Joe Schilling went to Stockholm from Los Angeles in order to become a paid sparring partner for Nick Diaz and right after that, what transpired inside the octagon was more than what both paid and received for.
Schilling earned the respect from Diaz and both started a good friendship.
The fight inside the octagon was also not something that anyone would have missed. Schilling said "I went there to spar with Nick, and we pretty much had a gym war, and we've been pretty much good friends ever since."
Schilling said that his experience being a sparring partner for Diaz was what anyone would have expected.
He said "When he first walked into the gym, it was a lot like when he walks into the cage, mad dogging and a lot of 'wassup. That's how he is."
He continued "I describe it like a schoolyard fight with two kids who hate each other and then they become best friends. It was kind of like that. I was a paid sparring partner, he was training for a big fight. I was paid to go in there and spar. When you pay somebody for sparring, you go in there and they expect you to go to work. We had a good scrap and we became friends afterwards. There was no knockouts or anything, we went at it pretty good and we found respect for each other and we became good friends."
Schilling figured that being an ally with the Diaz' can be good for him. He is heading back up to NorCal, where he'll jump right in with a group of busy fighters.
He said "I'm actually going to be going up to Stockton this week, both of them have camps going on right now as well as Jake and Gil. All of those guys are going to be really helpful going into this fight and most of my fights as they have been."
Schilling is an American Muay Thai kickboxer who competes in the super middleweight and light heavyweight divisions. Known for his use of elbows to cut opponents and nicknamed "Stitch 'em Up", Schilling began fighting professionally in 2006 and was a two-time national titlist before defeating Kaoklai Kaennorsing to become the WBC Muaythai Interim World Light Heavyweight Champion in 2011.
