Author: Ben Fowlkes

The Truth About Choosing Your Fights

Filed under: UFC, FanHouse ExclusiveChances are you’ve witnessed this scene before. A victorious fighter, flush with adrenaline, steps up to the mic for a post-fight interview. His face is lit up like a full moon and, at least in that triumphant moment…

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Chances are you’ve witnessed this scene before. A victorious fighter, flush with adrenaline, steps up to the mic for a post-fight interview. His face is lit up like a full moon and, at least in that triumphant moment, anything seems possible. He’s just cold-clocked a qualified competitor on national TV. He feels like a giant among ants.

He’s Julius Caesar. He’s Alexander the Great. Conqueror of kingdoms and destroyer of worlds. So is it any surprise what he says when asked who he’d like to face next?

‘I’ll fight anybody they put in front of me.’

Really? Anybody? Because – and don’t take this the wrong way, guy with only two or three UFC fights under his belt – ‘anybody’ covers a lot of territory. A lot of very, very dangerous territory.

And yet, to hear the fighters tell it, they’ve never turned down a fight. Not ever. Merely suggesting otherwise is enough to make you their enemy for life. But the thinking fan has to wonder, aren’t there times when it’s smart to turn down a fight? Isn’t it sometimes better to know your own limitations, particularly early in your career?

Inside the Mind of Mayhem

Filed under: Strikeforce, FanHouse ExclusiveIt’s just after 6 p.m. in an upscale steakhouse in Houston and already Jason “Mayhem” Miller is yelling at me. Maybe it’s not so much at me. More like near me. More like near everyone in the room, and people …

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It’s just after 6 p.m. in an upscale steakhouse in Houston and already Jason “Mayhem” Miller is yelling at me. Maybe it’s not so much at me. More like near me. More like near everyone in the room, and people are starting to notice.

“It’s stupid, all these people who are so worried about communism if we get free health care,” Miller says, his voice rising far past what most people would consider an indoor volume. “What if the fire department made you go through the same steps as the non-socialist health care system?”

Businessmen in ties glance up from their prime rib dinners at the next table. Any thought they may have had of asking Miller to keep it down vanish when they see the source of the commotion – a rangy, cauliflower-eared 29-year-old with a nose that looks as if it’s been broken just for fun on more than one occasion, gesturing spastically as he becomes more agitated.

“Imagine, you call them up and they’re like, ‘Do you have fire insurance?’ And you’re saying, ‘Uh, my house is burning down right now.’ ‘Are you PPO or HMO? ‘The house is on fire!’ ‘What’s your policy number?’ ‘Okay, it’s, uh, 97JK39W2.’ ‘What’s your group ID?’ ‘AHHHHHH! MY HOUSE IS GONE!'”

He erupts into his trademark laugh, an almost cartoonishly maniacal cackle that suggests he might be on the verge of either torturing James Bond or simply flipping the table over on a whim. It’s the kind of laugh that makes me briefly wonder whether this whole dinner idea, where I would sit down with Miller to learn a little about what makes this enigmatic fighter tick, was really such a brilliant notion.

Mike Swick Looks Back at Recent Struggles, Forward to a Healthy Future

Filed under: UFCAs anyone who’s ever gone out to dinner with Mike Swick can tell you, watching the UFC welterweight order is an ordeal unto itself. He can’t have garlic, or any of the great stuff that makes spicy food spicy. He can’t have many of the s…

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As anyone who’s ever gone out to dinner with Mike Swick can tell you, watching the UFC welterweight order is an ordeal unto itself. He can’t have garlic, or any of the great stuff that makes spicy food spicy. He can’t have many of the staples of the American restaurant industry, in fact, and it’s not just when he’s cutting weight.

Because of an esophageal issue that he’s struggled with for the past four years, even minor interactions like ordering at a restaurant have become exhausting.

“I know every time I have to order food somewhere, it’s going to be a problem,” Swick told MMA Fighting this week. “When the waitress comes up to ask for my order, I know ahead of time it’s going to be an issue. I have to explain that I can’t have garlic, can’t have spice, go through this whole spiel every time, and then there’s about a 50% chance that I’ll just be ignored and it will be in there anyway. Then I’ll be up for four hours feeling like I’m having a heart attack.”

It’s a problem that’s affected his social life and his fighting career, but now he’s hoping that he may be on the verge of a solution.

B.J. Penn Can Make a Comeback, but Does He Want To?

Filed under: UFCI don’t know what’s more troubling about B.J. Penn’s most recent loss — the fact that he posted a video to his website that sounded oddly like a precursor to a farewell the day after his defeat at UFC 118, or the fact that he hasn’t be…

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I don’t know what’s more troubling about B.J. Penn‘s most recent loss — the fact that he posted a video to his website that sounded oddly like a precursor to a farewell the day after his defeat at UFC 118, or the fact that he hasn’t been able to get too fired up about either of his losses to Frankie Edgar.

If it were anybody else, a little post-fight melancholy would be perfectly understandable. You lose your belt via narrow decision, then lose the immediate rematch by getting shut out five rounds to none, you’re bound to be a little bummed.

But this is B.J. Penn we’re talking about. He’s been known to dabble in a conspiracy theory or two after a defeat, or turn his ire on the next unfortunate soul to get in the cage with him. He’s the guy who Dana White once said would show up to your house every morning looking to fight if you somehow owned a win over him.

Now he gets beaten up and pushed around by a smaller, quicker fighter, and he can’t even work up enough fire in the belly to demand a completely unreasonable third fight. What gives?

Florian Says Wrestling Ability, Not Mental Game Responsible for UFC 118 Loss

Filed under: UFC, FanHouse ExclusiveUFC president Dana White saw Kenny Florian’s loss to Gray Maynard at UFC 118 on Saturday night as yet another sign that Florian cracks under the pressure of the big fights, falling short just as he’s about to reach t…

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UFC president Dana White saw Kenny Florian‘s loss to Gray Maynard at UFC 118 on Saturday night as yet another sign that Florian cracks under the pressure of the big fights, falling short just as he’s about to reach the top.

But to hear Florian tell it, the defeat was far more physical than mental.

“I take what Dana said as a compliment because I think he really believes in my skills as a fighter,” Florian told MMA Fighting via email Monday morning. “I was capable of winning the fight but I would have to have fought a very boring fight. I felt great mentally & physically. I have more work to do on my wrestling & have already made the arrangements to become much better in that area of my game.”

It’s not the first time White has taken aim at Florian’s mental game. After his loss to B.J. Penn at UFC 101, White accussed Florian of being less aggressive in title fights, suggesting he had some sort of “mental block” when a belt was on the line.

Falling Action: Best and Worst of UFC 118

Filed under: UFCThe UFC’s grand James Toney experiment is over, according to Dana White. Whether it was a success or not depends on the hypothesis you started with, but unless you happen to be Toney or one of his hype men, chances are you saw this comi…

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The UFC’s grand James Toney experiment is over, according to Dana White. Whether it was a success or not depends on the hypothesis you started with, but unless you happen to be Toney or one of his hype men, chances are you saw this coming.

But while this fight was undoubtedly a sideshow attraction from the very beginning, it did have some benefits. For one, it got some attention from the types of fans and media who might not otherwise have cared about this card. It seems a little doubtful that they all became instant converts upon seeing Gray Maynard lay on top of Kenny Florian, but who knows.

The important thing is that the opportunity to have a famous boxer compete on MMA’s biggest stage finally presented itself, then refused to stop presenting itself, then mumbled some absurd, semi-coherent threats at everyone within earshot, and then the UFC finally made it happen. Now that we’ve done it, let’s not do it again until we find someone willing to put in the work and take it seriously.

Now on to the big winners, losers, and everything in between from UFC 118.