Ron Jhun has been a man trying to gain respect and notoriety in a very quiet Light Heavyweight Shooto division. The now vacant title, after Erik Paulson's retirement, has not been a lead topic for the Shooto commission. Jhun has decided to venture out to other organizations to keep himself busy and increase his exposure and experience. Ron has recently defended his IFC Light Heavyweight title at the Gladiators show. Jhun was also scheduled for a highly anticipated fight with Iranian Olympic wrestler Mansour Heidari, but due to Heidari not wanting to fight with his wrestling shoes (a Shooto rule), Jhun was left in the ring all dressed down and no one to fight. Hawaiian Combat promoter, Brennan Kamaka, who also happens to be Jhun's brother-in-law found a fight in his latest Hawaiian Combat show at Waipahu High School Gym. J.T. Taylor, a Marcelo Alonso Jiu-Jitsu (Carlson Gracie Team) student, came out and gave Jhun one of his toughest fights to date. After being down on the judge's scorecards in the first round, Jhun kept his composure and finally scored with a knee in the head that knocked his opponent to the mat finalizing the fight. I sat down with Ron Jhun immediately after his victory at the Hawaiian Combat II on Thursday, March 1, 2001.

Full Contact Fighter: Were you a little disappointed that your Super Brawl fight was called off and did you keep yourself in shape for this fight?
Ron Jhun: Yeah, I still kept up my training, even though I didn't get to fight at Super Brawl, but I just kept training and training.

FCF: Did you feel that you peaked for Super Brawl and you were coming down for this fight?
RJ: I feel that I'm still learning and peaking so I'm right about there as far as skill-wise, but I still want to sharpen more of my skills and techniques, getting more techniques down like using the knees.

FCF: Did your opponent surprise you by throwing a couple solid leg kicks?
RJ: Yeah, he had some pretty good kicks. We've been working on the leg checks, the kick checks, but he got one off. I was more worried about him kicking up high so I just figured that I'll block my head and he kicked me low so I'm still working on that, the defense on kicks and coming in on them.

FCF: Your game usually consists of you coming in with strong right hands as your opponent comes in. If the fight went a bit longer, did you see this opportunity opening up?
RJ: Yeah, I could feel him getting a little tired so I was kind of playing possum, kind of letting him wear himself out. [I was] just using enough energy so he has to work for positioning or let him punch. I wasn't too afraid of taking some punches so I just wanted to see what was his move. He wasn't going to pass the guard. He was just going to stay in the guard and punch from there. It looked like he was just going to punch me out, but he submission attempts was pretty good too. He heel hook, he had it in pretty tight. I was this close to tapping [shows an inch and laughs].

FCF: It looks like you initially rolled the wrong way and then you came back to the right side, but got stuck in the ropes for a little while. How much more before you thought it might be the end?
RJ: [It] was real close. Like you said, I rolled the wrong way. It was a good thing that he re-gripped it because he gave me a chance to slip out of it. If he was still cranking it, I would be pretty close to tapping.

FCF: Were you worried that he was so dominant in the early round and basically controlled the first round?
RJ: No, not really. From getting in the ring more often, I'm getting more experience. I know that this fight game is more of a waiting game now, just to wait for the other person to make a mistake. I wasn't worried about him dominating the first half of the round. I just wanted to let him go with his fight plan and kind of see where he was going to go with it, just capitalize on his mistakes. I think I had a roll, sweep, or reverse. I was just kind of waiting for that kind of move. I was just waiting for that kind of moves. So, he was coming up, wait for his movement, his balance goes off so [I could] roll him.

FCF: You say that it looks like he was tiring to you, but during the break after the firsts, you looked a bit tired yourself. Did you feel that you were just working off the lactic acid or was this a normal start for you?
RJ: No, I think part of the reason I wore myself out was because I didn't have a sweat coming out here. From the first 15 minutes, I warmed up and I kind of waited too long. I didn't have a sweat on me so I had a good feeling that it would have took me quite some time, maybe the first round or first half of the round to get a sweat going and kind of get into the fight. After the second round started, I felt ready to come out and do my thing.

FCF: After the first round, did you change your strategy to go to a more submission oriented or your ground and pound style?
RJ: I was probably going to try to stand. I kind of had a feeling he was going to shoot and try to take me down so I was going to try to wait him out and try to set up the knees and if it was going to go to the ground, I was going to pass guard and get into a superior position and strike. I guess in time, my conditioning and cardio will peak and the more I train, I can get more skills and, like I said, sharpen my skills up in the grappling area and try not to get taken down. That's kind of been my downfall, letting the guys take me down and being so confident on the ground. In the future, I'm going to try not to be taken down and keep the fight on my feet or I end up on the top so I can work my positions.

FCF: When he took you down and put you on your back, were you comfortable there?
RJ: Yeah, I was comfortable, but like I was saying, I have to work more on my submissions. From the guard, I'm more of a defensive fighter. I work mostly tilts and sweeps rather than arm bars and triangles, although I was attempting them just to give my opponents so that he could be in danger. I just have to show that I'm going for a triangle and maybe slip a punch in or go for an arm bar and then maybe it will give me a chance to sweep him so it's more to set up my sweeps and elevators instead.

FCF: Do you have any big name fights coming up or are you looking to defend your IFC title any time soon?
RJ: Yeah, April 11th, I'm scheduled to fight Robert Ferguson in the IFC to defend my title. The winner of that and Armond Derros and Shoney Carter, the winner of us two is going to fly out to Greece and fight in a four man middleweight tournament for the world championship for IFC so that should take place in May. I'm just looking forward to that now.

FCF: Usually Shooto is very partial to their fighters fighting only in their organization. Have you experienced any of this?
RJ: No, they have been pretty open. They've been pretty supportive as far as me fighting for other organizations, if not encouraging. I guess I'm kind of representing Shooto because I fight their style so I'd like to go out there and represent Shooto and Hawaii. Shooto, to me, has the highest caliber fighters as far as well-rounded, technical. I really look up to the fighters and I really learn a lot from their videotapes, the Japanese fighters. I highly respect their fighters and their organization and what they stand for.

FCF: Have they contacted you to fight in Japan anytime soon?
RJ: Not verbally. They said sometime this year they would like to have me back so I'm just trying to keep up, get in more experience, and just try to stay active so when I go up there, it won't be too nerve racking.

FCF: How many times are you looking to fight a year?
RJ: I said I wanted to fight once a month, but it's kind of rough with work and fighting. I would say maybe at least six, six times a year. I would be pretty happy with that.

FCF: With Super Brawl, the IFC, and Shooto, do you think that is a realistic view of fighting six times a year?
RJ: Yeah, I had contact with King of the Cage. I talked to Terry Trebilcock. He said that he wouldn't mind having me out at his show so that's another venue that I'm probably looking at. Other than that, the UFC, I wouldn't mind fighting in the UFC if given the chance so I got to just keep up my training ethics. I know I have to be at the top of my game to be fighting up there. I know they got the best guys in the world. Like you seen tonight, anybody at any given night, anybody can win so you have to be at the top of your game no matter what. You cannot take anyone lightly.

FCF: Congratulations on your win.
RJ: Thanks. Thanks Mike. God Bless you brother.