Author: By E. Spencer Kyte

Throughout all the ups and downs over the last years, there has been one constant in the Strikeforce welterweight division: Tyron Woodley.

While champions and challengers have come and gone, the 30-year-old University of Missouri product has remained, eager to complete the journey he started with a win over Sal Woods in the third fight of his professional career.

Woodley could be considered the first – and perhaps only – homegrown superstar on the Strikeforce roster; a fighter who has gone from being a raw prospect with a strong wrestling background to a championship contender, and potential top 10 welterweight almost entirely under the Strikeforce banner. He cut his teeth on the Strikeforce Challengers series, becoming the poster boy for what those shows were about by collecting wins over veterans Zach Light and Nathan Coy and fellow prospects Rudy Bears and Tarec Saffiedine to help him force his way into the title discussion.

He was still at the top of the division, waiting his turn when then-champion Nick Diaz departed for the UFC, and controlled former title challenger Paul Daley to earn his ninth straight win and maintain his position as the man to beat in the 170-pound ranks. Despite the welterweight title sitting vacant, Woodley’s January bout with prospect Jordan Mein remained a non-title affair. Though one judge saw the fight in favor of the promising Canadian, two awarded the decision to Woodley, the win moving his record to a perfect 10-0, but leaving him without a potential opponent or title shot on the horizon.

At times, it had to feel like Saturday’s bout for the Strikeforce welterweight title would never come.

“I’m a big believer in God being in control, and really feel that if it were my time to get a title shot at that time, I would have had it,” admits the unbeaten Woodley, who squares off with former UFC middleweight title challenger Nate Marquardt to fill the void atop the welterweight division on Saturday night at the Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon.

“Patience has definitely been produced during this walk of faith, and I also think I’m more mature, I’m more focused, and I’m more prepared for a world title bout than I was then. Back then, I was younger, I was funky, I was upset; I felt like I was getting overlooked. I felt like I wasn’t a good fight for anybody with a name; it would be too risky for them to fight against me, but now I think it’s time.”
 
While the quest to claim championship gold has been something that motivated the former Division I wrestler from Day One, the lengthy journey to this point has transformed Woodley’s view of what winning the title on Saturday night would mean for him.

As a member of American Top Team, Woodley has seen several of his teammates reach their championship dreams in different organizations, and attain stardom inside the cage. He wants to add his name to the roll call of champions produced by the renowned team based in Coconut Creek, Florida, and show the people in his gym that loyalty and hard work do pay off in the end.

“In reality, the belt used to mean being at the top of the weight division, but at this point, it’s more important because it’s for my family, it’s for my gym, it’s for American Top Team. I’ve walked these gym floors many, many times and seen guys like Denis Kang, Thiago Silva, Hector Lombard, Thiago Alves hanging from the pillars and these walls, and it’s always been my dream to see my picture hanging up there with a belt around my waist, and for me, that time is coming.

“It’s the right time. I feel good about it. I feel good about the training, and the guys that are in my circle who are all positive, and I just feel that it’s God’s will for me to go out here and win in devastating fashion, and get a message across.

“For me, it’s about having been able to stay focused on the blueprint, stay focused on the path,” continued Woodley. “When I get this belt, it’s going to mean more than just a championship. It’s going to give people hope and inspiration, and the things I say after I win, people are going to know I’m for real and that what I’m saying is for real.”

In spite of his unbeaten record and wins over the likes of Daley and Mein, Woodley is a target of more criticism than he is a recipient of praise. After beginning his 10-fight run of success with five consecutive finishes, the Brazilian jiu-jitsu purple belt has earned decision victories in four of his last five bouts, and been tagged with the derisive label that dogs many of the sport’s suffocating wrestling-based standouts: boring.

While fans and critics rarely seem to attack standup artists who can’t stop a takedown, the success of wrestlers who play to their strength are often disparaged for their lack of finishes, and tagged as “lay-and-pray artists” or “wet blankets” who are disinterested in really fighting.

It’s a label Marquardt has thrown out there about his upcoming opponent in the preamble to Saturday’s showdown in the Pacific Northwest. As far as Woodley is concerned, it’s the guys repeatedly getting put on their backs who should be coming under fire, and Marquardt’s out-of-character name-calling is his way of having excuses at the ready when he loses this weekend.

“I think wrestlers in general, we’ve shown that we’ve evolved,” offered Woodley, a hint of frustration detectable in his voice. “I’ve knocked guys out. I’ve submitted guys as well. Six of my ten fights have been finishes, so for me, I know where I’m at in my career, I know what I am as a fighter, and the only thing I have to prove is to myself and the people who believe in me and spend time away from their family to train me. Those are the people I’ve got to prove something to. They know what I’m capable of, and I haven’t given everything that I’m capable of in a fight. I’ve given a piece, a piece, a piece each fight, and now it’s time to put the pieces together.

“I believe that if I want to get up, I’m getting up. If somebody goes for a takedown, I’m stopping it. If they take me down, I’m getting up, and I just think that’s a mentality that wrestlers have, but (the critics and complainers) don’t share that mentality. They feel that they can join in with the fans: “Aw, he’s just lay-and-pray.” Well if I just lay-and-pray, why don’t you stand and strike? You’re a grown man. You’re just going to lay down there with another man on top of you? You’re defenseless and can’t get up? It’s MMA.

“Nate traditionally is not a big crap-talker,” continued the former Missouri Tigers teammate of Bellator welterweight champ Ben Askren. “So this shows me his anxiety about this fight. He’s trying to pre-frame some excuses already: “He’s lay-and-pray. He’s boring.” He’s trying to get the people on his side.”

To his credit, Woodley won’t return verbal jabs. Instead, he’s complimentary of the man he’ll soon face, ranking him as the top opponent he’s faced to date, and speaking highly of the well-rounded skill set the former UFC and Pancrase standout will take with him into the cage this weekend.

He also harbors no resentment in regards to Marquardt being able to walk into a title shot in his Strikeforce debut. All he’s focused on is reaching the goal he set out for himself when he first committed to the organization a little over three years ago, and eliminating every opponent Strikeforce puts in front of him until there is no way to deny him a place in the upper echelon of the welterweight division.

“It is what it is,” Woodley said of Marquardt’s immediate title shot. “If you commit to an organization — I committed to Strikeforce, and nobody can question it. I’ve been a guy that’s committed to the brand; I haven’t talked about crossing over, I haven’t even mentioned leaving or anything like that. I’m here to be champ, and while I’m here, I’m with these guys. If Nate’s the best guy they have for me now, that’s who I’m fighting. After that, whoever’s the best guy they have, that’s who I’m fighting.

“When Diaz left, he hadn’t fought me yet. When I leave, I’m going to have fought everyone that has been in the division. When I get done going through Nate Marquardt, I’m going to go and fight (Kazuo) Misaki, not because I think he’s an easy matchup — I think he’s as tough a match-up as Nate is — but because he’s at the top of the weight class. I think if I leave and I go to the UFC or whatever — whatever happens when I finish my fights with Strikeforce — nobody will have anything to say. No stone will be unturned in Strikeforce, and I’m going to make a point of that.

“Everything has to make sense; it has to push me closer and closer to cracking the top 5, top 3, and eventually getting a chance to fight the best in the world, and I think he’s a step closer for me.”

For Woodley, Saturday’s contest isn’t about finally getting his overdue opportunity to fight for the welterweight title – it’s the start of the next chapter of his career, one he’s eager to embark on once he gets through with Marquardt.

“For me, I’ve never thought of not being the champ, so this is a new beginning for me. This is going to start the road all over ago. Now I go to being the champ and respected as one of the top 10 welterweights in the world, and I just keep going until I get to number one.”

 

TJ Dillashaw has spent the last couple years discovering that being a part of the respected and talented Team Alpha Male camp comes with both benefits and challenges.

When he was just another 5-0 Ultimate Fighter hopeful a couple years ago, his affiliation with the camp that consistently produces the best lighter weight fighters in the UFC gave him instant cache. Earmarked as a favorite heading into the house, Dillashaw came up short, losing to John Dodson in the bantamweight finals, but in combination with his Alpha Male credentials, his time in the house helped him get a leg up on his fellow cast members as the cameras stopped rolling and their careers in the UFC began in earnest.

While others from Team Bisping and Team Mayhem were rounding out preliminary cards and fighting on Facebook, Dillashaw was making his post-TUF debut on FUEL TV, collecting a dominant unanimous decision win over Walel Watson.

The flipside of that, however, is that coming from the same team as Urijah Faber, Joseph Benavidez, Chad Mendes, and Danny Castillo puts a target on your back and lofty expectations on your shoulders. People expect more from the members of the Team Alpha Male camp, and that extends to Dillashaw. With a number of his teammates having taken up permanent residency at the top of their respective divisions after quickly climbing the rankings, the same is expected of the 26-year-old bantamweight.

Additionally, being the latest member of the highly competitive, highly successful outfit to enter the UFC, finding a way to carve out a path of his own will be a challenge for the former Cal State Fullerton wrestling standout, but it’s one Dillashaw is ready to endure.

“I think it’s real important to separate,” admits the hyper-confident Alpha Male. “Obviously I love to represent my team, and how we have a stacked team, but I need to make my own name. I need people to know me as more than TJ Dillashaw from Team Alpha Male. Like Urijah – everyone knows him just as himself, not as a member of his team.”

Like those that have come before him, Dillashaw too takes cues from Faber, the former WEC featherweight champion and head of the Alpha Male outfit, who is one of the biggest stars in the sport and someone people gravitate toward both when he’s inside and outside of the cage.

“You learn from experience of being around him. With fans, he makes time for everybody. He talks to them like he’s talking to me. He gives every person the same treatment. He’s nice to everybody, and that’s definitely a good way to build fans. But it’s also how much of an entertainer he is when he’s fighting – he’s putting on a show, he’s being very aggressive, always looking for a finish. That’s what people always want to see, and that’s why you get bonuses for finishing a fight.

“I want to be that person that’s not happy just to win. Obviously I’m happy to win, but I want to be the aggressor who is always going for that finish, being aggressive with my ground-and-pound, flashy with my standup. I need to build my name that way.”

Dillashaw showed flashes of his potential in his bout with Watson, controlling the contest from start to finish. He was able to get inside on his longer, rangier opponent, stinging him with his hands before taking him to the canvas with little resistance. On the ground, Dillashaw did damage and worked to dominant positions, forcing Watson to defend numerous submission attempts en route to a clean sweep of the scorecards, including earning a pair of 10-8 rounds from two judges. In spite of the one-sided victory, Dillashaw took a little heat for failing to secure the finish.

“Obviously I knew I won the fight, but you see all these bad decisions, so I don’t want to leave it in the hands of the judges, and just the fact that I want to be known as a fighter who is going to finish people. I got into a lot of good positions where I thought I was going to finish it, but he just had some good defense in those situations. He’s a durable guy. The only grief I got from not finishing was from myself. I’ve heard it from a couple people – “Oh, you should have finished the choke” – but I mainly just give myself the grief because I hold myself to a high standard.”

Next up for the former Ultimate Fighter finalist is a meeting with Vaughan Lee on the main card of Wednesday’s FUEL TV event headlined by middleweights Mark Munoz and Chris Weidman. Though he was complimentary about the compliment of skills Lee will carry with him into the cage at the HP Pavilion, Dillashaw sees this as another chance to establish himself as someone to keep an eye on in the bantamweight division.

“I think it’s a very good fight for me. He’s a good fighter; he’s pretty good in every situation – he’s got good, technical standup, and he’s a strong, powerful guy. I just feel like I’m a whole lot more athletic than he is, a whole lot faster on my standup, and that I can dominate there. He’s supposed to be a very good grappler – he just submitted Kid Yamamoto, and he’s known for his grappling – but I still think it’s a little overrated. I feel like my grappling is actually stronger than his.”

Some might bristle at Dillashaw’s assessment of his matchup with Lee, and say that his self-confidence crosses over into cockiness, but every fighter will tell you they have to believe they are the better man every time they step into the cage. While some choose to offer effusive praise of their upcoming opponent, Dillashaw is more direct and earnest in his breakdown of his impending meeting with the 12-7-1 Birmingham, England resident, though he’s quick to make it clear that though he expects to dominate, he’s not looking past Lee in any way.

“I don’t see him as one of the toughest guys in my weight class, and I think it’s a very good fight for me, but I’m not going to look past him,” he says. “I still respect everything he does as an MMA fighter; he’s powerful, he’s got standup – and anybody can get caught. His jiu-jitsu is real good, and anybody can get caught there, so I just have to make sure that I’m in the moment, respecting everything that he’s got, but not respecting it to the point that I don’t fight my game. I have to be present while I’m in the cage – not looking to the future, but worrying about the now.”

Should he earn a victory over Lee on Tuesday night, Jon Anik will likely step into the cage to ask Dillashaw about his future, namely who he’d like to face next. It’s a question the free-speaking bantamweight prospect feels is a no-win situation.

“You always get that question, and it’s always hard to pick who you want to fight because you don’t really have that much choice, you know?” Dillashaw asks rhetorically with a laugh. “They want you to call someone out, but it’s really how the UFC wants to build me, what they think of my skills, and how much improvement I’ve shown since last time in this fight. There are so many good guys at the weight class, you don’t know who they’re going to put you with or how they’re going to build you, so I’ll leave that up to the UFC.

“You’re supposed to say I want the best guy in the division because you want to be the best in the UFC, but then you’re going to catch a bunch of grief for that from fans and other fighters, so it’s a lose-lose. If you don’t answer it, they pan you for not picking someone and not calling someone out, and if you do, you’re going to get ridiculed for calling someone out.”

Like his teammates Chad Mendes and Joseph Benavidez before him, Dillashaw knows the questions about a potential matchup against Faber are on the horizon, which only further adds to his dreading of the post-fight question that is always asked.

“How am I supposed to call out the best guy in the world when the best guy in the world is Urijah? He should be getting that belt here shortly, so I can’t go and do that. I know those questions are going to come, but I think it’s a good (situation) with me and Urijah. He’s at the top of his career, he’ll get that belt, and by the time I get there, he might be coming out. Who knows? I owe my whole MMA career to Urijah. I’m his main training partner. It’s not going to happen.”

According to Dillashaw, the one thing he knows will happen is that he’ll earn another victory and take another step up the bantamweight ladder on Wednesday night in San Jose.

“Like I said, I’m kind of disappointed I didn’t finish my last fight, so I’m looking to show that I’m better than Vaughan Lee in every situation. It might be a submission, but I’m hoping for a KO. It could be anything. I’m definitely showing everything I’ve got and I’m finishing this fight.”

Let’s be honest: professionally speaking, last year sucked for Gray Maynard.

On the first day of the year, the UFC lightweight title challenger carried an undefeated record into the Octagon against champion Frankie Edgar, and used the first five minutes of their contest to batter “The Answer” around the cage at will, coming as close to putting away a fighter as you can without having the bout actually be stopped. One minute later, Edgar bounced back into the center of the cage as if the first round didn’t even happen.

Over the next 20 minutes, the two went toe-to-toe, blow-for-blow, round-for-round until the outcome of the main event from UFC 125: Resolution was that we had no resolution.

After the two battled to a draw, Maynard initially looked like he was going to be bumped back in line in favor of Anthony Pettis before UFC President Dana White made the logical decision of booking an immediate rematch between champion and challenger. Spring injuries pushed their fight back to UFC 136 in October, where Maynard once again had Edgar on the ropes in the first, but couldn’t put the resilient New Jersey native away. This time, however, Maynard didn’t depart with a draw.

Coming out of a scramble just past the midway point of the fourth round, Edgar caught Maynard on the button, sending him staggering into the cage. A swift barrage of punches brought the fight to a close, halting Maynard’s hopes of leaving Houston with the lightweight belt around his waist, and ending his unbeaten run all at once.

Following the bout, news of Maynard’s departure from Xtreme Couture surfaced. While it was a decision he’d made prior to the fight and planned to stick to win or lose in Houston, uprooting from his long-time home base was just another headache that made 2011 a year the former Michigan State Spartan is ready to put behind him.

“When you have a year like that or you have some issues like that, it’s always good to change up, and re-evaluate,” offers Maynard, now eight months removed from UFC 136, and preparing to return to the cage to face Clay Guida in the main event of this Friday’s UFC on FX event from the Revel Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. “If it’s good for you to stay in the place or you have to stay in the place, you change up what you’re doing there, or if you think it’s better to move, do it. For me it’s been great.

“When you’re at the top of the game, like me and whoever else, you gotta have good training. With all this stuff I’d dealt with before my last bout — leaving the gym, and all of that stuff — I was kind of all over the place for where I trained, how I trained, who I trained with, and that kind of hit me that I can’t half-ass this at all. I really knew I needed to get to a place — and it’s not easy to just pick up all your stuff and move. It takes a couple months.”

Now comfortably situated in Santa Cruz, California, Maynard has spent the last several months taking advantage of the opportunity to train with new people, and try new approaches, re-igniting his passion for the sport, and taking the first steps towards once again challenging for the UFC lightweight title.

“I was in that town for the purpose of like,” he says of Las Vegas, “but I think I over-stayed my welcome as far as (training there) because I really did hit a plateau for a couple years, and you’ve gotta be quick to know that, and you’ve gotta adjust. For me, it was moving out here, and changing pace, and lifestyle, MMA teams, everything.

“I had an opportunity to go and train with Nova Uniao, so I took that,” continues Maynard, laying out the timeline of what he’s been up to since he last stepped into the cage. “I went to Brazil, went to AKA, moved, and just had to re-invent how I train, how I work, and it’s been great. It’s been awesome; I love it. I’m back in the gym learning, and just pumped about how I learn. It’s been a good thing for me.”

One of the changes Maynard made was connecting with strength and conditioning coaches Marv and Gary Marinovich. Fight fans are familiar with the duo from their time working with former lightweight champion BJ Penn, and credit “Team Marinovich” for helping “The Prodigy” get into the best shape of his career, while football historians will remember Marv for his extensive and intensive work with his son Todd, a former California high school standout and quarterback at USC who was a bust as a pro.

“They have a great deal of knowledge in their area,” Maynard says of The Brothers Marinovich. “That’s what I think we should do as athletes is try to look for the people that know what they’re talking about in those areas, and they definitely have new ideas, new ways, and for me it was awesome. We worked a lot together for a time period, and for me, when it gets closer to my bout, it’s time for the MMA part, and the hard sparring, and a lot of that type of stuff. It had its place, and it definitely changed how I view a lot of things.”

Friday night, Maynard gets the chance to put all that he’s learned over the last eight months to use when he steps in opposite Guida.

Like Maynard, the ball of constant motion, between-round-belches, and wild hair nicknamed “The Carpenter” is returning to the cage following an extended hiatus. After riding a four-fight winning streak into the co-main event slot on the first UFC on FOX event, Guida’s momentum was halted by Benson Henderson, who went on to wrest the lightweight title away from the man Maynard will forever be linked with in MMA history.

Though the 155-pound weight class remains stocked with talent and is never short on potential contenders, Guida and Maynard remain fixtures in the upper echelon of the division, which is part of the reason the 33-year-old Maynard is excited about the opportunity to step into the cage with The Big Lebowski’s biggest fan on Friday night.

“I’m really pumped about it,” Maynard says, his flat delivery making it hard to discern whether he’s being genuine or sarcastic until he expands on his initial response. “It’s a great opponent, and it’s an opportunity to beat him at his game, which is main event, five rounds of back-and-forth. It’s an opportunity to prove that I can beat whoever. I’ve got some new tools, and some new approaches, so it’s just — I’ve been away from home for a long time. That’s how I feel.”

Having fought for the title twice last year and come away empty, some may wonder if Maynard may have landed in a state of lightweight limbo, something akin to Joseph Benavidez’s stay in bantamweight purgatory following his two losses to Dominick Cruz or Rich Franklin’s departure from middleweight title contention after dropping a pair of contests to Anderson Silva.

It’s a legitimate concern, but not one that worries Maynard. Though his immediate focus is Friday’s contest with Guida, he’s willing to do whatever it takes get back into title contention, no matter how long it takes.

“(Right now), my whole goal is Clay, but for sure the long-term is beat the people I have to beat to get to the belt again. If you do that, it’s gonna happen; there’s no choice. If you beat all the top guys, where else can they put me? For me, I’ve gotta do it with authority, and prove that I deserve another title shot. And that’s fine — that’s a chore that I’d love to do.”

Some fighters refrain from really discussing their losses, sticking to clichés like “It is what it is” and “I’m only focused on the future” when questions about their setbacks arise. Maynard isn’t one of those people. Rather than dismiss his two failed attempts to capture the lightweight title in 2011, Maynard admits the sting still lingers, but opts to take a philosophical approach to last year’s results.

“There’s always pain there, and you’ve gotta use that to help drive you. It’s that old Thomas Edison deal: “I failed 10,000 times, but I know 10,000 ways not to make the light bulb.” For me, you learn a lot off of doing stuff a bad way or screwing up on a couple things. You learn what not to do, and that just kind of narrows it down to what you do have to do, and that makes it easier, man. That’s experience, and experience is priceless.”

Relocated and refocused, Maynard’s really just looking forward to getting back to work.

“I’m just happy to get back in there. A five-round fight? That’ll be fun!”

If you ask most UFC fans what they know about Mike Russow, chances are you’re going to hear about his UFC 114 meeting with Todd Duffee.

Back in May 2010, their heavyweight encounter at the MGM Grand looked like a mismatch in every way possible. On one side of the cage stood Duffee, a massive specimen, unbeaten in his professional career, and fresh off a seven-second knockout of Tim Hague. Across the cage stood Russow, a doughy veteran with a 12-1 record built largely against regional competition, entering the contest off a largely forgettable unanimous decision win against Justin McCully nine months earlier.

Most people envisioned a one-sided walk in the park for Duffee, and while he dominated the first two rounds, landing more punches than Russow had thrown in the two frames combined, the chiseled youngster couldn’t put away his less sculpted senior.

But a funny thing happened on the way to Duffee collecting his second consecutive UFC victory. The unbeaten prospect tired, his punches losing their sting, his hands dropping lower and lower as the seconds ticked off the clock. Midway through the final round, Russow landed what most will recall as the only punch he threw all night, and he made it count, sending Duffee crashing to the canvas in an unconscious heap to score one of the more improbable wins in recent memory.

While most fans could probably tell you what happened to Duffee since that contest, the trajectory of Russow’s career is probably less well known, which is strange considering the Chicago native has added two more wins since his “Homer Simpson moment” in May 2010, pushing his winning streak to 11 as he prepares to take on Fabricio Werdum at UFC 147 this weekend.

“I think I’ve been under the radar,” admits Russow, now 15-1,1 NC for his career, and a perfect 4-0 inside the Octagon. “It seems like I’ve been averaging one fight a year since I signed with (the UFC) because of injuries. I broke my arm in that Todd Duffee match, had elbow surgery, and so I’ve had some things that didn’t go my way, so I’m pretty excited (right now). I fought in January, and I’m going to be fighting again here, so I’m hoping this year is a big year for me.”

Six months ago, Russow stepped in to the cage with former ADCC champion John Olav Einemo in front of a hometown crowd in Chicago, earning the victory in a contest where he largely controlled the action on the ground against the decorated grappler. It was a fight that fulfilled a longtime dream for the 35-year-old, but one that he says came with some added nerves.

“It was something I’ve always wanted to do since I’ve been in the UFC, get an opportunity to fight in Chicago,” says Russow, offering a more succinct version of Forrest Griffin’s patented “I’m not a big fan of traveling and everything that comes with it” explanation. “It was definitely a double-edged sword though; there’s a lot more pressure I think, because you’re fighting at home, and all your friends and family are sitting out there in the audience. I think it definitely gets to your nerves a little bit more.”

This time around, Russow is switching places with Einemo, and wading into his opponent’s home turf, making the trip to Belo Horizonte, Brazil to square off with the top five-ranked Werdum in what is easily the biggest fight of the veteran American’s career.

Because of Russow’s presence south of the radar, his placement opposite Werdum caught some off-guard. After becoming the first man to cleanly defeat Fedor Emelianenko two summers ago in Strikeforce, Werdum returned to the UFC with a dominant performance against Roy Nelson at UFC 143, battering “Big Country” on the feet en route to a lopsided decision win.

But with four consecutive wins in the UFC, and only a single career loss on his resume, Russow has earned his way into this co-main event matchup, even if some people still haven’t come around to recognizing that as of yet.

“I was definitely excited,” Russow recalls of finding out he was being booked opposite the former PRIDE and Strikeforce star. “You want to face the best, and Fabricio I have a lot of respect for; he’s very tough, and a win over him would be huge for my career. It just moves me on that much further. We’ve had a great camp, been real dedicated, and working hard, and hopefully good things will happen.

“I think (fighting in Brazil will) definitely will be fun. I don’t know if it’s something I’m looking forward to,” adds Russow with a laugh, detailing the logistics involved with preparing to fight outside of the United States. “I don’t know that I’m looking forward to it, but I definitely think it will be cool going to Brazil, and I definitely want to get the win down there.”

Victories over Werdum are hard to come by, as just five men have gotten the better of “Vai Cavalo” over his ten-year, 21-fight career. Adding his name to a list that includes Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski, and current titleholder Junior dos Santos would put Russow in distinguished company; it should also be enough to carry him above the radar and into the title conversation in the suddenly deep heavyweight ranks.

It would also give Russow the chance to really commit himself to the sport full-time for the first time in his career.

In addition to being a 15-1 heavyweight competing near the top of the sport’s premier organization, the 35-year-old Russow is also a police officer, juggling his job with the Chicago PD with training for his fights, and spending time at home with his family.

“It’s tough,” Russow laughs, trying to explain how he balances the three. “As the years have gone on, I’ve gotten better at it. It’s taken a lot of practice, but mostly this takes up all my time, so I’m on a schedule 24/7. When I’m off Saturday and Sunday from the police department, usually I have a practice Saturday, and I’ll hang out with my wife and kids, so it’s always busy.”

Pressing pause on his career as a member of the Chicago police force to make fighting his singular focus is certainly something Russow has longed to do, but he’s never been in a position to take that step. With a win over Werdum on Saturday night, he might finally be able to trade in his uniform for a gi for an extended period of time.

“I would love to be able to just fight full-time, but I’m in one of those situations where it’s kind of tough to take a chance quitting a job if something didn’t work out with fighting. I need insurance for my baby, and my wife, and myself, so it’s just one of those things where hopefully I can win this fight, and I think better things may come. Maybe I can take a year leave of absence, and really just focus on it.

“That’d be a dream come true,” he adds, envisioning the opportunity. “It’s the perfect time; I think everything is going just right. If I can get a win over Werdum, I would definitely look into taking a year off, and just focusing on fighting.”

For this fight, Russow took a month-long leave of absence so that he could make sure he’s eating and sleeping properly before departing for Brazil, and spend a solid month focused exclusively on getting ready to face Werdum.

“The guy’s a champion, highly decorated in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, so you’ve gotta respect what he does,” Russow offers of his upcoming opponent. “Every fight, I go out there and I want to do more on my feet, but for whatever reason — I don’t know if instincts kick in or whatever. John Einemo — he’s a world champion, very decorated jiu-jitsu guy too, and I still ended up in a grappling match with him when I wanted to go out there and box.”

Though Russow once again prepares to enter the cage envisioning a more tactical, standup affair, he anticipates this fight being similar to his last, and is prepared to do whatever it takes to earn the victory that brings him into the title picture in the heavyweight ranks.

“I think I want to keep it on my feet a little more with Fabricio. If the takedown’s there, take it, but I just don’t want to put myself in bad situations, shooting in recklessly or shooting in with my head on the outside where I can get guillotined and stuff like that.

“I think it’s gonna be like the last fight: a real hard, grind-it-out fight. I don’t want to get into a wrestling match the whole time; I want to be a little more strategic. I know it’s going to be tough, and I’m going to stay in there until the bell rings or the whistle blows or whatever. I think it’s going to be a tough fight, but I don’t care what I’ve gotta do to get my hand raised.”

A lot of fighters on the way up say that they’re willing to do whatever it takes to make their dreams come true. They speak passionately about their willingness to sacrifice whatever it takes in order to be the best fighter they can possibly be. It’s a not a condition reserved for just fighters either — plenty of everyday people talk about their readiness to tackle the difficult decisions in life, only to back away from the challenge when it’s placed before them.

In just over a year, Ross Pearson made a pair of tough choices for the sake of his career.

After spending the majority of his career training in his native England with Team Rough House, the 27-year-old Sunderland native decided to make a change at the beginning of last year. In addition to crossing the Atlantic, he traversed the country too, landing in San Diego, California to work with coach Eric Del Fierro and the team at Alliance MMA.

“It was a hard move — a hard decision to make to come and be out here 100% of the time,” admits Pearson, his accent lessening slightly more with each passing month spent on the West Coast. “I left my family, friends, loved ones back in England, and I’m out here by myself, you know? It was a tough decision, but it was one of the best decisions that I’ve made in my life. I’ve got a great team, great coaches around, and I’m improving all the time. I’ve got great athletes that are helping me in every aspect of this sport, and I’m growing everywhere.”

With the 15th season of The Ultimate Fighter having wrapped up earlier this month, it’s easy to forget that just a couple years earlier, Pearson was a wide-eyed UFC hopeful, part of Michael Bisping’s UK contingent on Season nine of the long-running reality TV competition.

When he steps into the cage on June 22, it will be three years and two days since Pearson scored a unanimous decision win over Andre Winner to enter the fraternity of Ultimate Fighter winners. But after a 4-2 run in the 155-pound ranks that included wins over Dennis Siver and Spencer Fisher, and a razor-thin Fight of the Night loss to Edson Barboza last August, Pearson made the second tough decision he hoped would better his career, opting to shed an extra ten pounds to chase his championship dreams as a member of the UFC featherweight division.

“The cut was tough, man – cutting 22 pounds isn’t nice,” laughs Pearson, who made his featherweight debut at UFC 141 in December. “It doesn’t matter who you are – 22 pounds is a lot to cut, and it’s never fun. In the fight I felt fine. The only thing I felt was that I started slower than what I normally do.”

Paired off with veteran Junior Assuncao, Pearson scored a unanimous decision win, but came out of the gate a little sluggish. While he found his legs and started to show the striking that had him on the fringes of contention before leaving the lightweight ranks, the former TUF winner wasn’t initially too happy about his first appearance in the cage as a featherweight.

Now that he’s had some time to reflect on the bout, and begin preparing for his encore, Pearson sees the fight against the awkward Brazilian as a learning experience, and plans to put the lessons he’s learned to good use in Atlantic City next week.

“Right after the fight when I did my first interview after the fight, I was a little bit disappointed. I was going into that fight wanting to finish, so I think it was just emotions riding high. Having seen the fight played back a few times now, it was a good learning curve. Junior was very unorthodox, and he didn’t approach the fight how I anticipated him to approach the fight, so I had to work the fight out as it was going ahead. It was like a chess match. He was a tricky opponent. He was coming off a good win streak – I think he was undefeated in his last seven fights – so like I said, I had to figure him out as I was going in the fight.

“I had a great camp for the fight,” continues Pearson. “I prepared to finish the fight, and I think I was just a little bit disappointed that I didn’t get the finish. I tried – I think I had him rocked in the second, and late in the third. I just think that if I started the fight at a higher pace, maybe I could have broken him down a little sooner.”

For his sophomore appearance as a featherweight, the 14-5 former bricklayer has been slotted opposite another fighter fresh off his first victory in the UFC’s featherweight ranks, WEC vet Cub Swanson.

The 28-year-old Southern California native dropped his UFC debut back in November, but rebounded two months later with a second round knockout of George Roop. Getting the chance to pair with the always entertaining Team Jackson-Winkeljohn trainee has Pearson excited to get back into the cage.

“I’ve watched Cub fight for a while now – from the WEC, come across to the UFC – and I like his style. I’m excited to test my skills against Cub. He likes to box, and I come from a boxing background. He likes to throw nice, neat shots; he’s good on his feet, and he moves well, so yeah, I’m looking forward to testing my boxing out against his.

“He also has some jiu-jitsu skills: he reaches on a good guillotine, and he attacks things quickly. His jiu-jitsu is pretty smooth, and that’s one area that I’ve been working on, just in case the fight does go to the floor. But I’m anticipating a standup fight. I go into pretty much all my fights looking for a standup fight.”

Pearson’s preparation for this fight shifted from the Alliance home base in San Diego to a familiar setting for the featherweight title hopeful — Las Vegas, Nevada and the Ultimate Fighter Training Center.

With teammate Dominick Cruz and the entire Alliance coaching staff working with half the hopefuls from the recently completed 15th season, Pearson got a chance to return to the place where his UFC career first got started, and admits that being back in those familiar hallways has fueled his fire even more heading into his bout with Swanson.

“(It brought back) real good memories of when I started, rekindling that fire. Just being around all the guys – there’s a lot of good individual guys who come in our gym and our camp who are testing me all the time, and that just sparks the fire even more. Having new guys coming in and testing themselves against you — it’s a good time, and a good camp to be in.

“It’s been a real good learning curve, and it’s been great to be a part of Team Cruz and The Ultimate Fighter. I’ve appreciated helping out and being around it, because it helped me out massively in my career.”

When he announced his intention of dropping down in weight, Pearson made no bones about seeing the path to championship gold in the featherweight ranks being shorter than the one that stood between him and the lightweight title. With one divisional win under his belt, and designs on earning a second, the man known as “The Real Deal” says he’s on the cusp of contention already.

“You know, I see myself at the top of the division already, and I have no doubt in that. I think I’m only a fight or two away from being asked for a title shot. I believe I would put on a great fight with Jose Aldo, and I’m sure the fans would really love to see that fight.

“I’m ready to take my career to the next level, and if the UFC decides to push me for a title shot, I’m ready. I’ve been in the UFC now – this will be my eighth fight – and I’ve had the whole time on The Ultimate Fighter show. I’m not a newcomer to this sport; I’ve been around for a long time, and I’m ready for that step up.”

Uncertainty stops a lot of people from making the difficult decisions in life. Not knowing how things will turn out makes continuing on less daunting than changing course and charging ahead into the unknown. With more than a year in the U.S. under his belt, and a successful transition to the featherweight division underway, the charismatic Brit knows the difficult decisions he made in 2011 were the right choices for his career.

“I think I’ve been out here training with some of the best guys in the world with Team Alliance MMA, and I’ve just come on in leaps and bounds. I’ve always said from the very beginning that I want to show people that I’m a mixed martial artist — I’m not just a striker, I’m not just a boxer, I’m not just a Thai boxer — and that’s what I’m starting to develop now.

“I’m starting to bring together every aspect of mixed martial arts. I’m starting to put everything together how it should be – how it fits in my fighting style – and it’s helped my game out a lot, and I definitely think that it’s been a wise move for me – career-wise – to drop down a division.”

On June 22, Pearson hopes to showcase the new and sharpened skills that have come from sacrificing friends, family, and familiar surroundings, not to mention an extra ten pounds. While he hopes to make a lasting impression with the UFC brass, more than anything, the former Ultimate Fighter winner and featherweight title hopeful wants to send the fans home happy.

“I come to entertain. I come to put on a fight for the fans,” Pearson says in closing. “I feel it’s my job – the fans pay good money to come and see a good fight, and I enjoy a good fight, you know? It’s weird to say, but I enjoy getting punched in the face, kicked in the leg, and seeing how much I can take, and give back.

“I really do enjoy a good fight. I like being tested. I want to see how far I can go in this sport, and the best guys I can be faced against. Fans, just be ready for a great fight because I’m ready to deliver a great fight.”

The life of a fighter is extremely unpredictable. You never know when you’re going to fight next or if something will happen between signing your contract and the night of the fight that keeps you out of the cage. Everything else in life is at the mercy of your schedule, intricately fit into a small window of opportunity somewhere between a morning workout and that evening’s strength and conditioning session.

That includes getting married.

With just a couple of weeks remaining before he was set to step into the cage with Ian McCall for a second time, UFC flyweight contender Demetrious Johnson hopped on a plane for Hawaii. Surrounded by friends and family on Angels Bay Beach in Oahu, “Mighty Mouse” and his “Mighty Bride” said their “I dos.”

Despite the scenic locale and major life event, this wasn’t a mid-camp holiday for the 25-year-old title hopeful.

“I was training twice a day in Hawaii,” offered Johnson, dismissing the thought that his Hawaiian Island nuptials might have made for a more abbreviated training camp than normal. “We have (Hawaii Martial Arts) there, and Haru (Shimanishi) was there, and it all just flowed.

“It was almost like I didn’t leave training because HMC is our sister school, and Haru was one of the trainers that trained Matt Hume, so they’re all kind of on the same page. They welcomed me with open arms, and I was training for about four hours a day while I was there.”

Just as getting married in the middle of training camp wasn’t part of the original plan for “Team Mighty,” neither was preparing to face McCall for a second time.

The two flyweight title hopefuls initially met in one half of the four-man tournament established to crown the first 125-pound champion in UFC history. Meeting head-on in the center of the Octagon in the organization’s first ever flyweight contest, Johnson controlled the opening two rounds by keeping “Uncle Creepy” off-balance, blending his striking and wrestling well, and maintaining the speed that had made him a bantamweight title contender in the past.

McCall came on strong in the third, finishing the round in back mount, raining down strikes as he played to the crowd at the Allphones Arena in Sydney, Australia. When the scores were read, Johnson was declared the winner, taking a majority decision, causing McCall to storm out of the cage dejected.

Later that night, however, it was announced that an error was made in tabulating the scorecards, and the bout should have moved to a “sudden victory” round, as it was actually scored a draw by the judges. With the event already in the books, there was no other choice but to do it again.

“I don’t look at it as I have more to lose,” offered Johnson. “Yes, I could look at it that way, and be bitter about it, but I’m seeing this as a way for me to go back out there, and do it all over again.

“I told my coaches the other day that I’m glad I get to rematch him because I feel sharper. I feel like I’ve gained a lot more this time around in training camp. My body is not banged up, and I just feel better.”

An elite bantamweight contender before making the drop down in weight, the 14-2-1 Kentucky-born resident of Kirkland, Washington had no problems making the 125-pound weight limit the first time around, which he determined after the contest wasn’t a good thing.

“Getting down for the first weight cut was way too easy, and that means I starved myself, and didn’t diet correctly,” admitted the charismatic and personable Johnson with a laugh. “When I was doing my weight cut, it was just way too easy. I felt good the first round, but as the fight progressed, I started to feel my body slowing down, being sluggish, not having enough string on my punches. You could see it – this was the first time in my UFC career that I’ve slowed down in a fight, and that’s because of my diet, and my own being hard-headed, and not listening to my coaches.”

A frenetic blur of constant activity and pressure in the cage, Johnson sees Friday’s second bout with McCall as a do-over; a chance to correct the mistakes he made last time around, and earn the right to face Joseph Benavidez in a fight to become the inaugural UFC flyweight champion.

“I thought the performance was good,” he said of the initial meeting with McCall in early March. “It always can be better, and I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get the nod, but it’s okay. I’m happy that I can do it all again. I feel a lot sharper this time, and I’m in a better place in my training camp, and I can’t wait to get out there, and do work.

“I feel like if I had gotten the nod, and went on to fight Joseph, I would have been like `Oh, my weight cut was good because I beat Ian McCall. I don’t need to work on very much; just stay on the same steady track.’ But at some point, I took a lot of steps backward to fix my game, and my mindset, and now I feel good.”

Part of what has him feeling even better heading into the sequel is the fact that he’s now training with Hume at AMC Pankration full-time. Following his decision loss to Cruz in October, Johnson committed himself to making fighting his one and only job, and went from making three or four trips per week to work with the man known as “The Wizard” to spending six days a week taking instructions from his highly respected and accomplished coach.

“I think the sky’s the limit when I’m training up here with Matt Hume full-time now. Before, I was only up here four days a week – Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday – but now I’m up here six days a week, the sky’s the limit, and (I’ve already seen) huge improvements (in my skills since making the change). My body feels nice and relaxed. I feel calm, I feel sharp, and I feel good.”

This second meeting between the two flyweight title hopefuls serves as the headliner for the UFC’s third event on the FX network. While the lighter weight classes don’t often get the chance to close out a show, Johnson relishes the opportunity, and believes it’s something that should happen more often moving forward, especially given the impressive track record of the smaller fighters so far this year.

“No pressure at all,” Johnson answered when asked if having his name atop the marquee ups the ante heading into this weekend’s event. “It’s my job, and I would love to be the face of this division. In order for me to do that, I’ve just got to go out there and perform. I’m trying to make history, and that’s all the motivation I need.

“I do think it’s important for the lighter weight classes to get that spotlight though,” he added. “If you look at the last few fight cards, Louis (Gaudinot) and John Lineker got Fight of the Night when they fought. “Korean Zombie” and Dustin Poirier – they got Fight of the Night. We’re not going to knock people out like the heavyweights do because they’re bigger dudes — they hit harder than us – but at the same time, we’re more technical, we’re in better shape. I think if all the lighter guys keep doing what they’re doing, I think you might see a pay-per-view card where it’s all flyweights, bantamweights, and featherweights.”

While a lineup featuring a collection of fighters competing south of 155-pounds could be intriguing, there’s only one thing on Johnson’s mind right now, and it’s not playing fantasy matchmaker.

After momentarily believing he’d taken the first step towards claiming the flyweight title back in March, the diminutive dynamo is ready to square off with “Uncle Creepy” for a second time, and promises to deliver the type of performance fans have come to expect from him in Friday night’s main event.

“Typical “Mighty Mouse” approach — relentless pace, moving, head movement, making my opponent miss me a lot, and just tagging him whenever I can. All you’ve got to do is tune in to FX.”