Director James Z. Feng‘s new documentary, Fight Life, is still months away from dropping but the trailer already has fans eager for the full-length release. Here, in the first official interview series for TheBurbsLife, Feng elaborates on the film, which he hopes will break down stereotypes of fighters and shed light on their trials and tribulations.

“The big (MMA) organizations will love me for (the film) in the long run because I’m helping them broaden their audience and marketing their sport in a more humane way. In the short run, they might not like me because Fight Life will definitely be raising controversy with the truths I will be revealing about the sport of MMA. I don’t mind being hated on as long as I’m standing for something I believe in.”

Read the entire interview after the jump

JB: I noticed that your two dramatized films – 600 & Drowning – involve overcoming great adversity to fulfill a dream. Why did you choose to focus your first documentary on the life of fighters?

JZF: Everybody thinks being a fighter is cool and glamorous, but nobody would really want to be a full time professional fighter. Who wants to be broke, getting his or her ass kicked every day in training, and only having a slim chance of making it? Oh, and I totally forgot to mention the no insurance AND getting jacked by promoters part. I think it takes some very interesting & unique characters to choose and embrace this profession; I really wanted to meet these crazy ass individuals and find out why they chose this way of life. That’s why I started Fight Life.

My films will always be about the struggle because I believe life itself is a beautiful struggle. The truth is, when we finally make it in life one day and have everything we want, we won’t have anything left to motivate and push us beyond our limits. I really love this part of life where we are all training like Rocky and learning about ourselves in this beautiful process and growing as a human being.

JB: You’re a martial artist in your own right. How did that influence you as a director for this film?

JZF: My background allowed me to understand and feel for the fighters in Fight Life. I understand the true philosophy behind being a true martial artist and competitor because I’ve been there myself, so it was very natural for me to connect with the fighters and know exactly where they are coming from. I’m sure they could feel that I was different than those random journalists who didn’t really understand the sport of MMA.

JB: What do you hope to achieve and convey to audiences with this film?

JZF: My goal with Fight Life is to shatter stereotypes and show people a side of fighting they weren’t aware of. I want people to watch the film and be surprised to find out that fighters are so normal. Even though it’s gotten a lot better, I think our society still has a slight negative stigma against fighters due to the image built by the Tank Abbott era where marketing MMA as a blood sport & cage fighting brutes sold tickets (there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that either, they did what they had to do to keep the sport alive). I just thought it was time for something to come out about the way things are now; MMA is a real sport that can no longer be mastered with just a tough skull.

JB: In the trailer you mention that most fighters lack health insurance and earn an average annual salary of $11,000. How has producing this film affected your perception of the fighting industry?

JZF: The fighting industry is still in the infant stage where it’s still filled with chaos and nonprofessionals. In time, all the wannabes in MMA will be weeded once things become more organized and regulated. There’s a lot of shadiness that goes behind closed doors inside MMA that only the insiders know about, I’ll leave it at that. This recent emergence of MMA as a profitable mainstream commodity has brought on a lot of scammers and people wanting to make a quick buck; everybody sees the rising stock of MMA and all of a sudden want a piece of the pie. Inside this bandwagon, you got all these wannabes who hopped on for their own gain and don’t give a damn about the sport.

JB: You follow three different fighters in three separate stages of their career. How did you link up with them?

JZF: I heard their stories from different sources and thought they were the best stories to follow for Fight Life. Once I met with them in person, they all came onboard and liked my concept. Our fighters all really wanted to show the world aside of MMA that most people don’t know about. I didn’t plan on a lot of things that happened during this project and it was always nice to get surprises along the way. It was only later on did I realize that my three main fighters each represent a different stage in the career of a professional fighter.

JB: What was one of the craziest experiences you had while making this film?

JZF: Staying up with Nick Diaz and his crew in his hotel room until 5am watching his fight with Scott Smith on YouTube over and over again right after the fight had just happened; that was our victory party. We literally watched it like 100 times, and I filmed all this too.

JB: How do you think the MMA community – and the larger companies like Zuffa – will react to this film? Have you received support or criticism?

JZF: For anybody that is a real fan of MMA at heart, they will love and appreciate this movie. I’ve gotten a lot of support from the MMA community already thanking me for making this film. The audiences all got my back and have been heavily supporting this project. The cool thing is that everybody wants to see this film, not just the MMA fans. The big organizations will love me for it in the long run because I’m helping them broaden their audience and marketing their sport in a more humane way. In the short run, they might not like me because Fight Life will definitely be raising controversy with the truths I will be revealing about the sport of MMA. I don’t mind being hated on as long as I’m standing for something I believe in. I’m guessing Zuffa will send me a large check to not release this film, j/k, LOL.

JB: You spent two years working in Shanghai, China making films. What are the differences – if any – between the public’s perceptions of martial arts culture out there compared to America?

JZF: People in Asia love action films, but besides that, they don’t really care for martial arts. I think MMA has resuscitated martial arts as both a sport and discipline with all the media attention given to it in the mainstream channels. In Asia, the normal people in the street don’t know or care that much about martial arts because the media doesn’t really care about it. Here in the U.S., MMA is the cool things to do right now; all the kids today want to be a fighter when they grow up. The Ultimate Fighter reality TV show made fighting tangible and accessible for anybody by showing you how you can become a fighter.

JB: Do you think that the recent explosion in MMA popularity – especially with the UFC – is healthy for our culture or decadent?

JZF: I think it’s still too early to tell the positive/negative effects of MMA on our society because we are not quite there yet. MMA is getting popular, but I wouldn’t go as far as to say it’s quite mainstream yet. At the end of 2010, we’ll know the answer.

JB: I noticed that you’re a rapper as well. What parallels do you see between the rap game and the fight game?

JZF: Just like the rap game, the MMA game is all about hustling and promoting yourself. In the rap game, if you don’t know how to promote yourself, you really have no career no matter how good of a rapper you are. The same is true for MMA; I’ve seen good fighters who don’t make it far in the sport because they weren’t good at marketing themselves. Bottom line is fans pay good money to see fighters they know or like, so if no one knows you or likes you, it doesn’t matter how good of a fighter you are. I think marketing is a very underrated aspect in the current MMA game because a lot of fighters aren’t schooled in the game of marketing and branding or don’t have people around them that really knows marketing (the best bullshitters in the world are all in MMA right now). Some of the richest fighters aren’t the best fighters; they are good fighters who were smart in both promoting themselves and making good business decisions. I feel bad for some of these good fighters because they simply don’t have the resources or people to help them get their name/brand out. Frank Shamrock, Tito Ortiz are two people who are geniuses at marketing and branding themselves, they’ve both made a lot of money in the sport of MMA due to their marketing smarts.

JB: What do you think the future is for MMA?

JZF: I’ll have to quote Biggie on this one, “Sky’s The Limit“. MMA is here to stay in mainstream America whether people like it or not.

JB: When is the film going to be released and how will it be distributed?

JZF: Our target release date for the film is May/June, 2010. All the distributors have been calling me already, but I’m telling them to hang tight until I have a cut of the film. As far as my goals for this film, I’ll want to do a theatrical release, TV broadcast, DVD, Netflix, Online, getting it worldwide, etc… I want it all baby! I have a lot of faith in my product and believe it will go far because of all the heart and soul that’s been poured into this passion project. Everybody please stay updated with Fight Life by joining our Twitter and Facebook at www.FightLife.TV. Thanks for having me, JB.