In what comes as a bit of a surprise, tonight has some pretty clear-cut favorites for post-fight bonuses. Events typically have a handful of fights and fighters who look like heavy candidates to take home some extra change, but tonight’s UFC on F…
In what comes as a bit of a surprise, tonight has some pretty clear-cut favorites for post-fight bonuses. Events typically have a handful of fights and fighters who look like heavy candidates to take home some extra change, but tonight’s UFC on FOX 5 card separates it from past events in the fact that there are four men who look to be near shoo-ins for the rewards.
In fact, the only question that really haunts me is: Who’s going to take home that submission of the night award?
I’ve got a fair idea of who’s going to leave with “Fight of the Night” honors, and I’ve got a sneaking suspicion that I know who will exit with a “Knockout of the Night” award. But that submission nod has me a bit stumped, I’ll admit.
Mike Swick is a man who has seen some very high highs and some very low lows. Swick appeared to have almost limitless potential and was once one of the most promising prospects in the UFC’s middleweight divisionA series of first-round knockouts earned …
Mike Swick is a man who has seen some very high highs and some very low lows. Swick appeared to have almost limitless potential and was once one of the most promising prospects in the UFC’s middleweight division
A series of first-round knockouts earned him the nickname “Quick” and a future title shot seemed all but certain.
But then the injuries started to pile up.
Swick got injured so much that UFC President Dana White gave him another nickname: Mr. Glass. For a while it seemed like he would be just another fighter whose career was cut short due to injuries.
He finally made his Octagon return at UFC on Fox 4 in Los Angeles this past summer after a two-and-a-half-year layoff. The reception he received from the crowd made it quite clear that fans had never turned their backs on him:
“It was overwhelming. It was kind of an outer body experience. You think about something for 910 days and you hope that you see the crowd from the top of the cage in victory and you want to win by knockout on a level like this with Fox and the viewership,” Swick told Bleacher Report. “So for it to all pan out exactly like you dreamed, it’s surreal. It was definitely a great feeling.”
The two-and-a-half years leading up to the fight against DaMarques Johnson saw Swick face some of the darkest times of his life. It was the longest lay off of his career, and there were days when he believed that his MMA career could be over:
“I had the dark days. You don’t want to lose your career. You don’t want to give away your career and walk away from the sport that you love and have been a part of for so long. So the thought of that crushed that, absolutely. Thailand partially saved my life.”
So, the big question then is if he believes that he’s writing a new story or merely a new chapter in his existing story. It’s easy to focus on his time away from the fight game, but it allowed him to heal up. That may have extended his shelf life.
And in speaking with him, it’s pretty clear that he believes that he’s Mike Swick 2.0.
“I think I’m restarting my career. I feel healthier than ever. I think that this is going to be the fight that showcases the new me.”
Mike Swick will fight for the second time in roughly three months tomorrow when he collides with the aggressive Matt Brown on the main card of UFC on Fox 5. Swick spent about two and a half years away from the cage recovering from injuries before retur…
Mike Swick will fight for the second time in roughly three months tomorrow when he collides with the aggressive Matt Brown on the main card of UFC on Fox 5. Swick spent about two and a half years away from the cage recovering from injuries before returning to action in August, and the time away from action was clearly visible. While Swick emerged victorious from his bout with DeMarques Johnson at UFC on Fox 4, he took a beating in the opening frame of the fight.
Swick looked rusty, and if there’s even a hint of it left in the system of “Quick,” Matt “The Immortal” Brown will knock it right off.
Will the speed and fluency of a prime Swick re-emerge tomorrow night? Will his physical and mental fortitude be put on harsh trial once more? We simply don’t have answers yet. But we’ve got a few relevant questions.
Mike Swick could’ve easily avoided the feud with Matt Brown if he would’ve simply checked his Myspace messages.The two welterweight knockout artists are set to collide in the main card opener of UFC on Fox 5, but they already have a history most don’t …
Mike Swick could’ve easily avoided the feud with Matt Brown if he would’ve simply checked his Myspace messages.
The two welterweight knockout artists are set to collide in the main card opener of UFC on Fox 5, but they already have a history most don’t even know about.
It all began with a Myspace message Brown sent Swick many years ago.
Honestly, [Swick] was the first fighter I really looked up to on “The Ultimate Fighter 1.” I actually even wrote him a message on Myspace, and I was real pissed because he never replied to my message. I was like, “He’s an asshole.”
Brown joked afterwards that his entire motivation for this fight was the Myspace incident.
He isn’t sure whether or not Swick even saw the message, but he plans on telling him about it after the fight on Saturday night.
The emergence of Brown as a potential welterweight contender has gone unnoticed as of late. He is currently riding a three-fight win streak, with two of the wins coming by TKO.
It has been three years since Brown last put together such an impressive streak, and he doesn’t plan on letting this opportunity go to waste.
A win over Swick would put Brown one step closer to contending with the upper-echelon fighters in the division, but it won’t be easy.
Swick is on a mission to prove he is still a contender in the UFC. After being out of action for over two years, he returned in August and knocked out DaMarques Johnson.
How will it end on Saturday night?
While Brown is unsure how the actually fight will end, he is confident that his hand will be raised:
I could see myself winning this fight a multitude of ways, an absolutely number of ways. I think I can beat him anywhere that this fight takes place, and it’s just going to be a matter of when he makes that mistake and when I jump on that mistake.
This is one fight I never thought about, which is odd for me considering how much I like both of these fighters.On one hand you have Matt Brown, a guy who has never been KO’d in professional competition. He’s tough as a coffin nail, has inc…
This is one fight I never thought about, which is odd for me considering how much I like both of these fighters.
On one hand you have Matt Brown, a guy who has never been KO’d in professional competition. He’s tough as a coffin nail, has incredible power in his fists, loves to fight and is a serious threat to anyone standing across from him.
Then you have Mike Swick, a fighter with incredibly fast hands who will let his hands go often, has unappreciated submission skills and knows how to finish a fight.
At first glance, this looks like a “Fight of the Night” candidate hands down, no questions asked. We know most of this bout will be contested with both men standing, throwing bombs.
But at a second look, one thing becomes clear: Matt Brown is much too slow for Mike Swick.
As good as Brown is, there are still some basic deficiencies in his overall game: subpar submission skills, leaves his chin out way too much, average hand speed and perhaps worst of all, he seems to act as if improving upon these areas will diminish his stature as a crowd pleasing action fighter.
And Brown would rather die than labor under that yoke.
Men like Brown are easy to watch and appreciate; they nearly always march forward, wearing their faults on their sleeves, daring the other guy to step into the pocket and do something about it.
Against Swick, he’ll find someone willing to painfully point out those errors, and by the time he realizes that he’s just been tagged four times Swick will be out of range, ready to counter with even heavier shots as Brown swarms in to get some payback.
This is a matador against a bull in every sense, and Swick isn’t going to let himself linger in too many bad situations for too long unlike Brown, who would pull out his own heart and eat it if it would keep the crowd on their feet.
Of course, Swick has probably never had to scrap against anyone as resilient as Brown, save for his losing effort against Chris Leben way back when. Brown is a more polished version of Leben, who moves so slow it’s almost painful to watch.
Swick has grown a great deal as a fighter since he lost to Leben, training hard and smart to evolve into a very slick craftsman. It’s doubtful he possesses the same kind of granite in his chin that Brown does, but as he is better defensively when punches are flying, that probably won’t matter.
If Swick has his cardio up to snuff and isn’t injured, his fists will be finding Brown’s jaw and chin frequently. If a man like Swick can stagger Brown just once, he can step through the doorway and deliver a barrage of punches that will eventually see Brown fall, and from there will come the finish in short order.
It’s hard to root for either man in such as fight as they both are a pleasure to watch. But speed kills in the fight game, and Mike “Quick” Swick has more than enough of that to earn the victory and mount a serious comeback in his career.
As for Brown, should this come to pass, he will no doubt simply dust himself off, go right back into training, ready to swing heavy leather all over again, secure in the fact that he will always have a home in the UFC as long as he’s willing to go to war every time he steps into the spotlight.
And I would rather see Brown fighting than many others out there.
If you haven’t taken notice, the UFC on Fox card in Seattle is absolutely stacked. From the top to the bottom, the fights on the card promise to be explosive, fan-friendly affairs with big names gracing most fights.Among those exciting fights, Matt Bro…
If you haven’t taken notice, the UFC on Fox card in Seattle is absolutely stacked. From the top to the bottom, the fights on the card promise to be explosive, fan-friendly affairs with big names gracing most fights.
Among those exciting fights, Matt Brown is set to face off with recent returnee Mike Swick in a welterweight bout that promises fireworks. Both men are hard workers, so anything less than a spirited effort would be surprising here.
Here is a head-to-toe breakdown of the encounter that will occur between Swick and Brown.
This is one fight I never thought about, which is odd for me considering how much I like both of these fighters.