Saint Preux fights on

Ovince Saint Preux, a defensive end for the Vols in 2002 and '04, has turned his attention to modern martial arts.

Saint Preux credited his interest in fighting to his high school wrestling background in Immokalee, Fla. After finishing his college career after transferring to Chattanooga for his senior season, Saint Preux took up fighting to stay in shape.

His trainer encouraged him to continue. Saint Preux has competed in a tournament in Oak Ridge and plans to participate in his first fight in July.

Saint Preux said football and martial arts have their similarities.

"A lot of my workouts are football workouts. I'm still working on getting my legs stronger and being more explosive with my hips," he said.

But Saint Preux has found some differences between the two. He said football is less intense than martial arts. Football requires a player to run five to eight seconds before getting a 30-second rest. However, martial arts fighters must fight for three rounds that are three minutes each.

"And that's intense. That's one way you can get beat, if you run out of gas," he said.

Saint Preux said intimidation is the key to winning a modern martial arts competition.

"The first thing you have to do is intimidate that person. You'll have the match won already," he said.

Saint Preux said the unpredictability of the sport is appealing. He predicted that modern martial arts will be a popular mainstream sport within 10 years.

"People like seeing people get knocked out," he said.