Author: By Jordan Newmark

On August 14th, Jared Hamman sent a warning to the UFC’s middleweight division in the form of a second round TKO win over CB Dollaway and it was received loud and clear: he’s here and he’s legit.

After going 1-2 at light heavyweight, Hamman cleaned up his diet, pushed himself even harder as a professional athlete and dropped the 20 pounds to make 185. “My coaches, my nutritionist and my camp were phenomenal and everything worked out perfectly,” said Hamman, who was excited about entering this new weight class, a decision which forced himself to make lifestyle changes as far as eating and training. “It seemed like everything came together. My nutritionist had me on point, my strength and conditioning coach had me in shape and I was able to go against some really good wrestlers who had fought CB and been around CB. It was picture perfect.”

The Dollaway bout at UFC Live was simply a tale of two entirely different rounds. The first five minutes were wall-to-wall action from both competitors, which, in the end, seemingly favored Dollaway. “The Doberman” out-struck Hamman on the feet, took Hamman down several times, and had Hamman in what appeared to be a tight arm-triangle choke. But after all that, Hamman looked completely unfazed and wasn’t breathing hard heading into his corner for the break. Meanwhile, Dollaway looked beat with 10 minutes still on the clock, and his opponent was just getting warmed up.

“The first round was a little rough,” admits Hamman. “I kind of have to get beat up a little bit. I always feel like my first round is my hardest round to get into it. I feel like the second round is mine and the third round is for sure mine because of my conditioning and my cardio. It was kind of like how I played football where the first quarter was hard, but once I got into the second, third and fourth quarter it’s go time. My coaches had me in such great shape that I knew I was ready to perform. I got cracked and I took it. I got kind of caught in the arm-triangle, but for the most part going through the first round I was thinking, ‘your time is coming’. Okay, you hit me and you tried to choke me out, but the second round is mine. I expected from CB that he was going to come after it and sure enough he did. At the end of the round, I slapped his thigh because I knew he had done a lot of work. He basically threw what he had at me and all I was thinking that I’m going to come after him in the second round. I felt like the second round was my turn.”

And it was. The 29-year old Californian took it to Dollaway by throwing well over 100 strikes in less than four minutes. The beginning 40 seconds of the round were basically a feeling out process, but once those first few punches landed, Hamman never stopped until referee Herb Dean pulled him off his foe. The majority of the round took place on the ground, with Hamman delivering a relentless attack from side control, which was at too high of a pace for Dollaway to keep up. Hamman impressively earned his first stoppage inside the Octagon against a well-regarded opponent in his new weight class.

“I want to end fights,” declares Hamman. “To me what’s fun is to go in there for the kill. That’s what makes MMA enjoyable for me. It is about going in there and making that opponent give up. I’ll take the knockout or submission, but what I’m looking for is going in there and breaking that guy down and seeing who has the will. He put a lot of action into that first round and that’s why I love the UFC because they put me in there with guys who love to fight. That was a great first round – you beat me up, let’s get into the second round and keep this going. I felt so good going into that second round, it was like let’s rock and roll. In the second round, when I felt that he was withering, that put a big ol’ smile on my face inside because I’m like my cardio feels great, I smell blood and I want to end this.”

For his next challenger at middleweight, Hamman will be traveling to the Great White North and taking on Costa Philippou in Toronto, Canada at UFC 140. The former professional boxer from Cyprus made his UFC debut on five days’ notice earlier this year at UFC 128 in a decision loss against Nick Catone. He re-entered the Octagon six months later after a full training camp and defeated UFC veteran Jorge Rivera at UFC 133 by split decision. The product of the Matt Serra and Ray Longo Long Island fight team is clearly durable, determined and ready to bring the fight for all three rounds, which is how Hamman likes it.

“He is a short strong dude,” says Hamman of his sub six foot opponent. “He seems like another good guy. He’s not a loud mouthed trash talking punk; he’s a stand up dude. He’s the kind of guy I like to fight and I respect and I think is good for our sport. He has a hard head because I don’t think anyone has finished him. He took Nick Catone to decision and he beat Jorge Rivera. He has a solid resume. I think he is going to bring it and I think it is going to be a good fight between us.”

Come fight night, Hamman will have the same three familiar faces (two to the UFC fans and one to himself) that he usually has: UFC light heavyweight Vladimir Matyushenko, retired UFC heavyweight and K-1 kickboxer Antoni Hardonk, and Hamman’s older brother. In spirit “The Messenger” will have his Brazilian jiu-jitsu coach Henry Akins, who is a black belt under Rickson Gracie, cheering him on. Besides all their renowned tutelage, Hamman has also been preparing for Philippou at the Grudge Training Center in Colorado with Trevor Wittman, Brendan Schaub, Nate Marquardt and Eliot Marshall.

“As far as training partners go, where I’m at in California there are not a whole lot,” tells Hamman. “I have great coaches who are great at teaching technical stuff, but they don’t have too many people for me to go against. I made the decision to come out to Colorado because they have a bunch of guys who are highly motivated that are very skilled and they put it on me. I’m always coming to bring it in fights and I don’t think I’m a slow starter as far as pressing the action, but it takes me that first round to get into my groove. That’s one of the reasons I came out to Colorado because these guys are super good and super technical and you can’t take a round off against them. You have to be on your game every single sparring round you have against them. To have guys where you can’t be lazy against them and you have to be focused from the first bell to the last bell is how I work on that. To get ready for a fight there is not a better place for me.”

To fans, Hamman has obviously grown as a fighter inside the cage, but, to himself, Hamman knows he has also grown outside of it by accepting and understanding the ever expanding media attention that comes with being in the UFC. “It came to a point with the CB Dollaway fight that I really came to grips with the whole idea of interviews, Twitter, Facebook fan page, and all these things that are like ‘what the heck does this have to do with the fight,’” says Hamman, who wasn’t comfortable being a center of attention initially, but is beginning to enjoy it more. Plus, he knows the greatest publicity will always come from a victory inside the Octagon. “The best exposure for myself is to win fights. I’ll never overlook that. My training trumps and comes before any of the media stuff any day.”

The debut at middleweight and the TKO win over Dollaway weren’t the only headlines Hamman grabbed this year. In what is positively a first for the UFC, Hamman had a bottle of wine designed for and about him by the wine club from the Hill Family Estate in Napa Valley. “The Messenger” cabernet sauvignon is a part of a staining project that has also been done for athletes like Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, and Rick Ankiel. It’s no doubt a surreal and very cool experience for the 13-3 middleweight, who jokes, “It is like the Wheaties box of the adult age.”

On December 10th at UFC 140 in Toronto, Hamman is looking to dish out another fight finishing performance against the rough and ready Philippou. He has easily become a fan favorite with his aggressive and non-stop combat style, which earned him two “Fight of the Night” awards in 2010 against Kyle Kingsbury and Rodney Wallace. Now with Hamman competing at his proper weight class, he is champing at the bit to get into the Octagon and give the fans something they can enjoy. No one can explain that point better than the man himself.

“I remember how I felt that first fight,” states Hamman. “You’re not thinking about anything else – the media or the crowd. You’re just thinking, I’m going to fight this dude and I’m ready to bring the ruckus. Nothing else matters because I’m going to go after this guy with all I have got. Sometimes in the UFC, there are guys who are so worried about losing that they get passive and it turns into a boring fight. It turns into that I don’t want to watch this, they’re not going for the kill, they’re not going for the finish. Five years later, I still want that mentality of I want to go in there and smash this dude. There is more technique involved and the fighters are more skilled and there is a lot more to it now. But I never want to lose that edge of I’m going in there to fight. If I did lose that edge I would probably quit because it wouldn’t be fun for me. Five years later, I want to have that same mentality from my first fight – I don’t want to lose that motivation and that sense of purpose.”

Basically, if Hamman isn’t immersed in a high-octane dogfight then he’s not happy, which is a good message to the fans and bad one for his would-be opponents.

There’s no denying that Tom Lawlor is entertaining. From the Hulk Hogan entrance complete with feather boas, t-shirt ripping and “Real American” blaring, to the pre-fight weigh-ins dressed head to toe as Dan “The Beast” Severn at UFC 113, “Filthy” Tom knows a thing or two about showmanship and, simply, having fun. As he prepares for his UFC 139 bout with rising middleweight star Chris Weidman, Lawlor is focused on a lot more than planning a memorable walkout; he is planning an upset.

“I would say that played and plays a huge part in being able to motivate me,” explains Lawlor. “In the past there has been a fight or two that I wasn’t as motivated as I should have been. If you’re a competitor there is always something that needs to drive you and if you don’t have that then you’re not going to perform at the best of your abilities. You’re not going to put forth everything and you’re not going to do everything you can to win the fight. The fact that there are so many MMA websites and so many people with their lists that tout Weidman highly, it really does drive me. On betting odds, I’m a 2-1 or 3-1 underdog, so I’m definitely pumped up for this fight. I’m pumped up to fight Weidman, I’m pumped up to fight his aura, his hype train – I’m ready for it all.

In his first fight in over a year, Lawlor wants to mark his return to the Octagon on November 19th with a win against the top MMA prospect. It has been a while since UFC fans have seen any pre-fight antics from Lawlor, since his last cage appearance was in October of 2010 at UFC 121 against the heavy handed Patrick Cote. The dominant unanimous decision win over Cote snapped a two fight losing streak which started with a razor thin split-decision loss to Aaron Simpson followed by a second round submission loss to Joe Doerksen. Add to the mix Lawlor’s lightning quick guillotine choke of CB Dollaway, and he has fought four well-respected and recognizable names at middleweight in the UFC prior to Weidman.

“A lot of people look at him as a real big prospect for this sport and some people think he might challenge for the title in the future, but in my opinion he is still young in his career,” says Lawlor. “He has a lot of competition experience in wrestling and in grappling, but he’s still kind of putting it together as a mixed martial artist. I think I have a couple more years experience on him even though I don’t have many more fights. I’ve been training and doing everything else like working on striking and blending everything together. On paper and the odds, I’m sure I’m the underdog. I’ve gone against guys who on paper are better wrestlers than me in the past and fought against guys who are better strikers on paper than me in the past and none of it ever deters me. I’m going to go out there and do what I do. I’ve seen some things in Weidman’s game I think I can exploit. The people who think he is going to run over me because he has a better wrestling pedigree than me will be sorrily mistaken.”

For a guy who is revered in the MMA blogosphere mostly for dressing up as an esoteric early days of UFC reference, Harold Howard, at a weigh-in, Lawlor is a solid, well-rounded fighter who owns a “Submission of the Night”, a “Fight of the Night” and a recent win over a former number one contender. At 3-2 inside the Octagon, Lawlor also holds the only UFC victory over fellow Ultimate Fighter season 8 alum Kyle Kingsbury at light heavyweight. On top of that, he looked at his best in his previous outing, manhandling Cote for three decisive rounds. Plus, the fight should have ended in the first with Lawlor’s arm-triangle choke, but Cote escaped by slyly grabbing onto the fence and pulling himself out of the attempt without the referee noticing the infraction

“Honestly, during the fight I felt no danger,” asserts Lawlor. “I felt like I could have done what I wanted. I didn’t stand up and throw down with him because that’s where he’s the most dangerous, but I really wasn’t scared of his standup either. I feel like I could have stood with him and thrown down, but I had such a clear advantage on the ground that I wanted to keep up the pressure and not let him do anything. I pretty much shut him down for 15 minutes and it might not have been the most exciting thing to watch, but that’s a guy who fought for the title before and is pretty well regarded. I was able to do almost whatever I wanted.”

At 28 years old, the four-time NCWA All-American wrestler from University of Central Florida has spent the past year working on himself outside the cage. Following the Cote bout, Lawlor participated in a tour for the US troops where he injured his knee training with a few fellow fighters, which did sideline him from cagefighting for a little bit. Most of Lawlor’s time off has been spent in a series of new gyms in a familiar area of the country. It’s been an unexpected, but welcomed, time off, where he has gotten to sharpen and improve his skills while properly rehabbing injuries.

“At the beginning of the summer, I relocated up to the New England area,” tells Lawlor. “I trained there before my last fight. That’s where I originally grew up. I had moved down to Florida and that’s where I had been training for the past 10 years. I had gone ahead and moved back home and moved to Providence, RI. I train at a couple different places. I have a great strength coach in Kyle Holland, who also works with Joe Lauzon and Kenny Florian. I work with the same boxing coach that Joe does, Steve Maze. I go up to Joe’s gym a lot to spar with the guys he has there. I train five or six times a week at a phenomenal jiu-jitsu place, Tim Burrill’s BJJ. He also coaches Jorge Rivera and Mike Campbell, and there are a lot of good guys that I have been sparring with in New England. Currently, I’m at Team Quest in Temecula, California getting ready and putting the finishing touches on for this fight. It’s a great camp and there are a lot of good guys my size here. It doesn’t hurt that Dan Henderson is here getting ready to fight in the main event as well.”

Although Lawlor has not fought in 2011, the Weidman bout will be the third Lawlor’s been scheduled to be in. He was set to take on Maiquel Falcao at UFC 134 before Falcao was released, which led to Lawlor being matched up with Kyle Noke at UFC Live in August. In the training camp for the showdown in Milwaukee, Lawlor injured his arm, leaving him unable to punch and unable to continue with the fight. Nevertheless, Lawlor has been basically training for this return to the Octagon for the past nine months with a few hiccups, but he will have a renewed vigor to fight going into this bout against the undefeated Weidman.

“I feel like I’m a better person than I was a year ago,” admits Lawlor. “Being away for a year, I haven’t been working for a year. There have been a lot of things going on, from not having money, making a big move, buying a house, and a lot of things have gone on that really put things into perspective in the grand scheme of things. In a way, it excites me even more to go ahead to fight. I’m not as nervous to fight. Being away for a year, I really have the itch to fight, and after this fight I want to fight more often. I realized that your window is only open for so long in this sport, and to be out for a year is pretty big. I should be in my physical prime right now, even though my physical prime was probably when I six, so I’m way past my physical prime at this point. Taking a year off doesn’t seem like a waste and probably will be good for me in the long run, but I’m definitely itching to get back in there and continue fighting more often.”

This weekend, Lawlor wants to derail the hype train behind the young gun Weidman. And soon enough, his absence will only be a memory to fight fans, as he is preparing the expected tour-de-force of weigh-in and walkout hi-jinx, as well as the in cage grit and toughness that earned him his spot in the UFC. As Lawlor prepares to meet Weidman head on in a fight that will re-establish him in the UFC’s middleweight division, in typical fashion, Lawlor is doing it with a wink and a smile.

“The number one thing I’m going to show off in this fight is my physique,” divulges Lawlor. “I’m getting prepared to make a run at the Mr. Olympia 2012 title; a lot of people don’t know that. I’ve had a lot of time to work on my vascularity and my body building. Also, I have a new hair cut and a new beard, so those are things I will show off as well. You’re not going to see too much difference in the way that I fight. I’m not going to say I’m going to look intimidating, but I’m going to look damn good – that’s for sure.”

A year on the shelf for Lawlor to prepare for a fight and to come up with a weigh-in costume will no doubt be entertaining.

There is a well-documented negative side to “hype” for a fighter. It creates cynicism and a belief that the excitement for this particular fighter is disingenuous. It also causes additional pressure to be placed on the success of said fighter. Those would all be relevant issues if that fighter was not a two-time NCAA Division I All-American wrestler who qualified for the 2009 ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship by winning the East Coast trials after only eight months of formal Brazilian jiu-jitsu training, who has an undefeated pro MMA record, including two wins inside the Octagon, and is already the proud owner of a “Submission of the Night” bonus in his second fight in the UFC.

Actually, the hype can’t even compete with the reality of Chris Weidman.

“I am in this 100%,” declares Weidman. “The only reason I got into this sport was to be the champion. I wasn’t doing this for any other reason. Where I’m at right now, with the hype behind me, if that wasn’t behind me or if I wasn’t undefeated, I don’t care if I’m undefeated, just as long as I’m on the right streak towards the top. I have put this pressure on myself since day one, so it is nothing new.”

At 27 years old, this Hofstra University alum from “Strong Island” was at the top of every MMA website’s must watch and see list. Weidman was the prospect of prospects coming into his hurried Octagon debut in March at UFC Live against veteran UFC middleweight Alessio Sakara. On less than three weeks’ notice, Weidman went toe-to-toe with Sakara for a grueling and bloody three rounds in which Weidman controlled all the action. It was a true test for Weidman with little prep time – a tough opponent on a three fight win streak, and it was a physically exhausting fight which he won in every aspect.

“It was huge for me,” says Weidman. “It was a great experience. I was in there with a seasoned guy and I knew he was ready for a full fight. I wasn’t in the best shape going into that fight for sure. It was pretty much two weeks’ notice, so I was a fat kid two weeks before that. So for me to get in the shape I did and to be able to go three full rounds and get the win even though I wasn’t in the best shape makes me feel confident, especially having a full camp to be able to go three rounds at a fast pace. I felt like I went hard in that fight for all three rounds, but I didn’t go for some submissions that I usually would have because I wasn’t in my usual top quality shape. It was a great experience. He was a tough guy, and to go all three rounds like that was good for me.”

About three months later, Weidman was itching for another fight, and he replaced Court McGee in his bout with Jesse Bongfeldt. This time he had eight weeks’ notice to prepare, which was really the first time in Weidman’s six fight career that he had a dedicated training camp. Most of Weidman’s other fights were on short notice, with just enough time to make sure his cardio was there. Weidman had the opportunity to get better during the full camp and was considering this a statement fight, which was bad luck for Bongfeldt,

“Every fight is a big fight,” tells Weidman. “After the Sakara fight there was a lot of hype about me and where my future is heading. I think every fight is going to be kind of like that, but the fight with Jesse Bongfeldt really felt like people were trying to figure where I’m at. I wanted to show that I belong here in the UFC and that I’m someone who is going to be no joke and that I’m coming up.”

In his second Octagon appearance, Weidman didn’t disappoint, displaying the vaunted wrestling and submission skills everyone expects to see. “It’s definitely one of the things I work on – the kimura from side control,” notes Weidman, who attacked Bongfeldt with that move numerous times in the first round, and even though he didn’t secure it, it helped win the fight. “It’s one of my go to moves and I tried to set that up for the finish. He did a good job defending, but it ended up working out that I got another submission. As long as I am keeping pressure and attempting submission after submission, even if I don’t get it, it is mentally breaking the guy and sooner rather than later I’m going to get the submission.”

The “Submission of the Night” finish came at 4:54 in the first. As the two scrambled to their feet, Weidman drilled Bongfeldt with a knee to the mid-section and followed up with a standing guillotine choke. It was a lethal combo, which did help stamp Weidman’s arrival into the UFC middleweight division as a fighter whose power and submissions can make quick work of anyone.

“When I hit him with the knee, I knew I took the air out of him and my arms were instantly around his neck,” remembers Weidman. “I knew he wasn’t going to have much fight because he just took a knee to the stomach pretty hard and probably wasn’t expecting me to go so hard with the choke because of the short time. I was pretty confident with it that I would get the finish even with the time that was left.”

In San Jose this Saturday, Weidman will tangle with the returning Ultimate Fighter season eight alum “Filthy” Tom Lawlor for his third trip to the Octagon in less than a year. At 3-2 in the UFC, facing all recognizable opponents, Lawlor will look to employ his own wrestling, submissions and strikes on Weidman. Although it was 11 months ago, Lawlor had his best Octagon appearance to date in his dominance of former number 1 contender Patrick Cote at UFC 121. Lawlor is durable, versatile and will be hungry for a win over a young, but rising, name like Weidman.

“I think he is going to be a great test,” admits Weidman. “I think he is a tough kid and he’s going to come forward. I think he has good wrestling, good jiu-jitsu and good striking, so he’s well-rounded. I’m really excited and I think he’s going to be a good test to where I stand. I want to be on the top of this sport and these are the type of guys I need to be able to beat: tough guys who are well-rounded. It’s going to be an exciting fight, a good test for me and I’m going to try to win in a dominant way and get the finish.”

To prepare for this fight, Weidman is training with the dynamic duo from Long Island and TUF season six: Matt Serra and Ray Longo. Both coaches have vibrant personalities and a near unparalleled amount of experience, which they both use to pass on their fighting knowledge to Weidman. They have been with Weidman since the beginning and facilitated his quick rise in MMA by pushing Weidman to go pro immediately after believing in what they saw in him in their gyms. Weidman also trains a couple times a week in Manhattan with Serra’s own jiu-jitsu mentor, the legendary Renzo Gracie.

“They’re great coaches, so it makes it easier for me to become a fast learner because they’re great teachers,” asserts Weidman. “They’re both fun to be around. They’re easy going guys. They make light of tough situations if you’re having a bad day and they’re making you laugh. They make it fun. Having them together in your corner is a perfect combination. I think we match up well as far as them being the coaches and me being the student because as a wrestler I was a very technical wrestler and that’s what they’re all about – the technique. The way I learned wrestling from technique to technique is how I’m trying to learn jiu-jitsu and the standup. It’s not that much of a different type of learning than when it was wrestling.”

At UFC 139, Lawlor will be playing a dangerous game by standing on the tracks with Weidman’s hype-train ready to come through. “Just like any fight, I’m completely ready for a war,” states Weidman, who has higher aspirations than being a prospect; he’s looking to make the middleweight division his own, one fight at a time. “I’m 100% ready for a three round back and forth crazy slugfest, on to the ground then back up again, attempting submissions, and non-stop action. I’m totally prepared for that. And I’m going to be looking for the submissions and looking for the knockouts the whole entire fight. Without a doubt.”

The Octagon is a war zone and UFC fighters are its soldiers of fortune. The rank and file enter the cage aiming for a win, but there are others with deranged views of glory who seek three round slugfests that metaphorically set the arena on fire as fight fans scream along in the inferno of combat viewing excitement. The viking-like savagery these particular Mixed Martial Artists desire in their 15 minutes of ambidextrous assault is what keeps sane men up at night. These warriors who are only satiated by this havoc are bestowed upon them a coveted honor:

Fight of the Night.

One owner of two of these bonuses in his last three fights, UFC light heavyweight Kyle Kingsbury, rides to the cage to hand-picked battle anthems that strike fear into the heart of those waiting for him. Kingsbury’s songbirds of his opponent’s impending Octagon apocalypse are terrifying: Kenny Loggins, Duran Duran, Miley Cyrus, and, for the most unfortunate of foes, Selena Gomez.

“There’s no doubt my love for the 80’s,” laughs Kingsbury. “People ask why do you come out to that music? When I get to the cage, I want to be relaxed with a smile on my face and feeling comfortable. I don’t want to be pumped up. The fight itself is enough to get me pumped up. When the cage door shuts and they’re calling out my name and the crowd is cheering, that’s enough to get my heart rate up. I don’t need death metal or any of that stuff to get me going. When I go out there, I want a song that is going to make me laugh, make me smile, make me think about the old days growing up and put me into a nice cool place. It’s no different when I’m heading to the gym. I don’t need to have Metallica on when I’m going there; maybe when I was lifting weights back in the day playing football I needed that. But when I’m headed to the gym, I want something that is going to put a smile on my face, something I can sing along to. A little Selena Gomez or Miley Cyrus – there’s nothing wrong with that.”

Truly dark and twisted, indeed. In all seriousness, the 29-year old Californian doesn’t need to “mean mug” or get himself angry to go blow for blow with the best 205ers this sport has to offer. Kingsbury is a professional fighter who enjoys his job of knuckled competition and is trying to stay as far away from fighting on pure emotions. After four successful trips to the Octagon, Kingsbury is more focused than ever to keep that mellowness while exchanging fists and feet with “The American Psycho,” Stephan Bonnar, in Kingsbury’s hometown of San Jose, California on November 19th at UFC 139.

“Especially fighting in front of the hometown crowd, it will be about how composed can I be,” says Kingsbury. “If I’m more relaxed and composed then you’re going to see some pretty cool stuff standing and a lot better wrestling. Everything is going to come together better. I use my teammate Daniel Cormier as an example. His last couple fights against Jeff Monson and Antonio Silva, you see a look of relaxation on his face and just how calm and collected he is and then everything starts landing and everything starts working. That’s what I want to have going into this fight. I want to be completely relaxed and enjoy the moment with the crowd, but I don’t want it to get the best of me. I don’t want to let it get me sidetracked. Get drawn in by the energy of the crowd and stay even keel and be relaxed fighting Stephan and if I can do that then the crowd will see some really cool stuff.”

The UFC faithful have already seen marked improvement from the 11-2, 1 NC Kingsbury in his three years in the organization. After The Ultimate Fighter season 8, Kingsbury’s UFC debut was a decision loss to fellow housemate Tom Lawlor. Since then, Kingsbury has racked up a four fight win streak, including a 21 second knockout of Ricardo Romero and two Fight of the Night bonuses against Jared Hamman and, most recently, Fabio Maldonado at the TUF 13 Finale in June. Kingsbury is 6’4”, athletic, can eat a punch to deliver two back, even against a knockout artist like Maldonado, and is only gaining confidence with each hard fought win.

“I think I’ve really improved upon the mental aspect of the game,” tells Kingsbury. “I’ve touched on it before that I’ve worked with sports psychologists since being on The Ultimate Fighter and I think I’ve improved greatly focusing on the positives going into fights. Even still, there was a level of nervousness going into the fight with Maldonado because of how dangerous he was with his hands. Getting into a fight with those nerves, but being able to keep my composure and staying somewhat even keel enough to last all three rounds I think is a testament to my will. Even when things are not perfect, I can make it through them un-rattled. Maldonado is an unknown and not enough people give him credit for being 22-0 in boxing with 21 knockouts. This guy is knocking dudes out with big gloves, so you put this guy in 4 ounce gloves and you will feel it. I feel like I’ve gone against one of the best boxers in the division, if not the whole UFC. Honestly, I respect Stephan Bonnar’s standup, but I don’t think he’s going to hit me with the same power. Being able to go through a fight and having taken those shots, and I’m not saying I was walking right through them, but I didn’t get knocked out and I still came through with the victory. I feel like I can stand with anyone now. I have an increased confidence in my standup knowing that my chin is solid and able to make it through a guy who has that boxing pedigree.”

As for the brutal bout with Maldonado, it was all about the clinch game. Kingsbury’s weapon of choice was on full display, as he secured that Muay Thai clinch and delivered knees to Maldonado’s body. Meanwhile, the Brazilian fought back by delivering some of the sickest body punches ever seen inside the Octagon. It was a game of chicken, a war fought in the trenches, and it came down to who would blink first. After three rounds, Kingsbury walked out the victor, but a healthy respect was earned for both competitors’ ability to give and receive punishment that Saturday night.

“One of the things my coaches told me was, ‘Every time you get in the clinch you want to move his head because if you don’t he’ll just plant and deliver one to your body,’” remembers Kingsbury. “That’s easier said than done when you have a guy with a great base. Some of the time I was able to give him a quick turn and start throwing knees and he would go right into blocking and trying to defend. Other times, I would get the clinch and approach with knees first without that movement and he would just bury one to the body. A lot of people don’t realize how hard those hit. After the fight, I was in the hospital and the nurses would walk by and look at my face and go, ‘Oh my God, are you ok?’ And I would go, ‘The face doesn’t hurt. This hurts.’ And I would lift my shirt and it was black and blue all up and down my ribs. You don’t see guys let go of that plumb, the Muay Thai plumb, often, but he would deliver one of those shots right down the pipe and I would have the wind knocked out of me. I had the wind knocked out of me a couple times in that fight. People were also saying what about your cardio? I had great cardio going into that fight, but you try staying relaxed and breathing easy after you’ve had the wind knocked out of you a few times – it doesn’t really work that way.”

Up next for the Arizona State University alum is the showdown at UFC 139 with Bonnar. On paper it is tough to tell who will be the “thunder” and who will be the “lightning”, but this should naturally be a perfect storm inside the Octagon. “The American Psycho” will be making his 14th UFC appearance with an overall career of 16-7, including a Fight of the Night with Krzysztof Soszynski and, of course, the most famous fight in company history against Forrest Griffin at the first TUF finale. Bonnar is big, aggressive, and versatile, and he should be an excellent counterweight to Kingsbury to make for a high energy, back and forth clash that the fans will love.

“I wanted a bigger name guy who was the right fit coming up and obviously someone I thought I matched well against and would make for an exciting fight,” asserts Kingsbury. “Stephan fit the bill. He’s a guy who is known for exciting fights, he’s got incredible tenacity, incredible heart, and he’s never been finished in a UFC fight except for a TKO from cuts. That’s the type of guy I want – this Fight of the Night feel. Whether I get a Fight of the Night or not, we want to put on exciting fights and that’s something I want to be known for. Getting into a fight with Stephan fits the bill because you know it’s going to go three 5’s – it’s going to be an all out war.”

To prepare for the battle with Bonnar, Kingsbury has been training for the last four months with his team at the highly regarded American Kickboxing Academy in sunny San Jose. For this bout, Kingsbury has had an added focus on his cardio to be ready to push the pace on Bonnar for all three rounds. One way Kingsbury is achieving this is by taking on some of the wrestling world’s best everyday in the gym.

“You surround yourself with great coaches, great sparring and training partners like I have, there is no other option than to improve,” states Kingsbury. “We’ve had Daniel Cormier as my wrestling coach and his pedigree is unsurpassed. Cain Velasquez has his fight a week before mine, so we’ve been in camp together this whole time. You come in everyday and get your butt kicked by Cain everyday and it is sink or swim because you have to make improvements. King Mo (Lawal) is a new addition to our team and has been a great help. Also, Mark Ellis (2009 NCAA national heavyweight wrestling champion from University of Missouri), who is a relatively unknown in MMA. So I get a lot of different looks. No matter which day I come in there’s always someone there who is better than me at something. There’s always someone there that will be better than me that will push me in that department and after we’re done training they’ll give me tips to get better in that department. All of that rubs off on you. Just being around those guys forces you to be a better athlete – a better fighter.”

This Saturday, Kingsbury will look to extend his winning streak with another slobberknocker against the similarly game Bonnar. Taking on “The American Psycho” is definitely a step-up in name recognizable competition, but Kingsbury has proven he can fight through adversity in the cage and is only getting better by training with the UFC’s best outside of it. He is progressing as a fighter, as a force in the light heavyweight division and, at UFC 139, Kingsbury will be moving forward against Bonnar for a win and, maybe, another Fight of the Night.

“There’s a hundred reasons to keep trying to knock the guy out,” affirms Kingsbury. “There’s a hundred reasons to keep trying to finish the guy. There’s really only a couple to coast; that would be if you’re badly hurt or completely gassed to then put it in cruise control. Even still, you see guys like Wanderlei Silva completely exhausted just swinging for the fences in the last minute of each round. That’s something that’s awesome and it’s something the fans love. He’s not mailing it in at any point. That’s something that I try to embody when I’m out there. I want the fans to think that yeah, he’s going for it. Let’s be honest, if I’m up two rounds and we’re going into the third, I still have a guy trying to punch me in the face, I still have a guy trying to choke me out, I still have a guy trying to put me on my back and trying to smash me. All those things considered I’m still engaged. Even in my last fight, I had a fractured eye, but I was still coming after Maldonado trying to keep him away from me. Defensively, I have to stay on offense. There’s not really a situation in this fight where you’re not going to see me pushing the pace in the third round and going after Stephan and making this an exciting fight.”

While Bonnar and he are battering each other with their fists and feet, remember that Kingsbury is enjoying all of this and, just maybe, with Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the USA” playing in his head. Which does beg the question, who is the real “American Psycho”?

 
 

“There is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction.” – Winston Churchill

No one remains undefeated forever. That goes double in the UFC’s light heavyweight division, which features a litany of 225-pound athletic, super freaks cutting down to 205 to throw their high-speed knuckle bombs with only a strip of leather to cushion the blow. The Ultimate Fighter season 8 winner Ryan Bader learned that the hard way by racking up back-to-back losses by guillotine choke this year. While that was a difficult lesson to digest, Bader believes he has made the necessary changes to bring him not only back to his usual winning ways, but push him further as one of top fist-missile throwers inside the Octagon.

“It was kind of a weird place where I was at,” says Bader about his mindset following the loss to Tito Ortiz at UFC 132. “I was winning before using a certain style, whereas now I’m a lot better fighter than I was – better technique wise. It became, do I use this better technique or do I go back to the old me where I was going out there and throwing big overhands all the time trying to knock people out or do I be more technical and keep evolving? It was hard to say ‘keep evolving’ because of having two losses in a row. I feel like I had gotten to the point in my standup where I was hitting a plateau with some people and I got some new people and it has opened up a whole new world for me to see what striking is really like and how it works for me.”

“So I’m going to go back to being that same fighter, but a more technically sound fighter,” he continues. “I think I was missing some aggressiveness and was flat in the last couple fights. Looking at my training camps, I think I was over-training. My fellow training partner Aaron Simpson felt the same way and now in his last fight he felt great with different people running our training camps. Before, we were just killing ourselves day in and day out and when it got closer to the fight we felt like we had to put more and more in, which just beat our bodies down. Now, we’ve got the right formula in not over training and the right coaches. I’m ready for this fight and I’m excited. I want to go in there and get the win. I feel good. I feel like everything is in place. Mentally, I feel good and physically I feel I’m the best fighter that I have been since I first stepped into the Octagon.”

At 28 years old, the two-time NCAA Division I All-American wrestler from Arizona State University is not a star struck rookie under the bright lights of elite level competition. Bader knows the ups and down of sports – you win some (13) and you lose some (2), but you progress to do better next time. After three years of fighting inside the Octagon, including winning TUF 8, Bader is experiencing a rough patch, but in some way it is a blessing in disguise. Bader has re-evaluated what he was doing in training, addressed what he believed were problem areas, and feels he has improved overall because of it.

“The first fight with Jon Jones was my first loss and a big fight, but what happened with Tito – I had to just put it behind me and move on,” explains Bader. “I actually acted upon it this time and made changes and it has gone great so far. I’m glad that happened because I don’t know if I would have done any of that if I had went out and had beaten Tito, and I don’t think I would have had made any changes. I wouldn’t have evolved to the point where I’m evolving right now. Losing sucks. It is a horrible feeling. I hated losing in college wrestling and I hate losing in MMA. I want to put on an impressive performance and get a win, first and foremost.”

The key change was hiring Tom Vaughn as head coach. The ASU cagefighting triumvirate of Bader, CB Dollaway and Aaron Simpson started their own gym last year in Gilbert, Arizona, entitled Power MMA & Fitness. While putting together their own MMA sanctuary, the team didn’t lack for excellent training partners or specific style coaches, but they didn’t have an overall head coach to help blend it all together, as well as be the overseer monitoring their training. They solved this by bringing in Vaughn from the Fit NHB gym in Albuquerque, New Mexico, as he’s a coach who has groomed such notable fighters as Carlos Condit.

“He has helped us out a tremendous amount,” boasts Bader. “Having that gameplanning, having that overall head coach. He’s been in the game for a while and he knows MMA. Before, we had individual coaches as far as a Muay Thai coach, boxing coach, a jiu-jitsu coach. They all want to see you excel in their discipline and rightfully so. They want you to use your kicks, use your boxing and so forth. But the head coach can come in and see your overall game, get a gameplan down, and oversee your practices. It’s so when I show up to the gym, I don’t have to worry about what I’m doing, I can just do what the coach says. I’ve been working a lot on restructuring my game for what best fits my fighting style. I’ve dropped some things and added some things and I think it really has helped out. I feel like a totally new fighter, especially in the standup area. I’ve learned from the loss and I’m happy with all the changes we made.”

The first chance to put Bader version 2.0 into action will be on November 19th at UFC 139 against Jason Brilz. The three-time NCAA Division II All-American out of the University of Nebraska at Omaha is in a similar situation as Bader, as he’s suffered back-to-back losses and is in desperate need of a win. Brilz lost a controversial split decision to Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at UFC 114, followed by a totally uncharacteristic one-punch knockout loss to Vladimir Matyushenko at UFC 129 in April. Brilz and Bader are both great wrestlers, both are durable, both have heavy hands, and both need a win, which should equal a gritty and exciting light heavyweight bout.

“Jason Brilz, every fight he is in, you know he is going to come after you for three rounds hard,” affirms Bader. “There’s no quit in him at all. He had a great fight with Nogueira. We have a few common opponents in Eliot Marshall, ‘Red’ Schafer and Nogueira, and he comes after you. He might not have the most technical standup, but he has power in his hands and every punch he throws is hard. You don’t want to take too many of those. He obviously has a good wrestling background and good submissions. He’s a dangerous opponent and I’m ready for him.”

It seems counter-intuitive, but fight fans should know by now that with two powerful wrestlers squaring off in the Octagon, it usually means one thing: striker’s duel. “They’ll see a lot more polished standup where I will actually use it,” asserts Bader, who has shown marked improvement in his standup since his UFC debut, but he believes we’ll see a whole new beast entirely. “Also, a lot of little stuff I’ve learned, like little ground and pound stuff that I had never seen before and little transitions. Overall, I’ll be more technical and a better fighter on my feet, on the ground, and just everywhere. That’s what I’m looking forward to – putting on a good show and getting the win.”

The one thing that hasn’t changed this past year is Bader’s confidence in himself as a professional fighter. Only fighting three or four times a year in a sport where a fight can go from bad to worse to over in a couple seconds, it’s difficult to gauge how much better a mixed martial artist is than they were. MMA isn’t a sport for individual statistics; it only has the fatalistic win or loss. The athlete themselves can see or feel when they have gotten better. Bader knows without a doubt he is better at this sport now and he aims to show the UFC fans against Brilz.

“The fighter I am today, I would destroy myself even a year ago,” declares Bader. “I guess you don’t realize it because you are in here every day and you don’t realize how you’re growing as a fighter. It’s kind of like a parent who might not notice how much their kid is growing as opposed to someone who hasn’t seen them for a few months. I feel like that’s how it is in the gym, in the trenches, but you do realize it. Like I’ve had sparring partners that would beat my ass back in the day that I went with recently and I was like how did that ever happen? Your progression is about being around the right people and the right training partners and that’s what we have going on now. We’ve always had our core training partners and we’ve gotten even more now and a great coaching staff. I’ve brought in guys who are like Brilz that are great wrestlers. I feel better going into every camp, especially with these losses, and trying to get better for the next win. It forces you to get better. If you’re not trying to get better after a loss then you don’t need to be in this game.”

This weekend, a re-focused and re-energized Bader will look to put the pressure on Brilz and secure his first win in 2011. “I really feel I can go out there and get a finish in this fight, whether that’s on the feet or getting on top and ground and pounding – I really do feel like I’m going to catch him,” says Bader, who wants to get back to playing the alphabet game in his favor by earning some W’s with a few TKO’s meaning a whole lot of L’s for his opponents. “The stuff that I have evolved with in my standup is going to throw a lot of fighters off if they’re looking at my past tapes. He’s going to be expecting one fighter and another fighter is going to come out there and he’s going to be in trouble. I’m looking to go out there and definitely finish him.”

We’re all taught that everything in life isn’t about winning or losing, but who are we kidding? No one plays a sport, especially professionally, to lose. At UFC 139, Bader is going to try and tear Brilz’s head off if he gets the chance.

This Saturday is going to be exciting.

After running the UFC for over a decade that included over a hundred events aired worldwide on TV and pay-per-view, 14 successful seasons of The Ultimate Fighter, and dozens of champions come and gone, for UFC President Dana White, it has all paved the way for this Saturday night. For the first time ever, the UFC will be live on network television with UFC on FOX. It will be one fight, but what a fight it will be, as the UFC heavyweight title is on the line when Junior dos Santos takes on the champion, Cain Velasquez.

“This is without a doubt the biggest fight in UFC history,” declared White. “This thing started as a small fringe sport and has grown to what it is today. This Saturday night as we step out onto FOX, millions of people will see UFC who’ve never watched before. As we take this step forward into what we call ‘mainstream,’ we were much more fortunate in that we were able to hand pick a fight that we wanted to put on FOX. If I had to do it all over again, this is still the fight I’d pick to put on network television.”

On Wednesday at the Nokia Plaza in sunny Los Angeles, California, the MMA media and UFC fans gathered one more time for a chance to talk to the two fighters who are the faces of this historic event and whose fight is the main attraction for good reason. For literally millions of people, what transpires in that Octagon on Saturday night will be their first real exposure to the sport so many know and love. From their past fights and from this grueling schedule of media relations, no two fighters could have been better chosen than dos Santos and Velasquez.

“On the UFC Primetime special people got to see the kind of human beings they are, the kind of athletes they are, and on this Saturday they will get to see what kind of fighters they are,” said White.

Do not be mistaken, this is indeed the first huge step into the mainstream. We’re not talking about Chuck Liddell making a cameo on Entourage. This is the UFC heavyweight belt being defended in the Octagon on the same channel that has the National Football League, Major League Baseball and Nascar. This main event, which as mentioned is being billed as “without a doubt the biggest fight” in company history, is also just the tip of the FOX iceberg, as the UFC signed a seven year broadcast partnership which doesn’t even begin until next year. In many ways, this is just the beginning and it’s an incredible beginning.

Besides the hyperbole, the mainstream, the predictions for the future, and mundane mentions of ratings projections and ad revenues, there is an absolutely amazing fight that will be contested at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. Whether this heavyweight clash was on FOX, pay-per-view, cable or streaming on Facebook, fight fans would be worked up into the same frenzied lather about seeing easily the two best heavies in the UFC tangle once and for all. It’s the fight we’ve all wanted to see since these two burst onto the scene in 2008 with impressive first round stoppages in their Octagon debuts.

“From both of us, we have exciting fighting styles,” states Velasquez. “We don’t go out there and put on boring fights. We’re both going to go forward. That’s what fans are going to see, that’s what people who haven’t seen this before are going to see on Saturday.”

Neither dos Santos nor Velasquez have been in a boring fight, that’s for sure. The 13-1 challenger, dos Santos, finished his first five fights in the UFC with his fists and capped off the last two brutalizing Roy Nelson and Shane Carwin for three rounds. The 9-0 champion, Velasquez, has stopped all but one of his opponents within two rounds, including former champions Brock Lesnar and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Dos Santos and Velasquez are fast, athletic and when they put their hands on someone – it’s over.

“Cain has amazing stamina,” says dos Santos. “I think in this case, Cain Velasquez is the number one heavyweight now. I want to change this on Saturday. It’s going to be a great fight and a war. I think a lot of people are going to be rooting for him on Saturday night, but I know I’ll have a lot of people rooting for me around the world. I’ll use that energy on Saturday night”

Much is made of their speed and power standing up, but these two men have dangerous ground games as well, and they could be the deciding factor in this fight. “Dos Santos is a great boxer and I plan to take it to him on the feet, but I plan to take this fight everywhere,” asserts Velasquez, who is a two-time NCAA division I All-American wrestler from Arizona State University. Meanwhile, Dos Santos is a brown belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under the Nogueira brothers and he did display a few textbook takedowns on Carwin at UFC 131 in July.

A clear advantage the champion should have over his Brazilian counterpart will be the cheers from the Southern California crowd, as Velasquez is a Mexican-American from California who lives and trains in San Jose at the American Kickboxing Academy. “I want to represent hard working people,” explains Velasquez, who is known for his unparalleled work ethic, which he has credited to his parents, Efrain and Isabel. “Whether in training or in the fight, it’s good to know I have people supporting me and it makes me work harder and train harder. I always want to go out there and represent them well. I appreciate the support from the Mexican fans and fans all over.”

On November 12th, live on FOX, the Octagon invades network television for the first time, riding on the shoulders of the top studs of the UFC’s heavyweight division, with dos Santos fighting the champion Velasquez. “I will give my best to make this belt a Brazilian belt,” affirms dos Santos who doesn’t expect this bout to go the distance. Meanwhile, Velasquez is only picturing his first title defense as a five round war, “That’s how it is in my head, that’s how I’m training and that’s how I’m preparing.”

Whether it goes 25 seconds or 25 minutes, the build-up for this fight plus the talent in it has the MMA world screaming with excitement, and soon enough the rest of the world too.