Author: By Thomas Gerbasi

After fighting his way back from a severe 2009 bout with diverticulitis to successfully defend his UFC heavyweight title against Shane Carwin last July before losing the belt to Cain Velasquez, Brock Lesnar has been forced out of his UFC 131 main event against Junior dos Santos after being stricken once again with the intestinal ailment.

Lesnar and UFC President Dana White revealed the news on a media teleconference Thursday afternoon.

“Former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar has diverticulitis again,” said White. “He spent all day yesterday over at the Mayo Clinic and he’s gone through a bumper to bumper of tests. This thing acted up on him again, he’s got some serious choices to make in the next couple of weeks on whether to fight this thing or take the surgery.”

“I want to thank the UFC and Mr. White, and I want to apologize to Junior dos Santos and Spike TV,” said Lesnar. “This is an unfortunate situation for me. I dodged a bullet about two years ago with diverticulitis by not having the surgery. But diverticulitis is an illness that never goes away. It’s something that I’ve dealt with since my first occurrence and have been battling with it. I’ve been able to maintain it to a point where it’s tolerable, and I was able to go through two training camps. I’ve been dealing with some symptoms over the last three months, and during the course of this training camp, I felt another infection and got a CT scan done on my stomach, where there was visible inflation. It didn’t allow me to train to my full capabilities, and I was forced to make a decision to go back down to the doctor this week to figure out how far this thing was along. It’s not as serious as last time. It just didn’t allow me to train the way I needed to train for a number one contender’s bout. I am forced with the decision to either have surgery or to deal with this for the rest of my life. So I’m fighting a different fight here. It was a hard decision (to pull out of the fight), I’m choked up about it, but there’s nothing I can do.”

Stepping in for Lesnar to face dos Santos on the June 11th event in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada will be Carwin, the former interim UFC heavyweight champion. Carwin was originally scheduled to face Jon Olav Einemo on the UFC 131 card.

“Junior is a serious fight and not the type of fight that you would normally take on a 30 day notice but I have a dream to chase and I do not have a lot of time to chase it,” wrote Carwin on a blog on his website Shane-Carwin.com. “This is an opportunity to put myself in contention for the title.  I know my Coaches will have me ready so I have everything to gain.”

Carwin also sent his best wishes to his former rival.

“I hope Brock is able to recover.  I look forward to facing him again one day.”

That sounds just fine to Lesnar, who insists that we have not heard the last of him yet.

“I’ll tell you one thing: I’m not retiring. This isn’t the end of my fight career. I have a strong faith that there’s a solution to every problem. I just gotta find the right solution to fix this problem. I love this sport and I love what I do. This isn’t the end of Brock Lesnar.”

Lesnar and dos Santos have been competing against each other as coaches on season 13 of The Ultimate Fighter reality series on Spike TV.

Longevity. To have it in the sport of mixed martial arts at the highest level of the game is something to be proud of, but you can’t treasure it because it only takes a moment or two of complacency to lose it.

Matt Hamill was probably the most unlikely candidate from season three of The Ultimate Fighter to still be battling it out in the UFC. A talented athlete, but still raw, when he competed on the Spike TV reality show in 2006, his career consisted of a host of wrestling accolades and a 2-0 MMA record.

Coach Tito Ortiz took an instant liking to Hamill, who was born deaf, and he led his charge to a hard-fought victory over Mike Nickels in his lone fight on the show before leaving the competition due to injuries suffered in the bout.

A bout in the TUF3 finale was almost a given, and he pounded out fellow rookie Jesse Forbes in less than a round, guaranteeing that he would be back. The question was – for how long?

Considering that Hamill will be headlining UFC 130 against former light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson on May 28th, that answer is pretty clear. But what about his journey to this point? After nearly five years in the UFC, Hamill has quietly waited his turn, won most of his fights, lost a couple key ones, dealt with injuries, and basically built himself into a contender.

In 2006, just 11 months into his career, he talked about the start of that journey, saying, “In wrestling, success came easy. It came so naturally, and the mat was my home. Joining this sport has been a challenge. I learn new things every day and others can knock me down, which they never could in wrestling. But I’m getting better and I’m still striving to be at the top in MMA also.”

You expect to hear that from any athlete trying to come to grips with something new, but few are willing to put in the work to get there. Hamill has been the exception to that rule, but it wasn’t easy. Case in point, his fight with Seth Petruzelli in October of 2006. Hamill had just come off the TUF show and had one win over Forbes under his belt. The veteran Petruzelli was going to be his first real test, but for the first two rounds, Hamill dominated. In the third though, Petruzelli began to realize that his standup attack was really getting to his opponent, and he began tagging him with regularity. It looked like Hamill was on the verge of getting finished by the first consistent string of strikes that Petruzelli would put together, but that string never came, and he won a three round unanimous decision.

The bout told us two things. One, Hamill’s standup really needed some work. Two, he had the heart to battle through a tough fight and still get the W. The first problem could be solved; the second attribute is something you’re born with.

From there, Hamill learned his craft in the Utica, New York, gym he still calls home, with longtime trainer and manager Duff Holmes calling the shots and keeping a core team around his fighter that has gone largely unchanged, a rarity these days.

Hamill’s next bout was an impressive first round TKO of fellow wrestler Rex Holman at UFC 68, and then at UFC 75, he traveled to London to face his old rival from TUF3, British star Michael Bisping. What followed was one of the most controversial bouts in UFC history, as fans, media members, and the fighters themselves debated Bisping’s split decision victory in September of 2007.

Surprisingly, it was Hamill’s improved standup that many considered the difference in the fight, which ultimately didn’t go his way.

“I felt I could stand and bang with him since I was able to stand with several professional boxers that I routinely spar with,” said Hamill after the bout. “Bisping always called me a one dimensional wrestler so I wanted to show him how much I have improved. We had a great game plan for this fight. The plan was to push the pace, throw bombs and use the takedowns to score points if I needed to.”

It was enough in the eyes of many observers for him to win the fight, but it wasn’t met to be. In response, Hamill opted to take the high road, garnering him even more fans, and seven months later he left the judges out of it with a second round TKO of Tim Boetsch.

A TKO loss to Rich Franklin followed, and there was no controversy over that defeat, which came courtesy of a liver kick from the former middleweight champion. But following the bout, it looked like Hamill fell under the radar a bit, with casual fans assuming that after six UFC fights, if “The Hammer” hadn’t already secured a title belt or at least a championship fight, that was it for him.

Hamill wasn’t finished though, and he wasn’t about to go away. He stopped Reese Andy in workmanlike fashion at UFC 92, and at UFC 96 in March of 2009, he stole the show from Jackson’s headlining win over Keith Jardine with a one kick finish of Mark Munoz that earned Knockout of the Night honors.

Those matches started off a five fight winning streak that will carry him into the Jackson bout, but the third fight of the streak was anything but a win, as he was awarded a disqualification victory over current UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones in December of 2009. Dominated from the outset, Hamill suffered a dislocated shoulder early in the bout and was unable to recover. The final scene of the contest saw Jones unleashing an unanswered barrage of blows and eventually an illegal elbow that cost him the bout.

Again, Hamill took the high road and didn’t celebrate the continuation of his winning streak. Instead, he healed up and went back to the gym to fix whatever was broken in the Jones fight. And when he returned against veteran Keith Jardine, he showed no ill effects of the Jones fight as he engaged in a bloody three round war with “The Dean of Mean” and gutchecked his way to a majority decision win and a Fight of the Night bonus.

The win over Jardine set up an intriguing UFC 121 bout with his former mentor Ortiz, but Hamill did the right thing, taking the drama out of the fight immediately and simply dominating the former light heavyweight champ for three one-sided rounds. It was a defining moment in the career of Hamill, who had practically come full circle. He studied under Ortiz in the early days of his stint as a pro fighter, and now he had defeated him.

It’s almost as if a chapter closed for Hamill with the bout, opening the door for a new one that begins with his showdown against Jackson. With a win, he will take another high-profile scalp and place himself squarely in the title picture. And though a rematch with Jones isn’t one that people are demanding at the moment, wins over Jackson, Ortiz, and another high profile opponent would certainly leave him with a compelling case for a redemption fight with the man at the top of the 205-pound weight class.

But such talk is much too premature at this point. Hamill’s toughest opponent awaits, and in Jackson, he will be facing a fighter with a lot of incentive to climb his way back to the top. In fact, when first informed that Hamill, and not Thiago Silva, was his opponent, “Rampage” balked at the bout, but soon came around when he was told that Hamill actually requested the fight. That was seen as a slight by Jackson, and such slights are usually dealt with by force.

So there will be fireworks in this one, and the gameplans are clear – Hamill wants to take Jackson down and punish him, and “Rampage” wants to end the fight in explosive fashion as soon as possible to send a message to Hamill and the rest of the division.

It’s the kind of fight Hamill has been waiting for, and at 34, he knows that if he’s going to make a run at the top, the time is now. Longevity is one thing, but you don’t want to stick around too long at the same level. Matt Hamill has progressed from prospect to contender; now it’s time to move further up the ladder, and the only man standing in his way of doing that is “Rampage” Jackson.

And you may want to count him out, but consider that of the 16 fighters on season three of The Ultimate Fighter, only four (Hamill, Bisping, Ed Herman, Kendall Grove) remain in the UFC. Hamill has proved his worth in the Octagon, not only as a fighter, but as a survivor, and it’s hard to beat someone who just refuses to lose.

A favorite of those in the music business, the phrase “Desert Island Discs” refers to the idea that if you were about to get stranded on a desert island, what records, tapes, or CDs (pick your medium based on your age) would you take? In other words, what music could you just not live without on your island?

But what if you’re a fight fan who just happens to have a DVD player and a television on this island of yours? What fights would you be content to play over and over if you could only pick a dozen? And here’s the catch – no research, no Wikipedia, no hours of intense deliberation. Your first instinctual choices will be the right ones. So your boat is waiting – grab your 12 Desert Island Fights.

As for my choices, a couple notes: I only chose fights that I witnessed live, so the fact that Forrest Griffin–Stephan Bonnar I, Matt Hughes–Frank Trigg II, and other classics aren’t listed is no reflection on their rightful place in MMA history. Also, these may not necessarily be the best fights I’ve seen over the last 10-plus years of covering this sport, but the ones that get a reaction beyond the usual “that was a great fight, blah, blah, blah.” These are the ones that give you butterflies in your stomach before the opening bell, that leave you chattering with your colleagues like school kids after the bout ends, or that make you simply want to stand up and cheer like a fan when it’s all over (but, of course, that would be a no-no).

Jens Pulver vs. BJ Penn I
UFC 35 – January 11, 2002
BJ Penn WAS “The Prodigy”, and after running through Joey Gilbert, Din Thomas, and Caol Uno in successive bouts, it wasn’t a question of if he was going to win the UFC lightweight title, but when. And eventually, it was determined that January 11, 2002 was coronation night. Someone didn’t tell Jens Pulver though, and in talking to the always brutally honest “Lil’ Evil” before the fight, he was simply amazed, insulted, and angered that he was a world champion being given no shot to win this fight. He vowed to shock the skeptics, but after two rounds, he had almost gotten submitted and things weren’t looking too good. Then he saw a Penn supporter giving him the ‘throat slash’ gesture between rounds, and even though he may not have been as naturally talented as the challenger, he was going to show him that heart and determination was going to be more than enough for him to come back and win. And he did, taking a five round decision over Penn that would remain the crowning jewel of his precedent-setting career. It was so inspiring that it kinda made up for the food poisoning and flat tire I got on the drive home from Connecticut.

Georges St-Pierre vs. BJ Penn I
UFC 58 – March 4, 2006
Two of the top young fighters in the game putting it all on the line? After years of covering boxing, the idea of that happening in the sweet science is a pipe dream at best, as rare as a Halley’s Comet sighting. But in MMA, it’s a regular occurrence, and though it wasn’t a main event, in many eyes it was, and it delivered on so many levels. But first a little background. Penn, who had never lost his UFC welterweight title in the Octagon – was returning to the UFC after nearly two years away, and the official announcement of his return came at UFC 56 in November 2005. Even in the days of instant information, this little tidbit stayed secret, and as I interviewed him backstage, he opened his shirt to reveal another shirt that read “The Champ is here.” It was classic BJ Penn, and the winner of the bout between he and St-Pierre would get a shot at Matt Hughes. That was the butterflies in the stomach part. The fight itself continued to add to the drama, as Penn issued a beatdown to GSP in the opening round, leaving him bloodied and bruised. But in the next two rounds, St-Pierre roared back and showed his fighter’s heart, earning a split decision win in the process. This was high-level stuff, and a fight that diehards and the casual fan could appreciate.

Matt Hughes vs. Royce Gracie
UFC 60 – May 27, 2006
I admit it, in 15 years of covering combat sports, I’ve asked for one picture with a fighter, and that fighter was Royce Gracie. This is the man that started it all, and without him, the sporting world would look a lot different than it does today. So anyway, when he announced that he was coming back to the UFC (another pretty damn good secret), many hoped that he could turn back the clock for one night and show off some of his jiu-jitsu wizardry. If you were being honest though, you knew that Matt Hughes was just too good at this point in his career to let that happen, and as the fight got underway, you hoped that Gracie would be able to leave the Octagon without an embarrassing defeat. And he did, showing off his warrior’s heart by refusing to submit to Hughes’ submission attempt. He lost, but he remained the great representative for this sport that he always has been. That’s all you can ask sometimes, and if you’re a fan, seeing the great Gracie live in the Octagon, with his father Helio in attendance, would have to be a highlight.

Anderson Silva vs. Chris Leben
Ultimate Fight Night – June 28, 2006
You know that there were people who didn’t know who Anderson Silva was before his UFC debut in 2006. 49 seconds later, they did, as he walked through steel-chinned Chris Leben in one of the most spectacular first-time performances in history. You immediately had the feeling that the Octagon career of “The Spider” was going to be something to remember, and while he’s had his ups and downs in terms of public perception, I got a taste of his quirky and engaging personality after the bout when I asked him how he got his striking to such a high level. He answered with a generic “I just work hard” response, but as we shook hands and I walked away, he said something to manager / translator Ed Soares and tapped me on the shoulder. I turned back and Ed translated. “The real answer to that question about the striking is that he says he’s one of the X-Men.” Nearly five unbeaten years later, I believe him.

Randy Couture vs. Tim Sylvia
UFC 68 – March 3, 2007
The lead-up to the Randy Couture–Tim Sylvia fight reminded me of the lead-up to Evander Holyfield’s first meeting against Mike Tyson. People weren’t worried whether Holyfield was going to win; they were worried that he was going to get seriously hurt. The same held true for Couture. He was returning to the Octagon after a year long retirement that followed knockout losses in two of his previous three bouts; he was going to do it at heavyweight, where his last two appearances saw him stopped by the much bigger Ricco Rodriguez and Josh Barnett; and he was 43. Oh yeah, he was fighting a 6-foot-8, 260 pounder in Sylvia. It was like the Rocky IV movie where Adrian told Rocky, “You can’t win.” But Rocky did, and so did Couture, and Couture had a lot easier time of things than Rocky did with Ivan Drago, as he shut Sylvia out over five rounds to win the heavyweight crown for a record third time. But the lasting image of that fight was Couture landing the first right he threw, dropping Sylvia in the process. The over 19,000 fans at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio rose to their feet and didn’t sit down for the rest of the fight. It was a sight you had to see to believe.

Spencer Fisher vs. Sam Stout II
UFC Fight Night – June 12, 2007
There were no titles on the line in this one, no shot at the belt for the winner, but Spencer Fisher and Sam Stout fought like their lives depended on the outcome. Yes, that’s a cliché, but if you looked from the outside and had never seen a prizefight before, you would have wondered what prize could be so big that two young men would put themselves through 15 minutes of hell to earn it. In MMA, boxing, kickboxing, playground at 3pm, or 2am outside a bar, this was one of the best fights I’ve ever seen.

Roger Huerta vs. Clay Guida
TUF 6 Finale – December 8, 2007
Fighters have gone down two rounds to none on the scorecards before, and they will continue to do so. But what usually happens in a situation like that is that by the time the third round ends, it’s 3-0 or 2-1, the fighter loses a decision, and it’s off to the next one. But Roger Huerta, down 2-0 to Clay Guida in their 2007 bout, had a different view of the final round. He knew that the only way he was going to win the fight was to finish “The Carpenter”, and looking at his face before the bell rang for that third frame, you got the idea that he was going to do everything under the rules to do so. And shockingly, he did, completing one of the great UFC comebacks of all-time with a rear naked choke at 51 seconds of the round. And while Huerta rightfully received praise for his victory, let’s throw some kudos in the direction of Guida, who could have sat on the lead and coasted in the third, but instead fought with the same aggression that has become his trademark.

Chuck Liddell vs. Wanderlei Silva
UFC 79 – December 29, 2007
Years and years in the making, Chuck Liddell and Wanderlei Silva finally got together in December of 2007, and it was a belated Christmas gift for every fight fan. Who cares if the fight didn’t take place in their primes – these two 205-pound legends fought as if they had never aged, and with the same ferocity with which they made their names. Every exchange drew oohs and aahs from press row, and roars from the packed house in Las Vegas, and that was the great thing about this fight – for 15 minutes, there was no distinction between fighters, fans, and media. Everyone in the Mandalay Bay Events Center was a fan that night, and Liddell and Silva made sure they gave us a fight to remember.

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Randy Couture
UFC 102 – August 29, 2009
If you’ve known me for any length of time, you’ll be aware (and probably tired of hearing me say) that my favorite fighter of All-Time is former PRIDE and UFC heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. So after his UFC 92 drubbing at the hands of Frank Mir, the one thing I didn’t want to see was him go to the well once too often. That was the consensus though when it was announced that he was taking on Randy Couture in the main event of UFC 102 in Portland. Yet as the fight drew nearer, the more I kept thinking about the third fight between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, a bout that was expected to be a sad exercise featuring two past their prime legends, but that instead turned into one of the greatest boxing matches of all-time. Well, Nogueira and Couture lived up to that legacy in their bout, going back and forth for three action-packed rounds, and when it was over, Nogueira had resurrected his career – at least for the night – with a signature victory in a career full of them.

Anderson Silva vs. Forrest Griffin
UFC 101 – August 8, 2009
I’ve had the pleasure of being in attendance as Michael Jordan and Larry Bird played basketball, Derek Jeter and Albert Pujols hit baseballs, and Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Bernard Hopkins punched people. So to see greatness in action is always something special, and when Anderson Silva knocked out Forrest Griffin in August of 2009, it was one of the most amazing athletic performances I’ve seen, and I’m not alone in that assessment. Offense, defense, confidence, speed, and power – Silva had it all that night, and Forrest Griffin shouldn’t hang his head for the defeat because I’ve got the feeling no one was going to beat Silva that night in Philly.

Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin
UFC 116 – July 3, 2010
I don’t care who you are, how much you can appreciate the intricacies of the fight game, or how often you treat yourself to a good bantamweight bout – everybody loves to see two 265 pound fighters punch each other. And when you get two high-level guys like Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin doing it, the excitement level grows even more. So when this heavyweight title bout was announced, you knew that there was no chance that this was going to be a boring fight or one that was going to go the five round championship distance. And they delivered on all counts with a fight that included thudding power, drama, and an incredible display of heart. If you ever doubted Carwin’s power or Lesnar’s heart, you got your answers in this one, as the champion rebounded from a hellacious first round beating to submit Carwin in the second frame. But my favorite part of the bout was between rounds one and two, when Lesnar smiled at Carwin after surviving bomb after bomb as if to say “you got yours; now I’m gonna get mine.” And he did.

Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen
UFC 117 – August 7, 2010
I like Chael Sonnen. Anyone who writes about this sport simply has to because he’s a never-ending quote machine who’s never afraid to shake things up in the interest of selling a fight or getting a particular point across. And he certainly did plenty of both in the lead-up to his UFC 117 bout against Anderson Silva. This is where things deviate from the usual path though. Typically, when guys talk a lot, their performance rarely lives up to the one they put on before the opening bell. But Sonnen not only backed up his talk, he surpassed it, pounding Silva for four plus rounds. At Octagonside, it almost seemed to be a foregone conclusion that a new champion was going to be crowned, and I was already thinking up headlines and ledes to fully capture one of the great upsets in UFC history. That was my mistake to underestimate the champion from Brazil, and maybe it was Sonnen’s mistake too, as he got careless with his ground strikes and left his arm out too long. You don’t do that against a world champion, and definitely not against a world champion like Silva, who took that arm and submitted Sonnen moments later. And as bad as you felt for Sonnen to come that far and fall short, you felt just as good for Silva, who showed that he could perform not just when he was the hammer, but when he was the nail.

The highly-anticipated third bout between UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar and number one contender Gray Maynard will have to wait a little longer, as it was announced today that both fighters have suffered injuries in training camp that will take them out of the UFC 130 main event on May 28th.

Stepping up into the UFC 130 main event slot is the bout between former UFC light heavyweight champ Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Matt “The Hammer” Hamill, and moving to the Pay-Per-View card will be the Thiago Alves vs. Rick Story welterweight showdown.

In Spike TV prelim action, Tim Boetsch‘s middleweight debut against Kendall Grove will join the bantamweight fight between Miguel Angel Torres and Demetrious Johnson.

Underdog. It’s a title Frankie Edgar has embraced over the years, but from the time he defeated BJ Penn for the first time a little over a year ago, he’s gotten accustomed to a more positive moniker – UFC lightweight champion.

On May 28, in the main event of UFC 130, “The Answer” faces Gray Maynard for the third time, and as we prepare for that bout, let’s take a look at how Edgar has gotten here.

Tyson Griffin – February 3, 2007 – UFC 67
Result – Edgar W3
Just 5-0 as a pro when he got the call for his UFC debut against Tyson Griffin, Frankie Edgar was pretty much unknown out of the tri-state area, despite wins over Jim Miller and Deividas Taurosevicius. But 15 hard-fought minutes against Tyson Griffin later, Edgar’s name was on the lips of every diehard MMA fan, as he pounded out a unanimous decision in one of 2007’s best fights. Even more impressive than his overall performance that night was the heart he showed in gutting out a late kneebar attempt from Griffin.

“I hate to lose,” admitted Edgar. “I put so much on the line in that fight, it was balls to the wall the whole way, and then with 45 seconds left I get caught in that. But there was no way I could tap. It did pop a couple of times, but once it popped once, I said, ‘hey, the hell with it.’ I’d rather limp around for a while and get this ‘W’, then take a loss.”

Gray Maynard I – April 2, 2008 – UFC Fight Night
Result – Maynard W3
When Gray Maynard rolled over Edgar en route to a clear cut unanimous decision victory in the high altitude of Colorado, many wondered whether Edgar was too small for the lightweight division, where his peers routinely cut huge amounts of weight while the New Jersey native barely had to cut any. Edgar wasn’t about to give up on his goal of becoming champion though, and that required reworking his techniques and gameplans to deal with stronger 155-pounders. He would get a test of this new career strategy a year later…

Sean Sherk – May 23, 2009 – UFC 98
Result – Edgar W3
Despite being always willing to stand and scrap, Edgar’s bread and butter was still his Division I wrestling. But against a powerhouse wrestler like former lightweight champ Sean Sherk, Edgar would have to have a plan B, and on this night in May of 2009, not only did he have such a plan, but he executed it to perfection as he showed off a striking game that was a revelation to everyone outside of his inner circle. And with this new dimension to his game, he not only defeated Sherk, but he sent a message to the rest of the division that he was a legit contender and not going anywhere anytime soon.

“It’s just a natural progression of everything,” said Edgar. “By no means did it just come overnight. Every fight, even before I was in the UFC, I was willing to throw my hands, so I think I had that naturally on my side. But I think it was the Sherk fight, where I knew that a takedown wasn’t gonna come easy, so I knew I had to rely on my boxing. And that really gave me the confidence that I could do it at anytime.”

Matt Veach – December 5, 2009 – TUF 10 Finale
Result – Edgar Wsub2
As an almost perennial underdog, Edgar would never have any problem getting up for fights against guys like Griffin, Maynard, or Sherk. But when an all-Jersey showdown against Kurt Pellegrino was scrapped due to injury, Edgar was thrust into one of those no-win situations when matched up with tough Midwest battler Matt Veach. Win, and he was supposed to win; lose, and it was off to the end of the line in the lightweight contender’s race. And while Edgar survived some dicey moments early on, he made some adjustments in the second round and hurt Veach before finishing him with a rear naked choke.

BJ Penn I – April 10, 2010 – UFC 112
Result – Edgar W5
Edgar, back in the underdog role, was given little chance of unseating Penn in their April championship bout, mainly because “The Prodigy” was fresh from two dominating finishes of Kenny Florian and Diego Sanchez. And Edgar knew that to win, it wasn’t going to be due to a flash knockout or submission, but by walking the tightrope of a perfect fight for 25 minutes.

“You can’t go into a fight with BJ Penn and say you’re gonna stop him because you’ll totally mess yourself up mentally,” he said. “So I went into that fight knowing that I’m gonna have to fight five hard rounds, stay active, and execute my gameplan.”

He did just that, using movement and quick striking to keep Penn off balance, and throwing in a couple quick takedowns for good measure. It was a career-defining performance when he needed it, and when the judges rendered their verdict, there was a new champion in town, and his name was Frankie Edgar.

BJ Penn II – August 28, 2010 – UFC 118
Result – Edgar W5
It was a fluke, they said. No way does Frankie Edgar beat BJ Penn a second time. But as is his custom, Edgar is taking an almost Randy Couture-esque pleasure in silencing the doubters, and at UFC 118, he nearly eliminated all of them by not only beating Penn as second time, but by shutting him out.

It was more of the same stellar striking, movement, and wrestling in their August 2010 rematch, but amped up to a new level that Penn just couldn’t cope with. It was a star-making turn for the Garden State’s newest sports star. Now he just had some unfinished business to tend to with an old rival.

Gray Maynard II – January 1, 2011 – UFC 125
Result – Draw 5
Looking to avenge the only loss of his pro career, Edgar had plenty of incentive when he defended his crown for the second time against Gray Maynard, but in the first round, it looked like his reign was coming to an end as he hit the deck multiple times thanks to the heavy hands of “The Bully.” But amazingly, Edgar not only survived the assault, he came back, won the second round, and continued to battle it out with Maynard through the remainder of the bout, arguably winning the fight. The judges ruled the bout a draw after five though, setting up a third bout between the two at UFC 130. Can it possibly live up to the action and drama of their rematch? We can only hope.

It must be something in the air. First Ricardo Almeida, then Randy Couture, and now Antoni Hardonk. They’ve all announced their retirement from the sport of mixed martial arts as active participants, but as the Dutch striker insists with a smile, there was no meeting of the trio before these announcements.

“I don’t know what their reason was and I can’t compare myself with them,” said the 35 year old former heavyweight standout. “They’re great athletes, great champions, and they have a different story than I do. For me, it wasn’t really something that I planned, like ‘oh, I’m at a certain age, I’m going to retire.’”

For Hardonk, who leaves the game with an 8-6 MMA record as well as a 10-5 slate in pro kickboxing, it all came down to a choice between his first love – fighting – and a new one – coaching – in the aftermath of back-to-back losses to Cheick Kongo and Pat Barry in 2009.

“My last two fights in 2009, I wasn’t really happy with the way I prepared myself leading up to the fights, my living situation, or the results of the fights,” he said. “So at the end of 2009, I wanted to make some changes.”

The first was to relocate from his home in the Netherlands to Los Angeles so he wouldn’t have to commute back and forth to get his wrestling and jiu-jitsu training in the States while going home for striking training and a teaching gig.

Next step, to open his own school, Dynamix Martial Arts, in Santa Monica.

“I decided to settle in California and open up my own studio,” he said. “I had my own space where I could train the way I wanted to with the people I wanted to. I always had an interest in teaching so I thought I could start teaching and build a team around me, and that’s what I did. I took a hiatus in 2010, I opened up my gym in spring of 2010, started teaching and started building a team, both for recreational practitioners that love the sport, and for some of the guys that I always trained with like Vladimir Matyushenko, Jared Hamman, and some other fighters that joined us. And I got more into the role of trainer / coach. I still had fighting in my head because I was still young and I love competing, but I got so busy that going into 2011, I felt that I was really motivated in teaching and coaching and I wasn’t really training myself as much.”

So as the weeks turned into months, it was clear that Hardonk’s passions had shifted. He still loved the sport, but if he couldn’t prepare the way he wanted to and still give a hundred percent to his coaching and his gym, he wasn’t going to fight.

“Fighting is a full-time job,” he said. “It’s not something you can do on the side, and I didn’t want to do things halfway. I didn’t want to run my gym halfway and I didn’t want to train for a fight halfway. If I go into the Octagon, I want to be the best Antoni Hardonk ever and I want to surprise people with my new skills and I want to show a better version of me. And I felt that that was going to be difficult, so I thought about it for a while, and then I pulled the trigger and decided that I love teaching and coaching. It’s something that I’d like to focus on now and in the future.”

So far, it looks like he’s made the right choice. Hamman is coming off a 2010 campaign where he’s earned back-to-back Fight of the Night awards, occasional gym member Stefan Struve continues to impress, and Matyushenko has become a veritable knockout artist, knocking out both Alexandre Ferreira and Jason Brilz in his last two bouts, the latter finish coming in just 20 seconds.

“Not bad for a 40 year old wrestler,” smiles Hardonk, who admits that he gets more joy watching his fighters do well than he ever felt in competition.

“It’s amazing and I can enjoy seeing somebody that I’ve been working with compete and succeed than competing for myself because I’m my worst critic, and even when I win, I still see mistakes.”

A UFC vet since 2006, when he debuted at UFC 65 with a knockout of Sherman Pendergarst, Hardonk finished up with a 4-4 slate in the Octagon, but even though he left on a losing note with a TKO loss against Pat Barry at UFC 104 in October of 2009, it was a Fight of the Night performance that saw him go out with guns blazing. In other words, if you have to go out on a loss, that was the kind of last impression you want to leave fight fans.

“I never saw that fight,” said Hardonk of the Barry bout. “I was so disappointed in myself, I couldn’t watch it. Maybe I should watch it one of these days.”

He should, because it was a good one. That won’t be the fight in his personal time capsule though. Instead, he refers to his 2008 bout with Eddie Sanchez as the one he will remember the most.

“One fight that I think about a lot is when I fought back in London at UFC 85,” said Hardonk. “I fought Eddie Sanchez and I got really hurt in that fight. At one point he hit me right in the eye and it broke my orbital bone. I was dizzy, I fell to the floor, and he jumped on me to finish the fight, but I used my ground skills to survive and weather the storm. Then I came back and I knocked him out. That was definitely one of the fights that I think about a lot because I overcame myself that time. There are some guys that are extremely gifted. They have physical talent, they’re super fast, they’re strong, and sometimes have great technique. But it’s easy to be tough or look great when things go your way. But it’s hard to look tough and put on a great fight when you’re being dominated. It’s completely different.”

Hardonk showed he had the heart to compete in this game that night, and the Sanchez win was one of three in a row that saw him closing in on the elite of the game entering 2009. But after his back-to-back defeats, he decided that it was time for a new look in his life, and that’s where he’s at today – at peace.

“At the end of 2009, I wasn’t happy with the way things were going, but I didn’t want to give up on fighting,” he said. “I love fighting and I love competing. I love to go out there and test myself against the best in the world, and it’s a great lifestyle. You only have to worry about yourself, you can be pretty selfish at times (Laughs), and I’m very passionate about the sport. So at first, it wasn’t on my mind to quit fighting. But I also always loved teaching and I think I have a natural ability for it and I’m always trying to help people. And if there’s something I’m good at, like fighting, I love to share and help people accomplish their goals. I think it’s something I always had in me, but I put it away because I put myself first and I wanted to enjoy this lifestyle and fight and compete and test myself. But taking that year off and focusing more on that other side and that teaching and coaching aspect of myself, I found that I get as much satisfaction from that as from fighting itself.”