[JaysonEmo]

This interview is with Josh "coltrane" Hall.. A promising young fighter on his way to the UFC.

Jayson: First off Josh I would like to thank you on behalf of myself and all our readers at Martial-forums.com for your time. And I'll start this off with my first of many questions. What got you started in martial arts?..


Coltrane: no sweat I'm happy you think I'm worth interviewing especially since I've got all the time in the world since I'm just training and fighting full time these days . I decided to get into fighting for a couple reasons; I have a list of "Things To Do Before I Die (in no particular order)" that I started writing when I was 17, it's all torn up but I keep it in my wallet. "Win the UFC" is one of the first things I wrote. Fast forward 11 yrs and my life had taken a few unforeseen turns, I'd had some bad experiences with some of the behind the scenes people in mma, then my best friend in the whole world died unexpectedly. I decided I'd better get back after my list.

Jayson: Sorry to hear that. I'm sure they would be proud of you now. What styles do you practice?

Coltrane: He was a Pro Boxer, and yeah, he'd be proud. I'd like to say I practice "The Tao of Coltrane" but I'm afraid that's just fancy talk for "Muy Thai" "Wrestling" "ju jitsu" and "responsible drinking habits"

Jayson: (laughing) Let me know when you open a school. I'm already a black belt drinker... Can you walk me through a week of your Pre-fight training? What's the hardest training you do?

Coltrane: You'd have to test for your black belt in my school son. The first rule for me a week out of fighting is no sex, not even with myself ; ) second, I start doing my workouts late at night when I'm probably going to be fighting, I want to get my body used to having to go to battle late in the evening rather than getting settled in to rest. Third, I taper down in the intensity dept; I'm still refining my routine, lately I think I've over recovered but its kind of trial and error. Lastly I just keep mentally focused, I don't think about my fight, what my opponent might do, etc. I just work on the things I can personally control and that's it.


Jayson: (laughing again) you're a character. What goes through your mind in the hours up to a fight? How do you manage the nerves before you come out of the dressing room?

Coltrane: you only think I'm funny now, eventually I'll run out of new material and I'll only get those "polite" laughs. Ok here goes, I'll try to explain, I'm sort of inarticulate when it really counts .I actually DON'T think. That is to say, I try to focus on the moment existing as it happens. Back when I used to wrestle I would burn up all kinds of energy by being nervous, I'd start trying to predict what would happen and figure things out and la la la I'd be a wreck. I placed 4th in the Olympic Trials and I know that if I had control of my thoughts I'd have done a lot better back then.

Jayson: Seems logical...You were an Army Ranger. Does any of your military experience shine through in the ring? By the way thank you for serving our country.

Coltrane: Right on bro, Rangers Lead The Way
I think having been a Ranger (which a lot of people always say "what, like a park Ranger?") has helped a lot, I have a mean right hand now from laying these morons out ha-ha im joking
Rangering was tough, tough in a different sort of way....fighting lasts for about 30 mins top...but being out in the field hungry, cold and without sleep for days at a time really tests you. Yeah, that experience defiantly made me mentally tougher.

Jayson: Most definitely...Ranger training is mentally and physically intense. And you have to be tough with a nickname like "Coltrane". How did you get that nickname?

Coltrane: ok this is my lamest story ever....because of a scene in the movie The Royal Tenembaums I started calling all my friends "Coltrane" you know, instead of "man" or "dude" or whatever. The name just tickles me to death when I hear it
so sure enough, the law of backfire-ence all these guys and girls start calling me "Coltrane" and it sort of stuck.

Jayson: I heard you had a quite a hair raising experience during a moving job. You got to tell our members the story. I know it's a good one.