Trash talk and boisterous predictions are standard fare in sports.
Someone on one team chirps about their counterpart the day before the big game. A defensive player claims he’s not worried about what the prolific quarterback and the opposing offense is going to do on Sunday. Roughly 487 athletes every year guarantee their team is going to win their league’s respective championship.
This is going to be their year, and they’re going to run over whoever stands in their way.
In some ways, mixed martial arts is no different. Fighters make boastful promises of first round knockouts and wildly entertaining fights, disparaging the person they’ll share the cage with in the future and soft-selling their skills. Some riff on pro wrestlers like “Superstar” Billy Graham or The Grappler, while others try really hard but come up short.
Trash talk isn’t for everybody.
In basketball, hockey, football, or baseball, your predictions and proclamations can be scuttled by poor play around you. Innumerable variables contribute to the end result, and often take the ability to make good on those pre-game promises away from the one doing all the talking.
That why those rare instances where an athlete makes good on their promises stand as iconic moments in their sport’s history. Mark Messier’s three-goal night against the New Jersey Devils. Babe Ruth’s called shot. “Broadway Joe” announcing the Jets would beat the Baltimore Colts.
Most fall flat, and it has gotten to the point that guarantees have become so commonplace and overused that we barely even acknowledge most of them now, other than to shake our heads and laugh at the latest ridiculousness being uttered.
While there are just as many people making just as many promises in mixed martial arts, there is one colossal difference between the fighters talking trash and offering up predictions and their ball-and-stick brethren: eventually, you have to step into the cage and back up your words.
After infinite amounts of talk, Alan Belcher has reached the point where he’s done talking.
For the last several months, across various platforms and mediums, the confident middleweight who fights out of Biloxi, Mississippi has talked a blue streak about Michael Bisping. Even before the two were officially aligned as opponents, “The Talent” freely shared his thoughts and opinions about the tenured middleweight contender who first made his mark by winning season three of The Ultimate Fighter. Once the UFC opted to pit the verbal sparring partners opposite one another at UFC 159, Belcher’s output increased.
There were challenges and bets, NFL defensive linemen wanting to put $300,000 cars up for grabs, and videos mocking everything from the manner in which Bisping speaks to a super-imposed Belcher pointing and laughing as a replay of Dan Henderson’s knockout win over “The Count” at UFC 100 rolled in slow motion.
Usually it’s Bisping who is spitting venom and making the most of every opportunity to mock and prod his opponents heading into a fight, but in the preamble to this weekend’s event at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, the man from Orange County, California by way of Manchester, England had been seriously outdone.
Once fight week arrived, however, the two middleweight combatants traded places on the trash talking front.
While Bisping used Monday’s media conference call to land a couple clean verbal jabs on the man he’ll trade actual strikes with on Saturday night, Belcher was reserved. The hyper-confidence that carried his pre-fight videos and blogs was replaced by a voice that sounded contemplative, and answers that were stripped of any and all window dressing.
“It puts me back in the top of the division,” Belcher said flatly when asked where a weekend victory over the perennial contender would put him in the division. “We’re both coming off losses. We’ve both had wins and losses in our career, and now we’re going to see who the best is out of us two. I’m not really thinking about the ranks. I don’t care about what the fans think or how confident Michael is; I’m just thinking about beating him Saturday night.”
Not one to let an opportunity to speak his mind in front of a captive audience, Bisping barged in on the question, giving his own thoughts on what a win would mean for his opponent.
“Let me just add to that,” Bisping began. “A win over me for Alan Belcher would be by far the biggest win of his pathetic career. No one gives a f*** about Alan Belcher.”
Calmly, Belcher replied, “That’s right – so you better not lose to me. We’ll see Saturday night.”
Normally these calls and fight week itself are when the athletes who are about to step into the cage and settle their differences empty out their clips, taking every opportunity they can to get in one more shot. Belcher, it seems, entered fight week in a different frame of mind.
Late in Monday’s media call, the newly minted 29-year-old was tossed the question equivalent of a batting practice fastball right in his wheelhouse.
“Michael has said he’d like to pit his Muay Thai against your Muay Thai in the center of the cage. What do you think about that?” floated out over the center of the plate. Here you go, Alan; park this one in the left field seats.
“I welcome it. What am I supposed to say to it?” Belcher responded somewhat sheepishly. “My Muay Thai versus Michael Bisping’s? I’m supposed to sit here and say, “My Muay Thai is better than his,” but no one is going to know until Saturday night.”
Though some may view the answer as a wasted opportunity – a weakly hit ball back to the mound on a pitch that begged to be blasted into the second deck – the fact that it was devoid of the moxie and swagger that carried his commentary leading up to this fight speaks to the difference between guarantees in most sports, and making promises in the fight business.
All the talking in the world doesn’t mean much if you can’t back it up when the cage door closes. While it’s great for drawing attention to the bout, putting a few more butts in seats, and selling a couple more pay-per-views this weekend, there comes a point when the tickets are sold, the people are hyped, and all that remains is going about the business of backing up everything you’ve said over the last two or three months.
The time for talking is over.
Now it’s time to fight.
Trash talk and boisterous predictions are standard fare in sports.
Someone on one team chirps about their counterpart the day before the big game. A defensive player claims he’s not worried about what the prolific quarterback and the opposing offense is going to do on Sunday. Roughly 487 athletes every year guarantee their team is going to win their league’s respective championship.
This is going to be their year, and they’re going to run over whoever stands in their way.
In some ways, mixed martial arts is no different. Fighters make boastful promises of first round knockouts and wildly entertaining fights, disparaging the person they’ll share the cage with in the future and soft-selling their skills. Some riff on pro wrestlers like “Superstar” Billy Graham or The Grappler, while others try really hard but come up short.
Trash talk isn’t for everybody.
In basketball, hockey, football, or baseball, your predictions and proclamations can be scuttled by poor play around you. Innumerable variables contribute to the end result, and often take the ability to make good on those pre-game promises away from the one doing all the talking.
That why those rare instances where an athlete makes good on their promises stand as iconic moments in their sport’s history. Mark Messier’s three-goal night against the New Jersey Devils. Babe Ruth’s called shot. “Broadway Joe” announcing the Jets would beat the Baltimore Colts.
Most fall flat, and it has gotten to the point that guarantees have become so commonplace and overused that we barely even acknowledge most of them now, other than to shake our heads and laugh at the latest ridiculousness being uttered.
While there are just as many people making just as many promises in mixed martial arts, there is one colossal difference between the fighters talking trash and offering up predictions and their ball-and-stick brethren: eventually, you have to step into the cage and back up your words.
After infinite amounts of talk, Alan Belcher has reached the point where he’s done talking.
For the last several months, across various platforms and mediums, the confident middleweight who fights out of Biloxi, Mississippi has talked a blue streak about Michael Bisping. Even before the two were officially aligned as opponents, “The Talent” freely shared his thoughts and opinions about the tenured middleweight contender who first made his mark by winning season three of The Ultimate Fighter. Once the UFC opted to pit the verbal sparring partners opposite one another at UFC 159, Belcher’s output increased.
There were challenges and bets, NFL defensive linemen wanting to put $300,000 cars up for grabs, and videos mocking everything from the manner in which Bisping speaks to a super-imposed Belcher pointing and laughing as a replay of Dan Henderson’s knockout win over “The Count” at UFC 100 rolled in slow motion.
Usually it’s Bisping who is spitting venom and making the most of every opportunity to mock and prod his opponents heading into a fight, but in the preamble to this weekend’s event at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, the man from Orange County, California by way of Manchester, England had been seriously outdone.
Once fight week arrived, however, the two middleweight combatants traded places on the trash talking front.
While Bisping used Monday’s media conference call to land a couple clean verbal jabs on the man he’ll trade actual strikes with on Saturday night, Belcher was reserved. The hyper-confidence that carried his pre-fight videos and blogs was replaced by a voice that sounded contemplative, and answers that were stripped of any and all window dressing.
“It puts me back in the top of the division,” Belcher said flatly when asked where a weekend victory over the perennial contender would put him in the division. “We’re both coming off losses. We’ve both had wins and losses in our career, and now we’re going to see who the best is out of us two. I’m not really thinking about the ranks. I don’t care about what the fans think or how confident Michael is; I’m just thinking about beating him Saturday night.”
Not one to let an opportunity to speak his mind in front of a captive audience, Bisping barged in on the question, giving his own thoughts on what a win would mean for his opponent.
“Let me just add to that,” Bisping began. “A win over me for Alan Belcher would be by far the biggest win of his pathetic career. No one gives a f*** about Alan Belcher.”
Calmly, Belcher replied, “That’s right – so you better not lose to me. We’ll see Saturday night.”
Normally these calls and fight week itself are when the athletes who are about to step into the cage and settle their differences empty out their clips, taking every opportunity they can to get in one more shot. Belcher, it seems, entered fight week in a different frame of mind.
Late in Monday’s media call, the newly minted 29-year-old was tossed the question equivalent of a batting practice fastball right in his wheelhouse.
“Michael has said he’d like to pit his Muay Thai against your Muay Thai in the center of the cage. What do you think about that?” floated out over the center of the plate. Here you go, Alan; park this one in the left field seats.
“I welcome it. What am I supposed to say to it?” Belcher responded somewhat sheepishly. “My Muay Thai versus Michael Bisping’s? I’m supposed to sit here and say, “My Muay Thai is better than his,” but no one is going to know until Saturday night.”
Though some may view the answer as a wasted opportunity – a weakly hit ball back to the mound on a pitch that begged to be blasted into the second deck – the fact that it was devoid of the moxie and swagger that carried his commentary leading up to this fight speaks to the difference between guarantees in most sports, and making promises in the fight business.
All the talking in the world doesn’t mean much if you can’t back it up when the cage door closes. While it’s great for drawing attention to the bout, putting a few more butts in seats, and selling a couple more pay-per-views this weekend, there comes a point when the tickets are sold, the people are hyped, and all that remains is going about the business of backing up everything you’ve said over the last two or three months.
The canvas looked like a Jackson Pollock piece – abstract and violent, no rhyme or reason to the patterns that were created on top of it over the previous 20 minutes, give or take.
The artist responsible for the work, Jim Miller, stood in the center of his masterpiece, a hint of a smile on his face, his body tinted the shade of crimson that only comes when you mix blood with sweat inside the cage. His partner in the violent ballet that created the blood soaked canvas, Joe Lauzon, stood on the opposite side of the referee. He too was smiling, blood still trickling from the sizable gash Miller had opened on his forehead early in the first round.
“It was a fun fight to be in,” says the 29-year-old who pushed his record to 22-4 with his victory over Lauzon last December at UFC 155. “Joe’s a really great guy. It’s nothing personal when you’re in there; it’s mutual respect.
“We both threw everything we had at each other. I’m still disappointed in myself that I didn’t finish him, because I felt like I had him in the first, and that’s why I’m out there, to put guys away. But it was definitely one of those fights where we were both throwing as hard as we could, landing quite a few.”
The wildly entertaining lightweight battle earned Fight of the Night honors, and featured one of the more entertaining non-fistic exchanges to take place inside the Octagon.
At one point in the contest, time was called to deal with a loose piece of tape. Lauzon was inside Miller’s guard, blood dripping from his head onto his opponent as they waited for the restart. The two shared a laugh, expressing how much they were enjoying the bloodstained battle of skills that was momentarily on pause.
“That was kind of weird,” laughs the bearded, lightweight half of Whippany, New Jersey’s Fighting Miller Brothers. “That doesn’t happen very often where you get a little bit of time just sitting there with somebody bleeding on top of you, and you get to have a little conversation.”
After his in-fight talk with and subsequent victory over Lauzon, the conversation surrounding Miller has shifted to his place in the lightweight hierarchy.
In his first two years in the organization, Miller amassed an 8-1 record, his only loss coming to future title challenger Gray Maynard. The previous two years have netted another three victories, set against two defeats, one at the hands of current champion Benson Henderson, and the other against Nathan Diaz.
With an 11-3 record inside the Octagon that includes wins over Matt Wiman, Melvin Guillard, Charles Oliveira, and most recently Lauzon, Miller has established himself as a perennial member of the division’s top 10. Having solidified his position in the upper echelon, taking the next step and earning a title shot is next on his list of things to do, though the straightforward and honest fighter knows there are a lot of variables that factor into a fighter climbing the rankings to the point of being deemed a possible title challenger, especially in the UFC’s deepest, most talent-rich division.
“It really does come down to timing. You’ve got to just catch that wave, have a good performance, and stay on top of it. With months between fights, it’s really competitive and tough to stay relevant, stay on people’s minds when you’ve got all these other fights going on that you’re not involved in. It just comes down to timing and having a good night.
“In 2012, I was inside the Octagon for less than half-an-hour,” he continues. “In 2011, it was the roughly the same thing; maybe a little bit over a half-an-hour. That’s not a lot of time to make an impression, and it’s not a lot of time to show the things that you’ve been doing for years, and drilling for years, doing thousands and thousands – even tens of thousands – of reps. Sometimes the opportunity just doesn’t arrive in that short amount of time.
“My last fight, the opportunity arose and I was able to throw some things out there, and in the couple previous fights, it really didn’t happen.”
Miller knows first-hand what it’s like to be quickly replaced in the memory banks of fight fans.
Less than a month after he made his case for contention with his win over Lauzon, both TJ Grant and Anthony Pettis earned impressive first round stoppage wins on the January FOX show, replacing Miller as the fighter of the moment. This weekend, he’ll look to do the same to Josh Thomson, the former Strikeforce star who returned to the UFC last weekend in San Jose with a dominant performance against Nathan Diaz.
“It’s a little frustrating when that happens, but that’s the nature of the beast.”
Pat Healy will be the man sharing the 30 feet of fighting space with Miller inside the Octagon this weekend at the Prudential Center in Newark. After beginning his career at welterweight and earning wins over future UFC contenders Dan Hardy, Paul Daley, and Carlos Condit, “Bam Bam” made a successful transition to the lightweight division.
Healy has posted an 8-1 record since shifting weight classes, his only loss coming to the aforementioned Thomson nearly three years ago. He was twice scheduled to battle Gilbert Melendez for the Strikeforce lightweight title, but the bout never materialized as the champion was forced from the contest due to lingering injuries in each instance. In addition to carrying the frustration of missing out on a title shot in the cage on Saturday, Healy will also enter riding solid six fight winning streak, hungry to prove that like Thomson, he too belongs in the upper echelon of the UFC lightweight division.
“We knew the Strikeforce guys were coming in, and he was going to be the title challenger over there until (Gilbert Melendez) pulled out. He’s a tough guy, and a top guy coming over from Strikeforce, and we knew we would have to kind of sort these things out. They weren’t going to throw a Strikeforce guy versus a Strikeforce guy coming into the UFC; they kind of want to see where these guys (fall in the division), so this was really one of the fights that I expected.”
“He’s definitely a tough fight,” he says of Healy. “He’s a big lightweight, and has fought a lot of very tough guys up at ’70, and he’s got great control. He’s a very smothering type of grappler, and that’s something that I’ve had trouble with in the past; guys that kind of slow me down a little bit.”
Like every fighter, Miller wants to be the best, but he’s not fixated on the title or ready to take the microphone from Joe Rogan after a victory and call out the champion. That’s not his style.
Instead, he’s focused on the one variable that is within his control – earning another victory and delivering another memorable performance against Healy.
“You’ve got to leave your mark in people’s memories, and do something that they’re going to remember, something that makes them say, `I want to see that guy fight for the title.’ I take (Pat) very seriously, and I want to step in there, do my best, and make a statement against him.”
Saturday night in his home state of New Jersey, there will be a fresh canvas under his feet, and a new opponent across the cage, but Miller’s intention will be a familiar one.
He’ll be looking to “put on another beautiful display of violence,” he says, echoing sentiments he shared in latest edition of UFC 360 magazine.
After four months of waiting, the lightweight mixed martial artist is ready to create another blood-soaked masterpiece at UFC 159.
The canvas looked like a Jackson Pollock piece – abstract and violent, no rhyme or reason to the patterns that were created on top of it over the previous 20 minutes, give or take.
The artist responsible for the work, Jim Miller, stood in the center of his masterpiece, a hint of a smile on his face, his body tinted the shade of crimson that only comes when you mix blood with sweat inside the cage. His partner in the violent ballet that created the blood soaked canvas, Joe Lauzon, stood on the opposite side of the referee. He too was smiling, blood still trickling from the sizable gash Miller had opened on his forehead early in the first round.
“It was a fun fight to be in,” says the 29-year-old who pushed his record to 22-4 with his victory over Lauzon last December at UFC 155. “Joe’s a really great guy. It’s nothing personal when you’re in there; it’s mutual respect.
“We both threw everything we had at each other. I’m still disappointed in myself that I didn’t finish him, because I felt like I had him in the first, and that’s why I’m out there, to put guys away. But it was definitely one of those fights where we were both throwing as hard as we could, landing quite a few.”
The wildly entertaining lightweight battle earned Fight of the Night honors, and featured one of the more entertaining non-fistic exchanges to take place inside the Octagon.
At one point in the contest, time was called to deal with a loose piece of tape. Lauzon was inside Miller’s guard, blood dripping from his head onto his opponent as they waited for the restart. The two shared a laugh, expressing how much they were enjoying the bloodstained battle of skills that was momentarily on pause.
“That was kind of weird,” laughs the bearded, lightweight half of Whippany, New Jersey’s Fighting Miller Brothers. “That doesn’t happen very often where you get a little bit of time just sitting there with somebody bleeding on top of you, and you get to have a little conversation.”
After his in-fight talk with and subsequent victory over Lauzon, the conversation surrounding Miller has shifted to his place in the lightweight hierarchy.
In his first two years in the organization, Miller amassed an 8-1 record, his only loss coming to future title challenger Gray Maynard. The previous two years have netted another three victories, set against two defeats, one at the hands of current champion Benson Henderson, and the other against Nathan Diaz.
With an 11-3 record inside the Octagon that includes wins over Matt Wiman, Melvin Guillard, Charles Oliveira, and most recently Lauzon, Miller has established himself as a perennial member of the division’s top 10. Having solidified his position in the upper echelon, taking the next step and earning a title shot is next on his list of things to do, though the straightforward and honest fighter knows there are a lot of variables that factor into a fighter climbing the rankings to the point of being deemed a possible title challenger, especially in the UFC’s deepest, most talent-rich division.
“It really does come down to timing. You’ve got to just catch that wave, have a good performance, and stay on top of it. With months between fights, it’s really competitive and tough to stay relevant, stay on people’s minds when you’ve got all these other fights going on that you’re not involved in. It just comes down to timing and having a good night.
“In 2012, I was inside the Octagon for less than half-an-hour,” he continues. “In 2011, it was the roughly the same thing; maybe a little bit over a half-an-hour. That’s not a lot of time to make an impression, and it’s not a lot of time to show the things that you’ve been doing for years, and drilling for years, doing thousands and thousands – even tens of thousands – of reps. Sometimes the opportunity just doesn’t arrive in that short amount of time.
“My last fight, the opportunity arose and I was able to throw some things out there, and in the couple previous fights, it really didn’t happen.”
Miller knows first-hand what it’s like to be quickly replaced in the memory banks of fight fans.
Less than a month after he made his case for contention with his win over Lauzon, both TJ Grant and Anthony Pettis earned impressive first round stoppage wins on the January FOX show, replacing Miller as the fighter of the moment. This weekend, he’ll look to do the same to Josh Thomson, the former Strikeforce star who returned to the UFC last weekend in San Jose with a dominant performance against Nathan Diaz.
“It’s a little frustrating when that happens, but that’s the nature of the beast.”
Pat Healy will be the man sharing the 30 feet of fighting space with Miller inside the Octagon this weekend at the Prudential Center in Newark. After beginning his career at welterweight and earning wins over future UFC contenders Dan Hardy, Paul Daley, and Carlos Condit, “Bam Bam” made a successful transition to the lightweight division.
Healy has posted an 8-1 record since shifting weight classes, his only loss coming to the aforementioned Thomson nearly three years ago. He was twice scheduled to battle Gilbert Melendez for the Strikeforce lightweight title, but the bout never materialized as the champion was forced from the contest due to lingering injuries in each instance. In addition to carrying the frustration of missing out on a title shot in the cage on Saturday, Healy will also enter riding solid six fight winning streak, hungry to prove that like Thomson, he too belongs in the upper echelon of the UFC lightweight division.
“We knew the Strikeforce guys were coming in, and he was going to be the title challenger over there until (Gilbert Melendez) pulled out. He’s a tough guy, and a top guy coming over from Strikeforce, and we knew we would have to kind of sort these things out. They weren’t going to throw a Strikeforce guy versus a Strikeforce guy coming into the UFC; they kind of want to see where these guys (fall in the division), so this was really one of the fights that I expected.”
“He’s definitely a tough fight,” he says of Healy. “He’s a big lightweight, and has fought a lot of very tough guys up at ’70, and he’s got great control. He’s a very smothering type of grappler, and that’s something that I’ve had trouble with in the past; guys that kind of slow me down a little bit.”
Like every fighter, Miller wants to be the best, but he’s not fixated on the title or ready to take the microphone from Joe Rogan after a victory and call out the champion. That’s not his style.
Instead, he’s focused on the one variable that is within his control – earning another victory and delivering another memorable performance against Healy.
“You’ve got to leave your mark in people’s memories, and do something that they’re going to remember, something that makes them say, `I want to see that guy fight for the title.’ I take (Pat) very seriously, and I want to step in there, do my best, and make a statement against him.”
Saturday night in his home state of New Jersey, there will be a fresh canvas under his feet, and a new opponent across the cage, but Miller’s intention will be a familiar one.
He’ll be looking to “put on another beautiful display of violence,” he says, echoing sentiments he shared in latest edition of UFC 360 magazine.
After four months of waiting, the lightweight mixed martial artist is ready to create another blood-soaked masterpiece at UFC 159.
A month before the latest in what has been a continual string of “biggest fight of his life” bouts, UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson wasn’t spending his Sunday resting on the couch, engulfed in all things Gilbert Melendez.
He was competing in the brown belt division of the 2013 International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation Pan American Championships in Long Beach, California. The previous weekend, the consensus top lightweight in all of mixed martial arts and the pound-for-pound stalwart was doing the same in the Arizona Jiu-Jitsu Open, where he would defeat Christian Broadnax to win his division.
“I love competing,” states Henderson, who is currently a brown belt under Royce Gracie black belt John Crouch. “Whether it’s a pick-up game of basketball down the street, a flag football game with all the boys, or whether it’s a jiu-jitsu tournament, I love competing and having fun, and it’s nice to compete when the weight of the world isn’t on your shoulders.”
Henderson adopts the role of a nondescript observer breaking down what comes with every trip into the Octagon in rapid fire fashion: the pressure, the need to win, the consequences of losing, and the amount of time that goes into each fight.
Anywhere from eight to 12 weeks are spent working towards one performance that will last no more than 25 minutes, with one move, one hold, or one misstep potentially being the difference between victory and defeat.
“It’s nice to just go have fun, compete, and if I lose, I lose – no big deal. If I get caught in an arm lock, no biggie – I got caught in an arm lock, oh well. It’s nice to have that – just to be able to compete for the sake of competition; no money, just go have fun.”
It’s also a training tool for Henderson, and a break from rolling with the same collection of teammates and sparring partners that help him prepare at The MMA Lab. Training with the same people day after day, you learn their tendencies – how they set up this hold, what they’ll do in that position – and the instinctive drive to excel and win doesn’t necessarily kick in the same way it does when you’re facing an unfamiliar opponent in a competitive environment.
“That’s the other part of it – you still get pretty worked up to compete and to try to win. I want to win at everything, always, so it’s nice to be able to see different looks, see different people who have different set-ups.
“Maybe Gilbert Melendez uses the same arm lock set-up as this guy, so it’s nice to see different looks, and see things from different angles and a different perspective while still improving your skills.
“It does help my MMA career too,” he adds with a laugh. “Jiu-jitsu is pretty prevalent in MMA, and I use it quite a bit – but it’s no big deal if I lose. I can just go have fun.”
When the horn sounds to end his fights, a wide smile almost immediately appears on Henderson’s face, a sign that he’s enjoyed the time he just spent in the cage. You used to be able to tell the 29-year-old known as “Smooth” was having fun during his bouts as well; the pearly-white post-fight grin used to be present as he traded leather and looked for takedowns as well, but not as of late.
The in-fight smile has been absent since Henderson made his UFC debut against Mark Bocek at UFC 129, a result of the outcome of the fight that came before it.
“Any time you compete, you should definitely learn how to improve and get better from your last performance,” suggests Henderson, who has developed into a dangerous all-around force inside the cage after beginning his career relying primarily on his skills as a grappler. “Coming off a loss, you should have even that much more to learn.
“Coming off my last loss, I definitely learned from that, took away from that, and one of the things we learned, we took away, and we got better at was not being as casual, not being as lackadaisical inside the Octagon. (We worked on) being more aggressive, pushing forward more, driving forward more – taking control, and taking what we want. That’s what we’re about, and it seems to have paid off pretty well so far in our UFC career.”
Indeed it has.
Henderson is a perfect 6-0 since losing to Anthony Pettis in the final fight of the final card in WEC history, and he has climbed to the top of the deepest, most competitive division in the company in the process. Tomorrow night, he’ll look to maintain his unblemished record in the Octagon when he defends his lightweight title for a third time, sharing the cage with Gilbert Melendez.
The long-reigning Strikeforce lightweight champion will make his long-awaited debut in familiar confines, crossing the threshold of the UFC cage inside the HP Pavilion in San Jose, where he’s competed eight times in the past, boasting a 7-1 record.
Henderson knows all about holding a “home field advantage” on fight night, having earned his most recent victory before a partisan crowd in his hometown of Seattle. His two previous bouts before that were considered “home games” as well, which has the lightweight champion excited about being the out-of-towner looking to spoil the party this time around.
“I won’t lie: being the invader, being the outside guy, the guy the crowd doesn’t like – my first fight in the UFC was against Mark Bocek in Toronto, Canada at the UFC’s largest event ever – 55,000 people. I kind of liked it. It was cool having 55,000 people cheering their heads off, wanting me to lose, and then at the end of the fight, they were all cheering their heads off that I won. It’s kind of cool. I dig it. It’s just another challenge; the next challenge in my life, and I’m ready for it.”
He’s also ready for Melendez, who comes into this fight in a somewhat similar position to Henderson and his fellow WEC lightweights when they first transitioned into the UFC.
“Gilbert is being a little bit under-appreciated,” Henderson says. “He’s not as well-known by a lot of the casual fans and that kind of stuff, but to the hardcore fans, they know how tough he is; they know how good he is.
“He’s been considered a top what – Top three? Top five fighter on the planet for a long, long time, not just recently. I know how tough he is. I’m definitely not sleeping on him. I know how good he is.
“I’m going to make sure I bring my best; bring my A-game. I’m not going to sleep on him or disrespect him by saying, `He’s just this. He’s not very good.’ Naw – he’s darn good. I know how good he is. I have to make sure to bring my best so that come April 20th, I leave there with my hand raised and the belt around my waist still.”
Henderson and Melendez will close out Saturday’s event on FOX, and just as he takes some satisfaction from playing the role of the visitor in this “Champion vs. Champion” encounter, the 18-2 UFC champion also takes a great deal of pleasure from being the final pairing on the nationally televised fight card as well.
“It is awesome being on a FOX card for the third time,” begins Henderson, who defeated Clay Guida in the co-main event of the inaugural FOX event before besting Nathan Diaz on the network last December. “I still have a bad taste in my mouth from being on FOX the first time.
“It’s FOX, the first time ever – a huge, huge deal, a lot of press. It’s a big, huge deal – the UFC being on FOX; first-time every on prime time television, that kind of stuff, and to not actually be on FOX didn’t sit well. It left a bad taste in my mouth.
“The little kid in me – I get a giggle every time I think about it – for this card, I have some heavyweights who are…” He pauses, literally giggling to himself. “The heavyweights were ahead of me on the first one ever; it was the heavyweights who got all the press, got all the attention, who made it to FOX, and us little guys were on Facebook. It’s nice that for this one, us little guys get a little bit of love, and we are the headliners now, and the heavyweights are the co-main event. The little kid in me gets a pretty big kick out of that.”
Headlining a second consecutive FOX event, and doing so after heavyweights Daniel Cormier and Frank Mir occupy the Octagon, brings a smile to Henderson’s face. Being in a position to headline events of this size and standing atop one of the most talent-rich divisions in the sport provides the lightweight champion with another feeling altogether.
“It’s validation,” he says. “I chose this crazy life, this crazy career as a way to pay my bills – I chose this after I graduated college and stuff – and it’s validation. `Hey, you didn’t pick the wrong career. You weren’t crazy, you weren’t nuts for thinking you could do this.’
“It’s nice to be at that level, knowing that all that hard work paid all, knowing that all that hard work, the sacrifices, the tears, the getting punched in the face,” he stops dead without finishing the sentence, but resumes a second later. “People think it’s easy – going to the gym getting punched in the face everyday – but it’s not easy; it’s hard. Getting kicked and choked. It’s nice to have that validation to prove all that hard work was worth it, and that I wasn’t nuts for doing this.”
Those who have watched Henderson’s progression from the WEC to the UFC have known he wasn’t “nuts for doing this” for some time, and the shiny gold belt he’ll carry to the cage tomorrow night against Melendez represents further affirmation of his choice.
But Henderson isn’t content with having been the best for the past year, or being the best today; he wants to continually prove himself to be the best, day after day, fight after fight, every chance he can.
That’s why he spends the occasional weekend competing in jiu-jitsu tournaments, and why he welcomes the opportunity to share the cage with a dangerous foe like Melendez tomorrow night on FOX. It’s another chance to prove he’s the best lightweight in the world and one of the best in the sport as a whole; it’s a fight he’s looking forward to, and one he says you’re not going to want to miss.
“Gilbert is top two, top three on the planet. I believe I’m the best lightweight on the planet, he believes he’s the best lightweight on the planet, and now is when we’re going to find out who definitely is the best.
“He always brings his best. He does a good job of always being well-prepared, and always bringing his best every time he steps into the Octagon, and I think I do a pretty good job of being prepared, bringing my best when I step into the Octagon.
“If you happen to not be watching this fight, you’re going to get a text or a phone call from one of your friends telling you, `How are you not watching this fight right now? You have got to see this!’ You better expect that, so you might as well just decide to watch the fight ahead of time.”
A month before the latest in what has been a continual string of “biggest fight of his life” bouts, UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson wasn’t spending his Sunday resting on the couch, engulfed in all things Gilbert Melendez.
He was competing in the brown belt division of the 2013 International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation Pan American Championships in Long Beach, California. The previous weekend, the consensus top lightweight in all of mixed martial arts and the pound-for-pound stalwart was doing the same in the Arizona Jiu-Jitsu Open, where he would defeat Christian Broadnax to win his division.
“I love competing,” states Henderson, who is currently a brown belt under Royce Gracie black belt John Crouch. “Whether it’s a pick-up game of basketball down the street, a flag football game with all the boys, or whether it’s a jiu-jitsu tournament, I love competing and having fun, and it’s nice to compete when the weight of the world isn’t on your shoulders.”
Henderson adopts the role of a nondescript observer breaking down what comes with every trip into the Octagon in rapid fire fashion: the pressure, the need to win, the consequences of losing, and the amount of time that goes into each fight.
Anywhere from eight to 12 weeks are spent working towards one performance that will last no more than 25 minutes, with one move, one hold, or one misstep potentially being the difference between victory and defeat.
“It’s nice to just go have fun, compete, and if I lose, I lose – no big deal. If I get caught in an arm lock, no biggie – I got caught in an arm lock, oh well. It’s nice to have that – just to be able to compete for the sake of competition; no money, just go have fun.”
It’s also a training tool for Henderson, and a break from rolling with the same collection of teammates and sparring partners that help him prepare at The MMA Lab. Training with the same people day after day, you learn their tendencies – how they set up this hold, what they’ll do in that position – and the instinctive drive to excel and win doesn’t necessarily kick in the same way it does when you’re facing an unfamiliar opponent in a competitive environment.
“That’s the other part of it – you still get pretty worked up to compete and to try to win. I want to win at everything, always, so it’s nice to be able to see different looks, see different people who have different set-ups.
“Maybe Gilbert Melendez uses the same arm lock set-up as this guy, so it’s nice to see different looks, and see things from different angles and a different perspective while still improving your skills.
“It does help my MMA career too,” he adds with a laugh. “Jiu-jitsu is pretty prevalent in MMA, and I use it quite a bit – but it’s no big deal if I lose. I can just go have fun.”
When the horn sounds to end his fights, a wide smile almost immediately appears on Henderson’s face, a sign that he’s enjoyed the time he just spent in the cage. You used to be able to tell the 29-year-old known as “Smooth” was having fun during his bouts as well; the pearly-white post-fight grin used to be present as he traded leather and looked for takedowns as well, but not as of late.
The in-fight smile has been absent since Henderson made his UFC debut against Mark Bocek at UFC 129, a result of the outcome of the fight that came before it.
“Any time you compete, you should definitely learn how to improve and get better from your last performance,” suggests Henderson, who has developed into a dangerous all-around force inside the cage after beginning his career relying primarily on his skills as a grappler. “Coming off a loss, you should have even that much more to learn.
“Coming off my last loss, I definitely learned from that, took away from that, and one of the things we learned, we took away, and we got better at was not being as casual, not being as lackadaisical inside the Octagon. (We worked on) being more aggressive, pushing forward more, driving forward more – taking control, and taking what we want. That’s what we’re about, and it seems to have paid off pretty well so far in our UFC career.”
Indeed it has.
Henderson is a perfect 6-0 since losing to Anthony Pettis in the final fight of the final card in WEC history, and he has climbed to the top of the deepest, most competitive division in the company in the process. Tomorrow night, he’ll look to maintain his unblemished record in the Octagon when he defends his lightweight title for a third time, sharing the cage with Gilbert Melendez.
The long-reigning Strikeforce lightweight champion will make his long-awaited debut in familiar confines, crossing the threshold of the UFC cage inside the HP Pavilion in San Jose, where he’s competed eight times in the past, boasting a 7-1 record.
Henderson knows all about holding a “home field advantage” on fight night, having earned his most recent victory before a partisan crowd in his hometown of Seattle. His two previous bouts before that were considered “home games” as well, which has the lightweight champion excited about being the out-of-towner looking to spoil the party this time around.
“I won’t lie: being the invader, being the outside guy, the guy the crowd doesn’t like – my first fight in the UFC was against Mark Bocek in Toronto, Canada at the UFC’s largest event ever – 55,000 people. I kind of liked it. It was cool having 55,000 people cheering their heads off, wanting me to lose, and then at the end of the fight, they were all cheering their heads off that I won. It’s kind of cool. I dig it. It’s just another challenge; the next challenge in my life, and I’m ready for it.”
He’s also ready for Melendez, who comes into this fight in a somewhat similar position to Henderson and his fellow WEC lightweights when they first transitioned into the UFC.
“Gilbert is being a little bit under-appreciated,” Henderson says. “He’s not as well-known by a lot of the casual fans and that kind of stuff, but to the hardcore fans, they know how tough he is; they know how good he is.
“He’s been considered a top what – Top three? Top five fighter on the planet for a long, long time, not just recently. I know how tough he is. I’m definitely not sleeping on him. I know how good he is.
“I’m going to make sure I bring my best; bring my A-game. I’m not going to sleep on him or disrespect him by saying, `He’s just this. He’s not very good.’ Naw – he’s darn good. I know how good he is. I have to make sure to bring my best so that come April 20th, I leave there with my hand raised and the belt around my waist still.”
Henderson and Melendez will close out Saturday’s event on FOX, and just as he takes some satisfaction from playing the role of the visitor in this “Champion vs. Champion” encounter, the 18-2 UFC champion also takes a great deal of pleasure from being the final pairing on the nationally televised fight card as well.
“It is awesome being on a FOX card for the third time,” begins Henderson, who defeated Clay Guida in the co-main event of the inaugural FOX event before besting Nathan Diaz on the network last December. “I still have a bad taste in my mouth from being on FOX the first time.
“It’s FOX, the first time ever – a huge, huge deal, a lot of press. It’s a big, huge deal – the UFC being on FOX; first-time every on prime time television, that kind of stuff, and to not actually be on FOX didn’t sit well. It left a bad taste in my mouth.
“The little kid in me – I get a giggle every time I think about it – for this card, I have some heavyweights who are…” He pauses, literally giggling to himself. “The heavyweights were ahead of me on the first one ever; it was the heavyweights who got all the press, got all the attention, who made it to FOX, and us little guys were on Facebook. It’s nice that for this one, us little guys get a little bit of love, and we are the headliners now, and the heavyweights are the co-main event. The little kid in me gets a pretty big kick out of that.”
Headlining a second consecutive FOX event, and doing so after heavyweights Daniel Cormier and Frank Mir occupy the Octagon, brings a smile to Henderson’s face. Being in a position to headline events of this size and standing atop one of the most talent-rich divisions in the sport provides the lightweight champion with another feeling altogether.
“It’s validation,” he says. “I chose this crazy life, this crazy career as a way to pay my bills – I chose this after I graduated college and stuff – and it’s validation. `Hey, you didn’t pick the wrong career. You weren’t crazy, you weren’t nuts for thinking you could do this.’
“It’s nice to be at that level, knowing that all that hard work paid all, knowing that all that hard work, the sacrifices, the tears, the getting punched in the face,” he stops dead without finishing the sentence, but resumes a second later. “People think it’s easy – going to the gym getting punched in the face everyday – but it’s not easy; it’s hard. Getting kicked and choked. It’s nice to have that validation to prove all that hard work was worth it, and that I wasn’t nuts for doing this.”
Those who have watched Henderson’s progression from the WEC to the UFC have known he wasn’t “nuts for doing this” for some time, and the shiny gold belt he’ll carry to the cage tomorrow night against Melendez represents further affirmation of his choice.
But Henderson isn’t content with having been the best for the past year, or being the best today; he wants to continually prove himself to be the best, day after day, fight after fight, every chance he can.
That’s why he spends the occasional weekend competing in jiu-jitsu tournaments, and why he welcomes the opportunity to share the cage with a dangerous foe like Melendez tomorrow night on FOX. It’s another chance to prove he’s the best lightweight in the world and one of the best in the sport as a whole; it’s a fight he’s looking forward to, and one he says you’re not going to want to miss.
“Gilbert is top two, top three on the planet. I believe I’m the best lightweight on the planet, he believes he’s the best lightweight on the planet, and now is when we’re going to find out who definitely is the best.
“He always brings his best. He does a good job of always being well-prepared, and always bringing his best every time he steps into the Octagon, and I think I do a pretty good job of being prepared, bringing my best when I step into the Octagon.
“If you happen to not be watching this fight, you’re going to get a text or a phone call from one of your friends telling you, `How are you not watching this fight right now? You have got to see this!’ You better expect that, so you might as well just decide to watch the fight ahead of time.”
On Monday, March 18, Jordan Mein was in the gym training.
Considering that he’s a professional fighter that competes in the UFC’s welterweight division, the fact that he was hitting the heavy bag and getting some time in on the mats on a Monday afternoon seems normal enough. What makes that particular entry from the 23-year-old Lethbridge, Alberta native’s daily activity log a little more interesting is that two nights earlier, the Canadian Martial Arts Centre product was standing inside the Octagon in Montreal, earning his first win on the sport’s biggest stage in spectacular fashion.
At UFC 158, Mein became the first person to finish veteran Dan Miller, earning a stoppage win over the Whippany, New Jersey resident with just 18 seconds remaining the first round. As impressive as the finishing sequence was, it almost never happened, as Miller caught Mein in an armbar early on in the round, forcing his young, but experienced, opponent to find an escape.
“I wasn’t really thinking when the armbar came on; I was just kind of reacting,” admits Mein with a laugh while soaking in the sun on a weekday afternoon not too long after the bout. “Then once I watched the fight after, I realized how tight the armbar was. It kind of set in afterwards; my elbow was kind of stiff for two or three days.”
After getting free of the nearly-finished submission attempt, Mein went on the offensive, dropping Miller with a straight left down the pipe midway through the frame. A few minutes later, the referee was stepping in to wave off the fight, the serious look on Mein’s face replaced with one of satisfaction and excitement.
“I was super-happy; I had so much fun out there,” says Mein, who pushed his professional record to a 27-8 with the victory. “It was exhilarating – not just the fight, but the whole event.
“Weigh ins were pretty exciting; Montreal has some crazy fans, and they had that place packed for weigh ins. Once that was over with, I got the fun part started the next day when I got to fight. Stepping into the Octagon in front of that many people screaming and freaking out was a great experience, and I’m really glad I got to do it.
“The nerves were still there – you’ve still got to deal with the nerves and the pressure and whatnot – but that’s also why it’s such a high to win because you’re overcoming all those things,” he adds. “Fighting in Montreal, I’ve been there plenty, and it’s kind of a second home as far as fights go, so it was a big advantage get my first win in Canada, and have lots of friends and family there. That was a big bonus. It’s really exciting to me that I can entertain all my friends and family that are in the building that are freaking out when I get stuck in an armbar, and then they’re jumping up and going crazy when I win. That means a lot to me.”
Mein’s career started with a loss to fellow Canadian UFC welterweight contender Rory MacDonald when the two were still teenagers, and in the six-plus years since, he’s added another 34 fights to his resume. He cut his teeth trekking across Canada, fighting in smaller shows, gaining as much experience as he could, often competing in consecutive months.
Now that he’s made it to the UFC, the seasoned veteran who still barely has to shave more than twice a week isn’t changing his approach. Less than a week after dispatching Miller, the UFC tabbed Mein to replace Dan Hardy in the opening bout of this weekend’s UFC on FOX fight card in San Jose, California.
“I think it was (on the) Thursday that my dad asked me if I wanted to do it, and I said, `Yeah, definitely.’ I was healthy, and I got right back to training (that) Monday, so I figured why not? Let’s keep rolling. I’m feeling great, and I want to go through it again; it was a super-good time.
“Matt Brown is another hard opponent; he’s super-tough, and I think my style matches up well with his. I think I can do really well against him. I figured I was healthy, and saw this as a great opportunity. I think I can get another win and start my year off with a bang.”
Young, emerging talents usually have to work their way to a place on a nationally televised broadcast opposite a surging veteran, but Mein happened to be in the right place at the right time. Coming off a thoroughly impressive performance against Miller certainly didn’t hurt either.
Rather than have to slug it out and stack victories against lesser known opponents on the preliminary portion of a series of events, the Canadian up-and-comer has the chance to make an instant impact in the deep welterweight division, and he’s intent on making the most of it this weekend at “The Shark Tank” in San Jose.
“(To start my UFC career with consecutive wins) against two guys who have been in the UFC for a long time and have established names is important,” says Mein, who has gone 18-3 over his last 21 fights. “They’re not just guys that no one has ever heard of before.
“Matt Brown is an Ultimate Fighter guy; he’s been around for a long time, and he always has super-entertaining fights. He’s on a four-fight win streak and is coming off a knockout of Mike Swick on FOX, so people are aware of what he’s doing, and I think putting myself in that situation is really going to help my career.”
Mein is well aware of what his upcoming opponent has been doing as well. In fact, the diligent second-generation fighter has been familiarizing himself with everyone in the welterweight division from the time he found out he’d be joining them on the UFC roster.
“When I signed with the UFC, I wrote down every single welterweight in the UFC so I can just look at their names, and have them in my mind,” says Mein of the white board containing information on every 170-pound fighter in the organization.
“If I want to study them, go and watch tape on them, look-up who they fought, I have their names on hand. Once I get contracts, I go to the list, I look at their name, and I just think about how the fight is going to play out. It’s there for me every morning when I wake up, and every night before I go to bed so I can get focused and stay focused.”
Though he’s still only 23, Mein also has an outlook on the sport and understanding of the bigger picture that belies his age. Two years ago, he was fighting for his father Lee’s promotion, Rumble in the Cage, in his hometown of Lethbridge, working towards making his dream of fighting in the UFC a reality.
Now that he’s here, the talented young Canadian isn’t going to get wrapped up in the moment, let down his guard, or forget that it could all be taken away in an instant.
“(Reaching this level) means a lot. This been my dream since the beginning of my mixed martial arts career. Now I’m just trying to stay focused, stick to the training and what got me here, take things in stride, get in there, and enjoy the experience.
“With how good I feel about this last win, it can just as easily be taken away with a loss to Matt Brown, and I’m aware of that. That’s the sport, and that’s the way it is, so you can’t hold on to your wins. You want to be proud of yourself and happy, but for me it’s another challenge against a really, really tough dude, and I think I’ll be just as happy – if not happier – after this next win.”
And getting that “next win” is exactly what he plans to do on Saturday night.
“I think my style matches up well with his. I think I can do really well against him. I expect it to be a crazy fight because every fight that he has is super-exciting. He’s a gritty guy; he just keeps moving forward, and he hurts people, so I’m expecting a hard fight.
“Obviously it’s one that I think I can do well in, and I see myself getting my hand raised, but he’s on a win streak for a reason. To derail him from that is going to be hard, but I think I can do it.”
On Monday, March 18, Jordan Mein was in the gym training.
Considering that he’s a professional fighter that competes in the UFC’s welterweight division, the fact that he was hitting the heavy bag and getting some time in on the mats on a Monday afternoon seems normal enough. What makes that particular entry from the 23-year-old Lethbridge, Alberta native’s daily activity log a little more interesting is that two nights earlier, the Canadian Martial Arts Centre product was standing inside the Octagon in Montreal, earning his first win on the sport’s biggest stage in spectacular fashion.
At UFC 158, Mein became the first person to finish veteran Dan Miller, earning a stoppage win over the Whippany, New Jersey resident with just 18 seconds remaining the first round. As impressive as the finishing sequence was, it almost never happened, as Miller caught Mein in an armbar early on in the round, forcing his young, but experienced, opponent to find an escape.
“I wasn’t really thinking when the armbar came on; I was just kind of reacting,” admits Mein with a laugh while soaking in the sun on a weekday afternoon not too long after the bout. “Then once I watched the fight after, I realized how tight the armbar was. It kind of set in afterwards; my elbow was kind of stiff for two or three days.”
After getting free of the nearly-finished submission attempt, Mein went on the offensive, dropping Miller with a straight left down the pipe midway through the frame. A few minutes later, the referee was stepping in to wave off the fight, the serious look on Mein’s face replaced with one of satisfaction and excitement.
“I was super-happy; I had so much fun out there,” says Mein, who pushed his professional record to a 27-8 with the victory. “It was exhilarating – not just the fight, but the whole event.
“Weigh ins were pretty exciting; Montreal has some crazy fans, and they had that place packed for weigh ins. Once that was over with, I got the fun part started the next day when I got to fight. Stepping into the Octagon in front of that many people screaming and freaking out was a great experience, and I’m really glad I got to do it.
“The nerves were still there – you’ve still got to deal with the nerves and the pressure and whatnot – but that’s also why it’s such a high to win because you’re overcoming all those things,” he adds. “Fighting in Montreal, I’ve been there plenty, and it’s kind of a second home as far as fights go, so it was a big advantage get my first win in Canada, and have lots of friends and family there. That was a big bonus. It’s really exciting to me that I can entertain all my friends and family that are in the building that are freaking out when I get stuck in an armbar, and then they’re jumping up and going crazy when I win. That means a lot to me.”
Mein’s career started with a loss to fellow Canadian UFC welterweight contender Rory MacDonald when the two were still teenagers, and in the six-plus years since, he’s added another 34 fights to his resume. He cut his teeth trekking across Canada, fighting in smaller shows, gaining as much experience as he could, often competing in consecutive months.
Now that he’s made it to the UFC, the seasoned veteran who still barely has to shave more than twice a week isn’t changing his approach. Less than a week after dispatching Miller, the UFC tabbed Mein to replace Dan Hardy in the opening bout of this weekend’s UFC on FOX fight card in San Jose, California.
“I think it was (on the) Thursday that my dad asked me if I wanted to do it, and I said, `Yeah, definitely.’ I was healthy, and I got right back to training (that) Monday, so I figured why not? Let’s keep rolling. I’m feeling great, and I want to go through it again; it was a super-good time.
“Matt Brown is another hard opponent; he’s super-tough, and I think my style matches up well with his. I think I can do really well against him. I figured I was healthy, and saw this as a great opportunity. I think I can get another win and start my year off with a bang.”
Young, emerging talents usually have to work their way to a place on a nationally televised broadcast opposite a surging veteran, but Mein happened to be in the right place at the right time. Coming off a thoroughly impressive performance against Miller certainly didn’t hurt either.
Rather than have to slug it out and stack victories against lesser known opponents on the preliminary portion of a series of events, the Canadian up-and-comer has the chance to make an instant impact in the deep welterweight division, and he’s intent on making the most of it this weekend at “The Shark Tank” in San Jose.
“(To start my UFC career with consecutive wins) against two guys who have been in the UFC for a long time and have established names is important,” says Mein, who has gone 18-3 over his last 21 fights. “They’re not just guys that no one has ever heard of before.
“Matt Brown is an Ultimate Fighter guy; he’s been around for a long time, and he always has super-entertaining fights. He’s on a four-fight win streak and is coming off a knockout of Mike Swick on FOX, so people are aware of what he’s doing, and I think putting myself in that situation is really going to help my career.”
Mein is well aware of what his upcoming opponent has been doing as well. In fact, the diligent second-generation fighter has been familiarizing himself with everyone in the welterweight division from the time he found out he’d be joining them on the UFC roster.
“When I signed with the UFC, I wrote down every single welterweight in the UFC so I can just look at their names, and have them in my mind,” says Mein of the white board containing information on every 170-pound fighter in the organization.
“If I want to study them, go and watch tape on them, look-up who they fought, I have their names on hand. Once I get contracts, I go to the list, I look at their name, and I just think about how the fight is going to play out. It’s there for me every morning when I wake up, and every night before I go to bed so I can get focused and stay focused.”
Though he’s still only 23, Mein also has an outlook on the sport and understanding of the bigger picture that belies his age. Two years ago, he was fighting for his father Lee’s promotion, Rumble in the Cage, in his hometown of Lethbridge, working towards making his dream of fighting in the UFC a reality.
Now that he’s here, the talented young Canadian isn’t going to get wrapped up in the moment, let down his guard, or forget that it could all be taken away in an instant.
“(Reaching this level) means a lot. This been my dream since the beginning of my mixed martial arts career. Now I’m just trying to stay focused, stick to the training and what got me here, take things in stride, get in there, and enjoy the experience.
“With how good I feel about this last win, it can just as easily be taken away with a loss to Matt Brown, and I’m aware of that. That’s the sport, and that’s the way it is, so you can’t hold on to your wins. You want to be proud of yourself and happy, but for me it’s another challenge against a really, really tough dude, and I think I’ll be just as happy – if not happier – after this next win.”
And getting that “next win” is exactly what he plans to do on Saturday night.
“I think my style matches up well with his. I think I can do really well against him. I expect it to be a crazy fight because every fight that he has is super-exciting. He’s a gritty guy; he just keeps moving forward, and he hurts people, so I’m expecting a hard fight.
“Obviously it’s one that I think I can do well in, and I see myself getting my hand raised, but he’s on a win streak for a reason. To derail him from that is going to be hard, but I think I can do it.”
Urijah Faber is a company man, and I mean that in the best way possible.
I know there are times when people describe a colleague or an employee as “a company man” and the words are dripping with sarcasm, but that’s not the case here. If I had my own company, I’d want to stock it with guys like Urijah Faber.
You would too.
Just a handful of days after dispatching Ivan Menjivar with a back-mounted rear naked choke at UFC 157, the perennial bantamweight title contender was tabbed to replace injured flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson in the main event of The Ultimate Fighter Finale on April 13 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. “Mighty Mouse” was scheduled to defend his title against John Moraga, but with the champion sidelined, the UFC opted to press pause on the fight, and see if Faber could do them a solid.
There was one hitch: he’d have to fight his good friend, Scott Jorgensen.
Without pause, Faber accepted the fight and started putting in work both in the gym and in the media, doing his part to ensure the bout got the attention it deserved in the build-up to the event, and that he could once again give the fans their money’s worth when he and Jorgensen stepped into the cage together.
“I’m coming off of not fighting – I only fought once last year,” explained Faber when asked if he considered turning down the bout with Jorgensen. “They’ve tried to make this fight a couple times, and I’ve been able to deflect it each time. Then my manager was talking about having this fight five months from now, which would actually be worse.
“I’d rather have a fight like this be short notice because I’m fighting a buddy, you know? You don’t have to think about it too much; you just get it over with, and you can get back to doing your own thing.
“I’m not the type of guy that every turns down a fight, and Scotty’s not either,” added Faber, whose record stands at 27-6 overall following his win over Menjivar. “We’re not difficult guys to deal with when it comes to that. It’s the profession that we’re in. There are some guys on my team that I won’t fight, but I can’t actually say that for Scotty because we’re not actually on the same team.”
While the ever-positive Faber would be able to find the silver lining in the darkest cloud, the reality of the situation is that he’s in a precarious position career-wise.
As has been often discussed, he’s unbeaten in non-title fights over the last four years, but without a victory during that same stretch when gold is on the line. Still hovering around the top of the division and within reach of another title shot, the potential individual gains aren’t nearly as great for Faber as they are for Jorgensen.
It’s an all-too-familiar situation for “The California Kid,” but one he’s accepted, in part because he loves what he’s doing, but also for the greater good of the division, the lighter weight classes, and the UFC as a whole.
“I feel like every fight in this division is high risk, low reward for me because I’ve got one of the bigger names in the lighter weight divisions. Whatever that’s a testament to – whether it’s my fighting over the years, being a world champion before, or people liking my personality – whatever the case, I have one of the more notable names in the sport, for the lighter weights especially, so at this point, every fight is riskier for me on that front.
“I don’t have a lot of noteworthy, big name opponents,” continued Faber. “In the 205-pound division, there’s Machida and Shogun and Wanderlei, Dan Henderson, and on and on and on; all these guys that have been around and in the limelight for a long time. You have names that draw like Rashad Evans and all this history to the weight class. (Taking this fight) is doing what I think is important in building the weight class, and bringing a light to other fighters in the division.”
Faber has been an eager and willing ambassador for both the sport and the lighter weight classes dating back to his days atop the featherweight division in the WEC, and it’s a role he will likely maintain long after he walks away from the cage. While some fighters opt to focus on what is best for their personal brand and their path to the top, the 33-year-old leader of Team Alpha Male has never been a “me first” kind of guy.
He’s more than willing to help wherever he’s needed, even if that means taking a fight against a good friend on short notice or always being the man in the cage with plenty to lose, and little to gain.
“For me, I have to go back to the reason why I started this sport, be thankful for everything that I have, and make sure that I’m doing it because I want to go out there, perform, and have fun. That’s what I have to go back to.
“I’ve never been a guy that’s worried about money. It’s come to me, and I’m very fortunate, and very thankful, but as soon as I start dwelling on that type of thing is when I have my mind in the wrong place.
“There will be a time when I have think, `All right – is this a fight that makes sense for me?’ and I think this one does, especially because Scotty’s my friend. This is a big fight for us. We’re the main event on a live card that is going to go out to millions of people, and we’re stepping up for our promotion. We’re putting our friendship aside, our management aside, and everything else, and just going out there to have fun.”
Faber is the type of guy that would stick around until the job was done without asking about overtime pay – or any pay at all, for that matter.
Honestly, he’d probably be the guy who sprung for late night coffee and dinner too, telling you to “put your money away” as you reached for your wallet. None of it is done for show either. He’s not looking for a pat on the back or any form of recognition; he’s doing it because he believes it’s the right thing to do for the company that allows him to make a career out of doing what he loves to do.
Besides, it’s not like he doesn’t punch people he likes a great deal in the face on a regular basis anyway.
“I beat some of my best friends on Team Alpha Male up every day and vice versa, so we’ve just got to go out there, embrace the moment, and have fun with it.”
Urijah Faber is a company man, and I mean that in the best way possible.
I know there are times when people describe a colleague or an employee as “a company man” and the words are dripping with sarcasm, but that’s not the case here. If I had my own company, I’d want to stock it with guys like Urijah Faber.
You would too.
Just a handful of days after dispatching Ivan Menjivar with a back-mounted rear naked choke at UFC 157, the perennial bantamweight title contender was tabbed to replace injured flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson in the main event of The Ultimate Fighter Finale on April 13 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. “Mighty Mouse” was scheduled to defend his title against John Moraga, but with the champion sidelined, the UFC opted to press pause on the fight, and see if Faber could do them a solid.
There was one hitch: he’d have to fight his good friend, Scott Jorgensen.
Without pause, Faber accepted the fight and started putting in work both in the gym and in the media, doing his part to ensure the bout got the attention it deserved in the build-up to the event, and that he could once again give the fans their money’s worth when he and Jorgensen stepped into the cage together.
“I’m coming off of not fighting – I only fought once last year,” explained Faber when asked if he considered turning down the bout with Jorgensen. “They’ve tried to make this fight a couple times, and I’ve been able to deflect it each time. Then my manager was talking about having this fight five months from now, which would actually be worse.
“I’d rather have a fight like this be short notice because I’m fighting a buddy, you know? You don’t have to think about it too much; you just get it over with, and you can get back to doing your own thing.
“I’m not the type of guy that every turns down a fight, and Scotty’s not either,” added Faber, whose record stands at 27-6 overall following his win over Menjivar. “We’re not difficult guys to deal with when it comes to that. It’s the profession that we’re in. There are some guys on my team that I won’t fight, but I can’t actually say that for Scotty because we’re not actually on the same team.”
While the ever-positive Faber would be able to find the silver lining in the darkest cloud, the reality of the situation is that he’s in a precarious position career-wise.
As has been often discussed, he’s unbeaten in non-title fights over the last four years, but without a victory during that same stretch when gold is on the line. Still hovering around the top of the division and within reach of another title shot, the potential individual gains aren’t nearly as great for Faber as they are for Jorgensen.
It’s an all-too-familiar situation for “The California Kid,” but one he’s accepted, in part because he loves what he’s doing, but also for the greater good of the division, the lighter weight classes, and the UFC as a whole.
“I feel like every fight in this division is high risk, low reward for me because I’ve got one of the bigger names in the lighter weight divisions. Whatever that’s a testament to – whether it’s my fighting over the years, being a world champion before, or people liking my personality – whatever the case, I have one of the more notable names in the sport, for the lighter weights especially, so at this point, every fight is riskier for me on that front.
“I don’t have a lot of noteworthy, big name opponents,” continued Faber. “In the 205-pound division, there’s Machida and Shogun and Wanderlei, Dan Henderson, and on and on and on; all these guys that have been around and in the limelight for a long time. You have names that draw like Rashad Evans and all this history to the weight class. (Taking this fight) is doing what I think is important in building the weight class, and bringing a light to other fighters in the division.”
Faber has been an eager and willing ambassador for both the sport and the lighter weight classes dating back to his days atop the featherweight division in the WEC, and it’s a role he will likely maintain long after he walks away from the cage. While some fighters opt to focus on what is best for their personal brand and their path to the top, the 33-year-old leader of Team Alpha Male has never been a “me first” kind of guy.
He’s more than willing to help wherever he’s needed, even if that means taking a fight against a good friend on short notice or always being the man in the cage with plenty to lose, and little to gain.
“For me, I have to go back to the reason why I started this sport, be thankful for everything that I have, and make sure that I’m doing it because I want to go out there, perform, and have fun. That’s what I have to go back to.
“I’ve never been a guy that’s worried about money. It’s come to me, and I’m very fortunate, and very thankful, but as soon as I start dwelling on that type of thing is when I have my mind in the wrong place.
“There will be a time when I have think, `All right – is this a fight that makes sense for me?’ and I think this one does, especially because Scotty’s my friend. This is a big fight for us. We’re the main event on a live card that is going to go out to millions of people, and we’re stepping up for our promotion. We’re putting our friendship aside, our management aside, and everything else, and just going out there to have fun.”
Faber is the type of guy that would stick around until the job was done without asking about overtime pay – or any pay at all, for that matter.
Honestly, he’d probably be the guy who sprung for late night coffee and dinner too, telling you to “put your money away” as you reached for your wallet. None of it is done for show either. He’s not looking for a pat on the back or any form of recognition; he’s doing it because he believes it’s the right thing to do for the company that allows him to make a career out of doing what he loves to do.
Besides, it’s not like he doesn’t punch people he likes a great deal in the face on a regular basis anyway.
“I beat some of my best friends on Team Alpha Male up every day and vice versa, so we’ve just got to go out there, embrace the moment, and have fun with it.”
Pull a coin out of your pocket, flip it in the air, and call it. Sometimes you’re right, sometimes you’re wrong. Even when you’re riding a hot streak – two, three in a row – the next one could be the one that goes against you.
Fighting can be like that sometimes, especially when two evenly matched competitors are sharing the cage – neither giving an inch, but neither pressing too hard to claim any extra space either. One jabs, and the other counters. Attack and defend, now switch. For 15 minutes, the pattern repeats itself without anyone gaining a clear, distinct advantage.
There are plenty of fights we call “coin flips” on paper, and many that land in the judges’ lap feeling like that might be a reasonable way to render a verdict, the action in the case so close that scoring each round comes down to splitting hairs.
After earning a stoppage over Byron Bloodworth in his UFC debut, Mike Easton’s next two fights went down to the wire – close, hard fought battles where the outcome was left up to the judges; the difference between victory and defeat a handful of punches thrown and landed in each round.
Against Jared Papazian and Ivan Menjivar, the 29-year-old bantamweight came away on the right side of the results, sending him into his fourth appearance on a three-fight winning streak. Originally scheduled to meet fellow up-and-comer TJ Dillashaw on FOX in Seattle, an injury forced the Team Alpha Male member out of the pairing, with Brazilian Raphael Assuncao stepping up to replace him.
Another fight. Another coin flip.
“The first round was pretty close, and he switched it all up on me in the second round,” said Easton, recalling the December bout that didn’t go his way. “(He) got me in a situation where I had to chase him down, and you don’t want to have to be in that situation. It makes for a boring fight. He played his game plan, and I learned a lot from it. It was a good experience for me.
“He caught me with a nice right hand right in the eye; it was an awesome shot that he caught me with. That messed my vision up, and that changes the fight. It wasn’t like it was a bad loss; he didn’t get no takedowns, I had some good strikes, but he out-countered me.”
The loss hit the brakes on Easton’s climb up the rankings in the 135-pound division, and sent the diminutive bundle of kinetic energy known as “The Hulk” back to the gym to figure out what went wrong, and make the necessary changes to prevent this stumble from being a prolonged fall.
For the most part, fighters are their own harshest critics, just like the rest of us, and Easton is no different. He’s gone over the fight with Assuncao in his head and on film, solo and with his coaches, looking to isolate the mistakes and missteps that turned his eight-fight winning streak into a thing of the past.
“Sometimes I need to calm down a little bit,” suggested Easton. “I felt I was a little too amped or too hyped; I could have slowed the pace down a little bit. I feel like if I didn’t chase him, and he had to keep coming to me, it would have been a totally different fight.
“We didn’t expect him to fight that way (either). In all his earlier fights, he came to bang, he came to rumble, and I guess he just changed up his style, which, you know, I guess was a smart game plan.”
In early April, Easton, his Alliance MMA teammates Ross Pearson and Phil De Fries, and their coaching staff will travel to Sweden to connect with another member of the squad, light heavyweight contender Alexander Gustafsson. On Saturday, April 6, the quartet will make up one half of the final four bouts on the main card of this year’s UFC event at the Ericsson Globe Arena.
Though he usually prepares at home in “The DMV,” the tri-state area made up of the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia, this camp has been spent in San Diego with the team at Alliance, where Easton has been picking up pointers from another accomplished teammate.
“Being around Dominick Cruz – having him coaching me in sparring practice – it felt great because now I understand how he does what he does, and how he mixes it up, and that grows me up,” Easton explained about working with the currently sidelined UFC bantamweight champion.
“I have to use more of my skills, and not just being one-dimensional. I’m so good on the ground; a lot of people don’t know how good my jiu-jitsu is. They’ve seen how good my takedown defense is, but they haven’t seen me on the ground, and that’s one thing I definitely have to show the world. If I get it to the ground, and I can get a submission, I’m going to take that submission.
“It’s not always about the knockout, and that’s what I’ve learned from the last fight. I can’t be one-dimensional; I have to be a little more open to everything.
“We really worked on that – mixing my kicks with my boxing and my takedowns; mixing it up so that we can get the points that we need to keep the fight as close as possible so that opponents have to come in and fight me. When those opportunities come, the opportunity to get the knockout is definitely going to show itself because it puts them into a desperate situation, and that’s what we’re working on. It’s about being smarter.”
Like Easton, his opponent in Sweden, Brad Pickett, is coming off a frustrating loss that halted a winning streak. Three weeks after Easton lost to Assuncao in Seattle, Pickett stood toe-to-toe with Eddie Wineland, and came away on the wrong side of the results. While Wineland is now lined up to face Renan Barao for the interim bantamweight title, Pickett is astride Easton, looking to regroup and get back in the championship chase.
“This is our opportunity to show what the ‘35ers are about, especially the guys that like to fight,” Easton said of the pairing, which pits the fifth- and ninth-ranked fighters in the division against one another. “He’s a bigger name than Rafael Assuncao, and it’s just one of those matchups where (the UFC) knew it was going to be a good fight for the fans to see. It makes much more of an interesting fight.”
If things go the way Easton envisions, fight fans in Sweden will be treated to one of the year’s best battles on the first Saturday in April.
“I expect it to be an action-packed fight, and he expects it to be an action-packed fight. I’m a pocket fighter just like he’s a pocket fighter; we both like to fight on the inside, and truth be told, I feel like I’m faster. We both have power, but I feel I have a few more weapons in this fight.
“I’m predicting a victory, and I want the finish. I know he wants the finish too, and that’s what’s going to make this fight so exciting. He’s a tough warrior, and I’m a tough warrior, and we’re going to go in there, bang, and steal the show. I know we’re going to steal the show. UFC fans are going to be proud of this fight.
“I want this to be the fight that goes down as Fight of the Year.”
Pull a coin out of your pocket, flip it in the air, and call it. Sometimes you’re right, sometimes you’re wrong. Even when you’re riding a hot streak – two, three in a row – the next one could be the one that goes against you.
Fighting can be like that sometimes, especially when two evenly matched competitors are sharing the cage – neither giving an inch, but neither pressing too hard to claim any extra space either. One jabs, and the other counters. Attack and defend, now switch. For 15 minutes, the pattern repeats itself without anyone gaining a clear, distinct advantage.
There are plenty of fights we call “coin flips” on paper, and many that land in the judges’ lap feeling like that might be a reasonable way to render a verdict, the action in the case so close that scoring each round comes down to splitting hairs.
After earning a stoppage over Byron Bloodworth in his UFC debut, Mike Easton’s next two fights went down to the wire – close, hard fought battles where the outcome was left up to the judges; the difference between victory and defeat a handful of punches thrown and landed in each round.
Against Jared Papazian and Ivan Menjivar, the 29-year-old bantamweight came away on the right side of the results, sending him into his fourth appearance on a three-fight winning streak. Originally scheduled to meet fellow up-and-comer TJ Dillashaw on FOX in Seattle, an injury forced the Team Alpha Male member out of the pairing, with Brazilian Raphael Assuncao stepping up to replace him.
Another fight. Another coin flip.
“The first round was pretty close, and he switched it all up on me in the second round,” said Easton, recalling the December bout that didn’t go his way. “(He) got me in a situation where I had to chase him down, and you don’t want to have to be in that situation. It makes for a boring fight. He played his game plan, and I learned a lot from it. It was a good experience for me.
“He caught me with a nice right hand right in the eye; it was an awesome shot that he caught me with. That messed my vision up, and that changes the fight. It wasn’t like it was a bad loss; he didn’t get no takedowns, I had some good strikes, but he out-countered me.”
The loss hit the brakes on Easton’s climb up the rankings in the 135-pound division, and sent the diminutive bundle of kinetic energy known as “The Hulk” back to the gym to figure out what went wrong, and make the necessary changes to prevent this stumble from being a prolonged fall.
For the most part, fighters are their own harshest critics, just like the rest of us, and Easton is no different. He’s gone over the fight with Assuncao in his head and on film, solo and with his coaches, looking to isolate the mistakes and missteps that turned his eight-fight winning streak into a thing of the past.
“Sometimes I need to calm down a little bit,” suggested Easton. “I felt I was a little too amped or too hyped; I could have slowed the pace down a little bit. I feel like if I didn’t chase him, and he had to keep coming to me, it would have been a totally different fight.
“We didn’t expect him to fight that way (either). In all his earlier fights, he came to bang, he came to rumble, and I guess he just changed up his style, which, you know, I guess was a smart game plan.”
In early April, Easton, his Alliance MMA teammates Ross Pearson and Phil De Fries, and their coaching staff will travel to Sweden to connect with another member of the squad, light heavyweight contender Alexander Gustafsson. On Saturday, April 6, the quartet will make up one half of the final four bouts on the main card of this year’s UFC event at the Ericsson Globe Arena.
Though he usually prepares at home in “The DMV,” the tri-state area made up of the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia, this camp has been spent in San Diego with the team at Alliance, where Easton has been picking up pointers from another accomplished teammate.
“Being around Dominick Cruz – having him coaching me in sparring practice – it felt great because now I understand how he does what he does, and how he mixes it up, and that grows me up,” Easton explained about working with the currently sidelined UFC bantamweight champion.
“I have to use more of my skills, and not just being one-dimensional. I’m so good on the ground; a lot of people don’t know how good my jiu-jitsu is. They’ve seen how good my takedown defense is, but they haven’t seen me on the ground, and that’s one thing I definitely have to show the world. If I get it to the ground, and I can get a submission, I’m going to take that submission.
“It’s not always about the knockout, and that’s what I’ve learned from the last fight. I can’t be one-dimensional; I have to be a little more open to everything.
“We really worked on that – mixing my kicks with my boxing and my takedowns; mixing it up so that we can get the points that we need to keep the fight as close as possible so that opponents have to come in and fight me. When those opportunities come, the opportunity to get the knockout is definitely going to show itself because it puts them into a desperate situation, and that’s what we’re working on. It’s about being smarter.”
Like Easton, his opponent in Sweden, Brad Pickett, is coming off a frustrating loss that halted a winning streak. Three weeks after Easton lost to Assuncao in Seattle, Pickett stood toe-to-toe with Eddie Wineland, and came away on the wrong side of the results. While Wineland is now lined up to face Renan Barao for the interim bantamweight title, Pickett is astride Easton, looking to regroup and get back in the championship chase.
“This is our opportunity to show what the ‘35ers are about, especially the guys that like to fight,” Easton said of the pairing, which pits the fifth- and ninth-ranked fighters in the division against one another. “He’s a bigger name than Rafael Assuncao, and it’s just one of those matchups where (the UFC) knew it was going to be a good fight for the fans to see. It makes much more of an interesting fight.”
If things go the way Easton envisions, fight fans in Sweden will be treated to one of the year’s best battles on the first Saturday in April.
“I expect it to be an action-packed fight, and he expects it to be an action-packed fight. I’m a pocket fighter just like he’s a pocket fighter; we both like to fight on the inside, and truth be told, I feel like I’m faster. We both have power, but I feel I have a few more weapons in this fight.
“I’m predicting a victory, and I want the finish. I know he wants the finish too, and that’s what’s going to make this fight so exciting. He’s a tough warrior, and I’m a tough warrior, and we’re going to go in there, bang, and steal the show. I know we’re going to steal the show. UFC fans are going to be proud of this fight.
“I want this to be the fight that goes down as Fight of the Year.”
Trash talk and boisterous predictions are standard fare in sports.
Urijah Faber