grappling tournaments, and of course it’s super fun, but you get that little thing in your stomach right before you’re competing, even though it’s just grappling and it’s all fun and games, and nobody is getting elbowed or kicked in the face, I use it for a sort of mental training in between fights.
I’d like to do as many grappling tournaments as possible, I think it’s really fun to do grappling, and it keeps me sharp. That’s pretty much what I use it for.
The thing is, it’s not that I’m like, super nervous or anything. I feel that it’s just fun and games, like we’re just having fun here. But the competitor in me, of course wants to perform, like everyone else wants. And the competitor in me, I can feel the little butterflies in my stomach. I think I would feel that even if I was fighting my grandma basically, because yeah. Everybody that wants to compete, you feel the butterflies a little bit, and it’s healthy and it’s good.
Ben: It’s definitely something that I like to hear, because now when I get them, at least I can say, “Well at least Mads gets them too.”
Mads: And if people say they don’t get them, they’re lying, they’re lying.
I promise you they’re lying. Even freaking Donald Cerrone, who’s a freaking mad dog, fights 20 times a year, you can find him on YouTube saying like, “Why the fuck am I doing this?”, but then when he’s in there, that’s what separates us, then we’re having fun.
The Japanese Necktie
Mads: Everyone is curious about that one.
Ben: How did that become your signature submission, is it something you just kind of picked up?
Mads: The way I found it was, a couple of years ago when I was training, I was really into the D’arce choke. We had this guy at the gym and I rolled with him, and I thought he was going to go for a D’arce choke, but then he put the Japanese on me and I was like, “What the hell was that?” And for a week or two after, he just tapped everybody in it and I was just like, “What are you doing? That’s pretty weird.”
Then he showed it to me and, it just fit perfectly into my game. Me and the Japanese have been buddies ever since. The funny thing about it is, it’s weird that people think that it’s such a rare and weird submission, and like, I can show it to you and I promise you will get it like that (snaps fingers). It’s so easy to get, and it’s not something I say like, to be a douche or anything, but it’s really simple to get if you know it, it’s a simple submission and I like simple submissions.
For example, that’s why I’m not super into leglocks, because there’s so many points you need to get through to get the leglock. Especially in MMA, you’re going to get punched the hell out of you on bottom going for the legs. Rear naked chokes, guillotines, D’arce chokes, brabo chokes, all that is pretty simple.
Ben: They’re from safer positions too.
Mads: Exactly, and that’s also my philosophy, I don’t wanna…it’s always position before submission. I don’t wanna go for an armbar, end up on bottom and get punched or lose some points or whatever. You can just, I like submissions where you can just spam em, oh I didn’t get it, I’ll try again. Oh I didn’t get it, I’ll try again and then you get it.
Interest in Old-School Boxing
Mads: MMA is such a cool sport, but there’s not so much of a history about it.
Ben: Of course, it’s too young.
Mads: Whereas boxing, you read about Joe Louis, he’s fighting Max Schmeling, and it’s basically like the Allies vs. the Nazis, it basically was like, Schmeling was Hitler’s boy in those days, even though he despised Hitler, but you hear he was Hitler’s boy, and Joe Louis, he’s like fighting for America, which was kind of weird because there was all this racism going on, but he’s still representing America.
Hands down that is the biggest fight in history, it’s so crazy, it’s basically the second world war that they’re fighting in a boxing ring.
Ben: You can’t top those stakes, like if you look at the Wikipedia, unless somebody changed it, Max Schmeling has a Nazi flag next to his name, I think that kind of encapsulates what you’re talking about, like you can’t top World War 2 in a boxing ring.
Mads: No fight is ever going to top that.
Ben: Hopefully.
Mads: Hopefully we will never get into circumstances like that again, but that’s just, woah man.
A big thank you to Mads Burnell for taking the time, his UFC return is imminent so make sure to follow him!