MMA star Karlos "Terminator" Vémola is a member of Extrifit Team!

[Text: Pavel Vacek - PR manager of Extrifit] Few athletes in the Czech Republic arouse such passion as Karlos Vemola. But that's the way it is with prominent personalities. An interview with a new member of the Extrifit Team might calm these discussions down, or it might stir them up even more... Karlos Vémola on his loss, new challenges, sports philosophy and our national mood...

Hi Karlos, let me ask you a slightly unconventional question, but I don't really know how to address you. Karl or Karlos?

Well, I can tell you that even my mom doesn't call me Karl anymore. My grandmother just calls me Karle, and everybody else just calls me Karlos.

So it's great to have clarity and now I can say how proudwe are at Extrifit to have you on the Team. We have the best bodybuilding Team, the best bencher, our best wellness fitness and now one of the best fighters in such a dynamic and popular sport like MMA. But I wonder why exactly you wanted to associate your name with us, even though you undoubtedly have plenty of sponsorship offers?

Well... actually, I have to say it again. We are the strongest team in the country right now, literally. It's a new challenge for me, a new challenge, and I can see it in you dudes especially, they're making progress. I can see that it's working, that you know what you're doing. The fighters that are getting results aren't some instagram barbies or dummies that are going to graduate everything. These are fighters who have to perform and have to be at their best to win. And that's why I chose this path. I'm making radical changes now.

As long as I was winning, as long as I went 4 years without losing, I didn't need to change things. But after the defeat to Attila, I have to make changes. If you don't change anything, you'll keep losing. I lost, there was a mistake somewhere and we will find it. That's why I'm focusing on different training, that's why I train in Spejbl Gym, because it's the best stand-up gym in the Czech Republic and stand-up fighting is my biggest weakness. I go to training camps, I start training in Poland, I train in Reinders Gym, Monster Gym, I just train in the Czech Republic with the best, whether it's Jirka Procházka, Muradov, Monster and I want to take the best nutrition. I just want all this to take me one step further. And that's the reason for the change.

You have a fantastic record of 27 wins and only 6 losses, but unfortunately those few losses came in those key fights when you were looking to get back to the UFC. You don't have a problem with over-motivation?

Well it's possible, but I guess it's always going to be that way. I've had hundreds of those fights and everyone tells you that it can't be anything for me anymore, that it has to be easy and stress-free, but it's not true. It's still just as hard. Maybe even harder, because I've got more and more weight on my shoulders. Those 30 years ago, I had more stage fright and an easier opponent, but also less pressure from people. As time goes on, people expect more and more from you, and the pressure goes up. Today there are two camps, not like there used to be when there was only one.

Today there's a huge camp of people who want to see you win and an equally big camp of haters who want to see you lose, no matter who you fight, and it's getting bigger and bigger. And I'm not giving it to the haters. I'm gonna take that joy away from them. So nowadays it's not so much about being over-motivated, it's about the pressure of the fans, the haters, the media and all that.

You had a huge streak of invincibility, then you got a bit of an unfortunate chin-strokefrom my layman's point of view and suddenly you're a write-off with half the nation. Is this instant damnation of a champion a typically Czech trait?

It's a Czech/Slovak trait. In this, Attila and I are one in the same, and even though we are rivals, I felt awfully sorry for him when he fought in Bratislava. He had an "easy" fight there, he was the clear favourite, he should have won, the whole stadium was chanting "Attilka, Attilka, Attilka" before the fight, but he got KO'd and nobody there applauded. No one. The whole stadium was silent. No applause for the opponent, no applause for Attila, nothing. Then the classic, millions of haters, how Attila fucked up, how he's not up to it anymore, how old he is, and look at him now. That's a huge difference against the English. I was in London for the Ukrainians when I started the game, but I never experienced any hatred there. They always cheered for me, they always appreciated the opposition. The English, they are a nation of nice people and I love them for that. Somehow I don't follow football much, but the last time England won a World Cup was sometime in the 1950s, but they believe every World Cup they are the best!

The fans drive them, they support them even if they kind of suspect they're the underdogs. It's not like that here in the Czech Republic, and they give you a hard time for every failure. But you have to live with it and I used it as a motor for myself. The haters drive me forward. I won't give them the pleasure. The more success I have, the more I'll be happy that they're pissed.

Can you get any better? What is the sport life of an MMA fighter?

You can improve for life. I've been doing it for 30 years and I still feel like I don't know anything when I come to a top gym. MMA is not just one technique, one sport. It's judo, boxing, kickboxing, karate... there's just so much that there's a huge room for improvement. One of my great role models, Randy Couture, won his first world heavyweight title at 42. That's a big driver for me. Now two-time champion Daniel Cormier is retiring after 40. He may have lost narrowly on points, but he was going out on top. So I see myself having about 5 more great years and maybe 5 more years a little bit weaker, we'll see. We fighters are tough, the body is tougher, or maybe we're tougher than in those fights and stuff..

Is MMA a dangerous sport? There's a lot of blood in the cage sometimes.

I read that it's dangerous all the time, but I categorically disagree. Statistically, there are far fewer injuries than in football. They say MMA is a brutal sport, but I don't think any of them have played rugby. That's a brutal sport! People don't realize that I'm not just the one who hits people. I'm also learning how to defend myself. We know what to do to make sure we don't get hurt and I've never been injured in a game, I've always had injuries from training. People ask me if my girlfriend or my mom is worried about me when I go in the cage. Why would they be worried? I've been training for this for 30 years. I train harder than I wrestle. Morning, night, all the time. You can get hurt anywhere, in any sport, but you can see the blood here, so it's a little scary... But I don't think it's a very dangerous sport.

It's widely known about you that you're a former bodybuilder, that you've done bodybuilding competitions, so I was wondering if there's any aspect of bodybuilding that you still benefit from in MMA today?

I benefit from my bodybuilding past an awful lot. People say I'm the best at losing weight and dieting. But that's only because of bodybuilding, which taught me discipline. Not eating when I shouldn't, not drinking when I shouldn't, sticking to training when I don't have the energy. It's taught me that even small transgressions can ruin big things. Every bodybuilder knows it's useless to train, stick to a diet for 23 hours, and then stand in front of the fridge for an hour, and suddenly it's all useless. Bodybuilding taught me to train 24 hours a day, and that's what I do now when I'm training for a fight. Training is 20%, the rest is everything you do after. Recovery, food, supplements, lifestyle. As far as food goes, I keep that up year round too. I always try to be at an optimal weight and not overeat at times when I shouldn't be watching it.

You talked about recovery, do you have any recipes outside of sleep etc.. that will speed up your recovery?

For me, amino acids, either complex or BCAAs along with glutaminehave been the most effective . That's probably what I use the most and all day, which I think is the best. People ask me when should I take it, how should I take it? Pre-workout or post-workout? And I tell them truthfully how I do it. I just mix it up for the day and drink it all day. That's the best way to spread out my intake throughout the day, and it tastes good. Why should I drink some sugary pub drink when I can put this in my water? It tastes great, plus it helps my recovery.

You've got 9 flavours, you can choose as many as you like. Strawberry, orange, lemon... you just don't get tired of it. So why chug a coke when I can drink something that tastes good and helps me through the day? The body's like an engine. If you have a supercharged engine and you don't put the right juice in it, you're not gonna get anywhere. So I like it. And when I'm not drinking this, I'm drinking multivitamins. I just got this Imun from you guys, which is like a juice or a really good juice, so I don't see why I should drink a tonic or a Coke or something when I can drink this.

Karlos, you go to a lot of charity events, you're invited to motivational seminars. What universal advice would you give to a young 15-year-old kid who wants to be a Vemola one day?

No one should try to become another Carlos Vemola. They have to try to be better. Always try to do better. And it doesn't have to be just in MMA, but in everything you do. That goes for every sport. When you do something, do it full and hard. The most important step is the one you start with. Don't get caught in the wrong group, don't be on the wrong team. You need to find a gym or a team that is proven where it works. That's what I've believed all my life. No sport is individual, everyone is a collective and you can never do anything alone.

It depends on the people that are around you. If you want to put a kid in MMA, in judo, in boxing, look at the club, look at the coaches, look at the results those coaches have. You can never settle for putting your kids in a B group. I've been looking for the best people around me my whole life. The best sparring partners, managers, gym and now the team. And that's why I'm on the Extrifit Team now, because there is no better and stronger team in the Czech Republic. Just look at the dudes that are in it and their performances and it's clear that I'm right here.

Karlos, I thank you for this conclusion as well as for the interview and I am glad that you are part of the team now.