Here’s a personal story about Brian Ebersole:
During UFC pay-per-view fight weeks, I host live fighter chats for the Houston Chronicle, my hometown newspaper. I’ve done chats with everyone from Chael Sonnen to Ronda Rousey, and the routine is almost always the same. The fighter shows up to the UFC’s media center. I take questions from the readers, ask the fighter for their answer and then type it up for the readers to see.
When I hosted a chat with Ebersole during UFC 140 in Toronto, however, things were a little different. Ebersole came into the media room and sat next to me. He asked me for a demo of the live chat software.
I ran him through all of the administration specifics, and then he told me he would take over from there. He took my computer and ran the entire live chat, all by himself, with zero help from me, and answered questions from the readers for 30 minutes.
I tell you this story to emphasize that Ebersole is a really smart cat. He’s one of the more astute and thoughtful fighters I’ve ever dealt with.
So it should come as no surprise that Ebersole is already preparing for his next fight after this Friday’s bout with T.J. Waldburger by calling out the ultra-popular Diaz brothers:
I wouldn’t mind beating up a Diaz, maybe Nate. Jim Miller’s a talented dude. I want to start up there. I don’t care if they’re coming off a win or coming off a loss, I just want to prove that I belong in that top ten, top 15.
When asked by Ariel Helwani, host of The MMA Hour, why he wanted to fight a Diaz brother, Ebersole responded:
They’ve kind of got punk attitudes.
I know what you’re thinking. Ebersole is a welterweight, right?
Ebersole fought at lightweight in 2008 and 2009, and he’s currently entertaining a move back to 155. He told Helwani that he wanted to go 4-0 as a welterweight in the UFC and then make the move down. Ebersole also said he wanted to face someone that can help him prove he belongs with the top 10 or 15 lightweights in the division.
Ebersole would be an interesting addition to the lightweight division, and a bout with Diaz would be quite enjoyable. Diaz currently has more pressing items on his plate, with a title shot coming up later in 2012 or early 2013.
But I can’t help but hope that we’ll eventually see this bout materialize, if only because Ebersole had the intestinal fortitude to actually call out a Diaz brother in public.
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