Author: Ben Fowlkes

Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Kennedy is mere hours away on Showtime, and it features a surprisingly strong fight card that has struggled to get the attention it rightly deserves. Why is that, and what will it mean for the fighters who feel increasingly like they’re felling trees in an empty forest? That’s just one of many questions to consider. Here are seven others, in no particular order.

I. Will someone remind me again exactly what Luke Rockhold and Tim Kennedy are fighting for? Oh, right. Strikeforce middleweight title. But what does that mean? The man who holds it on Sunday morning won’t be considered the world’s best middleweight. Not even close. He won’t have earned the right to fight a better opponent who could move him up the ranks, and he certainly won’t have earned a shot at Anderson Silva, who is on the other side of the impenetrable wall that separates Strikeforce and the UFC. So what’s this fight all about, anyway? Well, for those who know enough to appreciate how good Rockhold and Kennedy really are, it’s about the same thing virtually all MMA fights are. It’s a contest for supremacy, and a very interesting one. Whoever wins this will have really proved something, at least to the people who know enough to a) care, and b) appreciate the quality of competition here. Are there enough of those people to make a difference, or to push for the winner of this fight to get a chance to do something on a bigger stage in the near future? I suppose we’ll see, but I’m not optimistic. And I’m not the only one.

II. Don’t think any of this is lost on the fighters themselves. When I spoke to Kennedy for a Sports Illustrated feature recently, he was boiling over with frustration. He’d left active duty in the military because he wanted to be a professional fighter, he said, “and this doesn’t feel very professional.” By ‘this,’ he mostly meant fighting a couple times a year with no real hope of serious career advancement. That’s a bad deal financially, and it also denies him a chance at earning the recognition he’s after, he explained:

“I feel like it’s a very murky, unclear future for me professionally. I love Strikeforce, love [Strikeforce CEO] Scott [Coker], and I’ve had some great fights there, but it feels kind of meaningless. The people in [the media] won’t look at me any differently if I beat Luke. The fans certainly won’t. I won’t garner any new ones. It’ll just be like, oh, he beat some Strikeforce guy. Even though Luke is amazing, and one of the most underrated fighters around.”

This is why, especially lately, Kennedy’s been wondering if he wouldn’t be better off going back to active duty. At least there he knows what he’s signing up for. The same can’t be said of the fighters who got themselves locked down in Strikeforce before they knew it was a dead end street.

III. At least the main event got a push on a UFC broadcast, even if Rockhold wasn’t a fan. You can understand why, when he saw the Strikeforce ads that identified him as a “surfer” and “athlete” during the FUEL TV event on Wednesday, Rockhold wasn’t exactly blown away. Not only is the athlete part more or less a given for anyone fighting in the main event on Showtime, it doesn’t make him look all that cool opposite his Green Beret opponent. But still, it’s good to see some crossover advertising that lets UFC fans know why they should care about tonight’s Strikeforce card. Just how effective that pitch was remains to be seen, but on paper this is definitely the best fight card for weeks to come. Two title fights, plus a couple other fun scraps, and all for free (assuming you subscribe to Showtime, which offers the finest in late-night bikini-related programming)? It sure beats the current lineup for UFC 149. Fighters like Rockhold just have to hope that fans get the message in time.

IV. For Nate Marquardt and Tyron Woodley, the Strikeforce welterweight title is actually incredibly meaningful, in a strange way. When you look at where each man is in his career, it’s hard not to wonder if this belt is more important to them than it is to any of the existing Strikeforce titleholders. Woodley is a fighter who’s still on his way up, trying to prove he’s got more than just takedowns in his arsenal. Marquardt seems to be on his way down, trying to halt the career free fall that resulted from his UFC release. Woodley needs to win just to prove that he can get the job done against experienced, name-brand opponents, while Marquardt wants to remind people that he’s still in the game, and still has the skills that made him a contender in the UFC. That raises the stakes in what might otherwise be a fight for a barely relevant title. It also makes you wonder who’ll have the best response to these peculiar pressures when it matters most. Woodley might lack experience and a well-rounded game, but Marquardt hasn’t fought in nearly a year and a half. Coming off the TRT (“supposedly,” according to Woodley) and being out of action for so long could harm Marquardt’s performance. Then again, Woodley might find himself with no plan B if he can’t put Marquardt on his back.

V. And how will Marquardt deal with Woodley’s wrestling, anyway? Woodley seems to think that he’ll take a more pro-active approach to the ground game. Instead of trying only to defend takedowns and stay standing, he told me he expects Marquardt will actually try to take him down and force him to fight off his back:

“I think he’s going to try to put me in unfamiliar territory, just like I’ll try to do to him. And where do you never see me fight from? My back. I think he might try to put me down, go for a takedown, and put me on my back, take me into the later rounds and get me to fatigue. …That’s what I think he’s planning, but he’s going to be in for a rude awakening.”

Whether that’s an insightful prediction by Woodley or just wishful thinking, we’ll know soon enough.

VI. Lorenz Larkin is, technically, still undefeated — but for how much longer? He got brutalized and beaten down by Mo Lawal, but after a positive drug test turned that into a no contest, Larkin can once again claim to be unbeaten…sort of. We all saw how easily Lawal handled him. While Larkin seems perfectly willing to write that off to a consequence of what “T-Wood” would call “some extra love,” it sure seemed like nothing short of a baseball bat and the help of a couple friends would have saved him on that night. Now he faces Robbie Lawler, a hard-nosed brawler from the old school who has knocked out tougher people in training than Larkin has ever faced in the cage. That doesn’t mean Larkin’s 12-0 (1 NC) record or his youthful zeal will amount to nothing in this fight. Then again, if you’re Larkin, don’t expect Lawler to be terribly impressed by your decision win over Nick Rossborough.

VII. Are we looking at the final ride for Keith Jardine, or are we just hoping for it? There’s no questioning “The Dean of Mean’s” toughness. Even 19th century bare-knuckle bar brawlers would have doffed their caps to his sheer fortitude in combat, and he’s won more than his share of fights (or at least survived them) on guts alone. That said, the man is approaching 37 years of age, and his resume includes a litany of physical punishment. He took a face-altering beating just to get himself a draw with Gegard Mousasi in his Strikeforce debut, then looked suddenly ancient in his TKO loss to Rockhold in January. At least now he’s facing Roger Gracie, who is far more likely to choke him into unconsciousness than punch him into it. While Jardine is the underdog in this fight, it’s not out of the question to think he might pull a rabbit out of his hat and win this one on experience and grit alone. In a way though, that almost seems worse for his long-term prospects, since it would probably only encourage him to keep going. That’s the problem with being as tough as Jardine is: at a certain point, your own resolute bad-assery becomes a hindrance rather than a help.

Tyron Woodley has heard everything Nate Marquardt’s said about testosterone-replacement therapy. He heard it when Marquardt said that he got on TRT to treat a legitimate medical condition. He heard it when Marquardt said he got off the TRT after being released from the UFC. But that doesn’t necessarily mean Woodley believes it.

“I just think, just from the surface knowledge I have about TRT, it’s not something you hop on and hop off,” Woodley told me when I spoke to him for this Sports Illustrated story. “From what I hear, if you’re on that stuff your body starts to depend on it. I just don’t think somebody going into a title fight with that much on the line would be so comfortable jumping off of it and being like hey, I’ve got it from here. You’d think those would be the times when you’d take it up a level, if anything.”

Then again, Woodley isn’t sure it’s going to matter in the end. It wouldn’t be the first time he’s fought someone who he believed was “on some extra love,” and yet he’s still undefeated as a professional. It’s just that he’s never fought anyone as experienced and well-rounded as Marquardt is, and he knows it.

It’s been seven months since Woodley last stepped in the cage, winning a split decision over Jordan Mein that ultimately earned him the right to fight for the vacant Strikeforce welterweight title on Saturday night. As for Marquardt, he’s been out of action since March of 2011. Elevated testosterone levels due to TRT use kept him out of a UFC bout with Rick Story, resulting in his release from the organization. A subsequent deal with U.K.-based promoter BAMMA went nowhere, leaving him in career limbo. When he fights Woodley for the Strikeforce title, it will be his first contest in nearly 16 months. As for how that will effect him, Woodley can’t be sure.

“I have to assume he’s coming with some new tricks, but I’ve got to be able to beat him. Being out for a year, supposedly being off TRT, and coming down to a new weight class could all have an effect, but you’ve got to factor in that he’s had almost 50 fights. Experience could come into play too.”

That’s one area where Marquardt definitely has Woodley beat. With more than 13 years and over 40 fights versus Woodley’s ten bouts in three years, Marquardt has seen much more action inside the cage than the former University of Missouri wrestler. Lately, it’s his wrestling skills that have made up for Woodley’s relative inexperience in MMA, leading to a string of decisions that have resulted in some criticism of his fighting style.

“That’s a balance you have to find,” Woodley said. “The reality is, this is more entertainment now than it is a sport. We can argue it. We can complain about it. But a win is not a win anymore. A win has to be done in a certain fashion, consistently, over and over again against top opponents. Everyone expects you to finish top opponents. But I don’t want to be finished. Some guys really don’t want to be finished, and they just won’t go away. You have to keep trying, but I don’t feel that pressure to be Jon Jones every fight.”

The trouble is, a wrestler like Woodley can only win so many decisions before he’s forever labeled ‘boring’ by fans, media, and even fellow fighters. He’s already heard some of that criticism, and his doing his best not to let it get to him or make him change his fighting style, he said.

“You have to be comfortable and confident in yourself, and I am,” said Woodley. “I can look in the mirror every day, and I don’t feel bad about any of the victories I’ve had. I’m providing for my family, I’m going to make my mark in mixed martial arts, and I know I will knock guys out and I will submit guys. I’ve done it in the past and I’ll do it in the future. I haven’t taken a pledge to make all my fights decisions. I can do other things. Most people that are critics are either spectators or media. Not a lot of fighters criticize me for that, and the fighters that do criticize are the ones that know they’re going to get beat.”

Marquardt’s already become one of Woodley’s critics, calling him “a boring fighter” in interviews leading up to this fight. And yeah, Woodley’s heard that too. But like Marquardt’s TRT comments, that doesn’t necessarily mean he believes it.

UFC on FUEL TV 4 gave us more than just another event with a clunky name — it also introduced an exciting new middleweight contender, and in memorable, gruesome fashion. Now that another show from the hinterlands of cable TV is in the books, it’s time we took a gander at the biggest winners, losers, and everything in between.

Biggest Winner: Chris Weidman
How could his night have possibly gone any better? He made an NCAA national champion wrestler look like some novice from Liverpool who’d never seen a decent double-leg before, then he showed off his stand-up skills with an elbow that would make Jon Jones jealous. Maybe it would have been nice if referee Josh Rosenthal hadn’t made it necessary for him to commit so much unnecessary violence there at the end, but I suppose no evening is perfect. In less than seven minutes of cage time, Weidman did more to make his case as a top middleweight contender than most of the other guys in the division have done in the last seven months. On paper, Mark Munoz presented the greatest challenge he’d ever faced in the UFC, and Weidman blew through him like it was a showcase fight. Does that mean he’s ready for Anderson Silva? I’m not sure. He still has fewer than ten pro fights and he’s on the young side of 30. The cold-blooded pragmatist in me would like to see him get one more under his belt before he tests himself against the best in the world. But then again, how could you possibly improve upon a performance like that?

Biggest Loser: Mark Munoz
The look on his face after those effortless takedowns by Weidman said it all. Munoz was a man in a state of shock. There he was, a wrestling hero from Oklahoma State, and some kid from Hofstra was planting him on his back like there was nothing to it. After he got so thoroughly dominated on the mat in the first round, you can’t blame him for thinking that he had to throw the overhand right while he had a chance in the second. He’d spent so little time upright by that point, he had to make the most of it while his feet were still under him. It just so happened that in lunging in for the kill, he ran right into a Weidman elbow that he never had a chance to avoid. After that it was a face full of mat for Munoz, followed by a few punches that put him out, then a few more that almost brought him back around, then a bunch more that landed him in some special nether region where time ceases to exist and everything tastes like blood. As great as this night was for Weidman, it was just as terrible for Munoz. He went from being a middleweight contender to being the recipient of one of the most brutally one-sided beatdowns in recent memory. He did it with a smile and an easy charisma, because that’s how Munoz does everything. You hear it all the time, and it’s true: he really is the nicest guy in MMA. After that rough night at work, this morning he’s probably also the sorest guy in MMA.

Best Worst Display of Mutant Healing Ability: Joey Beltran
He knows why the UFC brought him back for this fight, and it’s not because Joe Silva thinks he’s going to be the next light heavyweight champ. It’s because he can take a baseball bat to the head and it won’t even change the expression on his face. It’s an amazing thing to see, but also kind of a terrible position to be in as a fighter. Beltran isn’t the most technical striker out there, and his defensive philosophy has a little too much in common with Homer Simpson’s. He essentially gambles that you’ll get tired of hitting him before he gets tired of being hit. Against Te Huna, who admitted that he hurt his hand and his foot on Beltran’s concrete head, it almost worked. Almost, but not quite. Beltran gave the people their money’s worth of pain and punishment. He survived a couple near stoppages and walked through shots that would have stopped mortal men. And what did he get for it, aside from a paycheck, a face that no longer matches his photo ID, and maybe a chance to do it all again in a few months? Not much. That’s the problem with being the fighter whose appeal is an ability and willingness to take an incredible beating. At this level, there are no shortage of opponents with an ability and willingness to dish one out.

Most Predictable: Aaron Simpson
He’s found a home in a new weight class, but it’s largely the same old stuff from Simpson. Of his ten fights in the UFC, only three have ended inside the distance. One was a legitimate knockout victory over a guy who was then cut from the UFC. One was the result of a knee injury to Ed Herman. The third was when he was TKO’d by Chris Leben. Other than that, Simpson has done a fine job of making sure the judges get a chance to ply their trade. That’s not to say that decisions are necessarily bad — Te Huna won a decision over Beltran, and that was Fight of the Night — but it’s hard to make much headway in any division if you get a reputation as a guaranteed three-round grinder. Simpson seems to know that, which is why he promised to start finishing opponents at his new weight class. But it’s one thing to say it in post-fight interviews. It’s another to make it happen in the cage.

Brightest Prospect: Francis Carmont
The first couple times we saw him in the UFC, he was the guy who trains with Georges St-Pierre. Now, after his second straight finish in the Octagon, he’s starting to craft his own identity, even if it’s as the guy with the French accent who will almost certainly have to fight his way out of an early submission to get one of his own. First against Magnus Cedenblad, and now against Karlos Vemola, Carmont proved that while he might give opponents a few too many openings on the mat, he’s also dangerous there himself. His non-stop motor will wear a lot of people out, and as he gains more confidence in his all-around game he’ll have more tools with which to threaten his fellow middleweights. We’re still waiting to see how far he can go, but he’s rapidly approaching the point where the fact that he has GSP in his corner will be more of a sideshow than the main attraction.

Most Improved: Rafael dos Anjos
We’ve seen his power on the feet, and he flashed it again in the first round of his bout with Anthony Njokuani, but it was his wrestling that really impressed. If you’re a lightweight in the UFC, you’ve got to be able to defend against and execute a takedown, otherwise your career trajectory will flatten out in a hurry. Dos Anjos struggled against superior wrestlers early on, but now he seems to have added those skills to his arsenal. He’s still got some improvements to make, so let’s not toss him in against Ben Henderson just yet, but at least he’s making the right adjustments and focusing on the right things. We already knew he could kick people upside the head. Now we know he can give them something else to worry about, and one development should only help the other.

Still Surviving: Alex Caceres
If you’d told me after his dismal UFC debut that, nearly a year and a half later, “Bruce Leroy” would still be in the UFC, I’d have assumed you were either crazy or a family member of his, maybe both. But after some ups and downs and a very beneficial drop to bantamweight, he’s still here, still doing just enough to keep us from forgetting him entirely. He made it all too easy for Damacio Page to put him on his back, and yet he made the most of his opportunities there, thanks to a deft submissions game from the bottom. That’s probably not going to be a winning strategy against everyone in the division, but it was good enough for a Submission of the Night bonus. It also put a little more distance between Caceres and the chopping block, which gives the 24-year-old more time to tighten up his game and find out what he can become. It’s a steep learning curve in the UFC, and Caceres has suffered at times because of it. But if you thought he was going to go away easily after his 15 minutes of reality show fame, think again.

Ugliest Moment: Josh Rosenthal’s late stoppage
Once is an understandable mistake. Twice is a cause for concern. This is the second high-profile fight in less than two months where Rosenthal has stared right at a fighter who was putting up about as much resistance as a slab of beef and failed to see that it was time for him to jump in. When it happened in the Cain Velasquez-Antonio Silva fight at UFC 146, we shook our heads in dismay and said it was a real shame, especially since Rosenthal is usually one of the good ones. But as he stood a few feet away from an unresponsive Munoz and watched as Weidman tried to resuscitate him with right hooks, it became apparent that maybe Rosenthal has a problem with knowing when a fight is over. I know, I know. The referees have a difficult job and if they stop it too soon we vilify them for other reasons. But as Chael Sonnen pointed out in the post-fight show, those fighters are counting on him to protect them when they can no longer protect themselves. On Wednesday night, he didn’t do that. Instead he stood idly by like he was waiting to see how many punches it would take before Munoz’s head popped off and went skidding across the mat like a flat stone across a lake. It didn’t have tragic consequences this time, at least not right away. Munoz was up and coherent moments later, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s completely avoided the bill for all that needless punishment. All it means is that he didn’t pay it in full on this particular night. Professional cage fighting is, not surprisingly, a dangerous endeavor. Getting your head thumped on is part of the deal. Getting your head thumped on long after you’ve stopped fighting shouldn’t be. Telling the difference involves drawing a difficult and sometimes controversial distinction, but it’s arguably the most important aspect of Rosenthal’s job. Maybe it’s also one that he needs to get a little better at, and soon.

UFC on FUEL TV 4 goes down in San Jose in just a few hours, but there’s still time to get with your favorite internet bookie and make some financially ruinous decisions. Okay, I’m not doing a great job of selling it, but you know what makes even a mediocre mid-week fight card a lot more exciting? Money, either the loss or gain of it. No one ever said excitement had to always be positive.

Now for a look at tonight’s odds, along with some reckless advice that you follow at your own risk.

Mark Munoz (+115) vs. Chris Weidman (-145)

I’m surprised to see Weidman as even a slight favorite over Munoz, and I’m not sure what to make of it. I would have thought it would be the other way around, but then again, I’m not one of the offshore numbers guys whose job it is to determine these things, so I have to assume they must be basing it on something. Is it wrestling ability? Probably not, since Munoz has the superior college credentials. Is it knockout power? Unlikely, since Weidman has yet to win a fight by TKO in the UFC, while Munoz has proven that he has some force behind his punches. It can’t be experience, because Munoz has more fights against better opponents, even if he’s not undefeated like Weidman is. I tell you, I can’t figure it. The line isn’t long enough to suggest that Munoz has a secret injury that only the oddsmakers know about, but it is just long enough to allow me to convince myself, however foolishly, that I’m smarter than the guys who do this for a living. No way for that to turn out badly, right?
My pick: Munoz. I think he’s just a little bit better than Weidman in every area, plus he’s battle-tested and primed to take the next step up the middleweight ladder.

James Te Huna (-400) vs. Joey Beltran (+300)

I’ve made mention before of what I like to call The Fighter’s False Friend, which is the change of weight class after a few consecutive losses. Occasionally it delivers the hoped-for resurrection, but more often it just slows down the fall. Beltran is the latest to try it, dropping from heavyweight to light heavyweight after his release from the UFC earlier this year. Now, thanks to a little fight card reshuffling, he’s back to fill an empty spot on this lineup, but obviously oddsmakers don’t expect the new division to make him into a new man. And why should they? At 6’1″ and carrying more spare tire than spare muscle, he was undersized at heavyweight. But his problem wasn’t that he was getting pushed around by bigger guys; his problem was that he was getting beaten by better, often faster and more athletic guys. That’s something that’s not going to change at light heavyweight. Te Huna has beaten a few not-quite-primetime players in the UFC, and his only loss in the Octagon is to Alexander Gustafsson, who seems to be a star in the making. Beltran’s a game opponent who might be able to take what Te Huna dishes out, but it seems unlikely that he’ll be able to deliver much in return.
My pick: Te Huna. The odds aren’t quite worth the risk, since Beltran still has a puncher’s chance, but it’s nowhere near enough of a chance to make him a decent underdog pick.

Aaron Simpson (-310) vs. Kenny Robertson (+240)

I never like to bet on any fighter who doesn’t have his own Wikipedia page yet. I don’t claim that this method is one hundred percent reliable, but whether you’re playing bar keno or baccarat you’ve got to have a system, and this is mine. Robertson is 0-1 in the UFC so far, and most of his wins have come against guys who also lack a Wikipedia page, if you catch my drift. Simpson may not be setting the world aflame, but he can be relied upon to pursue a very specific type of attack that it is as unremarkable to watch as it is effective against lower-tier fighters. Could it be that Robertson is really an upper-tier fighter waiting to be discovered as such? Maybe. But until Wikipedia finds out about it, I’m not taking the chance.
My pick: Simpson. My guess is he’ll wrestle his way to another decision that will surprise as few fight fans as it impresses.

Karlos Vemola (+170) vs. Francis Carmont (-210)

Carmont had his ups and downs in his last fight with the big Swede Magnus Cedenblad, but in it he proved that he can suffer through the bad times to get to the good ones. He should have a size advantage over Vemola, and, if he can keep from getting overwhelmed early on, probably has more ways to win the fight. That said, Vemola has finished a couple quality opponents in his time inside the Octagon, so don’t let the line fool you into thinking this is going to be an easy night of work for Carmont. It won’t.
My pick: Carmont. Some websites have him at just below 2-1 odds, others at just over. This is one where I might shop around for a better deal.

T.J. Dillashaw (-450) vs. Vaughan Lee (+325)

The submission win over “Kid” Yamamoto in Tokyo was undoubtedly the biggest win of Lee’s career, but it’s tough to know what that means these days. Is Yamamoto as washed up as people say, or did Lee really show us something there? Dillashaw will probably have little trouble getting Lee to the mat, so what you have to ask yourself here is if you like Lee’s chances to pull off a sub (or at least a sweep leading to a sub) off his back. Personally, I do not. I think Dillashaw takes him down and keeps him there as long as it takes.
My pick: Dillashaw. It feels close enough to a sure thing that I’m sticking it in the parlay and then completely forgetting about it. Just like I did with all that Facebook stock I bought.

Rafael dos Anjos (-200) vs. Anthony Njokuani (+160)

You want some more underdog action? In that case, Njokuani is worth taking a hard look at. He’s been a little, well, inconsistent of late, but he’s still got plenty of tools in the bag and once he gets into his rhythm he’s hard to stop. Dos Anjos has been a little up and down himself lately, but my suspicion is that oddsmakers were more impressed by his quick win over Kamal Shalorus than they should have been. That was a big win, and dos Anjos is certainly dangerous in the first few minutes, but if Njokuani can get into the second round it’s not unreasonable to think he might pull off the minor upset.
My pick: Njokuani. Am I doing this in part because I feel bad taking so many big favorites? Probably, but what the hell. You can’t take it with you. Not unless you die in a mansion fire that torches all your priceless belongings, in which case, well played, you crazy bastard.

Crazy Internet Prop Bet That Could Make You Rich: Munoz in round three (+1500)
He might not have a ton of early finishes, but could Munoz potentially wear Weidman down and put him away in the third? Seems to me like it could be just his style.

The ‘For Entertainment Purposes Only’ Parlay: Munoz + Simpson + Carmont + Dillashaw

The woman at the UFC Fan Expo meant well, even if it didn’t seem like it at first as she put her arm around UFC commentator Jon Anik and leaned in for a little heart-to-heart.

“You know, the first time I saw you I was like, who the [expletive] is this guy and where are Rogan and Goldie?” she said, pausing just a little too long to let the former ESPN host wonder whether there was a follow-up sentence coming. “But now I think you guys are great!”

By ‘you guys,’ she meant the UFC’s second broadcast team, consisting of Anik on play-by-play duties and retired UFC fighter Kenny Florian as the color commentator. They’re the duo that the UFC has tapped now that it’s finally come around to the conclusion that the longtime broadcast squad of Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg might need a break every now and then. With a breakneck UFC schedule in 2012, which sometimes includes two events on different continents inside of one week, it helps to have a second set of voices on the mic every now and then, especially for events like Wednesday night’s UFC on FUEL TV 4.

It’s just that, for Anik and Florian, the transition has not been without its challenges, and ardent fans of the Rogan and Goldberg duo are only one of them.

For starters, there’s the schedule. Anik thought he’d gotten used to some long hours while working as an ESPN anchor and doing drive-time sports talk radio in Boston. Then he took the job with the UFC.

“It’s crazy,” he told MMA Fighting. “I thought I knew how hard everyone at Zuffa works, but when you see it firsthand it’s kind of insane. Let’s just say, they didn’t have to send me a mass email to let me know I was working the Fourth of July. I knew it.”

It’s not just the events, either. Anik also hosts the weekly UFC Ultimate Insider show on FUEL TV, conducted interviews on the first live season of The Ultimate Fighter, and emcees the occasional pre-fight press conference. It’s a job that required moving his family from their longtime home in the Northeast (Anik was born and raised in Boston, and attended Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania, where he created his own major in political journalism) and to the scorching desert of Las Vegas, which turned out to be just fine by Anik.

“Every day I come home from work and jump in the pool,” he said. “Every day.”

But why would someone who always dreamed of working in broadcasting leave a job at a sports juggernaut like ESPN? The answer, according to Anik, has to do as much with his love of MMA as it does with his passion for live TV.

As the host of ESPN’s MMA Live, he became the network’s go-to guy for MMA. He’d fallen in love with the sport after covering an EliteXC event for a boxing radio show in Boston, and “the minute I saw it my wheels started churning and I knew that’s what I wanted to do.” Hosting a weekly MMA show for the worldwide leader seemed fine at first, he said, but six months into the gig he knew he wanted to cover MMA full-time, “and I knew that opportunity, for one reason or another, wasn’t going to materialize at ESPN.” If he stayed there, he might never get the chance to call a live fight, or do any play-by-play at all beyond a Rutgers football game.

“There’s nothing like doing a live event,” said Anik. “It’s the lifeblood of sports television. For me, I wasn’t getting enough of that at ESPN. I did a little bit of college football at the end of my run, but I feel like I do my best work with the live event. There’s nothing in sports broadcasting like it. …When the UFC first approached me, they said the most critical part of the job would be calling fights. That was a huge selling point for me.”

But when you take over some of the commentating duties from UFC broadcast staples like Rogan and Goldberg, who are, according to Anik, “an institution,” there’s bound to be some rough transitions, as Anik and Florian soon found out.

For instance, there’s the Facebook group “Jon Anik and Kenny Florian are Garbage,” which has only four likes, but still isn’t the kind of thing you want popping up when your parents search for you on the Google. There’s also no shortage of criticism on forums and web sites, not to mention the occasional awkward in-person run-in, such as the one at the Expo.

“Honestly, I thought it would be worse,” said Florian, who had an entire MMA career to get used to MMA fans and their eager use of the internet to express their opinions. “I actually expected a lot more criticism.”

What Florian didn’t expect, he said, was that the toughest part of his new job would be learning how to criticize others. It sounds easy enough to sit on the safe side of the fence and pick apart those inside the cage, and for most people it might be. But Florian knows what it’s like to be the guy who’s getting his face sliced open while someone with a headset sits a few feet away talking calmly about what he should be doing differently, as if it were just that easy.

“I know what it’s like to prepare for a fight,” he said. “I know what it’s like to go in to a fight and not be able to do what you wanted to do. I know how hard they train. Coming from that, it can be hard to [criticize]. I think I’m more comfortable criticizing a fighter now, because I have been there, but it’s something you just have to deal with. I mean, what professional athlete doesn’t have to deal with criticism? That’s part of the job.”

Still, that doesn’t mean that the fighters he talks about are always so understanding. Florian first got a taste of that back when he worked with Anik on MMA Live. After he criticized heavyweight Josh Barnett for his performance in a 2009 bout with Gilbert Yvel, Barnett took it personally.

“It wasn’t even that harsh, but he went off and went on MMA.tv and wrote this whole thing,” Florian said. “I thought that was kind of weird.”

For Anik, this job is the culmination of a lifelong goal. He and Florian have now called over a hundred UFC fights, including a few “dry runs” before they made their on-air debut in January of 2012, and he feels as though the repetition of it all is starting to pay off.

“You get in a rhythm. We did three shows in four weeks in June, which helps. We’re still a work in progress, but this is my dream job,” he said.

But for Florian, who’s thankful to still be working in the sport he loves even after officially retiring as a fighter, it’s hard not to feel a little sting when he sits down at the broadcast table and is reminded that, from now on, this is probably the closest he’ll get to the Octagon.

Don’t get him wrong, he loves his new job, he said. “But every time I see a fight, every time I hear the music, every time I do an interview or see a promo, there’s a competitor inside who wants to fight. I don’t think that’s ever going to go away.”

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