Xtreme Couture Amateur Spotlight Part II: Weston Duschen

by: Jack Bratcher

In our first Xtreme Couture Amateur Spotlight, we interviewed Jimmy Johnson who had his very first MMA fight on the Tuff-N-Uff card on August 8. This week our Amateur Spotlight is with Weston Duschen, another rising star from the Xtreme Couture camp in Las Vegas who also fought on Tuff-N-Uff’s Future Stars of MMA show. Weston was nice enough to speak with us and let us know what it’s like being an up and coming amateur at this breeding ground of champions and what sort of possibilities the future could hold for this young MMA powerhouse. Weston also breaks down for us what happened at his fight last week when his opponent was disqualified for illegal strikes.

PRO MMA: Hey man how’s it going? How long have you been into MMA and how did you get started?
Weston: It’s going good,I’ve been doing MMA for about 3 years but I’ve been wrestling my whole life and I got into MMA when I was done wrestling but I still had that burn and desire to compete so I started training and I fell in love with the sport.

PRO MMA: You train at Xtreme Couture. How long have you been at Xtreme Couture’s and what is it like training at a place like that, where basically the sky is the limit for what you can achieve?
Weston:I’ve been at Xtreme Couture since day one (Feb. 2007) and training there is amazing because of the level of talent I get to train with on a daily basis.

PRO MMA: You and some of your teammates were in the Tuff-N-Uff event at the Orleans Hotel and Casino last week. Your opponent ended up getting disqualified; who was he and what happened exactly?Were his actions intentional do you believe or was he just in the heat of battle and reacted poorly? Are there any hard feelings between you and your opponent?
Weston:Well his name is Darrell Matos and what happen was we got into a scramble I let him take my back and instead of working from there he struck me in the back of the head. The ref warned him and stood us back up and somehow we got into the clinch position and I thought I was ok because of the no knees rule but the next thing I know he knees me in the head and the fight was over. Yes I do think his actions were intentional because he was at the rules meeting and he knew what was doing and there’s some hard feelings because there are rules for a reason and this sport has come al ong way and it’s people like him that give it bad rep.

PRO MMA:How was the match going up until the disqualification happened, did it seem like you would have gotten the victory or was it too early to tell?
Weston:I felt it was going good and I know I would have gotten the victory. I think he realized he was in a tougher fight than he expected and he wanted a way out.

PRO MMA: I’m sure that wasn’t the way you wanted to win, but what, if anything do you think you learned from that fight?
Weston:I learned that I need to trust my stand-up more and that I need to learn more Muay-Thai and work on the clinch position.

PRO MMA:Was that your first time in the Tuff-N-Uff promotion and how do you like them as an organization?
Weston:This was actually my third Tuff-N-Uff fight. They gave me my first fight at Tuff-N-Uff 1(Dec 29, 2006). I like Tuff-N-Uff, they’re a good organization for giving local amateurs the opportunity to fight in Vegas.

PRO MMA:What is your amateur record and how many more fights do you expect to have this year?
Weston:My record is 2-2 and my next fights are set for Sept 13th, Oct 10th, and maybe another one before the end of the year.

PRO MMA:How far do you want to go with Mixed Martial Arts? Have you set a goal for yourself of when you would like to turn pro and where do you see yourself five years down the road?
Weston:The goal is be a world champion with a major fighting organization and I plan on going pro at 185lbs. in early 2009 and I see myself still fighting in five years.

PRO MMA: We almost saw you on the Ultimate Fighter didn’t we?Which season was it and what happened with that? What was the process like and what advice would you give people who want to try out for the show?
Weston:Yes you did, It was season 7 Forrest vs. Rampage and I made the top 50 but they were concerned with my weight and my lack of experience and my advice is if you can make the show it’s a great opportunity.

PRO MMA:Thanks so much for taking the time to speak with us. I have a feeling we are going to hear a lot more about Weston Duschen in the future. Do you have any final thoughts or shout outs?
Weston: Thank you for giving me this opportunity and I want to thank my coaches Randy Couture, Shawn Tompkins, Joey Vegas, Ron Frazier, everybody from Xtreme Couture MMA, and
OTM (OnTheMat) Fight shops.

You can visit Weston Duschen on his MySpace page at www.myspace.com/westonduschen. You can find out more about the Tuff-N-Uff organization at www.tuffnuff.net.