Former World Kickboxing Champion, Javier Mendez, is very well known in the kick boxing circles, but as he says, probably the most unrecognizable face in mixed martial arts. Mendez has influenced many of the top fighters on today's scene directly or indirectly through the many fighters that he has trained. It started with Brian Johnston in UFC 10 and has later gained acclaim by helping build one of the most celebrated men in the Octagon, Frank Shamrock. An open mind and an open school help draw talented fighters to his reach and guidance. Mental toughness is one of the keys to his success. His fighters trust him enough to go beyond what they feel is adequate and almost always accomplish goals that they would have never reached alone. While in San Jose, I visited Javier Mendez's American Kickboxing Academy to talk with him on June 20, 2001.

FCF: Let's quickly go over your background. I know you are a former world kickboxing champion. Can you go over the titles that you have won?
Javier Mendez: Well, basically, I've won the light cruiserweight ISKA world title, then I won the light heavyweight ISKA world title. First one was in '92, the light cruiserweight title and then in '95, I won the light heavyweight and in '96, I retired.

FCF: How long were you kickboxing?
JM: Ten years.

FCF: Who were your trainers?
JM: My original trainers were Walt Carvalho from Hilo, Hawaii and another one by the name of Artuo Matta were my main trainers, boxing coaches basically.

FCF: Did you open American Kickboxing Academy after you retired or prior to retirement?
JM: Actually, I had the gym prior to retirement. I was doing things just for fun and I was teaching at a garage and back then I was teaching boxing with Tae Kwon Do. As time evolved, it became boxing with Thai boxing and etcetera, etcetera, boxing with Thai boxing and Jiu-Jitsu, boxing with wrestling. We were just evolving al the time. We keep adding, subtracting, adding, subtracting, just trying to get it down the best we can as to what we feel is the most effective in the sport and in the street.

FCF: Does your background include Tae Kwon Do or did you bring someone in?
JM: I had a Tae Kwon Do background, Thai boxing background, boxing background. I brought in the Jiu-Jitsu here and then Frank Shamrock came to train with me back in '97. I started training Frank Shamrock and from there we added the Shamrock Submission School here too.

FCF: Was he your first notable submission fighter?
JM: No, actually the first was Brian Johnston. Back in the old UFC days. It started with Paul Varleans. I've been involved in the UFC's from way back. I've been to all of them, but I'm probably the most unrecognizable person out there. Nobody really knows me. For instance, I don't think hardly nobody really knows that I'm the main guy behind Frank. It's always been the Alliance, the Alliance, but there's really never been an Alliance. It's always been Frank training with me here, preparing him for fights. Just like BJ [Penn] and Tony [DeSouza], the same situation. We've been doing that since '97 [training fighters]. Not that I'm a submission expert of any sort, but I direct the guys. I tell them exactly what they need to do and how to do it and I watch how they train and when they should stop training. Those types of things that are very important for the guys and how to prepare mentally, which a lot of the direction the guys have is not there and they need to have that. It's very important for them to put the whole puzzle together. They need to have that mental edge. I think that's what I provide the most for Frank is the mental edge. The stand up, of course, I've honed him in fairly well. We still got a long ways to go, but it's the mental thing that I've helped, along with his incredible mind that he has already that has helped Frank a lot.

FCF: How often does Frank train here?
JM: Frank's here everyday now. He was with me everyday in '97 until he stopped fighting. He moved to LA and then we had an opportunity to showcase ourselves in the K-1 Grand Prix and so we got him back for about a month. He trained for a month for the fight against Elvis and from there Frank decided he wanted to fight again so I said if you going to fight, is there anybody there in Los Angeles that you feel that you can do the job that you need. He said no. I go, well then, for you to do the best, I think you should come back, so that's why Frank's back. He wants to fight. We don't know when or who or what organization at the present time, but we're just getting ready to fight.

FCF: So, is he in full training mode or…?
JM: No, no, no, he's in full training mode. We're in full training mode. Everything is as planned. I would say that we'll be ready to go in September on up.

FCF: What is your formula for success to get him back in to shape since he's been out of the fight game for so long?
JM: Believe it or not, he's really not that out [of the fight game] like people think he is because he's been working out. He's always working out with his students, but the thing that messed him up the most was the shoulder injury. That's what screwed him up. That's what set him back quite a bit. Had it not been for that, Frank could have jumped right back in and it would have been like the old Frank, actually the new Frank. The new Frank now is better technique-wise than the old Frank. The old Frank is the one everybody remembers, but there's a new Frank. He's better. He's a better striker now. His submission game is probably equal, maybe a little better, but definitely he's a better striker. He thinks better.

FCF: What did you feel that was his biggest weaknesses when he first left fighting?
JM: His biggest weakness was his wrestling, on the takedowns. He was not hard for anybody to take down and nor that he really particularly cared. His kicking, I felt, needed more work. I think he throws nice kicks, but he needs to deliver more power with his kicks. His boxing is getting dialed in. As people will see, when he ever gets the opportunity to get the full tape of him and Elvis, you will be able to see that his boxing has improved tremendously, even though he has been out like people say. This time around we have more time to really focus on things that we want to so on his boxing we'll see a, I believe 100%, professional boxing level. That's what Frank's boxing is at the present time, an out of shape Frank Shamrock because his boxing is beginning professional boxing level so his hands are that good.

FCF: How many sparring partners does he have here that are his quality?
JM: One of the main ones we used to use is Eric Deuce from Stanford, who is a great wrestler and judo guy and also during the training Frank used him for submission also. The Stanford wrestling school he did a lot and a lot of his guys here. And now, there's other guys that he will be training with a lot like BJ Penn, Tony DeSouza when he drops in here and there, he'll be another one and Josh, the new wrestler from Iowa. Brian Johnston, although Brian's a little more on the bigger side so it's better for him to work with the lighter guys. He has some really good guys Josh Thompson, Crazy Bob [Cook]. He's got a hell of a good little team there to help him out.

FCF: How about his stand up? Are there professional boxers and kick boxers that come in here on a regular basis?
JM: Yes, we have quite a few professional boxers, kick boxers. He's got everything. They're all here. Even sometimes I get the gloves in there and let him beat me up once in a while, which I don't look forward to. He bloodied my face up the last two times I sparred with him so I'm not really looking forward to sacrifice my body for him anymore.

FCF: His greatest attribute, even though he has great technique, is his conditioning and his heart. Do you agree?
JM: I 100% agree. He has great conditioning, great heart, and the most important, his mind. For instance, the fight with Tito [Ortiz], we planned that fight, him and I, perfectly to a tee, everything went to a tee. It went exactly the way we planned that fight going. We figured, he discussed it with me, we said, "hey Jav, if I can't submit Tito within the first minute, I'm going to wear him out. I'm going to keep moving, keep moving. Keep him busy. We're going to tire him out." Due to the fact we knew Tito had to lose all that weight. So, everything was perfect for that fight, with the exception of the big cut he go, which was unforeseen, but other than that, it was a great situation. The funny thing about it was that Maurice Smith didn't know what was going on. I told Frank, "Tell Mo the plan." So we're in the corner, Maurice is yelling at me like, "Javier, tell him. What the hell is he doing? What's he doing?" I go, "Mo, don't worry about it. It's all in the plan. It's working perfect." He's going, "What plan?" I go, "Didn't Frank tell you the plan?" He goes, "No, he didn't tell me the damn plan!" Oh, this is what we're doing. We're getting him tired. We're going to get him in the later rounds. We're just making him work. We're not going to try for any submissions, making him busy, busy, busy. He goes, "Oh, why didn't you guys tell me?" I go, "well, I thought Frank was supposed to tell you." So after the fight, Maurice is going, "Hey Frankie, thanks for the plan." "Oh, I didn't tell you. Oh ok, Mo, well, this is our plan." [both laugh]. That was a funny thing because here we are in the middle of the fight and Maurice is, "What the hell is going on?!" We knew that Tito was going to be super, super strong and obviously, if they ever fight again, it's going to be a different story because it's not going to be the same plan. You're not coming out to the same situation because guess what, Tito is not going to gas out and he is much better in every aspect and so is Frank. I'm not saying they're going to do it, but I'm just saying the idea is it's not the same Frank. It's not the same Tito. They've both improved. It's just the matter of which one comes to bat first. Who gets the first edge? This one, it was Frank's. Who knows what the next one will be? My money's on Frank because I coach him. It doesn't mean that Tito's ain't coming to play. We all know he will.

FCF: With the implementation of the new weight classes and Frank has always been a light, light heavyweight, do you think he is going down to another weight class?
JM: Yeah, I believe he's going down to 185. I suggested to him 185's the best weight for him because number one, he's never actually ever made 195 pounds. He's always put on his clothes just to make that weight. He's always laughing, "Jav, I gotta to eat." He's eating the day before the fight, just trying to make the weight. He's always saying that he's saying, "Hey, I'm going to gain one weight." You know, ever since we've been training, he's always been bordering at 190-192 tops, but he's trying to make weight. He's never got beyond 195 since he's been with me, never and that's him eating as much as he can just to build up. He can't do it. 185, last week he was 184. Easy, it's not a problem. I believe that if he dieted, which he won't, he could even make 170, which imagine that one.

FCF: People always say that you can't teach a fighter heart, but how do you teach your fighters the mental strength required for fighting?
JM: Definitely, you can't teach them heart. I've been trying to figure that one out. I still haven't got it. I wish there was some formula where you can teach that. The mental parts I teach them is some little things like, for instance when Tony [DeSouza] when he was sparring earlier and I was here working with of the K-1 promoters, Tony was losing ground to [his sparring partner] and the reason why he was losing ground to him was because he was doing something that he was not used to doing, which was running. I went and told Tony, "Look, if you want this to change, you need to push him back. If you can't push him back, you are not going to do as well as you'd like and you are going to take some shots, but once you push him back, it will go back your way." Sure enough, he goes in there, he believes in me. He pushes him back and it goes his way, but he did take some shots. Just like we thought he would, but that's where I get those guys. I tell them something. They use it. It works, now I have them. Now I can tell them, "hey, go jump off a two story building and you won't break your foot," not that that's realistic, but you know what I'm saying. It works for them, then I have them. So now, they don't start second doubt me so if I tell them to do something, they'll do it. They are not going to go, "well, that's not going to work." You can't do that. You have to go. If you can't go when someone says, "hey, I want you to do that now," and you can't do it at that spot, you lost your edge. That's one of the ways I work with them and I let them know that so they understand why I told them that. It makes sense to them and it clicks so then they go, "I understand." Telling someone to do something without an explanation behind it does not make the fighter coach-able for you depending on everything you say, but when you tell them something and it works for him and you explain why, they understand. When they get in to the situation where they feel very comfortable with you. When you tell them to do things for you, they just do it. Obviously, I don't want to lead blind fighters because I always tell them that a lot of what I practice is sometime theory, I'm no expert on this, but sometimes I say things and I see things, but if you guys don't feel that it's right, you better let me know. You need to tell me if it's wrong and Frank has on occasion told me, we're working a technique and Frank we'll do this and Frank goes, "It ain't going to work." I go, "Really? Why?" "I don't know it just doesn't feel right." I think about it and go, "You're right." So, we scratch it and move on to something else. That's the kind of confidence. It isn't like, "No that's the way it works so you do it." It doesn't work that way. That's how I work my fighters so they believe in me.

FCF: So, it's safe to say that the key in building mental confidence in your fighters is to set small goals, let them achieve these small goals, and as they gain confidence in you, you can ask the world of them?
JM: Exactly, exactly. You put it in quicker phrases than I did. You are 100% correct. That is it right there. That's the way it works.

FCF: Let's go in to how you are helping the NHB fighters. I walk in to here and see, of course I came in with BJ and Tony, but I see Crazy Bob Cook. I see David Velasquez. I see Ishizawa who fought Ryan Gracie.
JM: K-1 fighters are here, everybody is here, everybody.

FCF: Tell me about the deal you are giving these guys.
JM: I'm not really giving them a deal. They just come with friends. They ask for my help and I help them out. Brian [Johnston] brought Ishizawa here. He asked me if I would help him so I'm helping him on what not to do with his boxing. We're not really working on too much other things at the present time because I only have a month with him so I'm doing the best I can to get him to think straight. When he first came here, he was bending over and bad mistake for somebody who punches because he was right there to be hit every time. We've corrected that. That's the most important thing with him that I'm working on. Crazy Bob is working on the submissions and how to work them. He's a great wrestler so he already has that for him. Brian has become, in Japan, quite a coach. He has been successful with Fujita. He brought Fujita down here and we worked with Fujita before he fought Kerr for the first one. He brought Yoshida, I believe, he brought the big wrestler over here too. That's one of the connections through Brian who I used to have in the UFC in the early days with Art Davies. Then Frank Shamrock will bring other people in, like he brought in Eric Deuce from Stanford. BJ Penn came as a result of Bobby Southworth, who is the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instructor here, who is my guy that I trained in the stand up fighting. I took him to Golden Gloves titles and some kickboxing titles. Dave Velasquez as a matter of fact, he's a perfect example of how the mental game works. David has been a striker for quite a few years. When he started the MMA, David was basically thinking of standing up and punching the guys and just avoid the submissions. I told him, "You know Dave, you need to practice everything. You can't be thinking about standing up to punch these guys. You put too much pressure on yourself to punch. You need to work your submissions and make them work for you versus 'I'm just going to stand up and punch these guys.'" He's had success and he's had not success and just recently at the King of the Cage in Colusa, he was able to submit a fairly good opponent and it was due to the fact that I mentally put in his mind, submit. I told him, "You're going to submit this guy. You're going to submit this guy." I don't think he really believed it, but little by little, he started to believe in me. I told him that I don't want him going crazy if the guy hits you with a good shot. You're known to look like a dummy because you're out punching wild and you're a much better fighter than that. Just because somebody hits you with a good shot, doesn't mean you hit him back with a good shot. It may not be a good time for you to hit him; maybe you look for other options. Maybe you take him down or maybe you move out of the way or maybe you counter with something, but you don't necessarily automatically think, "He hit me. I can take it. I'm going to hit you right back." He fought a perfect fight and for the first time everybody's giving him props. I looked at his fight after I was there in his corner, but I looked at it on video and there was nothing else I could have told him that he should've done because he did everything he should have done for that case. It was the best he's ever done and it was due to the fact that we changed him from thinking stand up and strike to being an all around fighter. That's what this game is all about. It's not about the submission guy on the ground. It's not about the stand up fighter. It's about the all around fighter. I think everybody knows that. There's no secret to that. It's just a matter of getting the right training for it. This facility, because of what's happening, has become that and it all really started originally with Brian Johnston. Because from Brian Johnston, I met Frank Shamrock at the UFC's and from there when he moved down here his ex-wife now, Angelina Brown, he came to me and he wanted to see if I would work with him with his stand up. I said, "Sure, no problem." So, we started from there. The first fight that I worked with him was for two weeks when he fought Enson Inoue and that knee that Frank caught him with was the knee that I showed him the first day I trained him. I showed him how to use that knee effectively and people don't expect it and that's the knee he used against Enson that worked to his advantage. So, I was with him from the Enson fight on.

FCF: You seem to be generous with your facilities with professional fighters. Is this true with all fighters or where do you draw the line?
JM: I would draw the line depending on the person's situation. There's some people that will train in here for free if they can't afford it. We'll have them do some light clean up or something. It depends on the situation. If they have value to add to the fighters here, they get a free ride. I have no problem with that. I'm not going to give anybody a free ride that expects it. The only ones I give a free ride to is the ones who just want to learn. I won't help anyone that expects a helping hand. They're not here to learn as far as I'm concerned. They don't necessarily have to be fighters. They just have to be someone that is willing to learn, but if they're fighters, they automatically add value to the fighters that are here. They add value to Frank Shamrock. They add value to BJ Penn. They add value to Brian Johnston, Yoshida. They add value to everybody because it's just a big nucleus of talent. It's not like well, you belong to that school, I don't want you coming here. If you can add something and we can implement it, let's use it together. That's the way I work.

FCF: Do you feel that you have in some way impacted how mixed martial arts have evolved?
JM: Well, I never really looked at it that way. I just looked at it like something I love to do. I love my gym, being around the fighters and helping them improve. It's exciting for me, but I never looked at it like I'm adding to the sport. I really couldn't answer that one the right way.

FCF: It seems that Frank Shamrock was one of the first grapplers to have a competent stand up game where he was dominating fights standing. Did you see this first at Frank or even before that?
JM: Actually, I told Frank that he was going to be the pioneer of it. I saw it earlier than that with Maurice Smith. The only problem with Maurice, and I hope Maurice reads this if this is printed, Maurice was thinking the same thing as Dave Velasquez. I just to stand up on my feet, which was wrong. Maurice should have been thinking submission. When he's on the ground, he's in great shape. No one's ever really hurt him. Submit him on the ground. That's makes him more dangerous. That makes the individual that is trying to take Maurice down go, "I don't know if I want to go with him on the ground because he might get me." So now they have two elements to think of now, not this, "Ok, Mo's only good on the stand up." He doesn't become fully dimensional. He's become one dimensional, but he can survive the ground game. I think everybody knows that. If he had been like Frank, well rounded, "I'm going to beat you standing up. I'm going to beat you on the ground." Yeah, I felt Frank was the pioneer and I told him, "Frankie, you're way ahead of the game right now, but you know what? They're catching up." Because of the fact that nobody was cross training the way he started, detailed and the big advantage was that he had me and I understood the game because I've been around the game. I wasn't too knowledgeable when I first went in to it. I was just a stand up guy and I didn't know what the hell was going on. I do now. I do know how to train him correctly, but I did NOT know at the beginning. Obviously, I had Brian in there that was green, super talented, enormous talent, but Brian, at that time, was not the person that should have been involved in the early UFC's, but he got in using my name and using another friend of mine, Mike Swain, Olympic world champion [Swain was the 1998 Silver Medallist in the Olympics]. We used our resources to get Brian in. Brian, at that time, was just a high school wrestler that happened to win the Golden Gloves in boxing, but other than that, he didn't have the experience that he has now. Brian Johnston of today is an entirely different fighter than he was back then.

FCF: Why don't we see him fighting? Is it because he has been so popular with the professional wrestling in Japan?
JM: Yeah, he's got his contracts with the New Japan Wrestling so that's one of the reasons. I believe that they're looking to use him in Pride sometime soon because he has been in the corner of Fujita and now he has been in this guy's corner [Ishizawa]. He's been successful with them. In Japan, Brian is actually fairly large. I didn't realize that until we went over there. He was probably bigger than all the guys I saw over there with the exception of Sakuraba. I didn't see him with Sakuraba, but he got more attention than almost everybody there. I guess wrestling is very popular there; obviously, Brian was getting quite a bit of fans coming up to him.

FCF: With the reemergence of Randy Couture and with Mo Smith, it seems like MMA is almost an old man's sport where a guy of advanced age still can compete. Do you agree?
JM: I agree with it. I think the fighters with the advance age, as long as they haven't been beat up too much, can still compete as long as their heart is still there. I agree with that 100% because it is not as traumatic as Thai boxing or as boxing. They can tap if they want to. It's an entirely different ballgame, whereas a person in Thai boxing may not be able to go past 35, where in MMA, you can still go until your 40's and still be successful. Maurice Smith can still be successful in his 40's in MMA, but there's no way Maurice can be at the top of the game in K-1. Mo's done great with the K-1 USA. He's won it. He deserved it. He did a great job. I've helped him there with his corner man help him and give him advice, but he knows the level that he's at. He still has it, but he knows that in MMA, he has more. He got good years behind him and I believe he does too. Randy Couture, same thing. It all depends when they say quit.

FCF: Do you think a fighter that starts young can have a twenty-year fight career?
JM: Yes, I believe so. A lot has to do with, like I said, they take less punishment. When you're wrestling around on the ground, it's not as bad as taking beatings, kick after kick, punch after punch. They're not taking the same kind of beatings and they [the fights] get stopped earlier. If you get cut, it's automatic. I think that's one of the reasons why they can go longer is because they don't have to stand on their feet as long. They can be on the ground. You can last longer on the ground than you can stand up.

FCF: Thanks for your time and good luck with your school.
JM: Ok, thanks.