Former Pride FC and UFC fighter “Big Daddy” Gary Goodridge was recently interviewed by Hannibal TV. You can check out what he had to say here:
On why he didn’t pursue pro wrestling:
“Sitting back now, I’m sorry I didn’t because my career would’ve lasted much longer. And I was too busy with fighting at the time. I’m open, talking to Goldberg last month I think I’m going to end up going that way (towards professional wrestling) because whatever injuries you have, it’s okay, because you work around it.”
On how he knows Goldberg:
“Goldberg and I became good friends in — he was the commentator for Pride. Then from there me, Goldberg, Don Frye, there were a bunch of people that went on a trip in California for kids — have the kids come with us and we take them out, we’d mentor all these under-privileged kids. And the kids — I’m sure some of them are dead today. So we were just– Make A Wish. Make A Wish with an athlete, something out in California. They used to fly us out there, and Goldberg came and we became really good friends in California. From there we just kept on kept it up — he came from a football background and I came from an MMA background. We both suffer from the same things in our heads, so it was easy for us to talk to each other and get to know each other.”
On how Goldberg would do in MMA:
“He didn’t fight MMA back then, but he could have. His persona on wrestling was the MMA background, he fought with the Chuck Norris wrist wraps. He’s training now, he’s doing jiu jitsu now for about three years, he’s been doing jiu jitsu for a while. Now he knows how to fight, back then he was — I don’t think he was — he was just a big brawler.”
On his thoughts on Goldberg and Brock Lesnar’s Survivor Series match:
“I loved it. He got me, I was like three seats from the ring. He invited me down, gave me a few tickets, I loved it.”
On if he got a chance to meet Brock:
“As a matter of fact, no. I did not talk to Brock. I didn’t even see him.”
(All transcribed quotes courtesy of Wrestling Inc.)
