Author: By Jordan Newmark

The UFC wasn’t created to be the greatest “toughman” competition; it was created to end them. The Octagon is the ultimate proving ground for highly trained warriors to collide to display athleticism and skill. Even for 18-year veteran martial artists like Nick Ring, acclimating to the talent level of his opponents has required an adjustment period and a re-dedication to the craft itself. But Ring’s added time, effort, and seriousness towards mixed martial arts has already resulted in success and great rewards inside the Octagon.

“My life has changed, changed incredibly since I joined the UFC,” states Ring. “I used to be a backyard tough guy. Ever since hitting the UFC, there’s a lot more to this than I think most people realize. You don’t just go in there and kick someone’s ass and go home. There’s a lot more preparation than that. These guys you’re fighting, they’re serious competitors. They’re not weekend warriors. They’re not just strolling through. These are professional athletes competing at the highest level. You have to do a lot more. This is about eating, breathing, and sleeping your martial arts – you really have to take this seriously. This is the cream of the crop, this is the Olympics of your sport. The UFC is already the Olympics of MMA. My life has changed absolutely; it’s not the same as it ever was. It’s different in a very real and tangible sense for me.”

No greater illustration of said tangibility was Ring’s place at the forefront of UFC 149 in his hometown of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. At 33 years old, he was an unofficial host, master of ceremonies, and a featured attraction in a rematch against The Ultimate Fighter season 11 castmate/winner Court McGee, and the surefire fan favorite as the local boy done good. It was a magical night, which Ring never could have expected, as “The Stampede City” wasn’t the most likely choice to host a UFC PPV, but it proved to be the right one with a ravenous crowd ready to cheer for their homegrown middleweight star.

“For my career up until this point, that was definitely the highlight of my career,” reveals Ring. “I’ve never fought in front of a crowd of 20,000 where they were actually cheering for me (laughs). I’m usually fighting out of town and it’s usually a range of indifference or I’m fighting their hometown boy and they don’t like me. That was the first time I had that much support. It felt incredible. As a fighter you walk out to the Octagon alone and you fight alone, but when I got to the waiting area and the crowd saw me coming out, to hear this big roar of 20,000 people screaming my name was the most incredible feeling I’ve ever had. I didn’t feel like I was fighting alone. I felt like I was fighting for the honor of the city. I was glad to represent Calgary. I don’t think anything will be an experience like that ever again. That was the biggest thing I’ve ever done personally.”

If the event couldn’t have been better, Ring had one particular Calgary native in attendance rooting for him who many would say is the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be fan anyone could ever ask for: Bret “The Hitman” Hart.

“Before any of the UFC announcements had taken place, when [Bret Hart] had heard that I was fighting on the card, he stepped up and showed me as much support as he could,” says Ring with all the glowing respect all children of the 80’s and/or 90’s ought to have for the “Excellence of Execution”, especially a Canadian one. “It was a big honor to me because Bret Hart is a living legend around these parts. I remember when I was a kid and I watched and supported him on WWF and now the shoe is kind of on the other foot and here he is watching and supporting me. I can’t say enough how honored I was to have Bret Hart behind me and cheering and supporting me in my corner.”

After all the previous pomp and circumstance, the clash between Ring and McGee lived up to the hype in another close decision in favor of “The Promise”. Elevating his overall record to 13-1, Ring took control of the bout early before McGee picked up steam at the finish. In some ways, the struggle was similar to that of the opening round majority decision on TUF back in 2010, but a noticeable maturity was shown by both fighters’ in-cage abilities. In their respective two years competing in the Octagon, Ring and McGee are clearly evolving and just as exciting of a matchup.

“I feel like it was a different fight completely,” asserts Ring. “I believe we have both gotten better, obviously. I think you got to see two guys who have gotten more refined over the past couple years and as a martial artist that’s what you’re looking for. Court has gotten better at what he regularly does, like putting the pressure on. Anyone who fights Court has to deal with his never quit attitude. He’s just not a guy who will ever give in. As a fighter, he definitely shows his character in his unwillingness to give in and his uncompromising will to never give up. I think we’ve definitely grown as fighters. I think it was a better fight overall and tactically. I think the pressure was on us more overall than the one in the house. He’s a good competitor and, besides him being a good competitor, I like him as a human being. He’s a solid person.”

Up next for Ring is a Montreal melee on November 17th with the 11-2, 1 NC Greek gladiator Costa Philippou at UFC 154. Since losing his Octagon debut, Costa has rattled off four impressive victories, including a knockout of Jared Hamman at UFC 140 and back-to-back striking duel wins over McGee and, most recently, Riki Fukuda. The product of Long Island’s Ray Longo and Matt Serra continues to show off his vaunted boxing skills and incredible takedown defense. While this will not be an exhibition of the “sweet science”, Ring’s own former pro boxing experience could play a role in what will most likely be a very technical standup scrap.

“Costa is a very good competitor and a very technical fighter,” states Ring. “He was definitely on my radar. When I watch a guy like him, I see somebody who has got his game down to a science. He’s very methodical. I actually like watching the guy fight, so it’s an honor to fight a guy who is such a technician. I think this will be a very interesting challenge and I think it will be different than the Court McGee fight. These two athletes have a very different approach and different styles coming into a match. That’s what is so interesting about MMA, that each guy brings different skills to the table. I’ve got a lot to learn from Costa and this will put me on a big learning curve.”

In preparation for Philippou, Ring spent the majority of his camp at home with the Calgary crew from Champion’s Creed that got him to the UFC. “These guys have helped me all along the way and I would have never got here if it wasn’t for these guys and I appreciate all the help,” affirms Ring of BJJ coaches Brian and Sheila Bird, boxing coach Doug Harder, wrestling coach Mike Dunn, Muay Thai coach Chad Sawyer, strength & conditioning coach Matt Jordan, and fellow fighter/training partner Brad Cardinal. In the lead-up to this particular bout though, Ring did take two detours to two world-renowned gyms to mix things up and get himself out of his comfort zone.

“When you’re training at a gym, no matter what gym it is, you have a few training partners and the gym itself has a certain style, a certain culture,” explains Ring. “When you take off and go to another gym, you can see they have different strengths and weaknesses and they have different looks and different approaches to fighting. I think it is important in your career to be bouncing around a little bit and training with guys that don’t have the same style for you. When you do train with the same guys all the time, you do get somewhat complacent and they get somewhat complacent. They know how to stuff all of your moves and you know how to stuff all of theirs. When you train with these new guys, they have a completely different style and if you aren’t good at what you do – you’ll find out pretty quickly. I think me getting out of town for this fight is extremely helpful.”

The first athletic excursion was to lovely Las Vegas, Nevada to butt heads with the top talent at Xtreme Couture. “I got to train with Martin Kampmann a bit and he’s a very, very good competitor and I felt like a learned a lot working with him,” says Ring, who had the chance to train a lot of grappling and clinch work at the famous “Sin City” gym. Ring’s second trip was to Eastern Canada to go to Montreal’s MMA super-camp Tristar gym. he slept in the dorms for several weeks with other out-of-towners like former WEC bantamweight champion Miguel Torres, so they can train under Firas Zahabi and battle against UFC stars like Rory MacDonald and UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre.

“They’ve got some of the most incredible strikers,” tells Ring. “Don’t get me wrong, they’ve got some of the most incredible wrestlers as well. You look at guys like Rory MacDonald and Georges St-Pierre – just phenomenal. It’s a world-class gym and some of the most phenomenal strikers are just hanging out in the Montreal area. That whole town has a long history of having some of the best boxers, best kickboxers, and they have some of the best wrestlers like the Zilbermans. Going back to the 60s they’ve always had a strong fight community.”

From the outside looking in, three different gyms across two countries, including a small army of coaches and training partners seems, like overkill to step into a cage to defeat one man. But to the individuals who are called professional athletes in one sport or another, there is simply no limit to the amount of preparation one puts into winning. For professional athletes, while maintaining their impeccable physique is a given, a victory at the highest level of competition is as much, if not more, mental than physical. In the UFC, all the fighters are physically tough enough to win, but once inside the Octagon, they need to be mentally tough enough to know how to win.

“Mentally, it’s a lot more taxing,” discloses Ring. “You have to have it in your mind that you’re going to be winning and you have to be looking at the bigger picture. You have to have a good inventory of what your strengths and weaknesses are and steer a fight toward your strengths. I always trained hard, but for me to transition myself into the role of a UFC fighter, it is a lot more of a mental game now than it ever was. Everyone in the cage is a strong guy and tough, but there are a few mental characteristics that separate the good ones from the bad ones. You have to find for yourself what’s good and what’s bad, what thoughts are moving you forward and what thoughts are keeping you back. You have to keep all of that in check before you get into the cage. You have to know what you’re trying to accomplish when you’re fighting against that person. It is a lot more involved for me than it ever was before.”

This Saturday at the Bell Centre in “La Belle Ville,” Ring looks to derail Philippou’s winning streak in a struggle of skills.

“They’re going to see two fighters who are both up-and-comers at the top of their game and are really technical strikers,” asserts Ring, whose journey from local martial artist to an internationally known fighting powerhouse takes a step further with each Octagon appearance. “When I first started doing all of this I was a local kid who wanted to be a big fighter. I don’t know if anyone thought I would get there or not, but here it is and I’m actually getting to walk the walk. I think the fans are in for a treat.”

How would one categorize such a colorful character as “Filthy” Tom Lawlor? An athlete, an entertainer, a martial artist, a cagefighter, a wrestler, or a TUFer? Also, one could add other options like former gym owner and, if he has his way, a future UFC ambassador.

Simply put, Lawlor is all of the above and has been earning these different titles one after another since he started this journey at 14 years old with high school wrestling. Celebrating his 29th birthday with a Knockout of the Night at UFC on FUEL TV in May, the 8-4, 1 NC middleweight has officially spent more than half his time on this planet dedicated to combat sports.

With the evidence tallied, Lawlor should be called a “lifer,” a man who is training his craft day-in-and-day-out, a man who is making the needed sacrifices, and a man who embraces the grind of a professional fighter’s life. After 15 years, he is not only a veteran of the routine, but Lawlor believes he’s getting better at it with his greater understanding of it.

“The biggest thing is, you’re going to get out of being a fighter what you put into it,” explains Lawlor. “Most people want to be a fighter, but they don’t want to do what it takes to be a fighter. There are a lot of sacrifices that need to be made, a lot of training that needs to be done, and a Iot of focus and discipline that needs to go on for you to reach your potential. Some people are not willing to go through that or stick it out for the long haul.

“I’m one of those guys who trains year round, so if I make improvements or don’t make them, I see it on a day-to-day basis. It’s kind of odd to me, but some guys will take a month off or two months off between fights and they won’t train that hard then. But for me, I take a week off and I’m back in the gym. I see improvements on a day-to-day basis, in technical things, physical improvements, and mental improvements – like how I process information or how I think about things when I’m doing them in practice. As I keep going, my understanding of body mechanics and when to do things in certain situations gets better. As far as approaching training and finding the balance of working on what you’re already good at and something new, as I get older I’m able to do that better. On a day-to-day basis, I understand that not every day is going to be your best day. Some days you’re the hammer and some days you’re the nail. Some days you get destroyed in the gym and that doesn’t mean that will happen in the fight. I’ve fallen victim to that mindset and the traditional wrestler’s mindset that always doing more is better. I’m starting to realize that’s not necessarily the case in many situations.”

It may feel just like yesterday that the MMA world was first graced with the weigh-in costumes and can’t-miss entrances of Lawlor, but he is an Octagon veteran nowadays who made his UFC debut a Presidential election cycle ago in 2008 with a win over fellow Ultimate Fighter alum Kyle Kingsbury at light heavyweight.

“With time comes experience, and I think that was one of the biggest things I was lacking and, to a certain degree, I still am,” admits Lawlor, who is preparing to enter his eighth UFC scrap, which is more than half his career in a trial-by-fire situation by learning and battling in this premier organization. “There are a lot of things that have happened in the last four years that have made me more comfortable in the fight setting. I think that’s the biggest thing that has happened. As you get older, I don’t know if you get smarter entirely, but I do feel that I’ve gotten smarter as far as training goes.”

With training injuries sidelining fighters for months at a time becoming far too commonplace, wisdom in the gym is as important as it is in the cage, which Lawlor knows firsthand from sitting out almost all of 2011. Following his drubbing of former number one contender Patrick Cote at UFC 121, he didn’t return to action until 13 months later against 185-pound juggernaut Chris Weidman in a first round submission loss at UFC 139. It was an uncharacteristic performance for Lawlor, as he never pulled the proverbial trigger like in his other tussles, but he won’t use “cage rust” as an excuse. Six months later, Lawlor got back on the winning track with the completely opposite and unexpected Octagon appearance in a bonus winning 50 second knockout of Brazilian jiu-jitsu ace Jason MacDonald.

“My expectations were that he was going to really push it hard to get it to the ground and maybe pull guard,” reveals Lawlor. “It was going to be up to me to stay out of range of his submissions and deliver him a beating from on top. He had been hit hard and beat up on the ground before if he didn’t pull off a submission and that’s how I thought it was going to go. I didn’t expect to knock him out. With all the videos I had seen and looking at his record, he hadn’t been knocked out before, like dropped standing like that. That was surprising to me, but I’ll take it.”

The victory improved the New Englander’s UFC record to 4-3 and clearly displayed some heavy hands for the already known talented grappler. The three-time NCWA national championship winning wrestler from the University of Central Florida has now won all three UFC bonuses, including his Submission of the Night against C.B. Dollaway and his Fight of the Night war with Aaron Simpson. These awarded tangles highlight Lawlor’s depth as an opponent with striking power, sub abilities, and a never-quit-grit. The bonus against MacDonald couldn’t have come at a better time as it put him back in the W column and back in the black financially.

“About 18 months ago, I purchased a condo and moved from Florida to Rhode Island,” tells Lawlor. “I bought the condo cash, so I lost a chunk of money that I saved up, plus moving costs – I spent around $70,000. I had that money saved up from my fights, so I lost that and to compound that I got injured and I had a fight rescheduled against Maquiel Falcao. Between the fight being rescheduled and the injuries, I was out for a year. I made a little bit of money in my loss to Chris Weidman, but it was only half of what I would have made with a win. So that big bonus pretty much saved me.”

Up next for Lawlor is a showdown in “The City of Saints” against its adopted son Francis Carmont at UFC 154. The 19-7 product of Firas Zahabi’s Tristar gym is riding a three fight win streak in the UFC and an overall eight fight win streak dating back to 2008. “Limitless” battled to a tough debut decision against Chris Camozzi, but has scored back-to-back rear naked choke submissions in 2012. Critics have high expectations for the 6’3″, French native as he drills daily with many UFC stars like Rory MacDonald and UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, but Lawlor has plans to put a stop to Carmont’s hype train.

“I think Francis is real tough,” says Lawlor. “He’s on a pretty good winning streak right now. He comes from one of the top gyms, one of these big super camps at Tristar. I know he’s definitely going to be prepared, I have no doubt about that. But I think I’ve gone against guys who pose more problems. Francis is good at what he does, but I have seen some fundamental mistakes. Sure, it’s easy to look from the outside in and say, ‘Oh, I can take advantage of that and capitalize on that,’ when you’re not in there with the guy. But I have seen some things that I think I can focus on and can make this fight a lot easier than people would think.”

Although the bout is scheduled in Montreal and the crowd would normally favor the local, don’t be surprised to hear cheers for Lawlor, as his pre-fight antics have won him fans the world over. “I don’t really remember getting booed and all the fans treated me great,” tells Lawlor who has previously fought three Canadians, with one, Joe Doerksen, being in Montreal, where he was welcomed with open arms at UFC 113. “Three things about Canada. One, everywhere up in Canada has good food. Two, they have hot chicks. And three, the fans are awesome and they are very educated fans.”

To prepare for Carmont, Lawlor cuts his time across several gyms and between two states: Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Lawlor’s home is with BJJ black belt Tim Burrill at his gym in North Providence. For boxing, Steve Maze is in charge of sharpening Lawlor’s striking. For strength and conditioning, he is put to work at Mike Boyle’s gym under the guidance of Kyle Holland. Also, Lawlor can be found at UFC lightweight Joe Lauzon‘s gym with Team Aggression. But across those state lines, Lawlor has found a unique source of motivation in two-time US Judo Olympic team member Travis Stevens.

“Travis is actually my arch-nemesis in a lot of ways,” states Lawlor. “He is at the top of his sport, judo, and right now I’m missing him a little bit because he is overseas competing for a German traveling team. When he’s around he’s an invaluable training partner. Someone who is at the top level of a sport, regardless of whether it is a combat sport like boxing, judo, wrestling or even if it is basketball or swimming, seeing the dedication and drive that a lot of these top athletes have is reassuring in a way and helpful in your own training. Travis and I would battle all the time. We would lift together and every time we would finish a set, I would get in one more rep just to make sure that he saw it and I could rub it in his face that I was doing more work than him. When he’s around, he’s a great training partner for me and really motivates me to work my hardest, and he’s a very talented grappler.”

While Lawlor is entirely focused on handing Carmont his first loss in four years, he would like the UFC to know he is ready and willing to take on a new role for the burgeoning company: international ambassador. Besides an active participant, Lawlor is a diehard MMA fan and is as excited as any about the next stages of UFC’s development of fighters in relatively untapped areas of the world. Admittedly as-of-yet unqualified, Lawlor would like to throw his hat into the ring to help in any way he can in the upcoming first season of The Ultimate Fighter next year in India. Honestly, no one might be more prepared to tackle Bollywood than the oft-costumed and feather boa-ed Lawlor.

“I’m 100% willing to take lessons on the language and be a liaison or a representative for the UFC for the season of TUF India they’re talking about doing,” declares Lawlor. “I’m really excited to see the development of MMA in countries like India. This is what really excites me. The last show [UFC 153] was really good and the one before that [UFC on Fuel] was good. But I get really excited about the UFC doing a show in China, talking about doing TUF India, talking about TUF Philippines. We have no clue what is going to come out of these countries. They could set the world on fire.”

This Saturday at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada, Lawlor and Carmont collide in a well-rounded middleweight melee. “I hope people are entertained, I hope it’s a good fight, I hope I walk out with a win, and I hope it’s either me smashing him uncontrollably or it’s a back and forth battle that I win,” affirms Lawlor, who can make a nice statement with a win that the division’s joker outside the cage is serious competition in it. “Either way, I want people to be entertained and it (the fight) to show off skills, heart, and determination. But what is really important is my fight is before Thanksgiving, which means then I can eat anything that someone puts in front of me.”

Você quer ser um lutador?! Parte dois.

After an overwhelmingly successful first season, The Ultimate Fighter Brasil is ready and waiting to come back to Rede Global in 2013. Season one was spearheaded by the infinitely charismatic and beloved opposing veteran coaches: Wanderlei Silva and Vitor Belfort. Also, the show birthed inaugural winners, middleweight Cezar Mutante and featherweight Rony Jason, who already earned a Knockout of the Night bonus at UFC 153. In TUF Brasil 2, the coaches are bigger – literally – and the stakes are just as high, with two teams of wide-eyed welterweights seeking a lucrative contract and to be crowned tournament champion.

Recently announced, the second season’s competing coaches are UFC heavyweights Fabricio Werdum and former interim champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. These coaching choices will eventually lead to an end of the season showdown between the highly regarded fighters, which will be a rematch of their 2006 bout at PRIDE Critical Countdown Absolute. The two initially met in the quarterfinals of the PRIDE 2006 Open Weight Grand Prix, with a primed “Minotauro” taking on a fairly green “Vai Cavalo” in more or less a striker’s duel. The result was a unanimous decision win for the former PRIDE heavyweight champion Nogueira and a much needed learning experience for Werdum.

Last Thursday, “Minotauro” and Werdum took time for a conference call with the always curious MMA media about this engaging rematch and their role as coaches on TUF Brasil 2. As one would expect, by far the majority of the focus was on the forthcoming tangle between Nogueira and Werdum. In 2006, the storyline was a young Werdum facing the Herculean task of upsetting one of the division’s unquestionable elite in Nogueira. In 2013, Werdum will look to take the torch from the weight class’ former leader, while “Minotauro” will look to prove that this old lion’s claws are just as sharp as ever.

In the past few years, Werdum has emerged as an all-around threat to whoever unfortunately shares the cage with him. The 35-year-old from Porto Alegre entered MMA as a world-class Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, but recently Werdum’s striking has looked powerful and unrelenting, especially in his Fight of the Night victory over Roy Nelson at UFC 143. On the phone call, Werdum shared that he always looked up to Nogueira for his jiu-jitsu and to “The Axe Murderer” Silva for his aggressiveness. While Werdum’s BJJ has been assumed to rival that of Nogueira, nowadays thanks to striking coach Rafael Cordeiro, he appears to be just as dangerous standing as Silva too.

“Back then, I was pretty much a jiu-jitsu fighter,” tells Werdum. “I’ve worked a lot on my standup, and Nogueira has obviously evolved a lot too. It’s just a great honor, and my biggest goal is to fight for the title. I have to win this fight in order to be in title contention. In the past few fights in the UFC, I have shown I have knockout power and I can have a Fight of the Night.”

Meanwhile, the 36-year-old living legend from Vitoria da Conquista is not competing for a title shot, but for a chance to continue battling those who are. “Minotauro” is in the odd position of being a friend, a training partner, and a mentor to the current UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos. Nogueira has no plans to ever fight dos Santos, but he does want to scrap with the best the division has to offer and, similarly, has no plans to stop. The first step towards that goal, and a big one, was Nogueira returning from his arm surgery and defeating Dave Herman via submission in Rio at UFC 153.

“I had to prove to myself that I could go back into the cage and fight,” explains Nogueira. “It was very important to me. I wanted to prove I’m back again and I can fight with the best guys in the heavyweight division. Each fight you win, each fight you lose is one step forward and one step back and I want to fight the best guys in the heavyweight division. I want to be competing against those guys for sure, always.”

As far as coaching a Brazilian bunch of welterweight hopefuls toward their own UFC glory, both Werdum and Nogueira are honored with the opportunity and looking forward to the challenge. “It’s going to be a very good experience,” says Nogueira, who previously was a coach for TUF season 8 against former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir. “I want to push to win the fights. I want our guys to want to be the champ. We will push for the best training and best technique.”

One bom turn deserves another with TUF Brasil 2, led by rival coaches Werdum and Nogueira starting in 2013.

BOA!

It was the best of times then it was the worst of times for UFC featherweight Pablo Garza. In essence, it truly has been a tale of two very different years for the highly touted prospect. At 2-2 inside the Octagon, “The Scarecrow” first saw glory in back-to-back flying first round finishes that earned a Knockout of the Night bonus and then a Submission of the Night bonus. Following that, Garza was D’Arce choked by Dustin Poirier at UFC on FOX, and then was on the receiving end of a takedown clinic by Dennis Bermudez in May.

It has been eye-opening and character building to say the least for the 29-year-old, and the lessons are not lost on Garza. If anything, he is using this short losing streak as a learning experience and one that could have lasting positive effects that take 12-3 Garza to the next level as a UFC fighter.

“I’ve learned that you can be on top of the world and lose it all just as fast,” reveals Garza. “I got my flying knee knockout against [Fredson] Paixao and I got my flying triangle submission against Yves [Jabouin] then I had two losses in a row. You can be on top of the world and lose it all. I’ve learned to keep grinding. I’ve learned to keep focusing on training and not how good things may be. I need to work on not being taken down and work on finishing fights for sure. What I learned most was going out there and fighting my fight and not trying to cope with another fighter’s style. Just go out there and be myself and fight and not be worried about what he might do to me. That’s the biggest thing.”

The North Dakota native’s first step toward being proactive in curbing his in-cage problems was an ingenious one, and it required a plane flight to Northern California. If there’s something strange in your UFC career, who ya gonna call? Nate Diaz. “Nate is taller and lankier like me,” says Garza. “It was good to learn and train with somebody who has a similar body type as me and hear their perspective on the fight game. That was the whole idea of me going out there.”

For three weeks, Garza battled with and alongside the “Skrap Pack” at Cesar Gracie’s gym in Stockton, CA. As mentioned the majority of the allure was working with the UFC’s number one lightweight contender, Diaz, while he is preparing for his title fight with current champion Benson Henderson in December. Two of the most notable aspects of his approach to fighting that Garza picked up on is Diaz’s attitude both in the Octagon and in the gym, something that has led to a lot of Diaz’s success.

“I believe it’s a mindset,” explains Garza. “To throw it out there, Nate doesn’t give a s**t. If you put Nate in a ring in front of somebody, he’s going to fight. That’s just his mindset. Because of that, that makes him so good. That’s the type of mindset that I’ll have.”

The Diazes are well-known for a fearlessness and ferociousness in the cage, and that is honed by how they prepare in the gym. “They train like how they fight,” affirms Garza who admits his previous sparring sessions were not as severe, so he benefitted from the impassioned workouts. “They don’t go out there and pitter patter each other for five rounds. They go out there and train hard and spar hard like it was a fight, and they’re more intense in sparring because that will reflect in your fighting.”

Up next for Garza to show off his version of the “Stockton Slap” is a UFC 154 bout in Montreal, Canada against featherweight stalwart Mark Hominick. Despite a three fight losing streak, Ontario’s striking savant is still one of the more feared and respected veterans the UFC has to offer. Recently, Hominick has been on the losing end of two Fight of the Night performances in his last three fights against Eddie Yagin and UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo. Also, “The Machine” just passed an anniversary marking a decade in MMA, and his continuing presence in the sport has been a shining example for newer generations.

“Mark Hominick is an awesome fighter,” admits Garza. “Before I even got in the WEC, he was a guy I would watch that I would honestly look up to and be amazed at how awesome he is at fighting. His standup is amazing. He’s just awesome. He’s just a guy I really looked up to and a guy who I tried to copy for my own fight game to be like his. It’s an honor to even fight him and it’s a test for me. Even though he’s on a losing streak, he’s still dangerous and he’s still a big name. He’s still an awesome fighter. I don’t take anything away from him just because he lost his last three fights. I still consider him top 10 in this division, in my opinion. He’s an awesome fighter, and for me to beat him will be huge in my career.”

Besides the near month with Diaz, the University of North Dakota graduate has been training with his hometown fight team at the Academy of Combat Arts led by Erik Paulson protege Dylan Spicer. “We’re a small gym over here, but the talent of training partners and coaches is pretty big,” adds Garza of the Fargo sister school to Paulson’s The Academy in Minnesota, where Garza also trains. “We always try to break down what I’m not good at and always try to improve that and focus on those things. Also, I’ve learned to calm down and not let the lights and cameras go to my head. It’s the same mindset of going in to win and to train hard though.”

On November 17th, “The Scarecrow” will tangle with “The Machine” in a scrap to get back on the winning track. “It’s going to be Fight of the Night, simple as that,” predicts Garza, who will be poised to act instead of react against one of his MMA idols. “I’m going to have a different mindset than I had before, and be myself like I did in the Paixao fight and like I was for Yves. Instead of thinking about how not to lose, I’m going to think about winning. Me beating one of my MMA heroes is going to be good.”

“Awakening is natural, delusion is not.” – Buddha

Not every interview is the same, even if in general the questions are. It truly depends on who is answering them, and when it is UFC bantamweight Alex Caceres, one should prepare to have their mind blown away. If asked about his fight, he will talk about his fight. When asked about training, he’ll talk about training. When he is questioned about his future and/or his goals, Caceres will answer with an unflinching passion and a poetic world view, which he hopes to instill in all the people who listen. And if requested for a final thought, “Bruce Leeroy” quotes Siddhartha.

“I think we’re infinite beings,” opines Caceres. “We have to stay limitless. As long as we can keep moving in this vessel that houses our spiritual function that we should always be moving forward. We have this misconception that we are humans with spirits, but it’s the other way around – we’re just spiritual beings having a human experience. Everyone thinks this is it, that this is the final frontier, but really anything is possible and we can really bring things out of nothing and make them a reality. A good example I use is the Wright Brothers. No one had ever saw what a plane was, but they had seen it inside their heads and they brought it out of their heads and manifested it physically into this physical realm that we see today. It started as meta-physical and became physical. It started as unreal and became real. They saw it in a dream and made it reality. I think we all have that capability and that truly shows our infinite power. Even though I set up a goal miles down the line, eventually, if I reach that goal I will probably set up another one miles down the line just because. We have to set goals that we may never reach, that are infinite, and we need to try anyway. That’s the beauty of it. We don’t have enough time and that’s what makes everything that much more beautiful. We’ll never get today again; we’ll never have today again ever.”

At 24 years old, the born and bred Miami, Floridian is currently experiencing a spiritual awakening the likes one could have never imagined for the once almost comically afro-ed cast member of The Ultimate Fighter season 12. The transformation started roughly a year ago with Caceres’ diet, and soon the age-old idea of “you are what you eat” had taken root into the young fighter’s already positive outlook.

“By bettering myself, I can better the situation around me. It was just coming to a realization that we’re all in this together and, hopefully, if we’re all involved we can rise up as one.”

It began with watching documentaries, reading books, and whatever else Caceres could devour with his mind on the subject of food. “One of the movies that had a big impact on me, on my diet, was ‘Forks Over Knives’,” tells Caceres of the Lee Fulkerson film, which promotes that most, if not all, degenerative disease can be linked to animal-based and processed foods. “It really showed us that most of the food we’re eating in this Westernized diet is actually the opposite of what we think it is and it is very detrimental to our health. I started cutting dairy, lactose, processed foods, and processed meat out of my diet. I’m not completely a vegan.”

From there, the featherweight began shedding pounds and was walking around at 145 pounds, so the next stop was cutting to 135. The change has had an immense impact on him both physiologically and psychologically, and also economically. Since the move to bantamweight, Caceres is 2-1 inside the Octagon with an overall record of 7-5. In his first outing in the new division, he nabbed a unanimous decision victory over Cole Escovedo at UFC on FOX last November. Following that, Caceres had an odd split decision loss against Edwin Figueroa, but rebounded with his best performance yet in a “Submission of the Night” win over WEC veteran Damacio Page in July.

“With the knowledge I’m gaining now, I’m able to show people what I’m really about,” says Caceres. “I am a well-rounded fighter, I belong in the UFC, and with every fight I’m going to be able to show my skill level that I’m the better man in the cage at that moment on that day during those 15 minutes. If anything, it makes me want to train harder. Now, I do have this excess amount of energy that I can’t seem to spend all the time. I get into the gym and I’m not satisfied until I’m crawling out of the cage. One of the most profound things this diet gave me is the clarity of thought. I actually know what I want out of this and where I want to be at the end of this. It feels good.”

The bout against Page highlighted many of Caceres’ weapons, from his size and length to his savvy ground game and to his creativity standing. The first round was Page on top and Caceres on bottom, but the second round saw a vicious knee transitioned into a fight ending triangle choke that put the rest of the division on notice. “It was actually that knee to the chest that I threw that weakened him for the triangle,” divulges Caceres. “I felt my knee go straight into his solar plexus and I heard him grunt really loud when I hit him. He didn’t give much resistance when I threw on that triangle, so I knew that body shot really hurt him.”

Up next for Caceres is a trip to the Far East in a showdown with promotional newcomer Kyung Ho Kang at UFC on FUEL TV in Macao, China. Well before “Bruce Leeroy” submitted Page, behind-the-scenes Caceres had been bugging UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby to be put on the China card to perform in front of his idol Bruce Lee’s homeland. The W punched his ticket to Macao and lined Caceres up to tangle with submission ace Kang. The South Korean “Typhoon” is 11-6, on a three fight win streak, and, most recently, won a bantamweight tournament / title for the Korean based Road Fighting Championships.

“He looks like a very well-rounded, solid opponent,” admits Caceres. “Nothing that I haven’t seen before, but he looks like he has a solid ground game with most of his fights being won by submission, eight out of 11. He seems to be a tough opponent. I think we’ll be a very great matchup out there. Win or lose, I’m ready to give it my all out there and I hope he is ready to do the same.”

Besides the changes in diet and division, Caceres has been training with a different team at the MMA Lab in Glendale, Arizona. Under the watchful eye of head coach and Royce Gracie Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt John Crouch, he is getting better by battling the UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson. Caceres reveals a lot of the focus is on filling in the perceived holes in his wrestling, but believes he is getting stronger everyday in all areas. As with all UFC fighters, Caceres’ goal is to wear gold around his waist, and rubbing shoulders with a current champ like Henderson is making that possibility closer to a reality.

“Training alongside him and sparring with him boosts my confidence,” asserts Caceres. “I’m seeing him train and training together with him, and seeing that the work ethic is not far off and that the training methods are not far off and our lifestyles are not far off. If I can hang with this champion that is two weight classes above me, then I don’t think anyone at 135 can touch me. It definitely makes that dream a lot more tangible, and when I reach up I can feel something and one day I’m going to grab it.”

But Caceres is quick to correct that a belt is not his endgame. “I’m a martial artist at heart and I will do that forever, but fighting I honestly believe and know it is for the young,” maintains Caceres, who is still a year away from a quarter century with presumably a decade at least left in him as a quality mixed martial artist, but he has more on his mind than titles. “I know me holding the belt and being champion might and very well may become, but it is not the top of the mountain for me. I feel this is a stepping stone to launch myself toward my true realization of my dreams and purposes in life. Honestly, I see my ultimate goals being some sort of humanitarian where I can use the knowledge and the wisdom that I have come across through my evolution of life to help other people come up to a higher plane as well.”

While many may believe those are too lofty or unrealistic goals for a fighter, then maybe those people should investigate Muhammad Ali or Helio Gracie and how their lives caused countless ripples in our sea of humanity. If Caceres’ mission is to help the world, then good luck to him with no sarcasm or cynicism needed. He is setting himself upon the toughest and most difficult to navigate roads, and is hoping to lead by example for others to follow. Simply, Caceres believes he can be better, that we all can be better, and he’ll pursue that dream with the same fervor he shows in his struggles inside the cage.

“I feel we all have to evolve to help humankind push the sky off,” declares Caceres. “The more I think about it the I more I realize, we are all stuck on this rock sailing through this cosmic ocean and if anything threatens us it threatens our entire race and there is no way we can fight back against it. I think we really need to push our horizons to spread ourselves across this vast universe. We are just a speck in the whole scheme of things and we’re worried about a lot of materialistic ideals and appearances and what not, and what we should be worried about are the welfare of our children and our children’s children. We’re so stuck in the past and so stuck in this dream-like state they have us in. It’s weird, reality TV becomes reality and we have to live vicariously through other people’s lives when our own lives are just as exciting if we want them to be. Everybody looks at me and they’re like he’s a lucky kid with nothing to play with; he’s just a lucky person that made it. But it’s not true. Everyone has this ability and drive and everybody has the capabilities to do it. I was just a regular person on the streets before I became any of this. I know that I had to bite down and get some grit in me to do it, and it wasn’t easy because nothing comes easy. We definitely have the power to be greater than ourselves every day. That’s my main goal in life and my challenge is to always challenge myself to be better than I am today tomorrow. I know I have this capability and I know we all have this capability. We just have to wake up and realize that not just one person is special and has talent. You just have to put in the work to make it realized.”

On November 10th at the CotaiArena in Macau, China, a bantamweight collision between Kang and Caceres will look to entertain and spark a fire in this burgeoning MMA market. For the Chinese fans, Caceres makes it known that he is committed to pushing himself beyond his limits for the W, but if he falls short, it will only be because Kang has exceeded his potential as well.

“I always expect to perform extremely well,” affirms Caceres. “I will go out there and express myself. I will express this art to its fullest and I will try and put everything out there. I will put that much effort into it. Win or lose. You can expect me to win or you can expect me to lose, but if I lose it will not be because I got tired or did not put enough effort into it. It will only be because that person was truly better than me that day, and only for that day. I will always come back stronger and better. What the fans can expect is one hell of a fight.”

And if “Bruce Leeroy” does win, Jon Anik and Kenny Florian can expect one helluva post-fight interview.

To anyone planning on calling out UFC light heavyweight Phil Davis, do it now. Not in a year, not in a month, and not even in a lowly little week. Shout that challenge from the rooftops today because every minute Davis spends in the gym is making him a greater threat for that eventual meeting in the Octagon. As in the major theme of G.W.F. Hegel’s works and in the lyrics off side one of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” by The Beatles, “Mr. Wonderful” is getting better all the time.

“For me, it’s literally just more time in the gym,” states Davis. “I got beat by [Rashad Evans] on experience and he fought the smarter fight. The more time I spend training in this sport, the more dangerous I’m going to get. That’s really just it. From when I fought [Evans] to now, I’ve gotten so much better. And by the time January comes back around, which is when I fought him, I will be much better then. The most dangerous part of someone fighting me is allowing me to learn more about this whole MMA game.”

A newly minted 28-year-old, Davis is heading into the Octagon for an eighth time in just over two and a half years with the company. The former four-time NCAA Division I All-American wrestler from Penn State University went straight from the college wrestling mats to the cage and rattled off a 4-0 streak in smaller MMA shows. At UFC 109 in February 2010, Davis debuted in the Octagon against former WEC light heavyweight champion Brian Stann and he took the contest by unanimous decision. With little experience to draw on besides his vaunted wrestling acumen, Davis continued to win and win and win and win against top opponents in the UFC and was finally halted by former UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans in a unanimous decision loss at the beginning of this year.

“In some ways, I’m ahead of the curve and in some ways I’m behind,” tells Davis. “Most of my fighting career has been inside the Octagon. Not too many people can say that. Which means, of all the people I’ve fought, most of them have been top competition. If you go through the guys I’ve fought, they’ve all been gamers. I really didn’t have the chance to develop like most other fighters have, like getting progressively tougher as they go along. By the time I had my 10th fight, I was going against the former world champion. You have to sink or swim.”

With an overall record of 9-1, 1 NC, Davis is a strong swimmer in the deep, shark infested waters of the 205-pound division. Prior to the Evans loss, he was 5-0 in the Octagon, propelling him to the early title eliminator bout with Evans. Of his wins, two opponents, Tim Boetsch and Stann, dropped to middleweight after their respective losses to Davis, and a new submission hold, the one-armed kimura, was dubbed the “Mr. Wonderful” because “Mr. Wonderful” Davis did it to win at UFC 123. These are not “flashes of greatness” and are instead the foundation of a young great career that Davis is beginning to understand and settle into after a whirlwind few years fighting in the cage.

“Sometimes, I get a little upset at myself because I wish I was a little better at this or that or just had a performance that I didn’t like,” explains Davis. “Sometimes, I wish I could do something extravagant in there like Anderson Silva. But I have to say to myself, ‘Listen, you’ve been doing this for two years and you’re fighting the best guys in the world. Maybe you should just be cool with winning.’ As I’ve gotten more confident and been able to settle into my own groove of my fighting style, I’ve been more potent in the gym and my overall game has gotten a lot better. I need to stop being so anxious about getting the highlight reel finish and just take my time and learn my way.”

If there has been a lull in his career, it is easily the strange 88 seconds that played out between Davis and Brazilian bomber Wagner Prado at UFC on FOX in August. Eventually ruled a no contest, Davis and Prado squared off in a “striker vs. grappler” matchup which ended as quickly as it started with an inadvertent eye poke by Davis to Prado. After the cageside doctor looked at Prado’s eye and questioned him on whether he could see, the doctor’s called the fight and Prado was devastated with the way his UFC debut ended. Subsequently, Davis and Prado will have a rematch to the fight that basically never was.

“I knew he was a tough opponent,” admits Davis. “I didn’t know much about him, but that usually doesn’t stop me from preparing for a tough fight. I leave it to my coaches. They give me a gameplan and I go out there and do my thing. Usually for me, it’s pointless watching videos because everybody looks good outside the UFC; if you don’t then you don’t make it. I prepared a lot for that fight. It just stinks that I didn’t get to showcase any of that. I spent a lot of time working on my striking. I’ve really spent a lot of time working on my overall MMA game. It’s not that I’ve been spending all my time doing one thing; it’s really me trying to take my overall game to the next level.”

At UFC 153 at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, “Mr. Wonderful” and “Caldeirao” will be set to tangle yet again in hopes of a better result. On paper, this is still an excellent fight as Prado is an undefeated wrecking crew with seven of his eight wins coming by KO/TKO. He is a 24-year-old, heavy handed, Team Nogueira prospect who blitzkriegs his opponents with punches and kicks early and often. Nothing has changed as far as talent or game plans in the cage, but the actual cage itself has migrated from the West Coast of the USA to the South-Eastern beaches of Brazil. In the first scrap, Davis had the crowd’s support and in the rematch Prado will have the cheers in his favor.

“Fair is fair,” affirms Davis. “The first time, we fought was in LA, which isn’t necessarily my hometown, but it’s closer than where Wagner is from. I get it. This time, we’re fighting in Rio. It’s not where Wagner’s from, but it’s sort of like his hometown. That’s as fair as fair can be. You can’t ask for more of a fair shake than that. I’m glad to fight in front of the Brazilian fans. They’re great fans, they’re fanatics about the sport, they like to see good fights, they’re educated fight fans, and I would like to give them everything they paid their money for – and then some.”

Traveling is no issue for Davis, as he has gloves and is willing to travel. Most of Davis’ Octagon appearances have been in the Continental US, but he did fly to Abu Dhabi for UFC 112 and took a dominant victory over Alexander Gustafsson with an anaconda choke in the closing seconds of the first round. Even before that, in Davis’ National Championship winning college wrestling days, he competed in China in a friendly tournament against several Chinese National and military teams. More or less, Davis lived out 1989’s “Best of the Best” with wrestling instead of taekwondo, and relishes the opportunity to do it again, whether it’s in China or on an uncolonized planet far far away.

“I will travel anywhere, I will fight anywhere,” asserts Davis. “I kind of wanted to get on the fight card in China because I’ve been to China before. The Chinese fans are awesome. I’ve wrestled in China and they treated me awesome. It was an awesome experience. I saw the venue online for the event that is going to be held in China and I was like, ‘Damn, that would be awesome to fight there’. But that’s neither here nor there, that’s no problem. Maybe next time. The point is when I’m healthy, I will fight anywhere, anytime. When they have fights on the Moon one day or Mars, guess what? I will be there! I will be on the first fight card on Mars!”

As mentioned, “getting better” for Davis is simply more time at Alliance Training Center in Chula Vista, California. Also, it’s the home gym to several other UFC superstars like Brandon Vera and UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz. In charge of adapting a terrific wrestler like Davis to become a force on the feet is head trainer Eric Del Fierro and boxing coach Adrian Melendez. On the ground, Davis is in the more than capable hands of third degree Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt and all around “ninja” Lloyd Irvin. What will propel Davis to continue to be successful in the UFC in the future are a mix of lessons learned from his own wrestling past and the current knowledge given by his Alliance coaches.

“I’d say everything is influenced by my wrestling,” divulges Davis. “I think it should be because there is no reason to start at square one. A lot of people who got started in MMA have no real background in anything. Why put myself on an even playing field with those guys when I have a great background in one thing to draw from? Everything I do comes from my knowledge of wrestling. The attitude of perseverance. I remember when I sucked at wrestling and I got really good. And I remember when I really sucked at MMA and, now, I’m not bad. Everything I feel like I know about sports, I know because of wrestling. That one time I was an underclassman starting in the lineup. I wanted to put big time points on the board just like the other guys. It didn’t matter if I was a freshman. Everybody else was like, ‘Take your time. You’re coming along. Just work your way up. You don’t have to compare yourself to these other guys. Your time will come.’ Sure enough, my time came. It’s just the matter of putting your time in and not trying to rush yourself.”

This Saturday, Davis and Prado will collide for a second time in hope for a first winner. “The fans, they’re going to get their breath taken away and then I’m going to give them a sigh of relief,” says Davis, who has had another two months in the gym and is a bigger threat now than in the original meeting. “They’re going to be like, ‘Oh my God, I thought he was going to really hurt him!’ That’s what it is going to be. What they’ll take away is that Phil Davis is going to be as good as they all said he was going to be.”