Author: By E. Spencer Kyte

Mike Pierce doesn’t have a nickname.

He doesn’t have any tattoos, dyed hair, a chiseled physique or a walkout song that makes you think, “Here comes Mike Pierce” when it kicks in over the sound system. He’s never been featured in ESPN’s Top 10 Plays of the Day. There are no clips of him in the UFC’s pre-main card introduction video set to The Who’s “Baba O’Riley” that gives everyone in the arena chills as they watch it.

He doesn’t cut scathing promos on other welterweights when his fights are over or lobby for title shots on Twitter. He doesn’t complain when he’s slotted on the preliminary portion of the card either.

When his name is on the fight card, he shows up on weight, ready to fight, and when it’s his turn to step in the cage, Pierce punches his timecard, and then proceeds to wear out the unfortunate soul who signed up to spend 15 minutes locked in the Octagon with him.

There is only one way to describe the Mike Pierce and his fighting style – he’s a grinder.

“I’m obviously a fan (of the grind),” laughed Pierce, who is making a quick return to the cage after stepping in for the injured Kyle Noke against Seth Baczynski just two months after defeating Aaron Simpson on the October FX card in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Through his first 10 UFC appearances, Pierce remains equal parts unknown and under-appreciated. He’s earned seven wins in his three-plus years on the roster, starting with an upset win over veteran Brock Larson in his debut, yet he remains unidentifiable to some.

“It’s simply exposure; I haven’t has as much face time in front of the cameras as some guys,” Pierce suggested of his current placement outside of the spotlight and on the fringes of contention. “I think once I start getting a little more consistent with putting guys to sleep, submitting them, getting TKOs, and just having more exciting fights that aren’t 15-minute grinds, that’s what is going to transpire. That’s what I’m really working on, and that’s what I’m looking forward to doing here from now on.”

Last time out, Pierce took a positive step towards more recognition with a knockout win over Simpson, connecting with a short left hook early in the second round to earn the finish. Collecting the stoppage was satisfying, but don’t expect it to change Pierce’s style when he steps in against Baczynski in Australia. Instead, he’ll stick to what has worked thus far, and see where the fight takes him.

“It was huge for me; I’ve only had a few knockouts in my career, and Aaron Simpson is no slouch. He’s a two-time All-American from Arizona State, fought at 185 beforehand and did very well there. He’s a really athletic, strong guy who is a veteran of the sport and knows what he’s doing, and to come back from kind of getting wobbled in the first and surviving that, readjusting, and getting the KO was huge. I was thrilled to get that, and I’m just looking forward to continue doing that.

“At the end of the day, you want to win; that’s how you get paid, and that’s how you stay in the UFC, and how you keep working towards the top,” Pierce continued. “But at the same time, you also want to make it exciting, to get finishes, to get on the main card, and win those bonuses.

“Sometimes you get in there and it turns into a grind, and that’s not how you planned it, but it turns into that, and then there are other times where maybe you were preparing for a grind (and it doesn’t turn out that way). I was preparing for a 15-minute battle of a wrestling match with Aaron Simpson, but we both like to throw hard too, and it just happened that I got the connecting punch there in the second round.”

Pierce will aim to continue delivering exciting performances when he steps in opposite Baczynski as the UFC makes their maiden voyage to Gold Coast, Australia.

After dropping a unanimous decision to Brad Tavares on the Ultimate Fighter 11 Finale, Baczynski was dropped from the UFC roster, and so far, it appears to have been a blessing. He dropped to welterweight and scored consecutive victories over veteran Tim McKenzie and promising prospect Alex Garcia before getting the call to fill-in opposite Clay Harvison last September in New Orleans.

The 30-year-old Baczysnki stopped “Heavy Metal” in the second round, and hasn’t slowed down since. Three more wins – including two stoppages – have the “Polish Pistola” riding a six-fight winning streak into this meeting with Pierce, but the blue-collared former wrestler from Portland State University fully intends to end his run when the two square off.

“He’s had some good wins here recently, and a good run,” said Pierce of his opponent, “but I think I’m going to put a stop to that real quick on the 15th in Australia. I think it’s safe to say that I’ve fought the tougher competition so far in the UFC. The only guys that I’ve lost to in the UFC have all had title shots, with the exception of one, and that’s Johny Hendricks, and he’s certainly in the mix of getting a shot here soon too.”

For Pierce, the opportunity to return the cage quickly is a welcome departure from the lengthy layoffs he’s endured since joining the UFC roster. After needing just 22 months to post an 8-2 record in his opening 10 fights, it’s taken another three years and change for Pierce to put together a 7-3 mark in his 10 fights under the UFC banner. So when the call came to replace Noke, Pierce jumped at the opportunity.

“Fighting more frequently would definitely be fun, and it gives you something to train for,” admitted Pierce. “When you have long layoffs, you’re training, and you’re working on things that you need to work on, but it’s always nice to have a goal and an end date; something that you’re preparing for.

“Usually my layoff between fights is a little bit longer – or it has been in the past – so to get the call back so quickly kind of gave me a big smile. I was eager to get back to the training room and get back to work. A lot of times I’ll take that longer layoff between fights, and it’s kind of a process getting back into the rhythm and routine, but this time it wasn’t so bad.”

In addition to being able to get back into the cage quickly, Pierce sees his bout with Baczynski as an opportunity to close out the year with a third consecutive victory and position himself to make some headway in the welterweight division in 2013.

While the two represent the tallest and shortest fighters competing in the 170-pound weight class, Pierce doesn’t see the size difference being a factor.

“He’s a tall guy but, I’ve dealt with things like that before, and I’m not really too concerned with it. I’m going to get in close. He’s going to be too close to me to throw his power if I’m inside, so I’m all right with it.”

He doesn’t plan on this fight being a grind either.

“I’m definitely going in there to prove a point. I’m going in there to lay the hammer down and just end this fight as quickly and as viciously as possible. I want to leave with a KO or a TKO, period.”

Outside of the spotlight and without much fanfare, Costa Philippou is quietly writing one of the best stories in all of mixed martial arts.

Tucked away in the middle of the UFC middleweight division, the 32-year-old former professional boxer has spent the last 20 months quietly going about his business inside the Octagon. A look at his resume reveals a slow and steady progression to the point of getting the call to join the UFC ranks not unlike those of countless other regional fighters with some talent and a dream.

It shows a four-fight winning streak, started at UFC 133 against Jorge Rivera, and built up with wins over Jared Hamman, Court McGee, and Riki Fukuda. It shows an impending matchup with Canadian Nick Ring at UFC 154 in Montreal later in the month.

Philippou’s climb to the biggest stage in the sport and his subsequent success in the UFC is impressive, and contains all the elements necessary to craft a compelling narrative. It’s the pieces of the story that aren’t reflected in his resume – the bits that can only be discovered, understood, and appreciated by talking to the man former UFC welterweight champion Matt Serra calls “Gus” – that give depth and dimension to what is a Hollywood movie playing out at the highest level of MMA.

“I moved here July 25, 2005 – a little bit over seven years (ago),” explains Philippou, who was born on the island of Cyprus. “Me and my best friend; he was my boxing coach at the time. He died a couple of months later, and I decided that I didn’t want to go back. I wanted to stay. I was a boxer back then – that was the reason I came to New York.

“I got into a few arguments with my coach – the guy I met over here who was my coach and my manager – so I decided to try MMA for a while, and eventually go back to boxing. Five months into the MMA training, I started fighting, fell in love with the sport, and that was it. I never want to leave.”

After dropping his professional debut to another East Coast prospect who would eventually find his way to the UFC, Ricardo Romero, Philippou started putting together wins. His success in the Ring of Combat cage and membership on the Serra-Longo Fight Team earned him the chance to try and win his way into the Ultimate Fighter house on Season 11 of the long-running reality TV competition, but instead of being a launch pad to a lengthy UFC career, it turned into a learning experience instead.

“The thing I learned from Season 11 is never go into a fight unprepared,” Philippou laughs. “At that time, I was expecting a phone call from (the UFC) to get me to Vegas to do the show. They didn’t call me. Thinking I didn’t make it, I took a couple weeks off, and a couple of weeks before they flew me out, they called me out of the blue and said, `You made it, and in 14 days, you’ve got to be in Vegas, so make sure you make weight.’ I showed up over there unprepared, followed the wrong game plan, and I lost.

“I came back, I thought I would never get a chance in the UFC again, had a couple more fights, and one day again, they call me on five days notice,” recalls Philippou, who was tabbed to replace Dan Miller opposite Nick Catone at UFC 128. “They offered me a contract, and I had to take the fight – another time that I wasn’t prepared. Sometimes, you’ve got to prove yourself and show that you’re willing to fight, even though I knew that I would probably lose the fight.

“They promised another chance after that fight, so I walked in with a goal not to get finished. Losing a decision is not anything to be ashamed of. I took my beating like a man, I got out, said `thank you,’ and came back to the gym two days later, and started working out for the next fight.”

Philippou hasn’t looked back since.

He rebounded from his debut loss with a split decision win over veteran Jorge Rivera five months later at UFC 133. Four months later, he earned a first-round knockout win over Jared Hamman, and has since added decision wins over TUF 11 winner Court McGee and Riki Fukuda to push his winning streak to four.

“Professionally, it couldn’t go any better,” he says of the last two years of his career. “Obviously, I keep winning; I’ve got four wins in a row. I never thought I would get four wins in a row.

“Personally, this past year, if not the best year of my life, it was one of the best years of my life because a couple years ago – up to last year – I was going through a divorce and some personal issues, and couldn’t concentrate on my training. I was fortunate enough to meet a great woman, buy my own place, and clear everything up with my ex, and I’m living the dream. I’m very happy with my life. This past year was the best year of my life. If I win this fight now, it will be a perfect ending to the year. I’ll have the best Christmas and New Year out of everybody.”

Standing between Philippou and the best holiday season ever is another TUF 11 alum, Nick Ring. The Calgary native, who got back into the win column at home this summer, boasts an impressive 13-1 record overall, and a 3-1 mark in the UFC, including a pair of somewhat controversial wins over Philippou’s two most recent opponents, Court McGee and Riki Fukuda.

With their common opponents and combined 7-1 records inside the Octagon, this bout is clearly one that will propel the winner into the next level of competition in the 185-pound ranks.

 “I didn’t honestly know what was going to happen because everyone was throwing names around,” responds the engaging 11-2, 1 NC middleweight. “Everybody was saying, `You should fight top 10 now. You should fight higher competition. You’ve won four in a row.’ I don’t know. I never called out anybody, and to be honest, I don’t care.

“To be in the UFC, you’ve got to be a great fighter. Whether you’re #2 or #22, being in the UFC, that means you know what you’re doing, and my job is to keep fighting and winning, and if it’s meant to be, I’m going to be top two or three in the world; maybe #1 in the world. If not, I’m going to keep winning and eventually I’m going to end up facing the top competition.

“Listen – to me, whether it’s Nick Ring or Anderson Silva, a fight is a fight,” Philippou continues. “I’m going in trying to win. Right now it’s Nick Ring. After, if I win, they’ll give me a higher (ranked) opponent, but that’s up to Joe Silva, Dana White, and everybody. Right now they’re doing a great job – I have to thank everybody – and so I’m not thinking about anything past Nick Ring right now.

“I feel very confident that I can beat Nick Ring,” he adds of his impending bout at UFC 154. “Not taking anything away from the guy – he’s a great fighter, and it’s not a coincidence he has only one loss. Although he is a great fighter, I think I am up to the challenge, and I am going to end up being the winner.”

Philippou admits he has been cautious at times during his run of success, and says fans can expect to see him push the pace more against Ring in Montreal to show both the crowd and the UFC brass that he’s not afraid to take chances inside the cage.

Outside of the cage, the 32-year-old proved he’s willing to take chances when he set out for New York in order to chase his dreams. Over the last six years and change, Philippou’s mindset has never wavered.

He journeyed across the Atlantic Ocean in search of a successful career in combat sports, and though things didn’t quite work out as planned with his first love, he endured, and found MMA. Now he’s competing for the premier organization in the sport, and riding a four-fight winning streak into a main card placement at UFC 154, a show that should register as one of the biggest pay-per-view events of the year.

While Philippou could easily get caught up in his success, he remains levelheaded, grateful for the opportunities he’s been given, and thankful for the chance to make his dreams come true inside the cage.

“With anything you do in your life, there are highs and lows, like anything else. Same thing with fighting – you win some, you lose some. Now that I’m on the winning part, I feel like I’m on top of the world. If you’re smart enough, you can make a life out of fighting. Not necessarily fight the rest of your life, but use fighting to jump-start a life for yourself.

“I cannot believe that I am where I am right now. Not in a million years if anybody would have asked me ten years ago, I wouldn’t think of leaving my country and coming over here, but I’m having a great life. I am living the ‘American Dream.’ I do believe that.”

There aren’t words that can adequately explain how difficult the last year has undoubtedly been for Sam Stout.

Coming off an electric victory over Yves Edwards at UFC 131 that sent the crowd at Rogers Arena in Vancouver into a frenzy, the lightweight veteran who has never been knocked out inside the cage was put down for the count outside of the Octagon when his coach, mentor, and brother-in-law Shawn Tompkins died unexpectedly on August 14, 2011. The two had been working together since Stout was 16 years old, and throughout his career, the one constant in Stout’s corner was “The Coach.”

No matter where their careers take them, the trio of Stout, Mark Hominick, and Chris Horodecki will be forever linked to their coach, and will forever represent the Team Tompkins name with great pride, just as they did with Shawn by their side.

One of the greatest challenges when you lose someone you care about is figuring out how to move on. For the last 12 months, that’s exactly what Stout has been trying to do, and after a struggle that he understatedly describes as difficult, the 28-year-old UFC veteran is finally feeling comfortable in what is now the second chapter of his career.

“It’s been tough, but it’s been a learning experience, and a lot different,” explains Stout, who returns to the cage Saturday night to take on fellow Canadian John Makdessi at UFC 154. “When Shawn was around – I started training with him when I was 16 years old, so he would kind of do everything. He would tell me when to get up. He would tell me when to train. He would tell me what to do, what I needed to do, what my game plan was, and I would just go and do what he said. Now I’ve had to be a lot more self-sufficient. I’ve had to figure out my own training schedule, and come up with more answers on my own.

“It’s been very different. Myself, Mark, and Chris Horodecki – all the guys – have come to a point where we’re all still training together and working together, but in terms of coaching, we’ve all kind of gone our separate ways and found what works for us. At first we all tried to work with the same people, but we couldn’t find anybody that could train us all or that worked for us all the way Shawn did. So everyone is kind of just doing what works for them. It’s been really good. Everyone is starting to feel more comfortable I think.”

Getting to this point has been a long journey for Stout.

Scheduled to face Dennis Siver at UFC 137, the veteran of more than 25 fights understandably withdrew from the bout at the end of August. The momentum that came with consecutive victories and his blistering stoppage win over Edwards was gone. When he returned to the cage against Thiago Tavares at UFC 142 in January, Stout still wasn’t completely ready, but he knew it was something he needed to do.

“I was kind of in limbo for a bit after Shawn passed away. I had to pull out of the fight (with Dennis Siver) because I didn’t feel like I was emotionally ready to do it. The fight in Brazil, physically I felt there, but I still don’t think I was mentally ready; there was a lot running through my head still going into that cage for the first time without Shawn.

“That being said, I didn’t suck. I didn’t get smoked or anything,” Stout adds with a laugh. “It was good to get in there and see that I can still hang. I just feel like I could have performed better on that day.”

Six months later, Stout returned to the cage to battle Spencer Fisher in the rubber match of one of the UFC’s most entertaining rivalries. Before he hit the cage with “The King,” the London, Ontario native started working with Mark DellaGrotte and the team at Sityodtong in Boston.

“Having Mark in my corner for the Spencer fight was what I think I needed,” admits Stout. “It was somebody that was that voice in the corner telling me what to do that I had complete faith and confidence in, and I think that was what I was missing.”

In addition to feeling comfortable with who was in his corner, Stout was much more prepared to be back in the cage in June.

He and Fisher started their seventh round together the same way their previous six had played out – with the two circling each other in the center of the cage, trading leather, looking to land the better blows.

When Stout started come out on the wrong end of the exchanges, the 28-year-old kickboxer broke out a new weapon from his arsenal to change the pace of the fight and swing the round in his favor, shooting in on Fisher and dragging him to the canvas. It was a tactic Stout returned to throughout the final two rounds en route to earning a unanimous decision.

“It just was something that I needed to go out and do, and prove to myself,” said Stout of his wrestling. “It’s part of my arsenal; I just had to have some faith in it. Now, after that fight with Spencer and making those takedowns work for me, I have faith in those takedowns, and it gives me more options.

“I’m always going to be primarily a striker – I’m not trying to claim to be a wrestler now – but it’s something that I have shown that I have good takedowns, and I can make them work for me.”

This weekend, Stout will look to make both his old and new weapons work for him in the cage against Makdessi when the two square off at the Bell Centre in Montreal. It’s a city Stout is exceptionally familiar with, as 10 of his 27 professional bouts have taken place in Canada’s second largest metropolitan area.

After a tumultuous year, things are finally starting to feel normal and natural to Stout again, and returning to compete before what is sure to be a raucous crowd in Montreal is something he’s definitely looking forward to, even if he doesn’t have the full support of the audience this time around.

“I went out (to Boston) to work at Sityodtong with Mark and his guys. It was a great two weeks. We kind of had to cram a little bit into two weeks, but Mark and I have worked together before, so we were able to get lots of work in – a good, hard push for two weeks with a lot of strategy and game planning. (He’s) somebody I feel really comfortable with. I feel like we clicked really quickly, and I feel really confident going into this fight. Having him in my corner going into the last fight with Spencer, and this time we’ve gotten more work in together, so I’m feeling even more confident.

“Montreal is always my favorite place to fight,” continues Stout, who has gone 1-2 in his previous three UFC appearances in the city. “The crowd in the Bell Centre is always unbelievable, especially on a night where GSP is coming out to fight, and they’ve always been really good to me in the past; I’ve always had a lot of fan support there. (This time) it might be a little bit of a split crowd since I’m fighting a guy who trains out of Montreal.”

This year has been about starting over for Stout.

If January was about just proving he could still do it, and June’s win over Fisher was him starting to get his legs back under him again, don’t be surprised if the man known as “Hands of Stone” is the best he’s ever been on Saturday night.

He’s finally feeling comfortable again.

When a fighter reaches a certain age, questions about the end of their career become commonplace. They increase in frequency when a trip into the cage results in a loss, and become even more prominent when the fighter on the receiving end of the inquisition has a burgeoning secondary career standing by.

Welcome to Cung Le’s life.

In May, six months after losing to Wanderlei Silva in his UFC debut, the life-long martial artist turned 40. It was his first fight in nearly 18 months, and just his third since defeating Frank Shamrock in March 2008 to push his record to a perfect 6-0 and claim the Strikeforce middleweight title.

Another muse had captured Le’s attention – acting. The Vietnamese-American hung up his four-ounce gloves and pursued his career as an actor, starring alongside Channing Tatum in Dito Montiel’s Fighting, and sharing the screen with Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster in Pandorum.

“I call it my one-two punch,” Le jokes of his joint pursuits in the cage and on the screen. “I always have passion to compete and train in the martial arts. Being part of the UFC has always been a dream of mine, but doing the movies, I also get to do what I love – the martial arts – and express myself through acting, through different characters, and to choreograph different fight scenes, and to work with different talented actors, directors, and producers. I can’t fight forever.”

This month, his one-two punch will put Le’s skills front and center in both arenas. On the screen, Le stars alongside Academy Award winner Russell Crowe and Lucy Liu as “Bronze Lion” in The Man with the Iron Fists, the highly anticipated directorial debut of Wu-Tang Clan frontman The RZA. Eight days after the film hit theaters, Le steps into the cage opposite former middleweight champion Rich Franklin as the headlining act for UFC: Macao, the organization’s debut event in China.

“I take it one fight at a time. A lot of people thought after the Wanderlei (fight) that they weren’t going to see me anymore; they thought I was going to retire because I had fought in the UFC,” suggests Le. “Then Rich Franklin came up for UFC 148, but the opponent was changed, and after I won that fight, everyone thought, `Oh, he’s going to retire.’ And I’m the main event now for the first UFC in China. It’s just one fight at a time, and I just enjoy every moment that I get to experience. Life is good.”

While a director can call “cut” to correct mistakes on the spot, mixed martial arts is much less forgiving. If a fighter is unprepared heading into the cage or unable to execute the way they should once the door is closed, they’re usually in for a long night.

Strategic adjustments do happen during the fight, but corrections and improvements more frequently come after the contest is over, as the fighter aims to build off the things they did right, and avoid repeating the things they did wrong. It a blueprint followed by every fighter, and the one Le adhered to between his first and second appearance in the Octagon.

“I was very excited to be part of the UFC, and then to fight someone like Wanderlei, who I had watched throughout the years in Pride. To see his career and now to get to face him,” Le begins, trailing off without finishing his sentence, his silence adequately conveying his reverence for his UFC 139 opponent. “I did all my training over at AKA, and it didn’t go as planned. I learned the hard way, and I didn’t make the same mistakes.

“The second time around, I brought in my buddy Scott Sheeley. I had him manage my camp. He actually lived at my house, so I had a trainer there 24/7, and it’s like a one-stop shop. He would make sure I get my wrestling in, my strength and conditioning, and my pad work. It was – everything was set and done for me. It wasn’t like, `Hey, do you have time to hold pads for me today?’ Because Javier Mendez is so busy, I didn’t get the work that I needed (heading into my first fight), and I didn’t get the guidance that I needed because Cain (Velasquez) was fighting the week before.

“I didn’t prepare properly, and it showed,” admits Le, who ended up being stopped by Silva in the second round. “I didn’t do myself justice in that first fight. Even though a lot of people enjoyed that fight and we got Fight of the Night, I definitely wanted to make up for it with my second fight. Now I have an opportunity to fight as the main event, and to express myself through fighting again.”

Saturday, Le looks to make it two-in-a-row with a victory over Franklin, a fellow “elder statesman” of the middleweight division who is looking to make one final run at championship gold.

“Ace” returned from 16 months on the sidelines in June to earn his second career win over the aforementioned Silva at UFC 147. For Le, the dual opportunity to square off with a decorated veteran like Franklin and headline the first UFC event in China is an honor, and he plans on making it a memorable night for the fans in attendance and those watching at home.

“Rich is a legend – former UFC champion, has a lot of great wins, and has been in the cage with a lot of great, great fighters. He’s been in the cage twice with Anderson (Silva), who is pound-for-pound the best, so he’s the real deal, top-level opponent. I’m excited to compete against him. It’s all about competition, and I’m just going to do my best to get that big W.

“It being in Asia, in China, I feel like that’s where martial arts came from before it spread, and to fight there as the main event is amazing for me as an athlete, as a martial artist, and as a UFC fighter. I’m honored, I’m thrilled, and I’m going to be ready to go come November 10; ready to give it all I’ve got and fight my heart out.”

For Cung Le, actor, once production wraps the final result is out of his control; how the film is put together and plays out on the screen is out of his hands. But when he steps inside the cage, Cung Le, mixed martial arts fighter, has a major say in what transpires.

This weekend in China, the star of screen and cage steps into the second of those two arenas, and he plans on making the main event of UFC: Macao a must-see blockbuster.

“Fans can expect lightning followed by thunder. The storm is coming to China from Cung Le.”
 

 

After more than five years and 10 fights inside the Octagon, fans and fellow competitors alike probably feel they have a good idea of what Mac Danzig is going to bring to the table on November 10 when he steps into the cage to take on Takanori Gomi.

A fixture in the UFC lightweight division since winning the welterweight competition on Season six of The Ultimate Fighter, Danzig has been a fixture in the middle of the loaded lightweight division. He has competed against some of the best the division has to offer, including engaging in a memorable, bloody battle with Jim Miller at UFC 100, but at times, Danzig has struggled to find consistency and remain healthy, resulting in a 5-5 record in the UFC (22-9-1 overall) and a handful of missed opportunities.

While the lightweight division seems to add a new contender with each passing event, few would anticipate Danzig joining that list at this stage of his career. He profiles as a tough veteran out in the middle of the division, not a guy poised to make a run in 2013.

But against Gomi, Danzig is focused on proving that even at this stage of his career, he’s capable of becoming a title contender.

“I’m in a situation where I finally really believe in myself. That was the problem before; I really struggled with that,” admitted the former Ultimate Fighter winner. “I realized I was good to a certain extent, but I was happy with the level that I had achieved – being in a world-class organization, being a quote-unquote world-class fighter, but didn’t really think that I had what it takes to win a title. I was just telling myself that I wasn’t concerned with it, but now that I’ve had the chance to look at things from a different perspective, I really feel like accepting mediocrity is one of the worst things you can do.”

The Los Angeles, California resident gives a lot of credit for his shift in mindset to a renewed working relationship with Rico Chiapparelli. Danzig first connected with the former National champion wrestler-turned-pioneering MMA coach early in his professional career as Chiapparelli was starting to withdraw from the sport. The two reconnected in advance of Danzig’s bout against Efrain Escudero at UFC 145, and have been working together ever since.

“When I first started working with him again, he’s a little more communicative than he was in the past, and he told me that he wasn’t really interested in training someone that didn’t want to become great,” Danzig offered. “That made me stop and think. I thought about what he said, that he believes in me enough to think that I can do it, and I wasn’t sure that that was the mindset I had going into this anymore. I was like, `Maybe I need to change the way that I’m thinking about this.’

“Working with Rico and knowing his mindset – that you want to compete against the best and beat the best, otherwise there is no reason to be doing it – that’s the mentality I have now. I’m happy to be making a living in this sport, but I’m not looking for handouts or easy fights; this is about a lifelong journey of trying to be excellent.

“I think I’m in the best possible position that I could be in,” continued Danzig. “I’m an older fighter who spent many, many years just going through the motions, doing nothing but sparring really. Now I’ve got really specific strategies. I’m journaling practice; everything is getting written down, and everything is getting filmed. We’re talking about everything, and all my coaches are on the same page. We’re all working together as a team, and I couldn’t be in a better situation. This is the best situation I think a fighter could ask for.”

While the perennial middle-of-the-pack competitor Danzig is looking to begin a slow and steady climb up the rankings for the first time in his UFC career, his upcoming opponent has already experienced life at the top of the lightweight division, and now he’s just looking to prove he still has something left to offer on the biggest stage of the sport.

Now 34 years old, Gomi was once considered the best lightweight in the sport, amassing an impressive 13-1 record prior to his controversial “No Contest” result against Nick Diaz at Pride 33 in February 2007. During that time, “The Fireball Kid” earned stoppages over the likes of Charles Bennett, Jens Pulver, Tatsuya Kawajiri and Hayato “Mach” Sakurai.

It has been an up-and-down run for the Japanese standout over the last five years, as Gomi has gone just 6-5 in that time, including beginning his UFC career with a 2-3 record. Each of those losses came to top of the division competition – Kenny Florian, Clay Guida, and Nathan Diaz – and knockout wins over Tyson Griffin in August 2010, and most recently against Eiji Mitsuoka at UFC 144 in February showed that despite his struggles, Gomi still carries the lethal knockout power that made him one of the best lightweights in the world earlier in his career.

“This fight is a test,” explained the cerebral Danzig. “It’s not something that’s really going to give me a lot of credit with the fans or what the critics think because if you look at Gomi’s last year or two, it hasn’t been that great; a lot of people have written him off regardless of the fact that he was #1 in the world. The truth is that he hasn’t looked like the old Gomi, but you never know who is going to show up. We don’t know what’s going on in his head. He might feel the same way I do. This could be a situation where he feels like he doesn’t want to throw this away, and he could come out there better than he ever has (in the UFC). I have no idea.

“It’s an honor to fight him; I will tell you that much. (He) is always capable of (returning to) what he was in the past, and for all I know, he’s spent the last 12 weeks working on honing that again. If he doesn’t, he’s still got that shot, and that’s why he’s in the position that he’s in, and that’s why he’s still in it – he’s still got that shot and he still goes for it. (He’s) a guy who is dangerous all the time, and it’s a perfect fight for me to get through some anxieties – to pass the test of not letting a power-puncher land that one big shot on me like he wants to, and just completely outclass him.”

Danzig knows the things he’s expressed pre-fight are a refrain heard many times before in mixed martial arts, and that stringing together the requisite victories to make a run at the title is a difficult task, with the lightweight division standing as the most talented and most competitive division in the UFC.

The veteran competitor knows the 155-pound talent pool is a shark tank full of dangerous opponents, and one loss can set him back considerably. Though a run to the top of the weight class and winning a champion tops his list of “Things to Do” before his career comes to a close, Danzig is now in a place where win or lose, he can be confident that he’s given his all and made the most of his talents.

But after spending a number of years content with the view from three-quarters of the way up the mountain, the veteran lightweight has his sights set on reaching the summit, and plans on starting his journey towards the top with a win over Gomi.

“I plan on being the absolute best fighter I can be. If that means a run and a title shot, so be it; that’s what I’m here to do. I absolutely believe I can do it. If not – if it doesn’t work that way – at least I know I didn’t half-ass it; that’s the important part.

“I think that no matter what, at the end of the day, the way that I’m working now and the way that I’m doing things now, when my career is all said and done, regardless of if I win a title, knowing that I did it right and that I went at it with everything that I had, and did my best to be great would be almost just as satisfying.

“The point is to be a world champion, and I really don’t feel that old; my body doesn’t feel that old. I feel smarter than I ever have been in my career, and I’m not saying that for sure I’m going to destroy everybody that I fight from now on – it’s a crazy sport, it’s a hard sport to be involved in – but absolutely 100-percent I plan on competing for a number of years and doing whatever it takes to finally climb to the top of the mountain.”

Every sport has them – those athletes who catch you off guard. Their names are familiar to you, and you’ve seen them do their thing on their respective playing field, but for some reason, their talents and successes never jump out at you.

The unheralded third baseman that leads the league in RBIs. The running back that managed to pile up 1300 yards without anyone really taking notice.  The big man that quietly goes about his business in the paint, putting up 16 points and 10 boards a game while serious fans still don’t know his name.

In the UFC featherweight division, Steven Siler is that guy.

While the division has gained an increased share of the spotlight in recent years as established names migrate to the 145-pound ranks from the lightweight division, and contenders like Cub Swanson, Chan Sung Jung, and Chad Mendes earn recognition as they chase after champion Jose Aldo, Siler has been operating in the cut, quietly racking up wins, looking more impressive with each outing. It’s been that way for a while.

After starting his career 5-7, Siler has amassed an impressive 16-2 record over his next 18 professional bouts, the only losses coming to aforementioned former title challenger Chad Mendes, and former WEC champ Cole Escovedo.

During his stint on Season 14 of The Ultimate Fighter, Siler, who gained entry into the house by earning a third-round submission win over one of the early favorites, Micah Miller, was portrayed as a secondary character, edited into the background as a bundle of nerves and uncertainty. He lost to eventual featherweight winner Diego Brandao in the quarterfinals, but has continued to experience nothing but success when it counts.

“Even during the show, my confidence was sky high,” says Siler, who faces fellow surging featherweight Darren Elkins at UFC 154 in Montreal, Quebec on November 17. “I have no doubt about how good my skills are. I knew how good I was in the house. You know, everybody gets caught. Diego caught me with a good punch, I went out; that’s what happens. Nothing has ever changed my confidence; I’ve always been 100% confident in my skills.”

Beginning with his win over Josh Clopton on the show’s finale, Siler has earned a three-straight wins inside the Octagon, improving with each subsequent outing. He followed up his debut win with a dominant decision win over Cole Miller, giving him a 2-0 record against the Georgia-born, American Top Team-trained version of The Fighting Miller Family. Three months later, Siler made it three-for-three with an impressive first round win over UFC newcomer Joey Gambino.

Though he credits training alongside fellow Ultimate Fighter veterans Court McGee and Ramsey Nijem with helping him acclimate to the procedural flow and professional nature of fight week in the UFC, Siler admits that he was still experiencing “Octagon jitters” while standing in the cage with Miller back in March.

“I was around when Court made The Ultimate Fighter, and around for his finale fight, and then I was around when Ramsey made it to the finale before I made it to the house. I was around the environment quite a bit, so it was easy to get used to. It definitely helps out a lot. Being around the environment makes it easier to calm down the nerves a little bit; you don’t have the shell shock of being on the show. I saw how it all worked out before, so I knew what to expect, and it was easy to adjust to.

“Octagon jitters are there; they’re real,” Siler continues with a chuckle. “My very first fight in the UFC – and even the Cole Miller fight – I was thinking at one point, `Oh my God! I’m in the cage with Cole Miller.’ I was thinking that in the middle of that fight. Now I know I deserve to be there. The nerves are going away, I know I belong, and the sky’s the limit from here on out. I know I can compete with anybody.”

That increased sense of belonging could prove to be dangerous for the rest of the division, beginning with Elkins. Through his first three appearances in the Octagon, Siler has proven himself capable when standing and on the ground, and expects to see continued development in both areas under the watchful eyes of the coaching staff at The Pit Elevated.

“Since the show, that’s when we started lining up with Coach Hack and The Pit,” offers Siler. “Coach Hack” is John Hackleman, the highly respected head coach whose gym, The Pit, rose to prominence as its most famous student, Chuck Liddell, ascended into superstardom inside the Octagon. “Now we have Jason Mertlich and Coach Hack working together as a team, and using both coaches, my striking has gotten a lot better with Coach Hack, and my ground has gotten a lot better with Coach Mertlich. I feel a lot more like a complete fighter nowadays than I did then, that’s for sure.”

Siler and Elkins share a similar profile. Both enter the contest on three-fight winning streaks, but remain somewhat under the radar in the featherweight ranks. While nothing jumps off the page at you when scouring their resumes, the UFC 154 combatants are a combined 7-1 in the UFC.

Even though there are more prominent names in the division, Siler views Elkins as the perfect opponent at this stage of his development. While he wasn’t surprised with the matchup, he remains confused as to how the two featherweights who are a combined 6-0 in the division have been relegated to the Facebook portion of the UFC 154 fight card.

“I was hoping maybe they’d change up the card a little bit; maybe move me up to the FX portion,” admits Siler of being scheduled to open the November 17 show at Montreal’s Bell Centre. “I’m hoping things change. I think our fight is more significant that a lot of the bouts that are on the FX and even the pay-per-view portion, so hopefully the UFC moves it up to TV so that at least I get FX.

“Darren Elkins was actually the exact opponent I thought would be perfect for me because he’s coming off a big win over Diego (Brandao), who beat me inside the house. I wanted someone else who was on a win streak, and Darren made perfect sense. I can – in a way – redeem my loss against Diego by going through Darren Elkins.”

Rather than double-back and avenge his loss to Brandao, Siler is focused on earning his fourth straight win, and then moving on to bigger and better things in 2013.

“I’d rather just keep on moving up the ladder,” suggests Siler. “I think Diego has gone backwards since he had that loss to Elkins, so once I beat Elkins, I think it’d be nice to get a top 10 opponent, and then slowly make my way up to Jose Aldo or Frankie Edgar if he wins the title.”

First up, of course, is Elkins, and Siler knows he’s in for a tough fight when the two step into the cage in Montreal.

“He’s a very good wrestler, so I’m going to have to defend a lot of takedowns, (and) I definitely know the kid can take a beating,” offers Siler in assessment of Elkins. “I watched the Diego fight – I was there at UFC 146 – and saw what he went through with flying knees, overhands, and just taking some punishment, and he kept on coming back. Even in some of his other fights, he’d put himself in bad positions, but he seems to always be able to work his way out. He’s very gritty, and I’m looking forward to fighting someone that can push me to my limits.”

Three consecutive victories, 16-2 over his last 18 fights, and yet he’s still on Facebook and flying under the radar in the featherweight division. Plenty of fighters would be kicking up a fuss if they were in a similar position – demanding more respect while flaunting their resumes – but not Siler.

“All that matters is that my hand gets raised, and then I’ll move on to the next one.”

Quiet. Unassuming. Dangerous.