Prospect Watch: John Queiroz Interview

Here at ProspectWatch, I want to put a spotlight on up and coming fighters in the southeast and beyond. Not only do I want to talk about their fighting career, I also want to talk about their struggles making it as an MMA fighter. John Queiroz is the fighter I decided to interview I hope you all enjoy it.

Growing up in Brazil, Queiroz and his family didn't have a great deal of money growing up. As a child Queiroz first love was soccer. His goal at the time was to be a professional soccer player. As time passed Queiroz showed  great promise as a soccer player. At age 11 Queiroz and his family moved from Brazil to Georgia in pursuit of his goal. While still playing soccer, Queiroz picked up another sport. Wrestling. Queiroz seemed to have the same passion for wrestling as he had for soccer. As a senior for Wheeler High School, Queiroz won the State Wrestling title at 130 pounds. After High School, Raphael Assuncao's girlfriend at the time introduced Queiroz to Raphael. Since then Queiroz has put in the same dedication in jiu-jitsu and MMA as he has in wrestling and soccer. So far that dedication has lead Queiroz to a 4-0 professional record. Queiroz's last win was against another top prospect Byron Bloodworth at the Battle of Rome 8 event.  Coming into the fight Byron had a 4-0 record. It is safe to say that if Queiroz keeps up his hard work, the WEC will soon be knocking on his door.

Erich: How did you get the nickname "non stop"?

Queiroz: I got the name "non stop" from one of my good friends in California. I would teach 3 kickboxing classes back to back, jiu-jitsu classes, and afterwords still train. I never stopped and never gave up. And he goes up to me and says "man you just never stop!" So since then the name has just stuck. 

Erich: You were the state wrestling champion in Georgia correct.

Queiroz: Yeah that's right. I won in 2005 I won state.

Erich: Talk about your training in California.

Queiroz: I trained in California for about 7 months, I just got back in the beginning of last year. I just started training up here at X3 sports. I was in California just training other people rather than myself.

Erich: Talk about how you got into MMA.

Queiroz: I started doing jiu-jitsu first. Raphael Assuncaoneeded somebody to help him train for a fight and he needed a good wrestler. I knew his girlfriend at the time and she helped me get in touch with him.  He started teaching me jiu-jitsu and after jiu-jitsu started training with Martel and he started teaching me some Muay Thai. 3 months later I had my first fight!  After that I embraced it and loved it. It was something I never expected. It really just fell into my lap.

Erich: Talk about the crucifix position. I have watched some of your fights and once you are on the ground you seem to go right for that position.

Queiroz: Well like any good little wrestler, you watch any Matt Hughes tapes you see that Matt Hughes idolizes the crucifix. So I try to mimic him a bit. At my first MMA fight he was actually there! And he talked to me about wrestling and the crucifix position. Ever since that talk I wanted to try it out, I enjoy it, I like it. When I take somebody down that is what I am looking for.

Erich: Talk about X3 Sports and the fighters that train there.

Queiroz: Training is great man. When you are working with the caliber of guys such as Clint Hester, Sid Bargo, Marius Cushba, and so many more your game can only get better. The coaching staff their does a great job at pushing you. Having specialized coaching really helps every area of my game. When you have so many coaches working on ever little aspect, your skills improve dramatically.

Erich: Is it safe to say that Raphael Assuncao was the most influential person in your MMA career?

Queiroz: Well, it is so hard to name just one person that has helped me break into MMA. Raphael was just the first. He was the first one to introduce me to the jiu-jitsu aspect of the sport. I have to thank him for that, because I learned a lot from it. Steve Heden, etc.  I can go on and on about who has helped me along the way. Right now I am just training to prefect my skills with X3 and the trainers here.

Erich: Do you see yourself in the WEC after this fight?

Queiroz: I think it is a little soon. I would love to take the opportunity to be in the WEC, it is the biggest organization out there that caters to smaller fighters. I would never deny not going and I do think that Byron and I are about to have a great fight together as old training partners. A win here would definitely push me towards that direction. Right now I want at least 2 more fights before I enter the WEC, but if they ask me right now to compete in their organization I will do it in a heartbeat.

Erich: Talk about Toni Tucci, he seems to be one of the most unheralded trainers in Georgia.

Queiroz: Man, the thing about Toni Tucci is that he is a trainer to the "T". He lives the fight game, he is nervous more than your are when your fighting, he is all about his fighters. When one of us has a fight he makes sure everyone in the gym knows. He has got your back before, during, and after the fight. Sometimes he has to kick me out of the gym, telling me I'm training too much and that I need some rest. Toni Tucci sets the bar for trainers out there, he truly cares about his fighters. I am so thankful for him for getting me and line and making me better. Their are a lot of great trainers out there, but right now Toni Tucci is one of the best for me.

Erich: Talk about your technical wrestling as apart of your MMA game.

Queiroz: My middle school wrestling coach was my boss and owned the gym I worked for. So I quickly gained experience in wrestling and it came kind of easy to me. I was a soccer player from Brazil that did not no anything about grappling. I came over and started doing wrestling in 8th grade, I only wrestled for 5 years. That's why I got it tattooed on me:  Wrestling is my sport. Wrestling is what I love. I will be damned if anybody is going to beat me at my own game.

Erich: How many grappling tournaments do you enter a year?

Queiroz: Aw man I've lost count. (laughs) I've done over 300 jiu-jitsu tournaments, over 1,000 wrestling tournaments. Tournaments is what gets me ready for these fights. I don't even get nervous when you step into the cage because I have been doing so many of these tournaments.  My nickname says it all, I go non stop all the time.  I don't care about the metals, swords, belts, whatever.  I am just out here to compete.

Erich: In a previous interview you thanked your girlfriend for putting up with your weight cutting. Talk about what was going on there.

Queiroz: (Smiles) Everybody knows man... Women have PMS once a monthand we have to deal withit. Well fighters have PMS too. Fighters fight about 4 times a year and during those times a fighter goes through PMS. And I fore-warned her about it and she said it was cool, but she soon realized when a guy is dieting he is not eating what he wants and is exercising 6 times a day, fighters get grumpy. She was a good sport, she was making all the food for me and keeping me on my diet. She did a great job for me. She put up withmy grumpiness and being moody. She told me "OK you are right" and backed off of me. I apologized to her later and told her if I got to deal withyour you have to deal with mine.

Erich: You said earlier you have a family like atmosphere in the gym. Do you believe in gym chemistry effects the way you fight?

Queiroz: I feel at X3 what sets us apart from other gyms out there is the family environment we posses. On this fight card I am the only one from X3. I had 10 guys on me the whole training camp. I had a fresh guy every minute or two. When the fighters at the gym are preparing for a fight, I get more nervous for them then I do with my fights. And it is vice versa, they were nervous for me coming into this one. We care about each other so much, we want each other to succeed every time we step into the cage. We are not just training partners, we are family.

Erich: It is hard to obtain sponsers at the local level?

Queiroz: Yes it is, X3 has a big team and we have sponsors. Individually I came up with most of these companies like Toe to Toe and Bullet Fight Gear. All these guys used to be some of my training partners and now they are running these companies sponsoring me.  If someone wants to sponsor me please contact me, because I need it.  The more sponsors promoters and fighters can get the bigger Georgia MMA can get. I am not just talking about myself either, if you know a fighter out there help us out because we need it.

Erich: Talk about where fans can contact you.

Queiroz: You can hit me up at John Queiroz on Facebook.