Dave “Pee Wee” Herman is making his Octagon debut this Saturday against Jon Olav Einemo at UFC 131. There is a fair bit of excitement around this entrance because Herman, 26, has for years been considered a very promising prospect at heavyweight.
So why, then, did it take him 22 fights to get here?
Much like the inspiration behind his nickname namesake, Herman (20-2) is a tale of two people, and you’re never really sure which one you’re going to see. Will he apply all his unusual talents to create an entertaining and successful product that fans will want to see again? Or will he be caught in a seedy theater of disappointment, repulsive to those who believed in him and banished back to the sideshow hinterlands?
UFC 131 should finally provide a definitive answer. And judging by his actions of late, Herman knows the expectation is there.
To draw another analogy, Herman is a bit like the Allen Iverson of MMA. He has historically relied on brute strength and athleticism to win fights, and after the bell rings, he’s back in the bar and out of the gym.
I don’t know Herman personally, but this has always been the book on him.
However, like Iverson, Herman seems to have learned that the highest levels force you to evolve or perish. In order for the sport to take you seriously, you must first take it seriously. Hence the potential reason for his relatively long wait for a shot in the UFC, as well as the fact that his biggest win to date was over a 43-year-old Don Frye.
The student has signaled his willingness to learn by finally casting his lot with respected teachers, namely Dan Henderson and Team Quest. This should improve his grappling, most specifically his takedown defense, which is critical given that his favorite weapons in the cage are his left and right fists.
But grappling is just what the fight doctor ordered against Einemo, a 35-year-old grappler extraordinaire.
His jiu-jitsu bona fides are solid and above reproach, and he’ll no doubt be looking to force the fight to the ground so he can tap Herman out. Then again, he’s coming back to MMA after an eternal five-year layoff. Point jiu-jitsu matches are challenging in their own right, but they’re a different animal than mixed martial arts 100 times out of 100.
But back to Herman. What does he need to do to win? Stuff takedowns? Sure. Punish Einemo from his back as the need arises? Absoutely. Avoid sloppy ground technique while using his power to neutralize submission attempts? Indubitably.
But there’s a larger, more fundamental key to victory for Pee Wee, and it won’t unfold in the course of the fight. It will have been predetermined by those long days in Temecula and whether he brought enough concentration and commitment to the hard training, self-discipline and other not-so-fun stuff he’ll need to do to compete against world-class combat experts.
If he was willing and able to do that, he will have the tools to defeat the jiu-jitsu specialist. But if the dog ate his homework, we’ll see a quick failure, for sure.
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