Englishman Michael “Mick” Bowman (7-2) is part of Team dos Santos on this season of Spike TV’s The Ultimate Fighter: Team Lesnar vs. Team dos Santos.
The Wolfslair product lost his fight against Clay Harvison on last week’s episode, and from the looks of things will have to spend the rest of the season soaking up as much knowledge as he can and serve as a training partner for his teammates.
ProMMAnow.com (www.prommanow.com) caught up with Mick this week to discuss his fight with Clay and how he compared to previous opponents. We also discussed what it is like to train alongside such world class talent as “Rampage” Jackson and Michael Bisping, the Team dos Santos coaches’ feud and Mick’s future plans.
PRO MMA NOW: Hi Mick, thanks for talking with us at ProMMAnow.com. Well, obviously, last week on episode five, things didn’t quite go your way. Can you talk a little about your fight with Clay and how would you evaluate your performance?
MICK BOWMAN: No problem, thanks for having me on. Yeah my fight with Clay was honestly the worst performance of my career, watching it back made me cringe it was that bad. (laughs) I was so emotional for a few reasons before it and then that just turned into nerves when I got in there and obviously you can see how nervous I am when the fight starts. My coaches gave me a good gameplan and I think if I’d have followed it instead of being so nervous I could have won the fight, but I didn’t and Clay followed his and took the win to him so fair play to him, he’s a good guy.
PRO MMA NOW: How tough was he compared to other guys you have fought — and was he just that good or was there something that maybe took you out of your gameplan or threw you off?
MICK BOWMAN: I didn’t think he was any tougher than anyone else I’ve fought. I’ve had harder fights but won them, but he did his job well and got the win and I’m not gonna cry over it now what’s done is done. I’m just gonna make sure I take any lessons that I can from the loss.
PRO MMA NOW: How difficult was it to lose the fight, then have to go back into the house with the guys, keep training everyday and finish out the show and how did you deal with that?
MICK BOWMAN: Well as you could see I took losing that fight pretty badly the same way I have both the other times I’ve lost so for about a day in there I moped about and felt sorry for myself, but all the guys were on me helping make me feel better telling me I still had the chance of the wildcard. Zach and Justin still had to fight so they obviously needed help in training which I was happy to give them as they became two really close friends of mine. I also thought about what an opportunity it was to be training with the coaches we had there and to make the most of it, which I did.
PRO MMA NOW: How long have you been training with the Wolfslair and what is it like being in the same camp with guys like Michael Bisping, Cheick Kongo and Rampage Jackson? How well do you get along with those guys?
MICK BOWMAN: I’ve been at the Wolfslair about four years now and yeah I get along well with the three of them. Mike had just won the show when I joined the team so seeing how far he’s come has always been an inspiration to me and Kongo and Quinton are both really really funny and genuine guys. When we went to the trials in Vegas our team stayed in one of Quinton’s houses in California for a week while he was getting ready for the Machida fight and he’d invite us all over to his home, introduce us to his kids and that, and do us all food. He’s a really good guy!
PRO MMA NOW: Alright, let’s talk about the feud going on between coaches Lew Polley and Junior dos Santos. You were part of their team — from your point of view, did you think Lew was overstepping his bounds and what is your take on it all?
MICK BOWMAN: I think the editing of the show has been made to make Lew look like he’s a bad guy who only wants camera time but I didn’t once think that and none of the other guys said they did either. I enjoyed the way he taught. I didn’t mind him being on our backs all the time all, I was concerned about was getting better and every time I trained with each coach I felt I did and that includes Lew. When it would just be the two of us talking and there was no cameras around he’d still be the exact same way talking about how much he wanted us to win so I thought he was genuine. I can see Junior’s side of the argument though as it was Team Dos Santos and Lew was taking quite a few of the practices but I felt like it was just cause he cared about us so much not to get camera time.
PRO MMA NOW: Lew seems to think maybe Junior got a bit jealous because some of the guys were warming up to him and he was getting more camera time than him (see video). Do you see any truth in that?
MICK BOWMAN: No not really cause all the lads absolutely loved Junior so I don’t know why he’d be jealous of us getting close to another one of his coaches. We were like that with all of them. It was like a big family to be honest.
PRO MMA NOW: Ramsey, who was a teammate of yours, pretty much agreed with Junior and thought Lew was there just to be on camera. Why do you think he felt that way?
MICK BOWMAN: As I said before, Lew worked us hard to make us better so we’d win our fights. I think Brock was there for TV, a few of his team said he wouldn’t bother teaching or speaking to them unless there was a camera there, but Lew was the way he was no matter who was around cameras or not. I honestly don’t know why Ramsey feels that way but everyone’s entitled to their own opinion aren’t they.
PRO MMA NOW: Overall, were you happy with The Ultimate Fighter experience, how do you think it helped you improve as a fighter and is it something you would do again given the opportunity?
MICK BOWMAN: Yeah 100% I’d do it all again, it brought my skills to another level and I feel blessed to have had the chance to be on the show and meet and train with the people I did.
PRO MMA NOW: What does the future hold for Mick Bowman?
MICK BOWMAN: I’m just gonna carry on working hard at the Wolfslair with all my team and try and become the best fighter I can and get back to my winning ways as soon as possible, and also carry on trying to be the best dad I can to the love of my life my gorgeous little girl Isabelle.
PRO MMA NOW: Thanks for taking time to speak with us Mick. Is there anyone you would like to thank or any shout outs?
MICK BOWMAN: Yeah I’d like to thank my team at the Wolfslair, my managers Anthony McGann and Lee Gwynn, all my family and friends who have to put up with me and most of all my daughter Isabelle cause she’s the one who I do all this for.