Five Ounces of Pain: Q&A with EliteXC's Benji Radach

BR: I'd say one or two. It depends on what they decide. They may give it to me after this fight or they might hold off and give me a couple. But I have to win it. If I win, I think it could be the next fight. It depends on a lot of things.

SC: This will be your first time competing on network television but not the first time you received national exposure for being involved in a fight. Rumor has it you were involved in a little incident in Vancouver a few years back at an Elmer's Restaurant?

BR: Yes, that's not rumor. It's a true deal. A guy came in with a loaded gun and had it against the face of the girl behind the cash register and I was eating breakfast with Dennis Hallman and my girlfriend and her sister. This little girl came up to our table crying about how this guy had a gun and I turn around sure enough this guy had the gun right in the chick's face, cussing and swearing and making a big racket. And I was like "Oh my god, this is really happening." Everyone thinks about what they would do in that situation and there it was, right in front of me.

I just made the quick decision. I saw that he wasn't really paying attention to his surroundings and that he was really focused on the girl in front of him and the general manager to his left. I was about 70 feet off to his right so he wasn't looking. So I was like "Man, I am going to snag this guy." If I could get close to him without him seeing me and shooting me, I knew I could get him. I didn't want to sprint in case he'd hear me so I just aggressively walked up quietly and fast and grabbed the gun out of her face and wrist-locked him to his back and dropped one big right hand and fractured his jaw and knocked him unconscious and moved him off to the side and saved the day.

Now I am just trying to get the footage because it was caught on a surveillance camera. If I can get that, it would be pretty sweet. I think it would be cool for MMA because there are so negative ways in which people try to portray MMA and this is one good thing.

SC: It sounds like that one scene out of Pulp Fiction. But you were 70 feet away? That means you had plenty of time to second-guess yourself and say, "Hey man, he has a gun and I don't. Maybe I should just let this play out on its own?" What possessed you to step in and take control?

BR: It's one of those things where it's in slow motion in your mind as it's happening even though it's happening so fast in real time. You make a quick decision and all of these things were going through my mind at once. What's he doing? What are the surroundings? How close am I and what do I have to do once I get near him? Just all of these things but I knew I had this guy and it was because of what he was wearing. He had a neckerchief around his face and I didn't know who he was because of that. He had goggles and a hat and a gun right up in this chick's face. I just felt that I wasn't going to be one to sit there and take it. I don't want to see anyone die today. So I saw the opening and I went up to him and I am glad things worked out they way they did instead of me or someone else bleeding to death.

In addition to being a contributing writer for CBSSports.com, Sam Caplan is also the publisher of his own MMA website, FiveOuncesOfPain.com. You can contact him via e-mail at: SCaplan8@comcast.net.