Former Bellator champion & UFC contender Zach Makovsky discusses return from injury, Tristar, wrestling, & more!
Photo by Christian Petersen/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Not long ago, I had the pleasure of interviewing Zach “Fun Size” Makovsky. We discussed a range of topics over a broad spectrum of MMA related areas. Please note there was a bit of an audio issue during the interview, and I tried as best as I could to transcribe that portion of the interview.
Please make sure to go follow Zach on Twitter.
Enjoy!
On returning from injury and how he feels after the ACL tear:
I’d say it still doesn’t feel completely normal, but it feels strong and everything. The thing is that I had some complications with my hip post-surgery, so my hip, I’ve had hip issues before I injured my knee, and then when I tore my ACL, I don’t know if it was through compensating for a while, or just, not using my hip much and kind of just working on knee flexion for the first, month and a half or two months, and it just got so much tighter and it still affects me to this day, so I’m like doing more rehab for my hip than my knee.
The whole process was very difficult, sitting out for a long time with really no training, and then just easing back into it and then as you up the intensity, it gets difficult and you feel like you’ve lost how many steps? It’s just a battle coming back, and I didn’t fight for 2 years and 3 months or so, so it was tough. But being back in there was a really good feeling and I’m happy to be back and trying to squeeze a couple years out before I officially hang it up.
Should fighters be more willing to pull from fights due to injury?
I think it’s probably a case by case scenario, if you’re fighting to make your living, and maybe you were injured and pull out, and you’re still not 100% healthy when you get the next one and you’re kind of on the fence, but now you already pulled out of one so you need it. It depends on what your priorities are and what you’re willing to risk, if you think the benefits will outweigh the potential downfall. I think it’s really hard to say a blanket statement that you should pull out more often, I think it’s different for different people, I don’t know.
I will add on to that, if we weren’t so reliant on every individual fight as a paycheck, and then not even knowing if you’re going to be guaranteed one after that, like if we had more of a kind of back up, some kind of net supporting us, we’d be able to make overall better decisions for our health and longevity then having to make these difficult judgement calls that I don’t think there’s a right and wrong answer to, it’s just where you’re at in that particular time and where your priorities are and where it can lead you.
Who is the hardest puncher Zach has faced?
Zach: Probably Dodson, but it was a different kind of feel, it wasn’t like…it’s hard to describe, I’ve tried to describe it to people and I don’t really have a good way. I’ve felt people who it feels like you’re getting hit with something thudding, like a heavy-handed (type). I wouldn’t describe Dodson like that, it was like his punch had a lot of energy, I don’t know how to explain it. It wasn’t like, dense or thudding, but I just felt like there was more energy in the punch then I’ve felt in anyone close to my weight for sure.
Ben: More the acceleration of the actual object then the mass behind it?
Zach: Yeah, I don’t know, it was like the impact was quick so maybe the force was dispersed quickly or something? I don’t really know exactly, but his punch felt like it had the most energy, I don’t know how else to describe it.
On Demetrious Johnson and the Flyweight division marketing:
I thought he was one of the best fighters I’ve ever seen in MMA. Maybe the most diverse skillset I’ve seen…and it’s non-stop, there’s just no lulls and he is constantly attacking you.
I feel like maybe he beat a couple of guys and the division was shallow at the time…. until it was too late and there was no time to build a storyline and they just had to give him someone else, the number 8 or 9 guy. It started out with a shallow group, not talent but in numbers… I just feel they dropped the ball from the beginning with the division and it could have been done much better, and I think all the Flyweights would be much better off if it worked out.