“I go in there, take control, hold the center, get them backing up, and lay the smack down.”
It’s brash, it’s bold, it’s bullheaded, and it sounds like something Brock Lesnar or, more likely, The Rock would bark before doing battle. It’s certainly a heavyweight’s mentality, but it’s actually from a featherweight’s body. Specifically, the confident quote is from the mouth of 145 pound star-in-the-making Dennis Bermudez.
While one can say it’s easy to talk the talk, if you’ve seen Saugerties, New York’s number one cagefighting son scrap, then you know “The Menace” walks the walk too. This aforementioned “come forward and drop the hammer” game plan was on full display in Bermudez’s most recent outing against the 8-2 Jorge Gurgel prospect Tommy “Wild Card” Hayden at UFC 150. It didn’t even last a round, but fight fans got to see Bermudez do a little bit of everything, including a neck cranking submission finish with astute authority.
“Going into that fight, I was thinking he’s a good guy, but he hasn’t fought anybody,” says Bermudez. “And I went into that fight thinking that I was somebody. That’s what I do.”
The tussle was an exciting smorgasbord of punches, kicks, and takedowns, as Hayden and Bermudez flew at each other with what appeared to be a near reckless abandon. As the two dueled for dominance in the opening round, Bermudez blasted Hayden with a front kick to the chest straight out of King Leonidas’ school of striking in “300”, which sent “Wild Card” into the cage. Moments later, Bermudez sealed the deal with a muscles popping, standing guillotine choke to improve his Octagon record to 2-1 and his overall career to 10-3.
“It’s definitely a part of my arsenal, and we work kicks like that in my striking,” tells Bermudez. “I don’t really use it too often, but the distance was there for it and he was backing up. I like to use a big striking move to get guys against the cage and then attack them from there. When I got to the cage, he shot and I got him with the guillotine.”
Although the win was short, sweet, and awarded a Submission of the Night bonus, if Bermudez was being critical, his first UFC win against Pablo Garza in May was the better one. “If you look at Garza, he’s a better fighter than Tommy Hayden and there was a lot of adversity in that fight because he’s 6 foot,” says Bermudez, who won the unanimous decision via superior wrestling with eight of nine takedown attempts successful and 13 guard passes. “I had to climb some different obstacles than I was used to. I think my takedowns were good and there were a lot of them. It was a little cleaner and not as sloppy.”
It has been a quick ascension to prominence in professional fighting for a 26-year-old who only started MMA in 2009. Only a few years removed from having to pay to fight as an amateur in Virginia, “The Menace” is preparing for his fourth fight in the UFC and has already collected three bonus checks. Before scoring back-to-back victories inside the Octagon, Bermudez made his debut in a Fight of the Night losing effort to Diego Brandao in the finals of The Ultimate Fighter 14, and, while in the house, nabbed the Submission of the Season bonus with a guillotine choke win over Akira Corassani. Without question, Bermudez’s life has quickly changed for the better since his days working as a personal trainer and a P.C. Richards’ stock boy while trying to make it as a fighter.
“I didn’t really notice at first, but now that I look back it’s been huge,” affirms Bermudez. “Prior to the UFC, I was working two jobs. It used to be a luxury for me and my lady to go out for dinner, but now being in the UFC I can buy things that I want or we can go out when we want or I don’t have to nickel and dime our groceries. This first year in the UFC kind of flew by. It’s nice to say that I’ve been in the UFC for a year now and I can’t wait until next year to say I’ve been in the UFC for two years, then three years, and, eventually, ten years. It definitely went fast. I’m going to keep climbing the ladder and get to the top. I’m not planning on speeding to the top, but eventually that’s where I want to be, the top. That’s the goal.”
Up next for Bermudez, a showdown in Anaheim, California against a fellow wrestler with heavy hands, Matt Grice, at UFC 157. A 31-year-old born and bred in the Oklahoma City area, “The Real One” is in his second stint in the UFC, this time as a featherweight. At 15-4, Grice won a lopsided unanimous decision over Leonard Garcia at UFC on FX in June, grounding the brawling Garcia with relentless takedowns and top control.
On paper, it reads like two bulls will clash horns in the center of the Octagon. “I know he’s a wrestler who likes to throw hands, so it should be a good fight because I’m that same guy,” asserts Bermudez. Both fighters have NCAA Division I wrestling experience, with Grice at the University of Oklahoma and Bermudez at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania. While wrestlers do have their own particular style, fortunately for fight fans, Grice and Bermudez are cut from the same bolt of cloth and like to attack, attack, attack.
“I would say there are three types of wrestlers in college,” explains Bermudez. “You have your defensive wrestlers that back up and try to counter wrestle. They back up, back up, back up, and then sneak a takedown. You have your super aggressive wrestlers who get in your face and grind you for every second of the match. Then you have your technical wrestlers who are sharp and precise. I’m that aggressive guy. My technique wasn’t the best in college, but it wasn’t uncommon for me to be down 8-2 and then come back and end the third period 16-15. I just keep coming and keep coming until the guy can’t breathe. And then my takedowns come even easier. Pulling on the guys head, getting in the guy’s face, and just constant pressure. I bring that same thing to the fight game.”
In preparation for the Grice bout, Bermudez is busy training all over his adopted home of Strong Island, NY, splitting time between Long Island MMA in Farmingdale, Bellmore Kickboxing Academy in Bellmore, and Long Island Strength and Performance in Lindenhurst. For striking, Bermudez is in the more than capable hands of Keith Trimble and sparring with TUF 15 finalist Al Iaquinta. As for head coaching and grappling, the duty of keeping the stubborn wrestler Bermudez honest on the ground goes to BJJ black belt Gregg DePasquale.
“The first place I ever trained jiu-jitsu was Blackman MMA in Harrisburg, PA and I was living in PA at the time,” remembers Bermudez. “My wrestling was more dominant than the guys were in jiu-jitsu. I thought, ‘why should I learn jiu-jitsu if my wrestling counters it?’ That was the case for the longest time. I’ve been so in love with wrestling and been doing it for such a long time that to learn a whole new sport was like, ‘ugh.’ I’m so good at this one and now I have to learn a whole new arsenal of moves and stuff like that? I was just like I don’t want to do it, so anything I could do to get away from that I would. I moved to Long Island and my jiu-jitsu coach, Gregg DePasquale, is a black belt and the guys were really good here. I was getting tapped and I was like, ‘What is going on here?’ We brought in some good wrestlers like Ryan Needle, who was a multi-time high school All-American and my wrestling wasn’t working against them. I had to find another avenue to beat these guys and jiu-jitsu is that. A combination of my wrestling with jiu-jitsu and I can tap them.”
This Saturday at UFC 157 in “The Heart of Orange County”, featherweights collide as Bermudez battles Grice. “I know he’s a good wrestler, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to try and take it where I’m good at in wrestling,” asserts Bermudez, who will look to impose his will on Grice for his third W inside the Octagon. “In my past when I wrestled in college or high school, I didn’t watch a guy wrestle and think, ‘oh, I should do this or that because he does this or that.’ It didn’t work out as good as when I would just go in there and do my thing. It didn’t work out as well as it did when I would make it my fight.”
In short, if you can smell what “The Menace” is cooking, he’s going to “go in there, take control, hold the center, get them backing up, and lay the smack down.”
“I go in there, take control, hold the center, get them backing up, and lay the smack down.”
It’s brash, it’s bold, it’s bullheaded, and it sounds like something Brock Lesnar or, more likely, The Rock would bark before doing battle. It’s certainly a heavyweight’s mentality, but it’s actually from a featherweight’s body. Specifically, the confident quote is from the mouth of 145 pound star-in-the-making Dennis Bermudez.
While one can say it’s easy to talk the talk, if you’ve seen Saugerties, New York’s number one cagefighting son scrap, then you know “The Menace” walks the walk too. This aforementioned “come forward and drop the hammer” game plan was on full display in Bermudez’s most recent outing against the 8-2 Jorge Gurgel prospect Tommy “Wild Card” Hayden at UFC 150. It didn’t even last a round, but fight fans got to see Bermudez do a little bit of everything, including a neck cranking submission finish with astute authority.
“Going into that fight, I was thinking he’s a good guy, but he hasn’t fought anybody,” says Bermudez. “And I went into that fight thinking that I was somebody. That’s what I do.”
The tussle was an exciting smorgasbord of punches, kicks, and takedowns, as Hayden and Bermudez flew at each other with what appeared to be a near reckless abandon. As the two dueled for dominance in the opening round, Bermudez blasted Hayden with a front kick to the chest straight out of King Leonidas’ school of striking in “300”, which sent “Wild Card” into the cage. Moments later, Bermudez sealed the deal with a muscles popping, standing guillotine choke to improve his Octagon record to 2-1 and his overall career to 10-3.
“It’s definitely a part of my arsenal, and we work kicks like that in my striking,” tells Bermudez. “I don’t really use it too often, but the distance was there for it and he was backing up. I like to use a big striking move to get guys against the cage and then attack them from there. When I got to the cage, he shot and I got him with the guillotine.”
Although the win was short, sweet, and awarded a Submission of the Night bonus, if Bermudez was being critical, his first UFC win against Pablo Garza in May was the better one. “If you look at Garza, he’s a better fighter than Tommy Hayden and there was a lot of adversity in that fight because he’s 6 foot,” says Bermudez, who won the unanimous decision via superior wrestling with eight of nine takedown attempts successful and 13 guard passes. “I had to climb some different obstacles than I was used to. I think my takedowns were good and there were a lot of them. It was a little cleaner and not as sloppy.”
It has been a quick ascension to prominence in professional fighting for a 26-year-old who only started MMA in 2009. Only a few years removed from having to pay to fight as an amateur in Virginia, “The Menace” is preparing for his fourth fight in the UFC and has already collected three bonus checks. Before scoring back-to-back victories inside the Octagon, Bermudez made his debut in a Fight of the Night losing effort to Diego Brandao in the finals of The Ultimate Fighter 14, and, while in the house, nabbed the Submission of the Season bonus with a guillotine choke win over Akira Corassani. Without question, Bermudez’s life has quickly changed for the better since his days working as a personal trainer and a P.C. Richards’ stock boy while trying to make it as a fighter.
“I didn’t really notice at first, but now that I look back it’s been huge,” affirms Bermudez. “Prior to the UFC, I was working two jobs. It used to be a luxury for me and my lady to go out for dinner, but now being in the UFC I can buy things that I want or we can go out when we want or I don’t have to nickel and dime our groceries. This first year in the UFC kind of flew by. It’s nice to say that I’ve been in the UFC for a year now and I can’t wait until next year to say I’ve been in the UFC for two years, then three years, and, eventually, ten years. It definitely went fast. I’m going to keep climbing the ladder and get to the top. I’m not planning on speeding to the top, but eventually that’s where I want to be, the top. That’s the goal.”
Up next for Bermudez, a showdown in Anaheim, California against a fellow wrestler with heavy hands, Matt Grice, at UFC 157. A 31-year-old born and bred in the Oklahoma City area, “The Real One” is in his second stint in the UFC, this time as a featherweight. At 15-4, Grice won a lopsided unanimous decision over Leonard Garcia at UFC on FX in June, grounding the brawling Garcia with relentless takedowns and top control.
On paper, it reads like two bulls will clash horns in the center of the Octagon. “I know he’s a wrestler who likes to throw hands, so it should be a good fight because I’m that same guy,” asserts Bermudez. Both fighters have NCAA Division I wrestling experience, with Grice at the University of Oklahoma and Bermudez at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania. While wrestlers do have their own particular style, fortunately for fight fans, Grice and Bermudez are cut from the same bolt of cloth and like to attack, attack, attack.
“I would say there are three types of wrestlers in college,” explains Bermudez. “You have your defensive wrestlers that back up and try to counter wrestle. They back up, back up, back up, and then sneak a takedown. You have your super aggressive wrestlers who get in your face and grind you for every second of the match. Then you have your technical wrestlers who are sharp and precise. I’m that aggressive guy. My technique wasn’t the best in college, but it wasn’t uncommon for me to be down 8-2 and then come back and end the third period 16-15. I just keep coming and keep coming until the guy can’t breathe. And then my takedowns come even easier. Pulling on the guys head, getting in the guy’s face, and just constant pressure. I bring that same thing to the fight game.”
In preparation for the Grice bout, Bermudez is busy training all over his adopted home of Strong Island, NY, splitting time between Long Island MMA in Farmingdale, Bellmore Kickboxing Academy in Bellmore, and Long Island Strength and Performance in Lindenhurst. For striking, Bermudez is in the more than capable hands of Keith Trimble and sparring with TUF 15 finalist Al Iaquinta. As for head coaching and grappling, the duty of keeping the stubborn wrestler Bermudez honest on the ground goes to BJJ black belt Gregg DePasquale.
“The first place I ever trained jiu-jitsu was Blackman MMA in Harrisburg, PA and I was living in PA at the time,” remembers Bermudez. “My wrestling was more dominant than the guys were in jiu-jitsu. I thought, ‘why should I learn jiu-jitsu if my wrestling counters it?’ That was the case for the longest time. I’ve been so in love with wrestling and been doing it for such a long time that to learn a whole new sport was like, ‘ugh.’ I’m so good at this one and now I have to learn a whole new arsenal of moves and stuff like that? I was just like I don’t want to do it, so anything I could do to get away from that I would. I moved to Long Island and my jiu-jitsu coach, Gregg DePasquale, is a black belt and the guys were really good here. I was getting tapped and I was like, ‘What is going on here?’ We brought in some good wrestlers like Ryan Needle, who was a multi-time high school All-American and my wrestling wasn’t working against them. I had to find another avenue to beat these guys and jiu-jitsu is that. A combination of my wrestling with jiu-jitsu and I can tap them.”
This Saturday at UFC 157 in “The Heart of Orange County”, featherweights collide as Bermudez battles Grice. “I know he’s a good wrestler, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to try and take it where I’m good at in wrestling,” asserts Bermudez, who will look to impose his will on Grice for his third W inside the Octagon. “In my past when I wrestled in college or high school, I didn’t watch a guy wrestle and think, ‘oh, I should do this or that because he does this or that.’ It didn’t work out as good as when I would just go in there and do my thing. It didn’t work out as well as it did when I would make it my fight.”
In short, if you can smell what “The Menace” is cooking, he’s going to “go in there, take control, hold the center, get them backing up, and lay the smack down.”
Death, taxes, and if you trade punches with Lavar Johnson – he will knock you out.
In the UFC, there are a few givens fight fans and would-be opponents should have accepted by now as failing ventures, like exhausting Frankie Edgar or choking out Jon Fitch or someone ever beating Anderson Silva. In 2012, we all learned that if you’re staring across the Octagon at Johnson then your gameplan better be takedowns and submissions, because striking with him is futile. Whether one has a granite chin, K-1 experience, or is 7 feet tall, everyone’s best and possibly only chance against the knockout-ready hands of Johnson is definitely on the ground.
There’s no secret to fighting the Californian; it’s either take it to the floor or he’ll put you through it.
“I hit really hard,” reveals Johnson. “I’ve been told by my teammates and everyone that it is a lot harder than everyone else. They hold the mitts for the other guys and then they hold the mitts for me and it’s like a big difference. I really believe in my hands. And I’m getting faster. I don’t know how it is happening, but I am getting faster. I guess it’s all the pad work and the wrestling that is improving my standup. I feel good. I feel like I can compete with anybody in the UFC.”
Last January at UFC on FOX, it was Johnson’s fists that did the unthinkable and knocked out the seemingly un-knockout-able Joey Beltran. Not only did he knock Beltran out, but he did it in the first round. Previously, Octagon enthusiasts had seen “The Mexicutioner” nearly devour heavy leather thrown at him by Matt Mitrione, Pat Barry, Aaron Rosa, and Stipe Miocic. Even after the bludgeoning by Johnson, Beltran stood toe-to-toe with James Te Huna for all three rounds, and Te Huna is a proven KO artist, earning seven of his last nine wins by knockout.
“Some people are just born to hit hard, and that’s my talent,” estimates Johnson. “I think it’s just natural for me. I’m not big on the jiu-jitsu, as we all know. I’m trying to pick it up and have been working with some good guys. It just comes natural to me to hit hard.”
The Beltran bout netted him his first Knockout of the Night bonus, and Johnson secured his second in his second Octagon appearance against Barry in May at UFC on FOX. Two fights, two first round finishes, two KOTN awards, and he was quickly enjoying life in the UFC. Johnson’s next move was a surprising one, accepting a short notice scrap with Stefan Struve at UFC 146.
The 35-year-old from Madera signed up for a showdown with the Dutch “Skyscraper” Struve only 21 days removed from the win over Barry. As he looks at really any fight on paper, he thought he could put his 6’4” frame with his 81 inch reach to work on Struve, whose three losses inside the Octagon all come by way of one punch knockout. In theory, it wasn’t that bad of an idea, but the 7 footer is quickly becoming one of the craftier submission artists in the UFC heavyweight division, and Struve caught Johnson in something special.
“I thought I was going to be able to knock him out, honestly,” he said. “That’s why I took the fight on such short notice. I thought I was prepared. He had a really good game plan. I didn’t have the chance to wrestle or roll or get anything ready. But he fought a good fight and outsmarted me, I guess you could say.”
It only lasted a minute, but the fight went exactly as it had to go for Struve to win. The action began with Johnson crossing the cage and belting Struve to the face and body, which noticeably caused damage. And with that, “Skyscraper” jumped guard and transitioned into an armbar before Johnson even touched the floor. That’s how it had to go down or Struve would’ve been put down by another series of Johnson’s punches.
After his first year in the UFC, Johnson is 2-1 inside the Octagon with two bonus checks in the bank. To think, Johnson began his foray into combat sports with a Toughman Competition in neighboring Lemoore, California to tell his kids and his grandkids that he did it once. Nowadays, he has an impressive scrapbook of stories, like how he put a former kickboxer to sleep on network television and how he became a featured heavyweight fighter on Pay-Per-View. The surreal experience is far from lost on Johnson, who had more than a few butterflies in his stomach before these three UFC fights, but still knuckled-up when it was showtime.
“It was amazing; life changing,” tells Johnson. “It’s everything that we train for as professional fighters. Everyone wants to be in the UFC, that’s the main goal. I was just so blessed to be there to fight and compete with these guys. A lot of people know who I am now. The only fights I’ve thrown up before were my last three in the UFC (laughs). It’s a little different, for sure. You know that the world is watching. It’s just the UFC, period. You knowing that you’re at the Super Bowl. I think I’m going to be all right now. I don’t get scared, I’m just getting comfortable. I feel really good for this one. After the first punch is thrown, I’m good. All that nervousness goes out the window after that first punch is thrown and it’s on.”
Up next for Johnson is a chance to answer his first call out in the UFC from The Ultimate Fighter 10 finalist Brendan Schaub at UFC 157 in Anaheim. At 9-3 with eight wins by knockout, the former collegiate and professional football player brings both size and speed with solid Golden Gloves-winning boxing technique. Schaub’s best Octagon appearance was his Knockout of the Night awarded performance against former K-1 and PRIDE superstar Mirko “Cro Cop” at UFC 128. If Schaub is in need of any advice on fight strategy, Johnson is graciously happy to help: “take me down”.
“I think Brendan is very athletic,” says Johnson. “He’s got good cardio, well-rounded, I’ve heard he’s pretty decent on the ground, and he likes to stand up and bang. I’m expecting him to come out and try to stand up and bang a little at least. But I think he’s going to try and take it to the ground from there once he feels the power. I think he got his brown belt not too long ago, so, most definitely if I was him, I would use that. He’s fast, so I would use my speed, use my hands to try and get in and shoot and try and take me down.”
While call outs are commonplace in the UFC, it is a tad shocking that Schaub would choose Johnson in particular. The glaring weakness in Schaub’s overall game is his chin and he has lost three times – Nelson, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Ben Rothwell – inside the Octagon all by a devastating fist going upside his heavyweight head. The Nogueira and Rothwell losses were Schaub’s last two fights, and, now, he specifically wants to try the even more powerful Johnson. It doesn’t make sense to Johnson, but he’s not complaining, and he is ready to put Schaub on the wrong end of his fourth KOTN bonus.
“If he even makes it to then [a takedown attempt],” asserts Johnson. “I’ve seen him get hit by ‘Big Ben’ with a slapping left hook and that knocked him out. ‘Big Country’ clubbed him on the side of the head and knocked his lights out. And, ‘Big Nog’ knocked his lights out too. I think I hit harder than those guys. We’ll see what happens. Most of my finishes are by knockout and most of his losses are by knockout. The odds are going in my favor, but it doesn’t always work that way. The best fighter doesn’t always win in MMA. It’s a tricky sport. Who knows, maybe he’ll bring his chin that day and end up sleeping me. You never know. That’s why we have these fights. It is what it is and he’s going to get what he wants on the 23rd.”
In preparation for Schaub, Johnson is busy training with the top tier talent of American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, California. Under the watchful eye of “Crazy” Bob Cook, who has cornered Johnson since the very beginning, he is steadily working on his MMA game against the best heavyweights one could find in former US Olympic wrestler turned Strikeforce heavyweight Grand Prix winner Daniel Cormier and UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez. As everyone, including himself, often point out Johnson’s lack of jiu-jitsu expertise, “Big” does have one legit submission win via guillotine choke, so opponents do need to worry about the occasional sub when going for that necessary takedown.
“He was a really big guy, he went in there standing up, and the power was too much for him right away when I put hands on him,” remembers Johnson. “He didn’t like it one bit, so he tried to shoot and I caught him in a guillotine. But he actually picked me up and tried to bump me over to the side of the cage and tried to throw me out of there. He tried to throw me out of the cage (laughs). The referee stopped that. He brought us back to the middle in the same position and I just cranked the guillotine on him. He was looking for a way out. He knew I was too much for him.”
This Saturday in Anaheim, heavyweights Johnson and Schaub will collide, and come hell or high water, “Big” will be gunning for the knockout. “People want to see the heavyweights swing for the fences and that’s what I’m going to give them,” affirms Johnson, with 16 of his 17 wins coming by punishing punches, proving a striker’s duel with Johnson is guaranteed both bad for an opponent’s health and exciting to watch for fight fans. “I’m trying to come out and give them the best show that they can have. Win or lose or draw. I’m going to give it my all to swing as hard as I can.”
Death, taxes, and if you trade punches with Lavar Johnson – he will knock you out.
In the UFC, there are a few givens fight fans and would-be opponents should have accepted by now as failing ventures, like exhausting Frankie Edgar or choking out Jon Fitch or someone ever beating Anderson Silva. In 2012, we all learned that if you’re staring across the Octagon at Johnson then your gameplan better be takedowns and submissions, because striking with him is futile. Whether one has a granite chin, K-1 experience, or is 7 feet tall, everyone’s best and possibly only chance against the knockout-ready hands of Johnson is definitely on the ground.
There’s no secret to fighting the Californian; it’s either take it to the floor or he’ll put you through it.
“I hit really hard,” reveals Johnson. “I’ve been told by my teammates and everyone that it is a lot harder than everyone else. They hold the mitts for the other guys and then they hold the mitts for me and it’s like a big difference. I really believe in my hands. And I’m getting faster. I don’t know how it is happening, but I am getting faster. I guess it’s all the pad work and the wrestling that is improving my standup. I feel good. I feel like I can compete with anybody in the UFC.”
Last January at UFC on FOX, it was Johnson’s fists that did the unthinkable and knocked out the seemingly un-knockout-able Joey Beltran. Not only did he knock Beltran out, but he did it in the first round. Previously, Octagon enthusiasts had seen “The Mexicutioner” nearly devour heavy leather thrown at him by Matt Mitrione, Pat Barry, Aaron Rosa, and Stipe Miocic. Even after the bludgeoning by Johnson, Beltran stood toe-to-toe with James Te Huna for all three rounds, and Te Huna is a proven KO artist, earning seven of his last nine wins by knockout.
“Some people are just born to hit hard, and that’s my talent,” estimates Johnson. “I think it’s just natural for me. I’m not big on the jiu-jitsu, as we all know. I’m trying to pick it up and have been working with some good guys. It just comes natural to me to hit hard.”
The Beltran bout netted him his first Knockout of the Night bonus, and Johnson secured his second in his second Octagon appearance against Barry in May at UFC on FOX. Two fights, two first round finishes, two KOTN awards, and he was quickly enjoying life in the UFC. Johnson’s next move was a surprising one, accepting a short notice scrap with Stefan Struve at UFC 146.
The 35-year-old from Madera signed up for a showdown with the Dutch “Skyscraper” Struve only 21 days removed from the win over Barry. As he looks at really any fight on paper, he thought he could put his 6’4” frame with his 81 inch reach to work on Struve, whose three losses inside the Octagon all come by way of one punch knockout. In theory, it wasn’t that bad of an idea, but the 7 footer is quickly becoming one of the craftier submission artists in the UFC heavyweight division, and Struve caught Johnson in something special.
“I thought I was going to be able to knock him out, honestly,” he said. “That’s why I took the fight on such short notice. I thought I was prepared. He had a really good game plan. I didn’t have the chance to wrestle or roll or get anything ready. But he fought a good fight and outsmarted me, I guess you could say.”
It only lasted a minute, but the fight went exactly as it had to go for Struve to win. The action began with Johnson crossing the cage and belting Struve to the face and body, which noticeably caused damage. And with that, “Skyscraper” jumped guard and transitioned into an armbar before Johnson even touched the floor. That’s how it had to go down or Struve would’ve been put down by another series of Johnson’s punches.
After his first year in the UFC, Johnson is 2-1 inside the Octagon with two bonus checks in the bank. To think, Johnson began his foray into combat sports with a Toughman Competition in neighboring Lemoore, California to tell his kids and his grandkids that he did it once. Nowadays, he has an impressive scrapbook of stories, like how he put a former kickboxer to sleep on network television and how he became a featured heavyweight fighter on Pay-Per-View. The surreal experience is far from lost on Johnson, who had more than a few butterflies in his stomach before these three UFC fights, but still knuckled-up when it was showtime.
“It was amazing; life changing,” tells Johnson. “It’s everything that we train for as professional fighters. Everyone wants to be in the UFC, that’s the main goal. I was just so blessed to be there to fight and compete with these guys. A lot of people know who I am now. The only fights I’ve thrown up before were my last three in the UFC (laughs). It’s a little different, for sure. You know that the world is watching. It’s just the UFC, period. You knowing that you’re at the Super Bowl. I think I’m going to be all right now. I don’t get scared, I’m just getting comfortable. I feel really good for this one. After the first punch is thrown, I’m good. All that nervousness goes out the window after that first punch is thrown and it’s on.”
Up next for Johnson is a chance to answer his first call out in the UFC from The Ultimate Fighter 10 finalist Brendan Schaub at UFC 157 in Anaheim. At 9-3 with eight wins by knockout, the former collegiate and professional football player brings both size and speed with solid Golden Gloves-winning boxing technique. Schaub’s best Octagon appearance was his Knockout of the Night awarded performance against former K-1 and PRIDE superstar Mirko “Cro Cop” at UFC 128. If Schaub is in need of any advice on fight strategy, Johnson is graciously happy to help: “take me down”.
“I think Brendan is very athletic,” says Johnson. “He’s got good cardio, well-rounded, I’ve heard he’s pretty decent on the ground, and he likes to stand up and bang. I’m expecting him to come out and try to stand up and bang a little at least. But I think he’s going to try and take it to the ground from there once he feels the power. I think he got his brown belt not too long ago, so, most definitely if I was him, I would use that. He’s fast, so I would use my speed, use my hands to try and get in and shoot and try and take me down.”
While call outs are commonplace in the UFC, it is a tad shocking that Schaub would choose Johnson in particular. The glaring weakness in Schaub’s overall game is his chin and he has lost three times – Nelson, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Ben Rothwell – inside the Octagon all by a devastating fist going upside his heavyweight head. The Nogueira and Rothwell losses were Schaub’s last two fights, and, now, he specifically wants to try the even more powerful Johnson. It doesn’t make sense to Johnson, but he’s not complaining, and he is ready to put Schaub on the wrong end of his fourth KOTN bonus.
“If he even makes it to then [a takedown attempt],” asserts Johnson. “I’ve seen him get hit by ‘Big Ben’ with a slapping left hook and that knocked him out. ‘Big Country’ clubbed him on the side of the head and knocked his lights out. And, ‘Big Nog’ knocked his lights out too. I think I hit harder than those guys. We’ll see what happens. Most of my finishes are by knockout and most of his losses are by knockout. The odds are going in my favor, but it doesn’t always work that way. The best fighter doesn’t always win in MMA. It’s a tricky sport. Who knows, maybe he’ll bring his chin that day and end up sleeping me. You never know. That’s why we have these fights. It is what it is and he’s going to get what he wants on the 23rd.”
In preparation for Schaub, Johnson is busy training with the top tier talent of American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, California. Under the watchful eye of “Crazy” Bob Cook, who has cornered Johnson since the very beginning, he is steadily working on his MMA game against the best heavyweights one could find in former US Olympic wrestler turned Strikeforce heavyweight Grand Prix winner Daniel Cormier and UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez. As everyone, including himself, often point out Johnson’s lack of jiu-jitsu expertise, “Big” does have one legit submission win via guillotine choke, so opponents do need to worry about the occasional sub when going for that necessary takedown.
“He was a really big guy, he went in there standing up, and the power was too much for him right away when I put hands on him,” remembers Johnson. “He didn’t like it one bit, so he tried to shoot and I caught him in a guillotine. But he actually picked me up and tried to bump me over to the side of the cage and tried to throw me out of there. He tried to throw me out of the cage (laughs). The referee stopped that. He brought us back to the middle in the same position and I just cranked the guillotine on him. He was looking for a way out. He knew I was too much for him.”
This Saturday in Anaheim, heavyweights Johnson and Schaub will collide, and come hell or high water, “Big” will be gunning for the knockout. “People want to see the heavyweights swing for the fences and that’s what I’m going to give them,” affirms Johnson, with 16 of his 17 wins coming by punishing punches, proving a striker’s duel with Johnson is guaranteed both bad for an opponent’s health and exciting to watch for fight fans. “I’m trying to come out and give them the best show that they can have. Win or lose or draw. I’m going to give it my all to swing as hard as I can.”
On December 16th, 2010, World Extreme Cagefighting held its final event in Glendale, Arizona in front of a lucky 6,348 fight fans who witnessed history live. From bonuses to belts, the show’s stacked card has since flooded the UFC’s ranks with talent that has taken over the flyweight, bantamweight, featherweight, and lightweight divisions. Here, some facts and figures about that event and its fighters:
3 Number of WEC 53 fighters who are now UFC champions (Benson Henderson, lightweight; Dominick Cruz, bantamweight; Renan Barao, bantamweight-interim)
1 Number who currently have a title shot lined up (Anthony Pettis)
26 UFC post-fight bonuses awarded to men in the WEC since they came over
54 Combined UFC wins of the 22 fighters from that event after the WEC merged with the UFC
1,560,000 Amount, in dollars, of those 26 bonuses
410,000 Amount, in dollars, of that belonging to Donald Cerrone for his 3 FOTN, 2 KOTN, and 1 SOTN hauls
16 Number of fighters at WEC 53 who are still in the UFC
14 Number of fighters at UFC 124, which took place the same month, who are still in the UFC
1 Number of WEC 53 fighters who now have a column on UFC.com (Dan Downes, The Downes Side)
120 Time in minutes that Benson Henderson has fought inside the UFC Octagon, with all wins coming by decision
256 Time in seconds Anthony Pettis has fought in the last 2 performances, which were both Knockouts of the Night
63 Number of seconds left in the WEC 53 main event when Anthony Pettis landed his now-famous Showtime Kick
3 Matrix-like leg attacks from Pettis in the UFC — “Showtime Knee” on Cerrone, one-handed cartwheel kick on Cerrone, and a bounce-off-the-Octagon-twisting-kick-to-the-face to Clay Guida
506 Significant strikes thrown by WEC 53 alumni Brad Pickett and Eddie Wineland at each other in a slugfest decision at UFC 155
3 Submission attempts made by Ivan Menjivar in the UFC
2 Number of those that resulted in submission wins
100 Percentage of those two finishes that earned him Submission of the Night bonuses
6 Pink mohawks inside the Octagon between Scott Jorgensen’s 5 UFC fights and Bart Palaszewski’s at UFC 137
75 Percent of Brad Pickett’s Octagon appearances that have earned bonuses
1 Number of UFC fighters who wear breakaway tuxedos at weigh-ins (Danny “Last Call” Castillo)
On December 16th, 2010, World Extreme Cagefighting held its final event in Glendale, Arizona in front of a lucky 6,348 fight fans who witnessed history live. From bonuses to belts, the show’s stacked card has since flooded the UFC’s ranks with talent that has taken over the flyweight, bantamweight, featherweight, and lightweight divisions. Here, some facts and figures about that event and its fighters:
3 Number of WEC 53 fighters who are now UFC champions (Benson Henderson, lightweight; Dominick Cruz, bantamweight; Renan Barao, bantamweight-interim)
1 Number who currently have a title shot lined up (Anthony Pettis)
26 UFC post-fight bonuses awarded to men in the WEC since they came over
54 Combined UFC wins of the 22 fighters from that event after the WEC merged with the UFC
1,560,000 Amount, in dollars, of those 26 bonuses
410,000 Amount, in dollars, of that belonging to Donald Cerrone for his 3 FOTN, 2 KOTN, and 1 SOTN hauls
16 Number of fighters at WEC 53 who are still in the UFC
14 Number of fighters at UFC 124, which took place the same month, who are still in the UFC
1 Number of WEC 53 fighters who now have a column on UFC.com (Dan Downes, The Downes Side)
120 Time in minutes that Benson Henderson has fought inside the UFC Octagon, with all wins coming by decision
256 Time in seconds Anthony Pettis has fought in the last 2 performances, which were both Knockouts of the Night
63 Number of seconds left in the WEC 53 main event when Anthony Pettis landed his now-famous Showtime Kick
3 Matrix-like leg attacks from Pettis in the UFC — “Showtime Knee” on Cerrone, one-handed cartwheel kick on Cerrone, and a bounce-off-the-Octagon-twisting-kick-to-the-face to Clay Guida
506 Significant strikes thrown by WEC 53 alumni Brad Pickett and Eddie Wineland at each other in a slugfest decision at UFC 155
3 Submission attempts made by Ivan Menjivar in the UFC
2 Number of those that resulted in submission wins
100 Percentage of those two finishes that earned him Submission of the Night bonuses
6 Pink mohawks inside the Octagon between Scott Jorgensen’s 5 UFC fights and Bart Palaszewski’s at UFC 137
75 Percent of Brad Pickett’s Octagon appearances that have earned bonuses
1 Number of UFC fighters who wear breakaway tuxedos at weigh-ins (Danny “Last Call” Castillo)
185 Weight limit in pounds of the middleweight division, which is the chosen weight class for the current TUF season.
0 Number of the 28 current cast members who have a pink mohawk
6 Different countries represented by the fighters of TUF 17, most of any season.
9 Number of non-US born TUF winners (Brazil – Diego Brandao, Rony Jason, Cezar Ferreira; United Kingdom – Michael Bisping, Ross Pearson, James Wilks, Norman Parks; Mexico – Efrain Escudero; Australia – Robert Whittaker)
3
UFC champions who were contestants on TUF (Forrest Griffin, Rashad Evans, and Matt Serra)
1 Kimbo Slice
5 Number of coaches who won both the coaches’ challenge and the season-concluding coaches’ fight (Forrest Griffin, Dan Henderson, Rashad Evans, Michael Bisping, and Ross Pearson)
9 TUF winners whose team color was a shade of blue, more than any other color
8 TUF finalists who have earned UFC title shots (including TUF 14’s
John Dodson, who will take on UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson
at UFC on FOX 6)
8,000 Average cost in dollars of a used 2005 Scion Xb, the car Forrest Griffin won on TUF 1
1 Number of TUF 17 fighters who made it into the house using “double-fisted goofy shots” en route to a TKO (Josh Samman)
3 Knockout of the Night bonuses awarded to the TUF season winner after their respective finale (Roy Nelson, Tony Ferguson, and John Dodson)
3 TUF season winners who earned Submission of the night bonuses for their victories (Court McGee, Diego Brandao, and Michael Chiesa)
1 Fight of the Night bonuses awarded to TUF winners post-Finale: Diego Brandao
1 Number of fighters who left the house because they couldn’t call their girlfriends (Noah Inhofer)
7 TUF winners who finished all their opponents in the house and in the finals (Michael Bisping, Nate Diaz, Mac Danzig, Amir Sadollah, James Wilks, Tony Ferguson and Diego Brandao)
0
Number of pranks pulled that helped someone win the show
185 Weight limit in pounds of the middleweight division, which is the chosen weight class for the current TUF season.
0 Number of the 28 current cast members who have a pink mohawk
6 Different countries represented by the fighters of TUF 17, most of any season.
9 Number of non-US born TUF winners (Brazil – Diego Brandao, Rony Jason, Cezar Ferreira; United Kingdom – Michael Bisping, Ross Pearson, James Wilks, Norman Parks; Mexico – Efrain Escudero; Australia – Robert Whittaker)
3
UFC champions who were contestants on TUF (Forrest Griffin, Rashad Evans, and Matt Serra)
1 Kimbo Slice
5 Number of coaches who won both the coaches’ challenge and the season-concluding coaches’ fight (Forrest Griffin, Dan Henderson, Rashad Evans, Michael Bisping, and Ross Pearson)
9 TUF winners whose team color was a shade of blue, more than any other color
8 TUF finalists who have earned UFC title shots (including TUF 14’s
John Dodson, who will take on UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson
at UFC on FOX 6)
8,000 Average cost in dollars of a used 2005 Scion Xb, the car Forrest Griffin won on TUF 1
1 Number of TUF 17 fighters who made it into the house using “double-fisted goofy shots” en route to a TKO (Josh Samman)
3 Knockout of the Night bonuses awarded to the TUF season winner after their respective finale (Roy Nelson, Tony Ferguson, and John Dodson)
3 TUF season winners who earned Submission of the night bonuses for their victories (Court McGee, Diego Brandao, and Michael Chiesa)
1 Fight of the Night bonuses awarded to TUF winners post-Finale: Diego Brandao
1 Number of fighters who left the house because they couldn’t call their girlfriends (Noah Inhofer)
7 TUF winners who finished all their opponents in the house and in the finals (Michael Bisping, Nate Diaz, Mac Danzig, Amir Sadollah, James Wilks, Tony Ferguson and Diego Brandao)
0
Number of pranks pulled that helped someone win the show
While pro wrestling’s legendary voice Jim Ross cemented the clever phrase as a commentating colloquialism to describe famed kickers from “Sweet” Stan Lane to the 1-2-3 Kid, it’s found no better living example than UFC 144 Knockout of the Night winner Anthony “Showtime” Pettis.
The former and final WEC lightweight champion spent his lifetime learning the complete curriculum of combative kicks. Pettis received his undergrad in taekwondo as a third degree black belt. Born and bred in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he received his Master’s from mentor, head coach, friend, former K-1 kickboxer, and multiple Muay Thai world champion Jeff “Duke” Roufus. Nowadays, he is writing his doctoral thesis in fight finishing with his 13-2 record including 10 stoppages. But, Pettis’ flashy, unpredictable, and often devastating kicks do not always originate from traditional martial arts because he began his formal education in something a bit more “extreme”.
“My style, my kicks, is all from what I used to do as a kid: XMA, Xtreme Martial Arts,” explains Pettis. “It’s a mix of acrobatics and martial arts. As a kid, I did that growing up and I was really into it. Even before XMA was even called XMA. I did a lot of kicks and flips, a lot of crazy stuff. My style when I used to do point sparring in taekwondo was to land something that no one had ever done before. Now that my overall MMA game is better, I’m not afraid to take chances and I feel comfortable taking risks. My style is coming from my background. And, I’m still learning. I come up with new stuff almost daily. It’s a lot of stuff that I get to play with.”
At UFC 144 in Saitama, Japan, the 25-year-old gave the UFC’s lightweight division a taste of what’s in his catalog of concussive kicks with a Cro Cop-like, lightning quick, left high kick. It only took 81 seconds for Pettis to dispatch of Fight Night bonus king Joe Lauzon and remind everyone of why he was at the top of the WEC’s 155-pound mountain when it was absorbed into the UFC at the end of 2010. Now 2-1 inside the Octagon, Pettis admits the previous two appearances were atypical, but fight fans should be fully expecting to see a better “Showtime” than they remember. Possibly, an ambidextrous one.
“My plan was to switch him up by coming out southpaw and let my kicks go,” affirms Pettis. “I had been working my southpaw a lot, it’s another set of angles. My right side is very dangerous already, so I’m going to be even more dangerous if I can switch back and forth. That’s why I felt really confident in switching up. I was baiting him with my hands and getting him to fight my hands. I saw him bite on my hands and it left him a little open for the kick and I was able to capitalize. I was coming off a loss from the Clay Guida fight and I went into the fight with Jeremy Stephens and my confidence wasn’t 100%, so I fought the Stephens fight and just wanted to get the W on that. I think the Lauzon fight was my first time actually showing Anthony ‘Showtime’ Pettis in the UFC.”
Following the bonus-winning performance, he went back in the gym to help out the multitude of pro MMA teammates he has when Pettis discovered a nagging injury was much more serious than previously thought. “I got the MRI done and they came back saying that I had two tears in my labrum,” reveals Pettis, who decided to get the surgery to fix it and take the proper time off. While sitting on the sidelines for 11 months wasn’t ideal, it was necessary and it afforded him tons of me time to really work on his skills without worrying about an opponent. All healed up and itching for a fight, Pettis is excited to make 2013 a memorable one inside the Octagon.
“Even with the rest of last year off, I feel like I gained so much skill and so much knowledge,” says Pettis. “When you are getting ready for a fight, you can’t really get better technically. But with a year off, I really focused on my technique. I think I’m comfortable on both sides and I’m even more dangerous now. I’m always evolving. I feel like my southpaw is as good as my right stance, so I’m getting better everywhere. I feel like I’m building off of that win and picking up right where I left off. The year off is not going to be a factor. I’m feeling great. I’ve been training. I only took that time to heal my body. I know I’m going to have a long career in this and I didn’t want to rush back not healthy. I know that I want this to last. I don’t want anything to decide my fights besides my skills, so I took the year off. I feel excellent. I’m ready to continue right where I left off in Japan.”
The highlight reel kicks like the one on Lauzon, and, the most famous of them all, the “Showtime Kick” that caught current UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson, will live on in top 10 lists forever and ever, but fans and opponents alike should not forget the rest of Pettis’ MMA game. The techniques and skills that Pettis has been able to focus on in his time off were the only ones to defeat Henderson in 12 fights under the Zuffa banner. It wasn’t just jumping off the cage and landing a kick; Pettis won the rounds rumbling with “Bendo” for 25 minutes in the standup game, on the ground, and in the clinch. Don’t mistake it, “Showtime” has flash and substance.
“They don’t have the tools that I have,” declares Pettis. “He (Henderson) is very dynamic and he’s only getting better all the time. He’s a good striker, he wrestles really well, he’s very hard to submit, and very hard to finish. You take the top guys at the division and they all have holes in their game. I’m not saying I’m perfect; there are holes in my game. But you can watch the video of my fight with him and see how to beat this guy – he’s not untouchable. Hopefully, no one does that before I get there. I’m not thinking ahead or past ‘Cowboy’, but that’s one of the fights that I want to get.”
Before the seemingly inevitable “Bendo” rematch, Pettis must tangle with a different WEC warrior in Fight of the Night fixture Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone. This Saturday on FOX, these scary strikers will blow the roof off of the United Center in Chi-town, Illinois. At 29 years old with an overall record of 19-4, 1NC, Cerrone has reeled off six impressive wins in seven fights inside the Octagon, and the Jackson-Winkeljohn product will just mark his two year anniversary in the UFC after this scrap. While his kickboxing was highly regarded before, Cerrone’s striking has become downright lethal with two Knockout of the Night bonuses, and, lest we forget, the Submission of the Night over Dennis Siver all started with a head kick landing flush and crumpling the German.
“He’s a very dangerous guy,” admits Pettis. “Really good, really tough. He’s one of those guys who really doesn’t have any holes in his game. He’s very active, he always comes to fight, and he’s always ready to fight. He’s not going to come out of shape and not come ready to fight. He’s going to come to fight. He’s going to be a tough fight for me and I’m preparing for him to be one of the toughest fights of my career. But they all are. At this level, every fight is tough.”
While this card is stacked with fireworks-friendly fights, without a doubt just the mere thought of “Showtime” vs. “Cowboy” should give every Octagon enthusiast chills. On paper, 25 of their 39 fights have ended via scintillating stoppage, which is why these young lightweights have been beloved by fans in the WEC and the UFC. Besides the always lingering title implications, Cerrone has a knack of making each and every one of his bouts appear personal, whether they are or not. Those established pre-fight antics may be simply to hype the bout, be a strategic mind game against his opponent, and/or to get himself riled up, but it won’t affect Pettis’ gameplan of letting his fists and feet talk for him in the cage.
“I’m not going to let that change the way I’m going to fight him,” states Pettis. “I’m not that guy who needs to hate my opponent or has to picture beating them all the time. I’ve been competing my whole life, I’ve been fighting different guys my whole life, I’ve been training my whole life – I don’t need that extra motivation. Just because he’s talking crap and I don’t like the guy, I don’t need that to fuel my fire in training. I’m motivating myself. I don’t need that motivation to fight someone. When you sign your name on that contract, that’s all the motivation I need. You accepted to fight me and that’s the worst decision of your life.”
As always, Pettis can be found fine-tuning his bevy of gravity defying kicks in his hometown at Roufusport, where he is a part owner. Obviously, he is getting the necessary quality striking sparring at a Roufus run gym with its plethora of kickboxers, plus teammates like UFC featherweight Erik Koch, UFC welterweight Pascal Krauss, and Pettis’ undefeated bantamweight younger brother, Sergio. On the ground, Pettis routinely rolls with the former two-time NCAA Division I National Champion wrestler, 2008 US Olympic team freestyle wrestler, brown belt in BJJ, and undefeated in MMA welterweight Ben Askren. With all that’s said of his striking, Pettis has just as many submission wins as knockouts, and it’s that security in his abilities on the ground that allows for him to really open up while standing.
“I think I have a whole arsenal of weapons that would work that I haven’t thrown, but I just haven’t had the opportunity,” says Pettis. “You only have 15 minutes out there and it’s hard to show everything you have. It’s hard for any guy to prepare to fight me because there are not guys that strike like me. It’s easy to find a kickboxer, a boxer, a boxer/wrestler, but it’s hard to find someone who strikes like me. You don’t know where the kicks are coming from, what pace they’re coming at, and they’re not basic combos. They’re more advanced and they work for me. I definitely have a whole lot of strikes that people haven’t seen. I’m excited because I’m working on my wrestling, I’m working on my jiu-jitsu, and I’m constantly getting better everywhere, so I can do whatever I want to do in the cage. If you’re fearless in there then big things happen. If you’re afraid to take chances then you’ll never know what you could have done.”
This Saturday in “The Madhouse on Madison” in Chicago, two of the lightweight division’s fastest rising stars will collide for guaranteed fireworks. “You put a guy like ‘Cowboy’ and guy like myself, ‘Showtime’, into the cage and fans know what to expect,” asserts Pettis, who knows the match is lit, it’s been burning hot for a while, and the powder keg will be ready and waiting inside the Octagon come fight night. “He’s a very talented dude, and I’m a very talented guy. No one is expecting anything less than a hell of a fight.”
And if ol’ J.R. was calling UFC on FOX, he undoubtedly would dub Pettis/Cerrone a “slobberknocker”.
“Educated feet”
While pro wrestling’s legendary voice Jim Ross cemented the clever phrase as a commentating colloquialism to describe famed kickers from “Sweet” Stan Lane to the 1-2-3 Kid, it’s found no better living example than UFC 144 Knockout of the Night winner Anthony “Showtime” Pettis.
The former and final WEC lightweight champion spent his lifetime learning the complete curriculum of combative kicks. Pettis received his undergrad in taekwondo as a third degree black belt. Born and bred in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he received his Master’s from mentor, head coach, friend, former K-1 kickboxer, and multiple Muay Thai world champion Jeff “Duke” Roufus. Nowadays, he is writing his doctoral thesis in fight finishing with his 13-2 record including 10 stoppages. But, Pettis’ flashy, unpredictable, and often devastating kicks do not always originate from traditional martial arts because he began his formal education in something a bit more “extreme”.
“My style, my kicks, is all from what I used to do as a kid: XMA, Xtreme Martial Arts,” explains Pettis. “It’s a mix of acrobatics and martial arts. As a kid, I did that growing up and I was really into it. Even before XMA was even called XMA. I did a lot of kicks and flips, a lot of crazy stuff. My style when I used to do point sparring in taekwondo was to land something that no one had ever done before. Now that my overall MMA game is better, I’m not afraid to take chances and I feel comfortable taking risks. My style is coming from my background. And, I’m still learning. I come up with new stuff almost daily. It’s a lot of stuff that I get to play with.”
At UFC 144 in Saitama, Japan, the 25-year-old gave the UFC’s lightweight division a taste of what’s in his catalog of concussive kicks with a Cro Cop-like, lightning quick, left high kick. It only took 81 seconds for Pettis to dispatch of Fight Night bonus king Joe Lauzon and remind everyone of why he was at the top of the WEC’s 155-pound mountain when it was absorbed into the UFC at the end of 2010. Now 2-1 inside the Octagon, Pettis admits the previous two appearances were atypical, but fight fans should be fully expecting to see a better “Showtime” than they remember. Possibly, an ambidextrous one.
“My plan was to switch him up by coming out southpaw and let my kicks go,” affirms Pettis. “I had been working my southpaw a lot, it’s another set of angles. My right side is very dangerous already, so I’m going to be even more dangerous if I can switch back and forth. That’s why I felt really confident in switching up. I was baiting him with my hands and getting him to fight my hands. I saw him bite on my hands and it left him a little open for the kick and I was able to capitalize. I was coming off a loss from the Clay Guida fight and I went into the fight with Jeremy Stephens and my confidence wasn’t 100%, so I fought the Stephens fight and just wanted to get the W on that. I think the Lauzon fight was my first time actually showing Anthony ‘Showtime’ Pettis in the UFC.”
Following the bonus-winning performance, he went back in the gym to help out the multitude of pro MMA teammates he has when Pettis discovered a nagging injury was much more serious than previously thought. “I got the MRI done and they came back saying that I had two tears in my labrum,” reveals Pettis, who decided to get the surgery to fix it and take the proper time off. While sitting on the sidelines for 11 months wasn’t ideal, it was necessary and it afforded him tons of me time to really work on his skills without worrying about an opponent. All healed up and itching for a fight, Pettis is excited to make 2013 a memorable one inside the Octagon.
“Even with the rest of last year off, I feel like I gained so much skill and so much knowledge,” says Pettis. “When you are getting ready for a fight, you can’t really get better technically. But with a year off, I really focused on my technique. I think I’m comfortable on both sides and I’m even more dangerous now. I’m always evolving. I feel like my southpaw is as good as my right stance, so I’m getting better everywhere. I feel like I’m building off of that win and picking up right where I left off. The year off is not going to be a factor. I’m feeling great. I’ve been training. I only took that time to heal my body. I know I’m going to have a long career in this and I didn’t want to rush back not healthy. I know that I want this to last. I don’t want anything to decide my fights besides my skills, so I took the year off. I feel excellent. I’m ready to continue right where I left off in Japan.”
The highlight reel kicks like the one on Lauzon, and, the most famous of them all, the “Showtime Kick” that caught current UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson, will live on in top 10 lists forever and ever, but fans and opponents alike should not forget the rest of Pettis’ MMA game. The techniques and skills that Pettis has been able to focus on in his time off were the only ones to defeat Henderson in 12 fights under the Zuffa banner. It wasn’t just jumping off the cage and landing a kick; Pettis won the rounds rumbling with “Bendo” for 25 minutes in the standup game, on the ground, and in the clinch. Don’t mistake it, “Showtime” has flash and substance.
“They don’t have the tools that I have,” declares Pettis. “He (Henderson) is very dynamic and he’s only getting better all the time. He’s a good striker, he wrestles really well, he’s very hard to submit, and very hard to finish. You take the top guys at the division and they all have holes in their game. I’m not saying I’m perfect; there are holes in my game. But you can watch the video of my fight with him and see how to beat this guy – he’s not untouchable. Hopefully, no one does that before I get there. I’m not thinking ahead or past ‘Cowboy’, but that’s one of the fights that I want to get.”
Before the seemingly inevitable “Bendo” rematch, Pettis must tangle with a different WEC warrior in Fight of the Night fixture Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone. This Saturday on FOX, these scary strikers will blow the roof off of the United Center in Chi-town, Illinois. At 29 years old with an overall record of 19-4, 1NC, Cerrone has reeled off six impressive wins in seven fights inside the Octagon, and the Jackson-Winkeljohn product will just mark his two year anniversary in the UFC after this scrap. While his kickboxing was highly regarded before, Cerrone’s striking has become downright lethal with two Knockout of the Night bonuses, and, lest we forget, the Submission of the Night over Dennis Siver all started with a head kick landing flush and crumpling the German.
“He’s a very dangerous guy,” admits Pettis. “Really good, really tough. He’s one of those guys who really doesn’t have any holes in his game. He’s very active, he always comes to fight, and he’s always ready to fight. He’s not going to come out of shape and not come ready to fight. He’s going to come to fight. He’s going to be a tough fight for me and I’m preparing for him to be one of the toughest fights of my career. But they all are. At this level, every fight is tough.”
While this card is stacked with fireworks-friendly fights, without a doubt just the mere thought of “Showtime” vs. “Cowboy” should give every Octagon enthusiast chills. On paper, 25 of their 39 fights have ended via scintillating stoppage, which is why these young lightweights have been beloved by fans in the WEC and the UFC. Besides the always lingering title implications, Cerrone has a knack of making each and every one of his bouts appear personal, whether they are or not. Those established pre-fight antics may be simply to hype the bout, be a strategic mind game against his opponent, and/or to get himself riled up, but it won’t affect Pettis’ gameplan of letting his fists and feet talk for him in the cage.
“I’m not going to let that change the way I’m going to fight him,” states Pettis. “I’m not that guy who needs to hate my opponent or has to picture beating them all the time. I’ve been competing my whole life, I’ve been fighting different guys my whole life, I’ve been training my whole life – I don’t need that extra motivation. Just because he’s talking crap and I don’t like the guy, I don’t need that to fuel my fire in training. I’m motivating myself. I don’t need that motivation to fight someone. When you sign your name on that contract, that’s all the motivation I need. You accepted to fight me and that’s the worst decision of your life.”
As always, Pettis can be found fine-tuning his bevy of gravity defying kicks in his hometown at Roufusport, where he is a part owner. Obviously, he is getting the necessary quality striking sparring at a Roufus run gym with its plethora of kickboxers, plus teammates like UFC featherweight Erik Koch, UFC welterweight Pascal Krauss, and Pettis’ undefeated bantamweight younger brother, Sergio. On the ground, Pettis routinely rolls with the former two-time NCAA Division I National Champion wrestler, 2008 US Olympic team freestyle wrestler, brown belt in BJJ, and undefeated in MMA welterweight Ben Askren. With all that’s said of his striking, Pettis has just as many submission wins as knockouts, and it’s that security in his abilities on the ground that allows for him to really open up while standing.
“I think I have a whole arsenal of weapons that would work that I haven’t thrown, but I just haven’t had the opportunity,” says Pettis. “You only have 15 minutes out there and it’s hard to show everything you have. It’s hard for any guy to prepare to fight me because there are not guys that strike like me. It’s easy to find a kickboxer, a boxer, a boxer/wrestler, but it’s hard to find someone who strikes like me. You don’t know where the kicks are coming from, what pace they’re coming at, and they’re not basic combos. They’re more advanced and they work for me. I definitely have a whole lot of strikes that people haven’t seen. I’m excited because I’m working on my wrestling, I’m working on my jiu-jitsu, and I’m constantly getting better everywhere, so I can do whatever I want to do in the cage. If you’re fearless in there then big things happen. If you’re afraid to take chances then you’ll never know what you could have done.”
This Saturday in “The Madhouse on Madison” in Chicago, two of the lightweight division’s fastest rising stars will collide for guaranteed fireworks. “You put a guy like ‘Cowboy’ and guy like myself, ‘Showtime’, into the cage and fans know what to expect,” asserts Pettis, who knows the match is lit, it’s been burning hot for a while, and the powder keg will be ready and waiting inside the Octagon come fight night. “He’s a very talented dude, and I’m a very talented guy. No one is expecting anything less than a hell of a fight.”
And if ol’ J.R. was calling UFC on FOX, he undoubtedly would dub Pettis/Cerrone a “slobberknocker”.
On March 16th at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada, the 170-pound division will be on full display with an undercard filled by top contenders and its headliner highlighted in 12 pounds of gold. It’s the main event that solidified itself in MMA minds the world over in April 2011, when Diaz and St-Pierre successfully defended their respective welterweight championships and were assigned to collide only months later inside the Octagon. As both Diaz and GSP have been fan favorites and experienced 10 fight win streaks as of late, this clash has been slowly burning on the back burner for much longer than that and it’s finally happening.
Depending on whose perspective one chooses, this hotly anticipated title fight has been in the making for at least the past two years or nearly a decade. As all recent Octagon historians know, this particular battle for the 170-pound belt was originally slated for October 29, 2011 at UFC 137 and GSP had to pull out of the fight due to an ACL injury requiring surgery. But as those familiar with the challenger’s cage career will attest, Diaz has been hunting for that undisputed recognition of being the division’s best throughout his Strikeforce title reign and for years before that. While Diaz and GSP were literally set to tangle 15 months ago, these welterweight sharks have been circling each other since they both were young up-and-comers on the UFC roster way back in 2004.
On Wednesday in the MTL, in front of fans and media alike, St-Pierre and Diaz discussed this unusual and, at the same time, expected title fight. “I want to fight the guy who is ranked the best and I think that is Nick Diaz, that is truly what I believe,” explains St-Pierre, who expressly asked UFC president Dana White for this bout with Diaz to be revisited. “It’s his chance, he deserves it, and I’m happy to give it to him. I believe he is the man to beat in my division.”
As for the division itself, many think the top contender is the heavy-handed Johny Hendricks, who is riding a five fight win streak, including three Knockout of the Night bonuses, and who will be fighting Jake Ellenberger at UFC 158. From St-Pierre’s point of view, he didn’t score in favor of Hendricks in his razor thin split-decision with Josh Koscheck, who GSP has defeated on two prior occasions. On top of that, GSP believes not much has changed with the Diaz fight that everyone previously wanted. Last year, both GSP and Diaz made one Octagon appearance and it was against former UFC interim welterweight champ Carlos Condit. The full 25 minute battles were close and did little to distance the fighters from each other.
For Diaz, at 29 years old with an impressive overall pro record of 27-8, 1 NC, a win over GSP will be validation for all the Cesar Gracie product’s talk, training, time, traveling, and competing in different organizations to prove what he set out to prove all those years ago: he’s the best. “I’ve been training to fight Matt Hughes since I was 18 years old and Georges got to fight him first,” tells Diaz, which in one sentence astutely sums up his thoughts on St-Pierre, the UFC welterweight division, and his own career. “I’ve been promoting this since I was fighting in Elite XC. I’m always aiming to fight the best there is out there. You have to work it right and win the right fights until the people recognize you’re the right guy.”
Meanwhile, the 31-year-old welterweight boss with the nearly immaculate 23-2 record, that burning desire to silence critics and to challenge himself is still as bright as ever before. “I know when I’m going to fight him, he’s going to push me to the edge,” affirms St-Pierre, who is ready to answer the questions that were raised in April 2011 after Diaz won so emphatically against Paul Daley and St-Pierre won in a pedestrian decision over Jake Shields. “He wants what I have. He’s going to make the best of me come out.”
On March 16th at UFC 158, two of the unequivocal best MMA fighters the UFC welterweight division has ever known will finally trade fists and feet for that number one spot on top of the mountain. It’s champion vs. challenger, it’s “Montreal Mauler” vs. “Stockton Slapper”, it’s 514 vs. 209, and it’s GSP vs. Diaz for the UFC title belt. No matter how one says it or how long they’ve been asking for it, it’s finally here and it’s going to be good. You’re welcome, fight fans; de rien.
Ask and you shall receive, or for those fight fans fluent in French, demandez et vous recevrez.
On March 16th at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada, the 170-pound division will be on full display with an undercard filled by top contenders and its headliner highlighted in 12 pounds of gold. It’s the main event that solidified itself in MMA minds the world over in April 2011, when Diaz and St-Pierre successfully defended their respective welterweight championships and were assigned to collide only months later inside the Octagon. As both Diaz and GSP have been fan favorites and experienced 10 fight win streaks as of late, this clash has been slowly burning on the back burner for much longer than that and it’s finally happening.
Depending on whose perspective one chooses, this hotly anticipated title fight has been in the making for at least the past two years or nearly a decade. As all recent Octagon historians know, this particular battle for the 170-pound belt was originally slated for October 29, 2011 at UFC 137 and GSP had to pull out of the fight due to an ACL injury requiring surgery. But as those familiar with the challenger’s cage career will attest, Diaz has been hunting for that undisputed recognition of being the division’s best throughout his Strikeforce title reign and for years before that. While Diaz and GSP were literally set to tangle 15 months ago, these welterweight sharks have been circling each other since they both were young up-and-comers on the UFC roster way back in 2004.
On Wednesday in the MTL, in front of fans and media alike, St-Pierre and Diaz discussed this unusual and, at the same time, expected title fight. “I want to fight the guy who is ranked the best and I think that is Nick Diaz, that is truly what I believe,” explains St-Pierre, who expressly asked UFC president Dana White for this bout with Diaz to be revisited. “It’s his chance, he deserves it, and I’m happy to give it to him. I believe he is the man to beat in my division.”
As for the division itself, many think the top contender is the heavy-handed Johny Hendricks, who is riding a five fight win streak, including three Knockout of the Night bonuses, and who will be fighting Jake Ellenberger at UFC 158. From St-Pierre’s point of view, he didn’t score in favor of Hendricks in his razor thin split-decision with Josh Koscheck, who GSP has defeated on two prior occasions. On top of that, GSP believes not much has changed with the Diaz fight that everyone previously wanted. Last year, both GSP and Diaz made one Octagon appearance and it was against former UFC interim welterweight champ Carlos Condit. The full 25 minute battles were close and did little to distance the fighters from each other.
For Diaz, at 29 years old with an impressive overall pro record of 27-8, 1 NC, a win over GSP will be validation for all the Cesar Gracie product’s talk, training, time, traveling, and competing in different organizations to prove what he set out to prove all those years ago: he’s the best. “I’ve been training to fight Matt Hughes since I was 18 years old and Georges got to fight him first,” tells Diaz, which in one sentence astutely sums up his thoughts on St-Pierre, the UFC welterweight division, and his own career. “I’ve been promoting this since I was fighting in Elite XC. I’m always aiming to fight the best there is out there. You have to work it right and win the right fights until the people recognize you’re the right guy.”
Meanwhile, the 31-year-old welterweight boss with the nearly immaculate 23-2 record, that burning desire to silence critics and to challenge himself is still as bright as ever before. “I know when I’m going to fight him, he’s going to push me to the edge,” affirms St-Pierre, who is ready to answer the questions that were raised in April 2011 after Diaz won so emphatically against Paul Daley and St-Pierre won in a pedestrian decision over Jake Shields. “He wants what I have. He’s going to make the best of me come out.”
On March 16th at UFC 158, two of the unequivocal best MMA fighters the UFC welterweight division has ever known will finally trade fists and feet for that number one spot on top of the mountain. It’s champion vs. challenger, it’s “Montreal Mauler” vs. “Stockton Slapper”, it’s 514 vs. 209, and it’s GSP vs. Diaz for the UFC title belt. No matter how one says it or how long they’ve been asking for it, it’s finally here and it’s going to be good. You’re welcome, fight fans; de rien.
“I go in there, take control, hold the center, get them backing up, and lay the smack down.”
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Ask and you shall receive, or for those fight fans fluent in French, demandez et vous recevrez.