Jail Time Lonely, Boring for War Machine

During an interview on the Sherdog Radio Network’s “Beatdown” show, he discussed his time in jail, the opportunity Bellator is giving him and more.

On being isolated from other inmates: “This time I spent the full time in the hole, where last time I spent half the time in the main line. I was in the hole the whole time, so there was no possibility for fights and stuff, but people recognize me here and there. In Las Vegas the hole was a lot more isolated. I didn’t get a lot of time to talk to a lot of people. It was a real lonely time. I was there for nine months and I read 117 books. That just goes to show how bored I was.”

On preferring isolation: “When I went in, I actually tried to request being in the hole because I felt like I liked it better the first time around, but I ended up finding out that I had no choice. They would have put me in there anyway. When I was in there, Floyd Mayweather was also in there and so was Flavor Flav. If you have any kind of fame at all, they stick you in the hole. That’s just the way they do it. I preferred it that way. I wanted to be in the hole. It’s easier, it’s better and there’s no chance you’re getting in trouble.”

On his schedule: “They would give us breakfast at 4 a.m., lunch at 10 a.m. and dinner at 4 p.m. Besides that, you’re on your own. You just sit in there. You can sleep, you can read, you can do whatever you want. You’re just stuck in there. Monday through Friday, we would get one hour per day out of our cells to take a shower and use the phone and stuff. We never were allowed outside. We never saw the sunlight or anything like that. Then Saturday and Sunday it was 24 hours you’re locked down.”

On how he passed his time: “I worked out every day for about an hour or so. I would do pushups and squats and lunges and burpees. I would do whatever I could and shadow box and stuff just to try to maintain some kind of shape, but it was really tough, particularly in Las Vegas because their nutrition there was real poor. I lost like 15 pounds the first few months. They weren’t feeding us nothing in there.”

On people questioning whether Bellator should give him the chance to fight again: “I really don’t care. If I was out there robbing old ladies and molesting kids and stuff, doing real crimes, that’s a different story, but I don’t consider what I did even a crime. I don’t even consider it wrong. I know it’s illegal to get in a fight, but I got in a fight with a guy who’s 300 pounds. He started the fight. He lost. Call the wambulance, I don’t care. What did I do, dude? I won a fight against a giant opponent? … I’m not a bad guy. I’m not a criminal. What I did shouldn’t even be a crime. If they want to hate on me, I don’t care. I ignore it. People all day long Tweet me all kinds of stuff, mean stuff, and I play along with it. I go with the flow. I don’t care. I think it’s funny.”

On Bellator: “I appreciate them giving me a chance because I believe that I’m up there with the guys that are the top guys and I belong on TV and I belong alongside the bigger-name guys. The last few years I haven’t been able to do that. Besides Roger Huerta, I’ve been fighting other opponents in smaller shows out of the spotlight. I really want to be back on the big show. I want to be in front of the fans and I want to display my skills. It’s definitely a big opportunity and I super appreciate Bjorn [Rebney] and Bellator giving me the chance to do this.”

Listen to the full interview (beginning at 59:40).