Shem Rock denies being controversial for the show: I’m not playing for anything! I’m fine with being the target of criticism. What does he say about disputes with Czech fighters?

Interesting talent, controversy and a bit of a mouthful. That’s Shem Rock. He didn’t impress in the first match, but he outclassed Jan Malach in the second. Besides, he’s gotten into feuds with a couple of local fighters. For example, with Vladimir Lengal, with whom there was a fight during the weigh-in. He talked about it in an extensive interview for Ruik.

First of all, congratulations on the win, great performance. But I can’t start with anything other than a question about the conflict with Vladimir Lengal. We know his version, not yours. What happened?

Lengal is one of those people who behave very differently when the camera is on and off. Off camera, he’s not that big a deal. He was offered a fight with me, but he turned it down. Okay, you don’t want to fight me, fine. But if you don’t want a fight, don’t act like you do. If you’re doing that, you’re just not a real fighter,

I met him backstage at the weigh-in, he was staring at me. Why are you looking at me like that? I’m just here for the weight, sitting in a chair, still dehydrated. Then he walked by and I tried to get up.

It wasn’t like I attacked him. Lengal stood in front of me at that point and made a shoulder tackle, so I pushed him away. As I stood up, I better get a chair just in case.

Then the Octagon team came in and broke it up. Anyway, that’s not fighting, that’s beneath me.

After the conflict with Lengal, Malach called you trash, and Matej Kuznik, another fighter in your weight class, criticized you. It seems you’re not exactly to the liking of the Czech fighters…

I don’t care, I don’t care. I’m the ace here. They know a win over Shem Rock would change their lives. I get it. They’re gonna talk about me all the time, but I only respect those who actually go up against me.

I didn’t know Malach called me that, he’s been good to me all along. I actually thought it was okay between us, but I guess that’s the way he wants to present himself.

But you can see for yourself what happened. We’re talking about a guy who has almost 30 professional fights, and it took me two and a half minutes to beat him clearly and easily.

What did Lengal’s words at the press conference do to you when he leaned on you about living with your mom?

He has his family, I have mine. Who is he to pick on mine and refer to himself as a family man? My mom and my brothers live off what I make. They don’t have to work so hard every day of their lives.

His wife looks like his mom. She looks 45, so Lengal can say whatever he wants. He doesn’t do what I do. He’s not living my life. He’s nobody to me. He doesn’t want to fight me, he knows I’d beat him.

He’s had his chance to be in the cage with me. You saw him at the press conference. I asked him if he wanted to fight. Did he say yes? Of course he said no. I’ll take him on in his hometown. At my house, too. I’ll fight him anywhere. Ask him if he’ll do the same.

It’s worth noting that you got into Lengal after the tournament because you got a bonus for performance of the night. Why is that?

Oh, come on. He got a Performance of the night bonus? He needed the money to take his wife to Greece, but it should really be about the performance. No one was as dominant as me that night.

I didn’t land a single punch, I didn’t take a single shot. I rolled Malach over, loaded him up in a stance, then threw him to the ground, got in his back and choked him out. I couldn’t have put on a more dominant performance.

Real combat sports fans know what a top performance is. Lengal was almost finished, he shouldn’t have gotten a bonus. But if he didn’t get it, he couldn’t afford to go to Greece, he’s just a beggar.

Like you said, Lengal probably doesn’t want to fight you, however, he wants to be featherweight champion, you want to be a double champion. Besides the lightweight division, you’d like to dominate the featherweight division, where your paths could collide…

How many fights does he have at featherweight? I’ll just go into that division and jump the queue, skip him because he’s a nobody. Let’s be honest. He doesn’t even know what jiu-jitsu is. He can’t wrestle. He can throw hard punches, but that’s about it.

Let’s be realistic. I don’t even know why we’re talking about him. He’s not at that level. When I go to 66, I’m gonna be fighting a three, two or champion at that weight. He’s not even worth dropping down to that weight.

To what extent are your conflicts and controversies just for show, and to what extent are the controversies you stir up actually real?

I’m not playing at anything. I have no idea why people think I’m putting on a show. This is just me. Liverpool people are just different. When there’s a tournament in Manchester and the arena is full of Liverpool people, everyone will know the difference straight away.

Aren’t you afraid you’ll put too much pressure on yourself?

Afraid? I go into the cage with people who are trying to kill me. It doesn’t matter what you say or do, you still have to come in and fight to the death with your opponent.

That’s a question people deal with a lot. I don’t feel any pressure or stress myself, it’s just another day at work. I’m more nervous when I’m sparring Luke Riley (a promising English fighter, 21 years old with a 7-0 record, all his fights have been in Cage Warriors – ed.) in my gym than when I go to fight Malach, even if it’s in front of thousands of people.

If you think about it a lot, of course it’s going to be hard, but I was just focused on the fight. I’ve been doing it every day, six days a week, three times a day for eight years. When I get in the cage, I forget everything. All I care about is winning. It’s just like nature.

When we interviewed you before the tournament, you commented on the dispute with Jaroslav Pokorny and denied his words about writing to him at three in the morning. He responded with a screen that indicates otherwise.

It’s just a social network. I could also show prinstscreens of who sent me what and when. It’s not real life. You know what I mean?

Now, about the Malach game. You won quickly and dominantly. Do you think you showed your full potential? And silenced the critics?

No, I didn’t. No, I didn’t. And definitely not. And it’s only gonna get worse, and I’m gonna show more. The fans will hate me or they’ll love me. But there’s one thing they’re all gonna have to do. Respect my skills.

The fans mean nothing to me in the end. You can say whatever you want. You can call me names, you can insult me. You can say I’m a foot sniffer and allude to my penchant for jiu-jitsu, that I can’t box or kick, but then I’ll walk into the cage and finish my opponent, which is something they can only dream of at most.

I’m scrolling through the comments. I see who writes what, and I know what real combat sports fans think of my skills. I know what my coaches are saying, what my training partners are saying. Those are the opinions that really matter the most. Nothing else matters.

How do you evaluate the fight with Malach in retrospect?

I give it a 7 out of 10. I wanted to do something fantastic, but I didn’t deliver what I wanted. I played him like a cat and mouse, it was a clean performance, but I wanted to show more.

And how do you feel about Malach as an opponent?

You saw the fight. Do you think he’s on my level? How many times did he hit me? How many takedowns did he score? Did you see how nervous he looked? He came into a professional fight and he was nervous. Why? No disrespect to him, he got where he got, but you can’t lie in combat sports.

Either I gave a flawless performance or he gave a really bad one. I’m not saying which it was. He can tell you that. I knew I was an excellent fighter when I came in.

Malach said after the loss that he expected takedowns from you and that’s why he wasn’t so careful in his stance.

This is MMA. You get in the cage, punch your opponent in the face, kick him in the head… I’m dangerous, you have to respect the level of my punches. People think I’m just training jiu-jitsu, but that’s not what I trained for this fight.

You have to think differently. You don’t prepare for your opponent. You have to prepare your gameplan and impose it on your opponent, you can’t worry about what your opponent does.

I thought Malach was a tough guy and could take a little more, I even thought he might like the idea of me wanting to be in the stance with him and not wanting to throw him to the ground right away. I expected him to weather a bigger storm. Wrestling him was a lot easier than I expected.

How did you enjoy the fight outdoors?

It was something that was on my bucket list of things I wanted to experience before I die. I can finally check it off. It’s something I’ve always wanted to experience. I wanted to fight in a great event like this.

The crowd booed me, but it was fun, I loved it. I like being a bit of a bad boy. Being the target of criticism makes everything easier for me. The pressure was on Malach, he was the home guy, the fans were driving him to win. I could have been cool and calm.

Honestly, I like it when it’s really warm, but it wasn’t exactly warm at Štvanice. I was actually a bit cold. I didn’t mind the insects either, mosquitoes never bite me. I lived in Malaysia and even there I never got bitten by a mosquito, even when I slept with the windows open.

Once you won, you couldn’t help making various gestures towards the fans. Was it in response to something they were showing or just spontaneous actions?

I felt elated that I managed to silence the whole stadium, so I just thought, what’s wrong with you? Make me happy, right? Like I said, whether they hate me or like me, when I put on a good performance, they have to respect my skills.

If you’re an educated fan, you should appreciate a good performance. I’m glad I got paid. I’m really happy about that.

What’s next for you? We know you’ll be in Manchester. Do you have a dream opponent?

There’s a lot of people I’d like to fight, but I’m not a matchmaker, that’s Ondrej Novotny and Pavol Neruda. Whoever they want me to fight, just put money on the table and I’ll show up like I always do. Then I’ll put on my best performance.

Will the tournament in Manchester be specific? What should we expect from the audience? Will it be different than in the Czech Republic?

I’m from the North West, so if I fight in my region my fans will turn up and sell out the hall. People in Liverpool love me, the Scots love me, the Welsh love me, the Irish love me.

You can expect me to do what I always do. I’ll go for the quick finish and I’ll go for the win. No matter what round. Whoever the Octagon puts in front of me, I feel it’s going to be a really tough night for my opponent.

Source: Ruik