Filed under: UFCTimes like these, it’s the waiting that really gets to you. Either the call is coming or it isn’t. Either your dream is dead — possibly for good this time — or else it still has the faintest hint of a pulse. Eliot Marshall doesn’t kno…
Times like these, it’s the waiting that really gets to you. Either the call is coming or it isn’t. Either your dream is dead — possibly for good this time — or else it still has the faintest hint of a pulse. Eliot Marshall doesn’t know yet which way things are going to swing following his narrow decision loss to Brandon Vera at UFC 137, but he’s not terribly optimistic.
“I’m pretty sure I’m done, but what can you do?” Marshall said on Tuesday afternoon. “I really genuinely believe that [the UFC is] going to cut me.”
It’s a shame, considering how close he came to not only winning the fight, but finishing Vera in the third round. He came so close, in fact, that Marshall wasn’t the only one who was stunned when the judges failed to give him a 10-8 round in that final frame.
“In my opinion, the worst it could have been was a draw,” said Marshall. “I don’t know what else you’ve got to do [to get a 10-8 round]. I showed good power, knocking him down twice in that round, got a takedown, almost choked him out and I broke his arm.”
All three judges gave Marshall a 10-9 in the final round, just like all three gave Vera a 10-9 in rounds one and two. Despite the near finish and the questionable scoring, it still goes down in the record books as a win for Vera and yet another loss for Marshall, who came into this bout on shaky ground with the UFC.
After getting TKO’d by Luiz Cane at UFC 128 in a fight he took on ten days’ notice just to get back in the UFC, Marshall needed a victory just to stay viable. He may have been a 5-1 underdog coming into the bout, but in the final seconds he had the armbar on so tight that Vera had to choose between defeat and injury. Vera chose the latter, sustaining a torn ligament in his left elbow that landed him on the medical suspensions list, but preserved his decision victory.
“I want to say 99 percent of the people tap in that situation; he didn’t,” Marshall said. “If he tapped, we’d be having a different discussion. You’d be calling me, asking what I’m going to do with the $75,000 bonus for Submission of the Night. He chose to let his arm break. He made a choice for his career that he thought it would be better to go on after his breaking his arm.”
With the loss, Marshall may be out of a job and a career, since he said publicly before the bout that he’d likely retire if released from the UFC for a second time in two years. With that on the line, and with as close as he came to victory, it’s hard for him not to feel as if throughout his time in the Octagon the breaks never seemed to go his way.
“It kind of sums up my career with the UFC, from my first fight for The Ultimate Fighter until now,” he said.
That first fight was his contest against Karn Grigoryan for a spot on TUF’s eighth season. Before being admitted to the house, every fighter had to earn his place with a victory, which meant spending all day cutting weight in a hotel room before the exhibition bout. Marshall asked for a scale in his room so he could check his progress, he said, and he was told one would be delivered.
“A scale never shows up. Never. So I just have to cut the weight, having no clue where I am. I mean, I have a rough estimate of where I’m starting, but a pound matters. You miss [weight], you’re out.”
Marshall weighed in at 197 pounds for that 205-pound bout, he said. He went on to batter Grigoryan in the fight, but lost a split decision that shocked most observers. Ostensibly, his TUF run should have ended there, but Marshall was selected as a replacement for an injured cast member and his career was launched.
“Then I go 3-1 in the UFC and get cut,” he said. “Holy cow. Then I have a fight like that with Brandon and I lose that one too. That’s what I mean. It sums it up.”
Now Marshall is left waiting for news on his future as his management makes his case to the UFC. Lex McMahon, Marshall’s agent, is more optimistic about his future, since the way the Vera fight ended “gave us a lot to work with.”
Marshall, however, seems to be preparing himself for the worst. If the UFC releases him again, he said, he’ll most likely call it quits and do something else with his life.
“You can’t say a hundred percent, but the only way I’m not retired is if I get a big money fight. I won’t fight in regional promotions for $5,000. I’m not doing that. It’s too tough on my family. My kid’s getting to the point where he knows when I’m gone. He knows when I’m not home for a week. So that’s not happening anymore. Unless there’s good money on the table, I’m done.”
But if he is done with MMA after coming so close to a victory, and after what may have been the single best round in his UFC career, how will that sit with him in the years to come? If he ends up retired from fighting at the age of 31 all because one man refused to tap and three judges declined to mark a 10-8 on their scorecards, is that going to be an ending he can live with?
Marshall doesn’t know the answer just yet. For now, he’s waiting. Waiting for bad news, for any news. Waiting to find out which direction his life is going to head in now, and preparing for whatever comes next.
“I proved everything I needed to prove to myself,” Marshall said. “My last fight [against Luiz Cane], ten days’ notice or not, it was bad. I’ll be the first to say that. It was bad in more ways than one. Physically, my mental was off, I kind of fell apart in my mind. But this fight I was prepared, I was ready to go. If that was my last round, that’s my last round. It’s a pretty good last round, right?”
With UFC 137 in the books and the spookiest day of the year now upon us, let’s all grab a mini-Snickers and sort through the biggest winners, losers, and everything in between from Saturday night’s action in Las Vegas.
Biggest Winner: Nick Diaz
I remember around this time last year, before Diaz fought KJ Noons, watching him put on the boxing gloves and headgear in his gym in Lodi, Calif., and walk down one sparring partner after another. In the beginning, most of them did pretty well against him. They landed some punches, circled away, and you could see their confidence growing. But Diaz never slowed down, never stopped coming, and eventually he’d end up backing every single one of them against the fence and digging into their ribs with hooks that you could hear over the constant stream of Tupac songs that blared from the stereo. One by one, he wore them down with sheer pace and pressure until they quit, both mentally and physically.
Diaz performed the exact same act of will against Penn on Saturday night, and it was just as effective. He started slowly and gradually cranked up the volume, confident that his opponent would wilt before he would. He took it and he dished it out, and by the end of three rounds there was no doubt that he was the better fighter. Of course, as soon as the fight was over, he went back to being the bizarre, mercurial person we’ve gotten to know (and yet not know) over the last several years. Even when things had gone well for him, he remained unhappy. Even when he was offered the title shot he’d recently squandered, he remained utterly convinced of his own status as the permanent victim. What can you do with a guy like that? Put him up against the champ, I suppose. Let him do what he does best, which is fight, and hope the rest of us can tolerate what he does worst, which is just about everything else.
Biggest Loser: B.J. Penn
The nicest thing you can say about Penn’s performance is that he didn’t quit. Even though he didn’t look thrilled about it, he got up off the stool for round three and took his medicine for five more minutes. Other than that, the bright spots were few and they dimmed in a hurry. I can understand why Penn, a nearly 33-year-old former champ, thinks it would be better to hang it up than continue on as some novelty act or gatekeeper, but beware of any retirement announcement that comes in the emotional moments just after a bad beating. This is the same Penn who licked blood off his gloves and promised death to future opponents while jacked up on post-fight adrenaline. If those were the highs, this could simply be the low. Calling it quits in the cage immediately after a loss is a little like breaking up during an argument. The chances of it sticking are inversely proportional to how long you’ve been together. Six months? Sure, one bad argument might do it. But Penn and MMA have had a lengthy, sometimes rocky relationship. Seems unlikely that they won’t try to patch things up at least once or twice.
Hardest Working Man in the Fight Biz: Donald Cerrone
His submission of Dennis Siver was his sixth straight win and his fourth of 2011. Apparently he’s not content with that, because he immediately turned around and lobbied for another fight before the end of the year, which it now looks like he’ll get against Nate Diaz at UFC 141 in December. I’m not sure if Cerrone is putting title shots and other typical concerns out of his mind because he’s savvy enough to see the situation for what it is in the crowded lightweight division, or if he’s driven only by the reckless pursuit of a paycheck. Either way, he’s at his best when he’s busiest, and 2011 is turning out to be a banner year for his career and his bank account. After all the paper he’s stacked via purses and bonuses, this is one year when you really want to be on “Cowboy’s” Christmas list.
Most Impressive in Defeat: Eliot Marshall Brandon Vera came into the fight with Marshall as a 5-1 favorite, then nearly got his head knocked off and his arm snapped in half, but still somehow emerged with the decision victory. It goes down as a loss for Marshall at a time when he can’t afford it, but will the UFC brass see the process rather than the result? It might not have been a spectacular fight, but for Marshall it was clearly a step in the right direction. It would be a shame for the UFC to cut him after a third round like that, which just might have been the single best round of his UFC career. If he sticks to his promise to retire after another UFC release, that’s the kind of finish that could keep a man up at night for years to come. If only he’d had just a few more seconds. If only he’d landed one or two more punches. You can play that game for a long time, particularly if it cost you your career.
Least Impressive in Victory: Hatsu Hioki
He did just enough to get the decision over George Roop, but not much more. At least Hioki started off his stay in the UFC with a win, which is more than you can say for a lot of his compatriots. Though if that’s the best you can do against a mid-level featherweight like Roop, how far can you really go in this organization? Maybe Hioki struggled with nerves, and maybe Roop’s size and strength gave him more problems than he expected. I don’t know. What I do know is that the Hioki we saw on Saturday looked like just another fighter, not some big name acquisition. You hate to judge a guy too harshly on the basis of one performance, so let’s just say that Hioki still has plenty of work to do to make a name for himself on this side of the Pacific.
Let’s Hope We’ve Seen the Last Of: Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic
He acquitted himself well in what he’d have us believe was the final fight of his career. He took some of Roy Nelson’s best shots and even fired off a few of his own (though with that beard he probably had to guess at the location of Nelson’s chin). Even if he didn’t have enough to pull out the win, he still did better than most of us expected and ended on a classy, dignified note in his post-fight remarks. Unlike Penn, his retirement declaration didn’t seem driven by emotion. It was clearly something he’d given a lot of thought to before the fight, and he did what he said he’d do if he came up short. The question is, will he disappear from the fight game entirely, or just the UFC? Cro Cop wouldn’t be the first man to have a hard time turning down an easy buck from some small-time promoter looking to sell what’s left of his name. You couldn’t exactly blame him if he gave in to a tempting offer from M-1 Global or ProElite somewhere down the line, and he clearly still has at least a little bit of gas left in the tank. Still, no matter how many times you see that particular drama playing out with an aging fighter, it never gets any easier to watch. For the sake of his legacy and his health, let’s hope Cro Cop really does know when it’s time.
Most Disappointing: Cheick Kongo vs. Matt Mitrione
In retrospect, it seems silly. This was the co-main event? The UFC seemed to be banking on some heavyweight fireworks to help out a flagging fight card after the injury to GSP, but what it got instead resembled a staring match more than a slugfest. If you could knock a man out just with crazy eyes and feints, Mitrione would be the heavyweight champ by now. But once Kongo finally realized that the “Meathead” blitz wasn’t coming, he settled down and managed to wrestle his way to a decision win. It was a fight both men might rather forget, albeit for different reasons. Kongo looked tentative and overly defensive in his first fight since the comeback win over Pat Barry. Mitrione never got started at all, and showed his inexperience on the mat in the final frame. In the end, it was a bummer of a fight that likely reminded the UFC why these two aren’t quite ready for the top of a pay-per-view card just yet. Meanwhile, Donald Cerrone will just be over here, kicking people in the head on Spike TV for free.
Begging for His Walking Papers: Tyson Griffin
He missed weight (by a lot), looked flat and uninspired from the opening bell, and got himself knocked out in a little under three minutes for his fourth loss in five fights. I know he said he was under the weather coming into this fight, but I don’t see how Griffin doesn’t get cut after this terrible weekend. After he missed weight, he was on Twitter basically shrugging his virtual shoulders and explaining that he had “no excuses.” Okay, so he’s taking responsibility for his mistakes. That’s a good sign, right? Then he gets knocked out and he’s back on there telling his followers about his after-party at the Luxor. I’m not saying he needs to post pictures of himself crying into an appletini at Cathouse, but if he’s not feeling a sense of desperation about his career now, what’s it going to take?
Best Quick Change: Roy Nelson
He showed up to fight looking like a roadie for Foghat, then showed up to the post-fight press conference looking like a henchman from a James Bond movie. That’s versatility, right there. Okay, so maybe that, plus his current one-fight win streak, isn’t enough to get him that title shot he asked for, but at least it keeps him in the conversation at heavyweight. The guy’s a character, and he can fight a little bit. Now his physique is even moving in the right direction, though there’s still work to be done in that department before he appears in an Under Armour ad alongside GSP.
With UFC 137 in the books and the spookiest day of the year now upon us, let’s all grab a mini-Snickers and sort through the biggest winners, losers, and everything in between from Saturday night’s action in Las Vegas.
Biggest Winner: Nick Diaz
I remember around this time last year, before Diaz fought KJ Noons, watching him put on the boxing gloves and headgear in his gym in Lodi, Calif., and walk down one sparring partner after another. In the beginning, most of them did pretty well against him. They landed some punches, circled away, and you could see their confidence growing. But Diaz never slowed down, never stopped coming, and eventually he’d end up backing every single one of them against the fence and digging into their ribs with hooks that you could hear over the constant stream of Tupac songs that blared from the stereo. One by one, he wore them down with sheer pace and pressure until they quit, both mentally and physically.
Diaz performed the exact same act of will against Penn on Saturday night, and it was just as effective. He started slowly and gradually cranked up the volume, confident that his opponent would wilt before he would. He took it and he dished it out, and by the end of three rounds there was no doubt that he was the better fighter. Of course, as soon as the fight was over, he went back to being the bizarre, mercurial person we’ve gotten to know (and yet not know) over the last several years. Even when things had gone well for him, he remained unhappy. Even when he was offered the title shot he’d recently squandered, he remained utterly convinced of his own status as the permanent victim. What can you do with a guy like that? Put him up against the champ, I suppose. Let him do what he does best, which is fight, and hope the rest of us can tolerate what he does worst, which is just about everything else.
Biggest Loser: B.J. Penn
The nicest thing you can say about Penn’s performance is that he didn’t quit. Even though he didn’t look thrilled about it, he got up off the stool for round three and took his medicine for five more minutes. Other than that, the bright spots were few and they dimmed in a hurry. I can understand why Penn, a nearly 33-year-old former champ, thinks it would be better to hang it up than continue on as some novelty act or gatekeeper, but beware of any retirement announcement that comes in the emotional moments just after a bad beating. This is the same Penn who licked blood off his gloves and promised death to future opponents while jacked up on post-fight adrenaline. If those were the highs, this could simply be the low. Calling it quits in the cage immediately after a loss is a little like breaking up during an argument. The chances of it sticking are inversely proportional to how long you’ve been together. Six months? Sure, one bad argument might do it. But Penn and MMA have had a lengthy, sometimes rocky relationship. Seems unlikely that they won’t try to patch things up at least once or twice.
Hardest Working Man in the Fight Biz: Donald Cerrone
His submission of Dennis Siver was his sixth straight win and his fourth of 2011. Apparently he’s not content with that, because he immediately turned around and lobbied for another fight before the end of the year, which it now looks like he’ll get against Nate Diaz at UFC 141 in December. I’m not sure if Cerrone is putting title shots and other typical concerns out of his mind because he’s savvy enough to see the situation for what it is in the crowded lightweight division, or if he’s driven only by the reckless pursuit of a paycheck. Either way, he’s at his best when he’s busiest, and 2011 is turning out to be a banner year for his career and his bank account. After all the paper he’s stacked via purses and bonuses, this is one year when you really want to be on “Cowboy’s” Christmas list.
Most Impressive in Defeat: Eliot Marshall Brandon Vera came into the fight with Marshall as a 5-1 favorite, then nearly got his head knocked off and his arm snapped in half, but still somehow emerged with the decision victory. It goes down as a loss for Marshall at a time when he can’t afford it, but will the UFC brass see the process rather than the result? It might not have been a spectacular fight, but for Marshall it was clearly a step in the right direction. It would be a shame for the UFC to cut him after a third round like that, which just might have been the single best round of his UFC career. If he sticks to his promise to retire after another UFC release, that’s the kind of finish that could keep a man up at night for years to come. If only he’d had just a few more seconds. If only he’d landed one or two more punches. You can play that game for a long time, particularly if it cost you your career.
Least Impressive in Victory: Hatsu Hioki
He did just enough to get the decision over George Roop, but not much more. At least Hioki started off his stay in the UFC with a win, which is more than you can say for a lot of his compatriots. Though if that’s the best you can do against a mid-level featherweight like Roop, how far can you really go in this organization? Maybe Hioki struggled with nerves, and maybe Roop’s size and strength gave him more problems than he expected. I don’t know. What I do know is that the Hioki we saw on Saturday looked like just another fighter, not some big name acquisition. You hate to judge a guy too harshly on the basis of one performance, so let’s just say that Hioki still has plenty of work to do to make a name for himself on this side of the Pacific.
Let’s Hope We’ve Seen the Last Of: Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic
He acquitted himself well in what he’d have us believe was the final fight of his career. He took some of Roy Nelson’s best shots and even fired off a few of his own (though with that beard he probably had to guess at the location of Nelson’s chin). Even if he didn’t have enough to pull out the win, he still did better than most of us expected and ended on a classy, dignified note in his post-fight remarks. Unlike Penn, his retirement declaration didn’t seem driven by emotion. It was clearly something he’d given a lot of thought to before the fight, and he did what he said he’d do if he came up short. The question is, will he disappear from the fight game entirely, or just the UFC? Cro Cop wouldn’t be the first man to have a hard time turning down an easy buck from some small-time promoter looking to sell what’s left of his name. You couldn’t exactly blame him if he gave in to a tempting offer from M-1 Global or ProElite somewhere down the line, and he clearly still has at least a little bit of gas left in the tank. Still, no matter how many times you see that particular drama playing out with an aging fighter, it never gets any easier to watch. For the sake of his legacy and his health, let’s hope Cro Cop really does know when it’s time.
Most Disappointing: Cheick Kongo vs. Matt Mitrione
In retrospect, it seems silly. This was the co-main event? The UFC seemed to be banking on some heavyweight fireworks to help out a flagging fight card after the injury to GSP, but what it got instead resembled a staring match more than a slugfest. If you could knock a man out just with crazy eyes and feints, Mitrione would be the heavyweight champ by now. But once Kongo finally realized that the “Meathead” blitz wasn’t coming, he settled down and managed to wrestle his way to a decision win. It was a fight both men might rather forget, albeit for different reasons. Kongo looked tentative and overly defensive in his first fight since the comeback win over Pat Barry. Mitrione never got started at all, and showed his inexperience on the mat in the final frame. In the end, it was a bummer of a fight that likely reminded the UFC why these two aren’t quite ready for the top of a pay-per-view card just yet. Meanwhile, Donald Cerrone will just be over here, kicking people in the head on Spike TV for free.
Begging for His Walking Papers: Tyson Griffin
He missed weight (by a lot), looked flat and uninspired from the opening bell, and got himself knocked out in a little under three minutes for his fourth loss in five fights. I know he said he was under the weather coming into this fight, but I don’t see how Griffin doesn’t get cut after this terrible weekend. After he missed weight, he was on Twitter basically shrugging his virtual shoulders and explaining that he had “no excuses.” Okay, so he’s taking responsibility for his mistakes. That’s a good sign, right? Then he gets knocked out and he’s back on there telling his followers about his after-party at the Luxor. I’m not saying he needs to post pictures of himself crying into an appletini at Cathouse, but if he’s not feeling a sense of desperation about his career now, what’s it going to take?
Best Quick Change: Roy Nelson
He showed up to fight looking like a roadie for Foghat, then showed up to the post-fight press conference looking like a henchman from a James Bond movie. That’s versatility, right there. Okay, so maybe that, plus his current one-fight win streak, isn’t enough to get him that title shot he asked for, but at least it keeps him in the conversation at heavyweight. The guy’s a character, and he can fight a little bit. Now his physique is even moving in the right direction, though there’s still work to be done in that department before he appears in an Under Armour ad alongside GSP.
LAS VEGAS — This is the UFC 137 live blog for the four non-televised bouts in support of tonight’s UFC pay-per-view card at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.
Round 1: Lots of circling early as Jacoby circles the outside of the cage. Starks lands a right cross but Jacoby takes it well. Tight right by Jacoby moments later. Starks answers back. Action is slow-paced but most of the strikes thrown have been power shots. Both men working hard with their footwork to cut off angles. Starks counters a hook with a right hand that scores. Starks goes to the body. One minute left. Starks chases Jacoby across the cage but doesn’t land much. Starks scores a takedown with :30 left. Jacoby hunts a kimura but Starks defends as the round closes. It’s Starks, 10-9.
Round 2: Hard right hand early by Jacoby, his best strike of the fight so far. Starks circles away, and looks fine. Jacoby uses a spinning heel kick that only partially connects. Left hook from Jacoby. Starks times a right that scores as Jacoby leans in. Starks takes Jacoby down with two minutes left. Jacoby does a good job keeping a tight guard but Starks occasionally sneaks in a right hand to the body or head. The late second is all Starks’, and he steals it away 10-9.
Round 3: The straight right is Starks’ money punch, and he lands it again early. The two exchange. Jacoby lands a knee from the clinch. Moments later, Starks shoots and takes him down. Jacoby keeps a tight guard but he’s behind and probably needs to be more aggressive. Starks passes to half-guard. Jacoby again looks for the kimura. Starks finally works his arm out of danger with 30 seconds left and lands some punches from the top. He’s going to take the round 10-9.
Winner: Clifford Starks via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Francis Carmont vs. Chris Camozzi
Round 1: Carmont walks out with welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre in his corner to make his UFC debut. Carmont takes Camozzi down inside the first minute, but Camozzi uses the wall to get back to his feet. Camozzi pushes Carmont against the cage. Carmont punches his way out of the position. Camozzi tries to bully him again, pushing him into the corner. Carmont lands a few knees to the body. Carmont pulls Camozzi down but Camozzi pops right back up. Carmont throws a knee, then a pair of elbows. He’s showing some diverse offense. Relatively close round but Carmont takes it 10-9.
Round 2: Carmont lands a right hand and Camozzi moves inside to initiate the clinch against the fence. Carmont likes knees from in tight, and he’s landed a few any time he has the space. Camozzi is trying hard to crowd him. Carmont lands a right hand, backing Camozzi up. A nice exchange and Carmont gets the better of it. Carmont goes for the takedown, picks up Camozzi and slams him down on his back. Carmont on top with strikes and over a minute to work. Carmont looked up at the clock, Camozzi tried to take the opportunity to get up, and Carmont dropped him with a left hook. Carmont tried to finish but Camozzi covered up. Big round for Carmont 10-9.
Round 3: Carmont lands a series of strikes early. He backed up and Camozzi audibly swore, giving the crowd a laugh. Carmont is taking over the fight with his standup. Camozzi’s face has been bloodied since the second round and Carmont looks pretty much unmarked. Another Carmont takedown with two minutes left. Hammer strikes from the top until he pulls Carmont into his guard. Carmont lets him up and Camozzi comes up with a flying knee into a clinch. Time’s running short. Camozzi nearly had a kimura as time ran out. Carmont 10-9.
Winner: Francis Carmont via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)
Danny Downes vs. Ramsey Nijem,
Round 1: Left hook by Nijem to open things. Nijem flurries in with a combination, the moves in for the takedown. Downes gets back up but Nijem tags him again with right hands. Nijem scores another takedown. Downes works free for a moment before Nijem drags him down. We’re up and down like musical chairs. Nijem finally takes Downes’ back and looks for the rear naked choke. Downes defends that but Nijem throws strikes to free up his neck. He looks for the choke again. Downes gets free with over a minute left. He has little time to accomplish anything. Nijem takes him down again and gets right to his back. It’s a very one-sided round, and it’s Nijem’s 10-9.
Round 2: Much better start to round two for Downes, who briefly had Nijem in an inverted triangle. Nijem got free though, and took Downes to the ground again. He immediately mounted Downes, who gave up his back. Nijem went for the rear naked choke again. Downes fought it off. Nijem looked for an Americana, Downes scrambled free. Nijem’s basically having his way with him, even if he can’t get the finish. He’s been riding Downes’ back for most of the round. Downes is surviving, but it’s one-sided, 10-9.
Round 3: Nijem faked a takedown and fired off some offense that landed. Downes circled away but Nijem followed him for another takedown. The round then settles into the same thing that’s come before it. Nijem in top position looking for a finish but Downes resisting. Another rear naked choke try from Nijem. With this one, he had the body triangle in and still couldn’t finish. It’s going the distance, and it’s going to be Nijem’s 10-9. Could easily be a 10-8 as well.
Winner: Ramsey Nijem via unanimous decision (30-25, 30-26, 30-27)
Brandon Vera vs. Eliot Marshall
Round 1: Vera attacking the legs and body early with kicks. Vera then jumps into a flying knee. They clinch against the cage until Vera pushes off and they re-set in the middle. Marshall flurries with a combo, and Vera answers with a right cross before another clinch. It’s a stalemate and the ref breaks them up with a minute left. Vera still attacking the legs with low kicks. Marshall tries a high kick near the final horn that misses. Vera takes a slow round 10-9.
Round 2: Pace picks up to start the second. Vera just misses on a head kick and Marshall goes low, looking for the takedown. Marshall grinds him into the fence. The two jockey for position until Vera takes him down with three minutes left. Vera to half-guard, and drops elbows from the position. Marshall gets back to his feet and Vera fires off a hard knee from the clinch. They move back to the center with 20 seconds left. Marshall connects with a left hook near the close. It’s Vera’s 10-9.
Round 3: Marshall staggers Vera early with a right hand. Marshall then drops him with a right. Vera is in trouble as Marshall throws blows from the top. Vera covers up and gets to his feet. Marshall lands another hard left hand before Vera can initiate a clinch and give himself recovery time.
LAS VEGAS — This is the UFC 137 live blog for the four non-televised bouts in support of tonight’s UFC pay-per-view card at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.
Round 1: Lots of circling early as Jacoby circles the outside of the cage. Starks lands a right cross but Jacoby takes it well. Tight right by Jacoby moments later. Starks answers back. Action is slow-paced but most of the strikes thrown have been power shots. Both men working hard with their footwork to cut off angles. Starks counters a hook with a right hand that scores. Starks goes to the body. One minute left. Starks chases Jacoby across the cage but doesn’t land much. Starks scores a takedown with :30 left. Jacoby hunts a kimura but Starks defends as the round closes. It’s Starks, 10-9.
Round 2: Hard right hand early by Jacoby, his best strike of the fight so far. Starks circles away, and looks fine. Jacoby uses a spinning heel kick that only partially connects. Left hook from Jacoby. Starks times a right that scores as Jacoby leans in. Starks takes Jacoby down with two minutes left. Jacoby does a good job keeping a tight guard but Starks occasionally sneaks in a right hand to the body or head. The late second is all Starks’, and he steals it away 10-9.
Round 3: The straight right is Starks’ money punch, and he lands it again early. The two exchange. Jacoby lands a knee from the clinch. Moments later, Starks shoots and takes him down. Jacoby keeps a tight guard but he’s behind and probably needs to be more aggressive. Starks passes to half-guard. Jacoby again looks for the kimura. Starks finally works his arm out of danger with 30 seconds left and lands some punches from the top. He’s going to take the round 10-9.
Winner: Clifford Starks via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Francis Carmont vs. Chris Camozzi
Round 1: Carmont walks out with welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre in his corner to make his UFC debut. Carmont takes Camozzi down inside the first minute, but Camozzi uses the wall to get back to his feet. Camozzi pushes Carmont against the cage. Carmont punches his way out of the position. Camozzi tries to bully him again, pushing him into the corner. Carmont lands a few knees to the body. Carmont pulls Camozzi down but Camozzi pops right back up. Carmont throws a knee, then a pair of elbows. He’s showing some diverse offense. Relatively close round but Carmont takes it 10-9.
Round 2: Carmont lands a right hand and Camozzi moves inside to initiate the clinch against the fence. Carmont likes knees from in tight, and he’s landed a few any time he has the space. Camozzi is trying hard to crowd him. Carmont lands a right hand, backing Camozzi up. A nice exchange and Carmont gets the better of it. Carmont goes for the takedown, picks up Camozzi and slams him down on his back. Carmont on top with strikes and over a minute to work. Carmont looked up at the clock, Camozzi tried to take the opportunity to get up, and Carmont dropped him with a left hook. Carmont tried to finish but Camozzi covered up. Big round for Carmont 10-9.
Round 3: Carmont lands a series of strikes early. He backed up and Camozzi audibly swore, giving the crowd a laugh. Carmont is taking over the fight with his standup. Camozzi’s face has been bloodied since the second round and Carmont looks pretty much unmarked. Another Carmont takedown with two minutes left. Hammer strikes from the top until he pulls Carmont into his guard. Carmont lets him up and Camozzi comes up with a flying knee into a clinch. Time’s running short. Camozzi nearly had a kimura as time ran out. Carmont 10-9.
Winner: Francis Carmont via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)
Danny Downes vs. Ramsey Nijem,
Round 1: Left hook by Nijem to open things. Nijem flurries in with a combination, the moves in for the takedown. Downes gets back up but Nijem tags him again with right hands. Nijem scores another takedown. Downes works free for a moment before Nijem drags him down. We’re up and down like musical chairs. Nijem finally takes Downes’ back and looks for the rear naked choke. Downes defends that but Nijem throws strikes to free up his neck. He looks for the choke again. Downes gets free with over a minute left. He has little time to accomplish anything. Nijem takes him down again and gets right to his back. It’s a very one-sided round, and it’s Nijem’s 10-9.
Round 2: Much better start to round two for Downes, who briefly had Nijem in an inverted triangle. Nijem got free though, and took Downes to the ground again. He immediately mounted Downes, who gave up his back. Nijem went for the rear naked choke again. Downes fought it off. Nijem looked for an Americana, Downes scrambled free. Nijem’s basically having his way with him, even if he can’t get the finish. He’s been riding Downes’ back for most of the round. Downes is surviving, but it’s one-sided, 10-9.
Round 3: Nijem faked a takedown and fired off some offense that landed. Downes circled away but Nijem followed him for another takedown. The round then settles into the same thing that’s come before it. Nijem in top position looking for a finish but Downes resisting. Another rear naked choke try from Nijem. With this one, he had the body triangle in and still couldn’t finish. It’s going the distance, and it’s going to be Nijem’s 10-9. Could easily be a 10-8 as well.
Winner: Ramsey Nijem via unanimous decision (30-25, 30-26, 30-27)
Brandon Vera vs. Eliot Marshall
Round 1: Vera attacking the legs and body early with kicks. Vera then jumps into a flying knee. They clinch against the cage until Vera pushes off and they re-set in the middle. Marshall flurries with a combo, and Vera answers with a right cross before another clinch. It’s a stalemate and the ref breaks them up with a minute left. Vera still attacking the legs with low kicks. Marshall tries a high kick near the final horn that misses. Vera takes a slow round 10-9.
Round 2: Pace picks up to start the second. Vera just misses on a head kick and Marshall goes low, looking for the takedown. Marshall grinds him into the fence. The two jockey for position until Vera takes him down with three minutes left. Vera to half-guard, and drops elbows from the position. Marshall gets back to his feet and Vera fires off a hard knee from the clinch. They move back to the center with 20 seconds left. Marshall connects with a left hook near the close. It’s Vera’s 10-9.
Round 3: Marshall staggers Vera early with a right hand. Marshall then drops him with a right. Vera is in trouble as Marshall throws blows from the top. Vera covers up and gets to his feet. Marshall lands another hard left hand before Vera can initiate a clinch and give himself recovery time.
Filed under: UFCThe main event for UFC 137 may have seen its share of tweaking, but it’s not the only fight on this card with high stakes. Several fighters on Saturday night’s lineup could be just one loss away from unemployment, and one or two could e…
The main event for UFC 137 may have seen its share of tweaking, but it’s not the only fight on this card with high stakes. Several fighters on Saturday night’s lineup could be just one loss away from unemployment, and one or two could even be facing retirement if they can’t pull out a win.
Who are they, and what are their chances for crafting a brighter future for themselves in Las Vegas this weekend? For answers, we turn to the Cut List.
Roy Nelson (15-6, 2-2 UFC) Who he’s facing:Mirko Filipovic Why he’s in danger: “Big Country” has lost two straight, and while he might have a very valid reason for looking like a man about to die from exhaustion in his last fight, it still didn’t make a great impression on his employers. You factor in his occasionally obstinate independent streak, not to mention a physique that, rightly or wrongly, the UFC would probably rather not try to present to the world as that of a world-class MMA fighter, and you might be looking at a man that the organization wouldn’t mind doing without. In the plus category, Nelson has a solid fan following, in part because of the very same idiosyncrasies that might make him unappealing at times to the UFC. He’s also a name-brand heavyweight, and the UFC needs all of those that it can get. The infusion of the Strikeforce big men will certainly help bolster the division, but the UFC might still be reluctant to cast off too many heavies while there’s still value left in them. Chances of getting cut: Unlikely. The best thing Nelson has going for him here is the likelihood that he’ll win this fight. Oddsmakers have him as a nearly 3-1 favorite. As long as he’s healthy and focused, he should beat Cro Cop and solidify his employment situation.
Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic (27-9-2 [1 NC], 4-5 UFC) Who he’s facing: Roy Nelson Why he’s in danger: Like Nelson, Cro Cop has lost two in a row. He’s also at the end of his current UFC contract, and Dana White has implied that he’s only giving Filipovic this fight because he owes it to him. Even if he gets the upset victory, it’s far from guaranteed that the UFC would see enough of a future in the 37-year-old Croat to sign him to a new contract. If he loses, well, he’s already said that he’ll not only leave the UFC, but also apologize to its fans and its front office for failing to “justify the treatment” he’s received. It’s enough to make you wonder, under what circumstances would this not be Filipovic’s final fight in the UFC? Even if he kicks Nelson’s head into the third row, the best possible outcome might be Cro Cop calling it quits anyway and going out on a high note. Then again, rarely does one come across an aging MMA legend who doesn’t interpret a victory as a sure sign that he should keep fighting indefinitely. Chances of getting cut: Very good. But don’t think of it as a cut. Think of it as the natural (even necessary) end of something that we all knew couldn’t last forever. His stay in the UFC has been unspectacular, and his status as a legend is already established. No need to prolong this any further.
Tyson Griffin (15-5, 8-5 UFC) Who he’s facing:Bart Palaszewski Why he’s in danger: Griffin hit the dreaded three-fight skid recently, but managed to save himself by dropping down to featherweight and notching a decision win over Manny Gamburyan back in June. It was enough to grant him a temporary stay, but just barely. Now, facing another WEC transplant, he needs to show he can do more than just get by. The UFC might need featherweights to bolster the relatively thin (ha!) division, but it doesn’t need 145-pounders who can wrestle just well enough to win close, forgettable decisions. Griffin hasn’t had an impressive performance since he knocked out Hermes Franca over two years ago. If he wants a future in the UFC, he needs to show that he can not only get his hand raised, but entertain a few people along the way. Chances of getting cut: Decent. If he loses this fight (oddsmakers doubt he will), he’s almost certainly gone. Fortunately, Palaszewski is weak in all the places where Griffin is strong. If he gets this one to the mat and keeps it there, Griffin will probably stick around for at least a little while longer.
Eliot Marshall (10-3, 3-2 UFC) Who he’s facing: Brandon Vera Why he’s in danger: It’s no secret that UFC officials aren’t big fans of Marshall’s fighting style. If they were, they probably wouldn’t have cut him after a 3-1 stint the first time around. He got back in the fold mostly by volunteering for a short-notice fight against Luiz Cane, which he lost swiftly and thoroughly, but which still earned him the chance to show the UFC what he could do with proper notice and time to prepare. If Marshall loses here, it’s almost guaranteed that he’ll get dropped again. If that happens, he says, he’ll hang up the gloves and call if a career. If that doesn’t give him the necessary sense of desperation to go out and lay it all on the line here, nothing will. Of course, Vera’s looking at a similar situation, yet is a 5-1 favorite to knock Marshall right into retirement. Chances of getting cut: Very good. It’s hard to see how Marshall beats Vera. Perhaps a compelling fight would be enough to keep him around even in defeat, but don’t bet on it.
Brandon Vera (11-5 [1 NC], 7-5 [1 NC] UFC) Who he’s facing: Eliot Marshall Why he’s in danger: Vera also knows what it’s like to feel the sting of the UFC axe. If not for Thiago Silva’s non-human urine sample, he’d still be out of a job. But fair is fair, and the UFC rightly realized it couldn’t send a guy packing for losing to a juiced-up opponent, so “The Truth” gets one more chance to get it right. Both Vera and trainer Lloyd Irvin say he’s a different man in the gym now that he’s rediscovered his passion and motivation, but we’ve heard that before. The real test is whether he can perform in the cage under such tremendous pressure. The good news for Vera is that Marshall is a very, very beatable opponent. He probably doesn’t have the power or the wrestling chops to make it a ground fight for very long, and on the feet he’s in serious trouble. Or at least, he will be if Vera decides to use all his tools consistently and aggressively. We haven’t seen that in some time, but he has to know it’s now or never. Chances of getting cut: Unlikely. This is Vera’s fight to lose, and I doubt he will. Even if he performs at a fraction of his abilities, it’s probably enough to beat Marshall. It just won’t be enough to stick around for very long after that.
Something like this, maybe you never really get over it. Maybe you’re not supposed to.
You wake up in the middle of the night to find two men with guns in your house — men who obviously arrived there with a plan, and one which may or may not involve leaving living witnesses to their crime — and right then your whole world has been altered in ways you can’t fully comprehend just yet.
“To this day, I’m still paranoid,” said MMA trainer Lloyd Irvin, who, along with his wife and young son, as well as UFC light heavyweight Brandon Vera, lived this nightmare just a little over three years ago. “It changed our whole lives, how we think about life, about our families, about security and how we stay safe — everything.”
For Vera, it also changed the way he thinks about his MMA career, and not necessarily in any way that’s helpful for a man who makes his living fighting other men inside a cage on Saturday nights. Lately, he’s begun to realize that what happened in Irvin’s house that night didn’t truly end there, and maybe it has more to do with what’s happened to him ever since than he originally allowed himself to believe.
The story, which is now practically a part of MMA lore, goes like this: Lloyd Irvin woke up in the pre-dawn hours of October 4, 2008 to find that two armed men had broken into his suburban Maryland home and were standing over him as he slept. They instructed him to get up and join them as they rounded up the home’s other occupants, which included Irvin’s wife and son, who was then just four years old, as well as Vera, who was staying with Irvin while he did his pre-fight training camp at Irvin’s gym.
While one of the men held Vera and Irvin’s family at gunpoint, the other led Irvin into a back bedroom. That’s when Irvin saw his opening and took it, grabbing for the gun, ejecting the ammunition clip, and wrestling the weapon away from the gunman. Disarmed, the man shouted out a warning to his accomplice and they both fled the house, leaving Irvin, his family, and Vera all unharmed, but badly shaken.
“My son is still traumatized to this day,” said Irvin, who added that both he and his family sought professional psychiatric help after the incident. “We just got him back sleeping in his own room about four or five months ago. About two years ago we got him back in his room for about 30 days, and then one incident where these deer set off the alarm outside the house, after that it went downhill again.”
For Vera, the damage was slightly more subtle. He and Irvin flew to England for the fight with Jardine as scheduled, and he tried his best to carry on as if nothing had happened. He lost the fight via split decision, but that was only the beginning.
“I remember after that fight, going in to train would suck,” Vera said. “I’d be looking at the clock, waiting to leave. Sometimes I didn’t want to go two or three-a-days. I’d be arguing with my coaches or slacking off. I honestly think that it had to do with that home invasion.”
It wasn’t just that he was emotionally traumatized, Vera said, though of course he was. But it was more that, once he realized how easily and suddenly his life could have ended, spending hours in a gym every day didn’t seem like such a good use of his time.
“After that, I don’t think MMA was number one in my life anymore,” said Vera. “After that home invasion, I was like, hey, I could have been dead today, and there’s still so much I want to do. There’s so much I want to experience, so much I want to do with my wife. MMA just wasn’t the number one priority in my life anymore. Without me knowing, my life rearranged itself.”
In theory, this isn’t such a bad revelation. If this were a movie script, it might be just the kind of catalyst that forces the main character to examine his priorities and put the right things first in life. He starts leaving the office early to take long walks in the park. He calls his mother. Everything works out in the end.
In real life, it didn’t happen that way for Vera. Instead of reveling in the impermanence of life, he grew paranoid. As Irvin put it, “[Vera] got really into guns and security and stuff.”
Not that Irvin was exactly ready to give himself over to the worst impulses of his fellow man, either.
“I did some really crazy stuff at the house for home protection,” he said. That included not only a security system that would present a challenge to the Mission: Impossible team, but also a permit to carry a concealed handgun, which isn’t easy to get in Maryland. “For a while I had a protection company follow my wife around,” Irvin added. “It was crazy times.”
As Vera put it, what bothered him most was that he’d left himself so vulnerable, and he never wanted to make the same mistake again.
“They were professionals,” he said. “It was this feeling that I’d been caught out there, no weapon in my hand, no dogs, no gun. I just got caught slipping.”
But as Vera grew more concerned with his own safety and struggled to put his new list of priorities in perspective, his career inside the cage suffered. He won two straight after the Jardine loss, then dropped fights to Randy Couture and Jon Jones before being dominated by Thiago Silva and getting cut by the UFC following his third loss in a row.
As Vera explained, that’s when he knew he’d lost “it.”
“People keep asking me what it is,” he said. “But if you’ve never lost it, there’s no way I can explain what it is.”
Following his dismissal from the UFC, Vera embarked on a road trip across the U.S., teaching seminars at gyms along the way, he said. He drove 8,500 miles in all, and “somewhere along those 8,500 miles is where I found it again.”
“Watching an 11-year-old kid take an adult seminar and do better than the adults because he was so serious and so hungry to learn, it made me happy again,” he said. “It brought me back to that place.”
Vera was also aided by some delayed, though no less satisfying justice. Police arrested a suspect in the home invasion case that they believed was linked to multiple murders in similar situations — a man the local police chief deemed a “serial killer” — who will now spend the rest of his life in prison following sentencing, Irvin said.
On one hand, it shook Vera to know that, had his longtime coach not disarmed the man, they would almost certainly have been killed that night. On the other, Vera said, “I think maybe it was something in my life that I couldn’t get past until those guys got caught.”
Vera got a reprieve in his professional life as well when, nearly three months after the loss to Silva, the Nevada State Athletic Commission revealed that Silva had submitted a sample for testing that was “inconsistent with human urine.” Silva would later cop to steroid use and Vera’s loss would be changed to a no contest. The UFC would also opt to give him another chance in light of this information, welcoming him back to face Eliot Marshall at UFC 137 in Las Vegas this Saturday night.
“It’s not a new chapter; it’s a whole new book,” said Vera. “The path I was on before, I don’t know where I was going or where I got lost. Somewhere I made a left when I should have made a right. I don’t know, but I lost it, and now I’ve found it.”
The change is apparent to Irvin, too, who has had Vera back in his gym in Maryland for a full training camp for the first time since the home invasion incident in 2008. Vera never came out and told him that he’d been hesitant to return because of what happened that night in his house, Irvin said, “but I had a good sense of that. I personally didn’t really want to be in my own house sometimes because of it, so I understood.”
Now Vera is not only back training with him, Irvin said, but he’s actually doing the work because he wants to, rather than simply going through the motions because he has to.
“He’s in the gym 40 minutes or an hour before his training time is supposed to start. He’s putting the time in and enjoying it more,” said Irvin. “It used to be that if he had a bad training day or a bad day in the gym he’d just keep going forward or whatever. Now he’ll text you at midnight asking, ‘The half-guard sweep didn’t work, is my hand in the wrong position?'”
If there was anybody who could understand Vera’s lack of motivation after the home invasion, it was Irvin. The same trauma had touched his life, and still lurks there somewhere under the surface, he said.
“The reality that we could have been dead right then, it makes you think all sorts of things about life and what it means and what you haven’t done yet. When we were being held hostage…you ever see the movies where a guy will go through this montage of his whole life and everything he’s done? That really happened in my mind.”
Now that Vera has worked through some of his issues and is back to training like the man he used to be in the gym, Irvin is “one hundred percent” confident of victory against Marshall, he said.
“If Brandon follows the game plan and does what he’s supposed to do, Eliot’s going to know in the first round, this is wrong, that something’s not right, because this is not where he’s supposed to be. Then he’ll be forced to do some things that we’re anticipating, and Brandon will get the victory. I have no doubt in my mind about that.”
For Vera, the weight of the expectations on him is something that he feels, but insists he isn’t laboring under. This return to the UFC could easily be a one-shot deal, more of an audition for his old spot rather than a guaranteed second chance.
“I’m supposed to win this fight,” he said. “I’m supposed to go in here and hurt Eliot bad. It’s different. It’s not added pressure, it’s just that this is what I was supposed to be doing the whole time. It feels weird. I don’t feel nervous anymore. I just feel like I’m supposed to go in here and whoop his ass.”
Now, just a shade over three years since the incident that made him re-organize his entire life, Vera insists that he’s back to doing the sport because he wants to, and not because he has to.
It’s fitting then that he prepared for this return alongside the man who probably saved his life that night, and who knows all too well what he’s struggled with ever since.
“Brandon’s been with me for a long time, since before he got to the UFC and before everybody knew who he was,” said Irvin. “He’s not just a fighter to me, he’s like a son and a student, and I love him. I just look forward to seeing him rise back up to the top.”
Something like this, maybe you never really get over it. Maybe you’re not supposed to.
You wake up in the middle of the night to find two men with guns in your house — men who obviously arrived there with a plan, and one which may or may not involve leaving living witnesses to their crime — and right then your whole world has been altered in ways you can’t fully comprehend just yet.
“To this day, I’m still paranoid,” said MMA trainer Lloyd Irvin, who, along with his wife and young son, as well as UFC light heavyweight Brandon Vera, lived this nightmare just a little over three years ago. “It changed our whole lives, how we think about life, about our families, about security and how we stay safe — everything.”
For Vera, it also changed the way he thinks about his MMA career, and not necessarily in any way that’s helpful for a man who makes his living fighting other men inside a cage on Saturday nights. Lately, he’s begun to realize that what happened in Irvin’s house that night didn’t truly end there, and maybe it has more to do with what’s happened to him ever since than he originally allowed himself to believe.
The story, which is now practically a part of MMA lore, goes like this: Lloyd Irvin woke up in the pre-dawn hours of October 4, 2008 to find that two armed men had broken into his suburban Maryland home and were standing over him as he slept. They instructed him to get up and join them as they rounded up the home’s other occupants, which included Irvin’s wife and son, who was then just four years old, as well as Vera, who was staying with Irvin while he did his pre-fight training camp at Irvin’s gym.
While one of the men held Vera and Irvin’s family at gunpoint, the other led Irvin into a back bedroom. That’s when Irvin saw his opening and took it, grabbing for the gun, ejecting the ammunition clip, and wrestling the weapon away from the gunman. Disarmed, the man shouted out a warning to his accomplice and they both fled the house, leaving Irvin, his family, and Vera all unharmed, but badly shaken.
“My son is still traumatized to this day,” said Irvin, who added that both he and his family sought professional psychiatric help after the incident. “We just got him back sleeping in his own room about four or five months ago. About two years ago we got him back in his room for about 30 days, and then one incident where these deer set off the alarm outside the house, after that it went downhill again.”
For Vera, the damage was slightly more subtle. He and Irvin flew to England for the fight with Jardine as scheduled, and he tried his best to carry on as if nothing had happened. He lost the fight via split decision, but that was only the beginning.
“I remember after that fight, going in to train would suck,” Vera said. “I’d be looking at the clock, waiting to leave. Sometimes I didn’t want to go two or three-a-days. I’d be arguing with my coaches or slacking off. I honestly think that it had to do with that home invasion.”
It wasn’t just that he was emotionally traumatized, Vera said, though of course he was. But it was more that, once he realized how easily and suddenly his life could have ended, spending hours in a gym every day didn’t seem like such a good use of his time.
“After that, I don’t think MMA was number one in my life anymore,” said Vera. “After that home invasion, I was like, hey, I could have been dead today, and there’s still so much I want to do. There’s so much I want to experience, so much I want to do with my wife. MMA just wasn’t the number one priority in my life anymore. Without me knowing, my life rearranged itself.”
In theory, this isn’t such a bad revelation. If this were a movie script, it might be just the kind of catalyst that forces the main character to examine his priorities and put the right things first in life. He starts leaving the office early to take long walks in the park. He calls his mother. Everything works out in the end.
In real life, it didn’t happen that way for Vera. Instead of reveling in the impermanence of life, he grew paranoid. As Irvin put it, “[Vera] got really into guns and security and stuff.”
Not that Irvin was exactly ready to give himself over to the worst impulses of his fellow man, either.
“I did some really crazy stuff at the house for home protection,” he said. That included not only a security system that would present a challenge to the Mission: Impossible team, but also a permit to carry a concealed handgun, which isn’t easy to get in Maryland. “For a while I had a protection company follow my wife around,” Irvin added. “It was crazy times.”
As Vera put it, what bothered him most was that he’d left himself so vulnerable, and he never wanted to make the same mistake again.
“They were professionals,” he said. “It was this feeling that I’d been caught out there, no weapon in my hand, no dogs, no gun. I just got caught slipping.”
But as Vera grew more concerned with his own safety and struggled to put his new list of priorities in perspective, his career inside the cage suffered. He won two straight after the Jardine loss, then dropped fights to Randy Couture and Jon Jones before being dominated by Thiago Silva and getting cut by the UFC following his third loss in a row.
As Vera explained, that’s when he knew he’d lost “it.”
“People keep asking me what it is,” he said. “But if you’ve never lost it, there’s no way I can explain what it is.”
Following his dismissal from the UFC, Vera embarked on a road trip across the U.S., teaching seminars at gyms along the way, he said. He drove 8,500 miles in all, and “somewhere along those 8,500 miles is where I found it again.”
“Watching an 11-year-old kid take an adult seminar and do better than the adults because he was so serious and so hungry to learn, it made me happy again,” he said. “It brought me back to that place.”
Vera was also aided by some delayed, though no less satisfying justice. Police arrested a suspect in the home invasion case that they believed was linked to multiple murders in similar situations — a man the local police chief deemed a “serial killer” — who will now spend the rest of his life in prison following sentencing, Irvin said.
On one hand, it shook Vera to know that, had his longtime coach not disarmed the man, they would almost certainly have been killed that night. On the other, Vera said, “I think maybe it was something in my life that I couldn’t get past until those guys got caught.”
Vera got a reprieve in his professional life as well when, nearly three months after the loss to Silva, the Nevada State Athletic Commission revealed that Silva had submitted a sample for testing that was “inconsistent with human urine.” Silva would later cop to steroid use and Vera’s loss would be changed to a no contest. The UFC would also opt to give him another chance in light of this information, welcoming him back to face Eliot Marshall at UFC 137 in Las Vegas this Saturday night.
“It’s not a new chapter; it’s a whole new book,” said Vera. “The path I was on before, I don’t know where I was going or where I got lost. Somewhere I made a left when I should have made a right. I don’t know, but I lost it, and now I’ve found it.”
The change is apparent to Irvin, too, who has had Vera back in his gym in Maryland for a full training camp for the first time since the home invasion incident in 2008. Vera never came out and told him that he’d been hesitant to return because of what happened that night in his house, Irvin said, “but I had a good sense of that. I personally didn’t really want to be in my own house sometimes because of it, so I understood.”
Now Vera is not only back training with him, Irvin said, but he’s actually doing the work because he wants to, rather than simply going through the motions because he has to.
“He’s in the gym 40 minutes or an hour before his training time is supposed to start. He’s putting the time in and enjoying it more,” said Irvin. “It used to be that if he had a bad training day or a bad day in the gym he’d just keep going forward or whatever. Now he’ll text you at midnight asking, ‘The half-guard sweep didn’t work, is my hand in the wrong position?'”
If there was anybody who could understand Vera’s lack of motivation after the home invasion, it was Irvin. The same trauma had touched his life, and still lurks there somewhere under the surface, he said.
“The reality that we could have been dead right then, it makes you think all sorts of things about life and what it means and what you haven’t done yet. When we were being held hostage…you ever see the movies where a guy will go through this montage of his whole life and everything he’s done? That really happened in my mind.”
Now that Vera has worked through some of his issues and is back to training like the man he used to be in the gym, Irvin is “one hundred percent” confident of victory against Marshall, he said.
“If Brandon follows the game plan and does what he’s supposed to do, Eliot’s going to know in the first round, this is wrong, that something’s not right, because this is not where he’s supposed to be. Then he’ll be forced to do some things that we’re anticipating, and Brandon will get the victory. I have no doubt in my mind about that.”
For Vera, the weight of the expectations on him is something that he feels, but insists he isn’t laboring under. This return to the UFC could easily be a one-shot deal, more of an audition for his old spot rather than a guaranteed second chance.
“I’m supposed to win this fight,” he said. “I’m supposed to go in here and hurt Eliot bad. It’s different. It’s not added pressure, it’s just that this is what I was supposed to be doing the whole time. It feels weird. I don’t feel nervous anymore. I just feel like I’m supposed to go in here and whoop his ass.”
Now, just a shade over three years since the incident that made him re-organize his entire life, Vera insists that he’s back to doing the sport because he wants to, and not because he has to.
It’s fitting then that he prepared for this return alongside the man who probably saved his life that night, and who knows all too well what he’s struggled with ever since.
“Brandon’s been with me for a long time, since before he got to the UFC and before everybody knew who he was,” said Irvin. “He’s not just a fighter to me, he’s like a son and a student, and I love him. I just look forward to seeing him rise back up to the top.”
Filed under: UFCIf things go very, very well for Eliot Marshall at UFC 137 — which is to say, if he not only beats Brandon Vera, but also earns one of the UFC’s bonus awards for the best submission, knockout, or fight of the night — it will be a prof…
If things go very, very well for Eliot Marshall at UFC 137 — which is to say, if he not only beats Brandon Vera, but also earns one of the UFC’s bonus awards for the best submission, knockout, or fight of the night — it will be a profitable night in the Octagon for the Colorado-based light heavyweight.
But if he merely wins without collecting a big bonus, he told MMA Fighting, he’ll probably just break even in the end.
“That’s how much I’ve put into this [training] camp, financially,” said Marshall. “Spending money to travel, go here and do this, do that, it’s not cheap. I’m a hundred percent committed.”
At this point, he pretty much has to be. That’s because Marshal knows he’s likely just one loss away from being cut by the UFC for a second time in two years. And if that happens, Marshall said, he plans to hang up the gloves and call it a career.
His thinking on the matter is simple, he explained. He’s already been cut from the organization once, and had to volunteer for a short-notice fight with Luiz Cane at UFC 128 just to get back in. He lost that one via first-round TKO, but his willingness to step up when the UFC needed someone was apparently enough to earn him this second chance.
If he gets beat by Vera this Saturday night, he’ll drop to 0-2 in his current UFC run and will almost certainly get his walking papers as a result. If that happens, he’s not sure what the point would be of continuing on with his fighting career.
“How many guys do you know who get brought back for a third time?” he pointed out.
That’s why, at least to hear Marshall tell it now, this could very well be it for him. He knows he’ll be the underdog heading into the bout with Vera, and if things go the way oddsmakers expect them to the 31-year-old Marshall might be on his way to retirement this time next week.
Maybe that helps to explain why he’s invested so much time and money into this training camp. With so much at stake, he wanted to make sure he was as well prepared as possible, he said, which meant multiple trips down to Greg Jackson’s gym in Albuquerque, N.M., as well as driving all around Colorado to get in the gym with as many different sparring partners as he could find.
“That way you don’t get used to anybody’s style,” he explained. “Sometimes you get used to what guy A does or guy B does, and then when you get in the cage to really fight, the guy you’re fighting doesn’t do what guy A or B does and you have to adapt. I’ve had to adapt every sparring session. My mind and my body is used to it, so it’s not so much about what they’re going to do, it’s what I’m going to do.”
But against an opponent like Vera, figuring out a path to victory isn’t so easy, as Marshall has learned from hours of watching film.
“He’s very, very tough,” Marshall said. “Even when he’s losing, he takes it. Thiago Silva whooped his ass, and he wasn’t close to being stopped. He switches stances well. Obviously, he kicks hard. I guess on paper he should be the champ of the world, right?”
So why isn’t he? Instead of being champ of the world, why is Vera winless in his last three fights, and just barely holding on to a spot in the UFC himself?
“I just don’t think he wants it that bad,” said Marshall, who added that, in the end, that’s what he believes will make all the difference.
“What’s going to decide the fight is who wants it more. I don’t think any one skill-set is going to decide this fight. It’s going to be, who’s willing to get beat up? Who’s willing to suffer to win this fight?”
The way Marshall sees it, that person is him. That’s because he has to win this fight. If he doesn’t, his stay in the UFC — and, so he says, his career in MMA — will both come to an end.
That explains why he’s invested so much in his own training and preparation, he said. There’s no reason not to go all-in now and see what happens. At this point in his career, there might not be a next time.
Times like these, it’s the waiting that really gets to you. Either the call is coming or it isn’t. Either your dream is dead — possibly for good this time — or else it still has the faintest hint of a pulse. Eliot Marshall doesn’t know yet which way things are going to swing following his narrow decision loss to Brandon Vera at UFC 137, but he’s not terribly optimistic.
With 
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Something like this, maybe you never really get over it. Maybe you’re not supposed to.
If things go very, very well for