Author: By Elias Cepeda

UFC welterweight Chris Lytle had won four out of his last five fights, had become one of the most exciting fighters in history thanks to his tendency to rack up post-fight bonuses, and was more popular than ever before when he decided it was time to retire. After 14 years in MMA, “Lights Out” made his decision for personal reasons and not because his ability to perform had diminished.
 
Lytle had knee surgery a month and a day before his fight against Brian Ebersole in February, 2011, and never gave it proper time to heal or rehabilitate. After the fight, Lytle found himself doing something he’d never done before in his MMA career – resting – and it gave him a lot of food for thought.
 
“After the Ebersole fight I knew I needed to rehab my leg and I had never done that before. So I took about a month and a half to strengthen up my leg and during that time I didn’t go to the gym at night like I used to, so I got to spend some time at home with my family,” Lytle recounts.
 
“I really became aware of my shortcomings as a father, that I had kind of dropped the ball with my kids. I felt like a bad parent. I kind of realized that around the time I was ready to fight again and they offered me the fight with [Dan] Hardy.
 
“I started going to the gym again at night and felt guilty for leaving my kids. Usually how my life went was that around 4-4:30 my kids would get home from school and then I’d go to the gym, so I’d get an hour or two with them every day and I literally wasn’t around them that much.”
 
Lytle was never one to half-step in his training, but he could no longer bear being away from his wife and four kids as much as he had for most of the children’s’ lives. Throughout his fighting career, Lytle had also maintained his full-time day job as a firefighter. Suffice to say fitting in time for his family between his two full-time jobs of firefighter and UFC fighter was a challenge.
 
“When I train for a fight I’m going to be there every day,” he says. “I came home and started talking to my wife. I told her, ‘I can’t do it anymore.’ We decided that I was going to do whatever I could for the next two months to prepare for the Hardy fight and then afterwards I would be done.”
 
Having made the decision to retire after fighting Hardy eased Lytle’s conscience because he knew that afterwards he would finally start spending time with his family. He returned to the gym with added motivation and fervor.
 
“I had been fighting since 1998 and knowing that this was going to be my last fight – I was not going to leave any questions or anything out there as far as, ‘Could I have done anything different?’ I was going to give this everything I had. My last memories of being a fighter were going to be good ones.”
 
Lytle made some great memories for himself and all the fans watching around the world in his final fight against Hardy in their UFC Live 5 main event. The two went back and forth to earn Fight of The Night honors and Lytle managed to do something that not even champion Georges St-Pierre could do – finish the durable Hardy – when he submitted the Brit with a guillotine choke in the final seconds of the bout.
 
If a team of screenwriters had gotten together to script a perfect movie ending to Lytle’s MMA career, they probably could not have written anything more dramatic. Lytle retired at the top of his game, on a win in the main event of a nationally televised fight.
 
It wasn’t long until Lytle found himself a new type of fight, outside of the cage and inside the political sphere. This past year, Lytle decided to run for the Indiana State Senate. Lytle was unable to garner his party’s nomination in the primary but finished strong with 30% of the vote to the first place finisher’s 41%.
 
Lytle has dedicated most of his adult life to serving his community as a firefighter, and says that his interest in politics was also sparked by a desire to represent and serve families like his. “I had been following things for a long time,” he explains. “About three years ago I actually started thinking that these people in office are not the right kinds of people because they don’t care about you and me. They just care about being in control.
 
“So I realized we needed different types of people in office. I’m not the type of person to sit back and hope that someone else is going to do something – I figure that I’ve got to do it.”
 
Lytle had the motivation but not the political knowledge or experience. He says that he can’t even begin to list all the lessons he learned throughout the process, especially early on.
 
“It was hilarious,” Lytle chuckles. “I knew nothing. I’d never been involved in a campaign before, I’d never helped anyone else on their campaigns, I’d never gone door-to-door. I bet we were really pretty funny looking at first. It was just me and some of my people who also didn’t have any experience but were helping me because they believed in me for who I was. Finally, we talked to some people that had political backgrounds and knew basic things we didn’t. It was definitely a learning experience.”
 
What Lytle lacked in campaign experience, he tried to make up for in effort. When he entered the race, he says he sorely underestimated the amount of time it would require from him. Once he realized how much work it would take, however, Lytle simply threw himself into it.
 
“I thought it would be like fight training in that I might be doing a three hour thing each day and then be done. I’d have a function go to, give my speech and then leave. Oh no,” he laughs.
 
“If you’re giving a speech, you’ve got research to do for it, you’ve got to memorize it, you’ve got to rehearse it and then you’ve got more functions to go to after one is done. All the time I had in between functions was spent doing issue research. For example, I never lived on a farm and didn’t know much about farming issues, but there are a lot of farms in my district so I had to go to school to learn something on so many different things. I don’t think I had my radio on in my car for months during a certain point because each time I was driving I would just be in there talking out loud trying to go over talking points. People pulling up next to my car probably would have seen me talking to myself and thought I was crazy [laughs]. I never imagined that campaigning would utilize every minute of my free time.”
 
Never one to shy away from hard work or to be easily discouraged, Lytle says that he has no plans to run for office again, but would be open to doing it again if an opportunity presented itself.
 
“Nothing has really changed,” he says. “We still don’t have the right people in office. If there’s a good person running for an office in my area that I believe in, I’ll help them. But if there isn’t one, regular people should consider running.”
 
With his pro MMA career and the political campaign now both behind him, Lytle continues to focus on his family. He says that he’s enjoying getting to be home more than he ever has been before, but also that having the close relationships he wants with his children is going to take time.
 
“It’s weird, I’m still looking back and realizing that I’ve got a lot of work to do, especially with my older kids,” he says.
 
“I haven’t been around a lot because of work and there are just certain things that I’m never going to get back. The older ones might want to be with friends and not with me even if I’m home and available. I do know I have been able to spend a lot more time at home and I think they can count on me a lot more. I’m still working on how if they have problems they will just naturally talk to their mom and not me. It’s a longer process than I thought it would be. It isn’t just about being here, it’s also about what’s been done in the past and who they feel comfortable with.”
 
Any good parent knows that there is no harder job in the world – not being a firefighter, and not even being a professional MMA fighter. Lytle has worked hard to provide for his family, and he’s been able to do so very well. What he hopes to add on to that is the connection with his kids that may have suffered precisely because he was away so often providing for them.
 
“At first when I was fighting on top of being a fireman, I was doing it for the money – I needed to. I was trying to get enough money so that my wife wouldn’t have to work and she could stay at home,” Lytle says.
 
“It became different later but I didn’t realize it right away. It was a slow process but when I hurt my knee and had to rest it and spent time at home, I realized how much time had slipped away.”
 
Lytle still hits the gym to train a few times a week, these days. “I was in there yesterday and trained pretty good,” he says. “I was in there 2-3 times this week. Some days I go in there and I don’t feel good, I get tired. But other days, like yesterday when I went four, five-minute rounds and felt real good, it is all right.”
 
So, is there any chance that Lytle will ever fight again, professionally? On the one hand, he couldn’t have left the sport in a better way. On the other hand, competitors know that there isn’t ever a “good way” to go out, because you’re going out, and leaving behind a part of you that you love.
 
“If there’s ever a situation where someone backs out of a fight three to four days before a fight and they were supposed to fight one of the few guys I’m actually interested in fighting and the UFC called me and said, ‘Chris, can you help us out,’ well I’d do that,” Lytle reveals.
 
“I still feel good and can fight. But if it’s something where I have to train for three to five weeks or more, I wouldn’t do it. Only way I’m doing it is if I get a call and I literally have to get on a plane that day or the next, fly there, fight and come back home to my family. When I fight, I dedicate everything to it for as long as I’m preparing. If I did another training camp I’d feel like I’d be giving up on my family, and I can’t do that.”

 

UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture may have retired from professional fighting in 2011, but the five-time champion hasn’t exactly been sitting in a rocking chair to pass the time. He runs one of the world’s largest MMA fight gyms in Las Vegas, is mentoring his son’s own burgeoning fight career, and is starring in the summer blockbuster film The Expendables 2, which opens today, August 17th.

When Couture is at home in Vegas he likes to take a hands-on approach with his gym, the sprawling Xtreme Couture MMA facility. “I’m here every day when I’m in Vegas,” he tells UFC.com. “I’m here every day, working out. Still training, working with the guys. Obviously, I travel a lot but I have a great staff that takes care of everything and allows me to go make a movie or do the other stuff that I’m doing.”

Xtreme Couture MMA includes a who’s who stable of elite fighters and Randy still enjoys helping those that ask for his assistance with their fight preparation.

“I do it on more of an individual basis,” he explains, as opposed to teaching structured classes. “Those individuals that come to me and say, ‘hey, can you help me with this,’ or ‘What do you think about this opponent, how should I approach this,’ I’ll work with.

“I’ve always liked coaching. I’ve been coaching longer than I’ve been fighting, at the collegiate level in wrestling. It’s rewarding and fun.”

With Couture’s 40 years of wrestling and 14 years of championship-level MMA experience, the process is no doubt rewarding and enriching for his fighters as well.

As for the acting career that often keeps him running to Los Angeles and remote shooting locations, Couture says that he never expected his life to go in this direction, but he is enjoying it.

“The acting thing has kind of come out of the blue for me,” he says. “It wasn’t something I ever aspired to, but it has been a nice surprise. Right from the start, with the first movie I was a part of, I became immediately intrigued by the process of making a movie. So I immediately started taking acting classes and started to learn more about movies, paying attention on set and going and hanging around the directors.”

Given his interest in the intricacies of film-making, Randy admits that he would relish the opportunity to direct or produce movies in the future. “I get a clear vision in my head when I read a script of how a movie is going to go and look, and that seems to be a part of what the directors I’ve seen in action have to do,” he says. “I’d love to get the opportunity to do that some day.”

For now, Couture is enjoying being on set as a fellow actor with movie legends and stars like Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Bruce Willis, Jet Li and many more from the action movie dream team ensemble cast of The Expendables movie series.

“We had a blast,” Randy says. “Jason [Statham] is a great guy, Jet Li is a great guy. All of them were really nice to me. We had a lot of fun just hanging out on the set. Especially me, Terry [Crews] and Dolph [Lundgren]. We kind of developed a rapport. We were in a lot of scenes together and we did a lot of stuff together.”

Couture says that of all his fellow Expendables castmates, former professional wrestling mega star Steve Austin was the biggest MMA fan. “Stone Cold” played a villainous henchman in the first Expendables movie and had an on-screen battle with Couture, but when the cameras were off all he wanted to do was talk MMA with Randy.

“Steve is a huge fight fan,” Couture says. “All the guys seemed to think MMA and boxing were cool but Steve knew things inside and out – stats from every single guy in the UFC, things like that. I rode in the van with him a bunch and we had some scenes together in the movie and he asked a ton of questions. It was fun.”

Couture loves making movies, but emphasizes that it is still work, “a grind,” that can often entail 14-16 hour days, six days a week. Because of this, he never minds being back home in the gym, training and working in the business that made him famous.

It also helps that he’s got his son, Strikeforce lightweight fighter Ryan Couture, in the gym with him, working on his own career. “We’re in the same environment, we are striving for the same things,” Randy says. “He studies all the fighters just like I do, and we talk about all those things. In a lot of ways we’re wired a lot alike.”

Couture says he doesn’t stress out about his son fighting for a living because he sees how well he prepares and because he knows that Ryan loves doing it. Randy also says that he only tries to help as much as he’s asked, and not to loom larger than he has to in his son’s career.

“I try to stay out of the way as much as possible,” he says. “It’s already a burden dragging around the last name. In some ways it slapped a target on him from the jump. He takes all that in stride.

“I don’t try to impart anything [to him]. I always try to lead by example, so I’ve tried to do things as best as I could and in some ways he’s followed that example. If he asks me questions I share my experiences with him. Especially in his last two fights, which were steps up in competition, he’s wanted me to get involved in developing a game plan and all those sorts of things.”

Couture seems relaxed and at peace sitting in his office discussing his life, post-fighting, and he doesn’t seem to have any angst about his decision to retire and stay retired. Much of that peace seems to be connected to what he calls a second chance to get a close relationship with his son Ryan. The pitch in his voice rises and he beams when he talks about working and living near his son again.

“It is very cool. There’s a block of time there in junior high and high school, after the divorce, where I didn’t get to spend as much time with him, so now I to get to have him here in Vegas and to be a part of what he’s doing and what he’s trying to accomplish,” Randy says.

“I’m kind of making up for some lost time in a lot of ways. Most people don’t get that opportunity but I’ve been fortunate to have him as close as I get to have him to me right now, at this stage of his life. I’m just enjoying the ride.”

UFC fans may be wondering what all the fuss over Hector Lombard making his Octagon debut July 21st against Tim Boetsch is about. Part of the answer is certainly the fact that he hasn’t lost in nearly six years and 25 fights. Another could be his background as an international-level Judo competitor.

Then again, maybe it has more to do with Lombard’s vicious penchant for finishing fights (77% of his career wins have come via KO or submission). Maybe it’s all that combined with the fact that at UFC 149 Lombard will be facing a top UFC middleweight contender in Boetsch.

UFC President Dana White has gone so far as to say that should Lombard win his debut with the organization in impressive fashion, he might be the next to challenge 185-pound kingpin Anderson Silva. Lombard certainly feels like a big deal these days. But his main coach at American Top Team (ATT) in Florida says that none of the aforementioned items are what make Lombard special in his mind.

Marcus “Conan” Silveira, a UFC veteran and one of the leaders of ATT, has coordinated Lombard’s training for the last four years in South Florida, ever since the Cuban national walked in the gym’s doors looking to become more well-rounded in MMA. “He came to us with high skills, of course,” Silveira says.

“But what separates Hector is his mindset, his mentality. Not every judo player, not every jiu-jitsu player, even the champions in those sports, can be an MMA fighter. You need a special mentality for MMA.”

Silveira isn’t talking about some “killer instinct,” some ability to mix in hard strikes along with grappling without regret during competition. The unique quality Lombard possesses, according to his coach, is an unparalleled humility and work ethic inside the gym.

“Everything I ask him to do, he does A-Z, 1-10. He’s got talent and has the potential to grow a lot, but what makes Hector special is his willingness to work and to learn,” Silveira says.

With so few intriguing challengers left for champion Anderson Silva in the middleweight division, Lombard has the resume and exciting style to make a compelling rival for “The Spider.” And with White saying as much, this is a heady time for Lombard.

His coach tries to put aside talk of challenging Silva, however, until the task at hand – Boetsch – is taken care of. Silveira is confident that his fighter has what it takes to become champion; he just needs him to stay focused.

“Definitely if he gets a title shot he’s ready,” Silveira says. “But at the same time, as a coach, I try to convey to him that he has to block that out. We’ve got Tim Boetsch July 21st and there’s nothing else to think of.”

The fighter himself seems to understand this as well, and is in no rush to talk of winning the title. “Whoever stands in front of me, I just have to beat,” Lombard says. “The title will come.”

“Conan” is almost gushing at how prepared he feels his pupil is, however. “After UFC 149 we will see where we’re at. There is no rush, no pressure. But Hector has never been so ready.”

Coaches and fighters rarely reveal detailed strategy in advance of fights, and Silveira is no different. His philosophy to preparing Lombard is sound, though, and probably quite sincere.

“Boetsch is good at everything so we train to be as well. Hector prepares in everything in this science that is fighting. We have to combine everything together and we work hard to do that. Once you are prepared well in every situation, and in the transitions between those situations, it becomes easy to adjust in a fight,” Silveira explains.

“It isn’t so much about a specific strategy or game plan. It’s about respecting every position and situation that can happen in a fight so that Hector is ready to perform at a high level everywhere.”

Silveira describes Lombard as funny and spiritual off of the training mats. He also relates to the hunger that drives Lombard to succeed.

“He never forgets where he comes from. In a way, he and I relate to one another. We came from different countries. He came from Cuba and I came from Brazil but we both know hard it is to grow up poor and work to make something new out of our lives in a different country,” Silveira says.

The coach says he remembers he and Lombard’s first days of training together clear as day. He was struck right away by the fighter’s potential and told him as much. “Back when he first started training with us I used to tell him, ‘you’re going to become the UFC middleweight champion. It’s just a matter of time,’” he says.

It might just be a matter of two fights, if Lombard does well. Neither fighter nor coach are making predictions but Silveira does promise one thing.

“The day of the fight you’re gonna get Hector Lombard – and that’s him trying to kill Tim Boetsch within the confines of what’s allowed in a professional fight,” he says.

Forget the notion that Lombard will have “Octagon jitters” as he fights in the UFC for the first time. “A cage is a cage,” Silveira opines.

“Once Hector is in the cage it won’t matter where he is. He’s facing one man and he will be ready.”

UFC middleweight contender Mark Munoz has always been quiet, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t paying attention to what’s going on at 185 pounds. He’s watched brash trash talkers like Michael Bisping and Chael Sonnen advance their careers by mouthing off for far too long and Munoz is tired of being the overlooked nice guy.

“It does get me riled up,” Munoz tells UFC.com.

Munoz is the one that has won seven out of his eight fights at middleweight (his only loss a close split decision loss to Yushin Okami in 2010) and four straight. Yet, Bisping has been out in the media saying once again that he deserves a title shot even though the Brit lost his last fight. Sonnen has pushed champion Anderson Silva like no one ever has, yet there’s no doubt that his audacious trash talk helped him gain the spotlight.

“When they talk stuff like that they must be crazy, out of their minds,” Munoz says. “The one that deserves a title shot is me. They lost and they are talking about title shots right now. It doesn’t make sense to me…I haven’t been as vocal before, but now let the games begin.”

Munoz was forced to pull out of a number one contender fight against Sonnen in January with an elbow injury that required surgery. Bisping filled in for him and lost to Sonnen, who in turn went on to receive another title shot against Silva at UFC 148.

Munoz has healed from his surgical elbow repair and now looks to a UFC on FUEL TV main event engagement against Chris Weidman tonight in San Jose. Weidman is a well-rounded young buck with a wrestling base that beat former title challenger Demian Maia in January despite taking the fight on short notice.

Munoz knows that he has his hands full with Weidman, but remains confident that his aggressive fighting style will carry him to victory.

“I see a really good fighter [in Weidman]. I see a very good up and coming guy. Someone that is very well rounded, somebody that is very tough,” Munoz says of his opponent.

“He’s a good fighter but I see myself exploiting the things I saw in him in his last fight. Without giving too much away, I’m going to be who I am inside the Octagon. I’m going to force my will on him. It’s no secret that I’m gonna throw bombs wherever I am.”

Munoz has been plying his trade at the gym he owns and runs, Reign Training Center, in Orange County California. As such, he’s had an interesting, Bill Russell or Pete Rose type role in camp. Those greats were player/coaches at times in their careers and Munoz is in a similar position as a fighter/coach.

Since opening a couple years ago, Reign Training Center has attracted lots of top fighters, which Munoz says has a lot to do with the friendly and supportive environment he’s tried to foster. And Munoz is the one leading all of those fighters during practice, even during his own training camp.

It isn’t rare for a UFC contender to be the best fighter in his training cohort, but it is rare for them to essentially train themselves and everyone around them as Munoz has. Training for a fight is, by definition, a selfish thing. Everything revolves around getting yourself ready to compete at a high level.

Conversely, coaching is a giving thing, where time needs to be spent on developing others. To Munoz, however, the two are complimentary. He views coaching and fighting simultaneously as an opportunity and not a burden.

The fighter has coached Division I wrestling for about a decade, ever since he graduated, and he enjoys teaching. “We’ve been fortunate to get grade-A level fighters coming in,” he says.

“I run practice and it’s something I really like to do. I always wanted to coach and wrestle at the same time but couldn’t. With MMA I get to both compete and coach.”

Munoz clearly looks at his coming fight against Weidman as a number one contender’s fight. That means that if he wins he wants to fight Anderson Silva.

The only thing is that the two are former training partners and Munoz still counts the champion as a friend. All this begs the question – are things still cool between Munoz and “The Spider”?

“I’m still cool with a lot of the Blackhouse [the Southern California gym where Silva does a lot of his training) guys but haven’t spoken with Anderson or the Nogueira brothers in depth for a while. But I still talk with [Anderson’s manager] Ed Soares and he’s explained my position to Anderson. Every time I see Anderson in passing I try to let him know that I respect him as a fighter and as a friend. Ed explained to Anderson that because of where I stand in the division, I need to be vocal. It is something where I’m kind of walking on eggshells because Anderson is a good friend of mine,” Munoz confesses.

“But I want to be champion, too. I’m not just here to be a UFC fighter…I belong at the top of our division and I want to make that statement in my next fight.”

For every son or daughter that successfully follows a sports legend parent into a sport (say, Laila Ali becoming a boxing champ years after her father Muhammad became “The Greatest,” for example) there are thousands of kids that stay far away from the trades of their parents. Most are probably just not talented enough to emulate anything resembling their parent’s success, but many others are likely just not interested in all the pressure and expectations that would come with trying.

Former heavyweight and light heavyweight champion Randy Couture is perhaps the best mixed martial arts fighter in the sport’s young history, but that has not stopped his son Ryan, who faces Joe Duarte this Saturday on the next Strikeforce card in Portland, Oregon, from becoming a fighter himself.

Couture spent two years in the amateur ranks and has been a pro for two years, with perhaps his most significant victory thus far coming in the form of his TKO win over Conor Heun in March. Couture insists that he doesn’t dwell on the idea that his dad is THE Randy Couture – legendary champion and movie star – during training or when he fights. Because of this, the lightweight doesn’t feel pressure to fill his dad’s shoes.

“It’s not really something I think about at all,” Ryan says. “I knew it was a big shadow to walk in and knew it was something I’d be asked about when I began competing. I know that it has and will continue to affect people’s expectations of me but I’ve never even hesitated. It hasn’t been a detriment. As a result of accomplishing the things he has, he blazed the path for me and made it that much easier. I think any of the pressure I could have put on myself I already dealt with when I made the decision to come to Las Vegas and then when I decided to start fighting.”

Couture has a math degree, and after college had a 9-5 bank job in Washington state. He’d wrestled growing up and started training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu after work. But then his dad called him and made him an offer to come and work at Randy’s Xtreme Couture super gym in Las Vegas, NV.

The younger Couture ultimately decided to make the move, and though his initial role was to help lead the franchising operations for Xtreme Couture and not to be a fighter, he began taking classes. Ryan loved the classes so much that he started working out with the amateur team and began competing.

Soon he became good enough to receive an invite to join pro practices, and since that time has put together a solid 4-1 record in the pro ranks and now fights for one of the biggest MMA promotions in the world.

Couture says he much prefers the life of a professional fighter over that of a banker. It’s the 9-5er’s dream – pack up, move and become a professional athlete – and the 29-year old knows it.

“I’m still almost coming to grips with the fact that this is my reality,” Couture says. “I feel like I could wake up tomorrow and not have that be the case. But with each training camp and each fight I develop more and it starts to feel real and like I did the right thing.”

Couture says that his dominant win over the tough and well-known Heun helped give him confidence to believe that he is indeed in the right profession. Not being tied to a desk isn’t the only benefit to being an MMA fighter for Ryan. He says that he and his dad have grown closer as a result.

“It’s definitely an excuse for us to spend more time together,” Couture says. “It has helped us get even closer, having him be involved in these training camps. It can still be hit and miss because he’s on the road a lot, but I really enjoy having him involved when he’s in town. His presence adds a boost of confidence and, I feel, brings the level of the whole team up. We’re kind of getting to know each other in a different way. I just knew him from being around the house and having that family relationship. My being in Vegas with him and fighting has just added another dimension.”

Ryan says that his dad gives him useful advice, but that simply observing his example has been most useful. “I think the most helpful thing has just been the example he sets,” Ryan says.

“His whole approach to the game is great to learn from. He doesn’t take it too seriously and doesn’t stress too much. Something he’s always said is ‘If losing a fight is the worst thing that happens in your life, you’re doing pretty damn well.’ From a technical standpoint he fine tunes things so much and I learn so much from him. Every time we work out together I pick up a little something new.”

Couture is taking everything he’s learned so far against the very experienced Duarte on July 14th. Just as his last fight, Ryan believes that this is another opportunity to prove that he belongs.

“I think Joe’s a stud,” Couture says. “I was there and saw his last fight with Jorge Gurgel and it didn’t even click to me that I might fight him sometime down the road, but here we are two fights later. I think he brings a lot to the table. He’s a well-rounded guy. He’s got solid jitz and a heavy right hand. There will be a lot of different things to navigate for me to get the win. But I’m excited. It’s another step up, another big challenge. I’m excited to rise to meet the challenge and show that I belong and that I made the right decision.”

It was going to be so good. Wanderlei Silva vs. Vitor Belfort II. Nearly 14 years had not been long enough for Silva to get over the quick TKO loss to Belfort at Ultimate Brazil in 1998 and now he had a chance for revenge in his home country. And, oh yeah, Silva really does not like Belfort. He’s made that quite clear over the years and did so again when speaking with UFC.com about the Belfort rematch. The rivalry even grew over the course of the inaugural TUF Brazil season which they both coached.

But all that went away when Belfort broke his hand and was forced to pull out of the UFC 147 fight with Silva. Replacing Belfort against Silva this Saturday is former middleweight champion Rich Franklin. The fight will take place at a catchweight of 190 pounds.

The disappointment at losing the Silva/Belfort rematch was palpable in the fight world. Sure, Franklin is another former champ and future Hall of Famer. It is also true that Franklin/Silva is also a rematch that gives Silva a chance to even the score with “Ace” (Franklin won a decision over Silva in a Fight of The Night performance back at UFC 99), but would Wanderlei have the same fire against someone of whom he’s had nothing but positive things to say?

“I’m here to fight. With everybody. No matter who,” Silva says.

The succinct and chilling answer from Wanderlei should answer that. But really, this is something we all should have known about the fighter.

Silva has an uncanny ability to walk into the ring or Octagon all-smiles, only to have his visage darken moments later as he attacks his opponent with an unrelenting fury. While obviously not literally true, Silva’s nickname of “The Axe Murderer” has never really been considered hyperbole, at least in spirit.

The point is, Silva can turn that switch that flips him from perhaps the friendliest fighter in the UFC into a ruthless competitor. But how, exactly, does he do that?

“Man, I don’t know,” Silva wonders himself before pausing to think. “I’m a happy guy. When I see my opponent, though, when he is across from me, I’m ready. I take my job very seriously.”

More, perhaps, than reflexes, physical strength or skill, this innate ability to become instantly war-ready is invaluable to top athletes. It has to be part of the reason that Silva became such a dominant champion at 205 pounds in PRIDE despite being very undersized.

He is ferocious and he will have no problem unleashing that on Rich Franklin, even though he respects the American. Wanderlei loves the fight itself too much to do anything less.

It is, in large part, that love for battle that has kept Silva in the fight game for so long. He is only 35 years old, but has been in plenty of wars in training and nearly fifty career fights.

Wanderlei once went over four years and eighteen fights without a loss, but for the past six years, he’s lost more than he’s won, often by knockout. If he can get a homecoming win in Brazil, one imagines that it would be a perfect note for Wanderlei to go out on, that he’d then retire.

Though he admits to having begun to plan what he will do once he stops fighting, Silva is not ready to concede his career just yet. “I don’t know,” he says.

“I fight one fight after another, you know? I check my performance after the fight. If I’m fighting good, man, I can’t [stop]. I’ve got to check what’s going to happen. I have started to look for my next step in the sport, though.”’

That is a tough line for a fighter to toe, and Silva isn’t the first to do so. Someone as good as him can still pull off wins long after his prime has gone. But for now, Silva is hopeful that if he’s got more great wins in him, the next one comes in front of his countrymen at UFC 147.

A consummate performer, the emphasis for Silva really is on the “great,” and not quite as much on the “win,” part. Take, for example competitive decision losses like those he has taken at the hands of Franklin or Chuck Liddell. Wand still considers those types of bouts successes because they were exciting.

“Some fights that I’ve lost by decision, like with Franklin, with Chuck Liddell, man, I don’t feel bad,” he says. “I think, ‘man, this fight is going down in history, we’ve made the fans happy,’ and that’s the point of the fight.”

He’ll have a lot of fans in Brazil to make happy at UFC 147. The UFC is exploding in popularity in Brazil. Jose Aldo’s last UFC featherweight title defense was watched on television by nearly 100 million Brazilians, and Silva and Belfort’s TUF Brazil was watched every week by millions more.

Silva couldn’t be more excited. For the first time in seven years, he held part of his training camp in Brazil. He did part of his camp in his new home of Las Vegas in his Wand Gym, went a few hours west to his long-time coach Rafael Cordeiro at Kings MMA in California for another portion and then, with a month out before the fight, Wand returned to Brazil to train with another long-time coach, Andre Dida.

Wanderlei has been training with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and many other teammates from the Chute Boxe days. Silva says that connecting with his roots has felt great.

“I feel really good. I’m in my hometown, I eat the food from here, I train with the guys from here. I remember my old days. The quality of the guys here is so good, the guys train well, I am so happy,” he says.

As for the fight itself, Silva doesn’t get specific on predictions for how he will beat Franklin but he has the important stuff mapped out for June 23rd. It has been nearly 12 years since Silva has fought in his home country. Back then, he was fighting bare-knuckled and in obscurity.

At UFC 147 he will return as a superstar. He can envision that night clear as day.

“It’s been a long time that I haven’t fought here. I’m going to make the crowd very happy,” he says. “Everybody is going to cheer for me over here. I’m going to give the victory for all my fans around the world. For me, and for my fans.”