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Out of ring, Monson sits for anarchy

Published November 17, 2006 at midnight

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Anarchy wouldn't literally rule the Ultimate Fighting Championships, but Jeff Monson would have a larger platform to espouse his controversial political viewpoints by capturing the promotion's heavyweight title.

Set to face defending champion Tim Sylvia on Saturday night's UFC 65: Bad Intentions pay-per-view show emanating from Las Vegas, Monson earned his title shot by compiling a 24-5 mixed martial arts record.

Monson also has gained attention for being an anarchist and is even dotted with a series of tattoos that stand as universal symbols of the belief. Monson told the Groundnpound.com Web site that he would "like to do away with all class hierarchy in society and the institutions that promote this inequality."

Elaborating further during a recent telephone interview, Monson said, "We can do without police and people telling us what to do. That's how we grew up, going little by little toward obeying orders and following directions. We don't know how to make roads, hospitals or schools for ourselves. We need someone else to do it or else we'll never do it. That's where I think we fall short. We can govern ourselves."

Monson, 33, said his beliefs were formed while pursuing a bachelor's degree in psychology at the University of Illinois. Monson later worked as a health, crisis and family/child counselor in Olympia, Wash., after earning a master's degree in psychology from the University of Minnesota-Duluth.

Monson missed the athletic competition from his days as a top amateur wrestler and began training in judo and a grappling-based form of MMA fighting called pankration. Victories in two of the world-class Abu Dhabi submission wrestling tournaments in Saudi Arabia catapulted Monson to a burgeoning MMA career.

But as he prepared for his biggest bout yet, Monson said he actually has more interest in becoming politically active than pursuing a long- term MMA career because "I'm not going to fight forever." Monson already has participated in a sit-down demonstration in Olympia as a protest to military involvement in Iraq.

"I want to send a positive message and not say, 'I hate (President) Bush and this and that,' " Monson said. "I want to push us coming together and stopping the war and bringing the troops home so we can focus on how we're cutting the education budget and pressure people who are officially in charge of that."

Monson enters Saturday's fight against Sylvia as an underdog because the latter has an 11-inch height and significant reach advantage. The 5-foot-9-inch, 240-pound Monson said the way to compensate against the 6-foot-8-inch, 265-pound Sylvia is to "put the fight where I want to fight."

"I need to get inside on him and hope I can get him to the mat or tie him up against the fence so he can't use his reach over me," Monson said.

Matt Hughes vs. Georges St. Pierre for UFC's welterweight title is the show's other co-main event. For more information, visit .

Question: Whatever became of Howard Finkel? - Amy Rose, Sunrise, Fla.

Answer: The most famous ring announcer in World Wrestling Entertainment history, the 49-year-old Finkel works predominantly behind the scenes and at non-televised live events. Finkel also is the only WWE performer to appear on every Wrestlemania pay-per-view show and should extend his streak at April's show in Detroit. One of the bouts will likely be Hulk Hogan vs. Paul "Big Show" Wight.

More of the Monson interview can be found at www.wrestlingobserver.com. Questions can be sent to Alex Marvez c/o the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 200 E. Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale, Fla. 33301, or e-mailed to amarvez@sun-sentinel.com.