UFC 78 — The Aftermath

Well UFC 78 has come and gone meaning we are one step closer to this returning to being a Mets blog (which is probably a good thing since we have a little Mets news… No Torrealba… that’s good news for Mets fans.) But first we need to tie a bow on UFC 78: Validation.

The two things of note that came out of the post-fight press conference was Dana White begrudgingly (because he wasn’t ready to) announcing Dan Henderson would drop to middleweight to take on champion Anderson Silva on March 1 in what will surely be an anticipated fight. And White won’t be meeting Randy Couture this Tuesday after all, as White apparently got the weeks wrong and was supposed to meet Couture this past Tuesday. You’d think he’d get that appointment right. Regardless, Couture was in attendance and had a cordial meeting with the UFC president so now things are on track for a post-Thanksgiving meeting.

The Prudential Center is a really nice arena and the area surrounding the place is not bad at all. The wireless internet could use some help however.

All in all, it was a night with a lot of good fights underneath and some disappointments later on, saved by a solid main event. Not UFC’s best night by any stretch of the imagination, but good time nonetheless. And the hometown boy won.

Speaking of which, Frank Edgar told me the Rutgers wrestling team couldn’t be in attendance because they were at a tournament, but he had a friend texting the round-by-round results to the team. He definitely took care of business.

*****

Here’s my final write-thru on the card.

Evans, Edgar winners at UFC 78
Published Nov. 18, 2007

By STEVE FEITL
STAFF WRITER

NEWARK — Frank “The Answer” Edgar stepped to the ring Saturday with the support of the 14,071 at the Prudential Center. Of course, hometown advantage can’t do much for an Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter once he steps into the Octgaon.

Thankfully for the Toms River native, all he needed was his ability to seemingly take down his opponent at will.

Edgar (8-0) won a unanimous decision over veteran Spencer “The King” Fisher in one of the main card bouts at UFC 78: Validation — the first mixed martial arts card at “The Rock,” which drew a gate of $2,100,360.

“Great night, great crowd,” UFC president Dana White said after the event. “We love New Jersey and we’ll be back here in ‘08.”

The event was headlined by a battle of “The Ultimate Fighter” champions that saw Season 2’s winner “Sugar” Rashad Evans knock off the Season 3 champ Michael “The Count” Bisping in a close split decision.

After Evans fairly easily won the first round, Bisping got stronger and started connecting with strikes and knees in the second round, evening the fight on all three scorecards. The third round saw some back-and-forth in stand-up and on the ground. Two judges scored it for Evans, leading to the split decision.

“It was a statement for me because I beat a fighter who was tough as hell,” Evans (16-0-1) said in the post-fight press conference. “That was the best Bisping we’ve ever seen, so I do think I made a statement by beating him.”

Even after suffering his first professional loss, Bisping (15-1) thought his performance should silence a lot of his critics after his controversial victory over Matt Hammill in his last fight.

“I thought it was a very close fight,” Bisping said. “I proved I belonged in there tonight.”

In the semi-main, a rabid pro-Houston Alexander crowd was silenced as the knockout artist couldn’t match Thiago Silva’s ground game and suffered a technical knockout at 3:25 of the first round.

After winning his first two UFC fights with stunning one-minute KOs, Alexander (8-2) got taken down early and was unable to escape Silva’s mount. After several consecutive blows to the head by Silva (12-0), the referee stepped in.

But as disappointed as the crowd was in Alexander’s loss, it was just as happy to witness Edgar’s dominance.

“Not bad for a Jersey Shore kid, eh?” Edgar asked the crowd during the postfight interview.

The crowd roared its approval as it had done since his picture was first shown on the big screen introducing a prefight video package. Throughout the fight, the New Jersey audience chanted “Frankie” and “Let’s Go Frankie” and one fan in the mezzanine brought a banner that said, “It’s All Good When U Got THE ANSWER.”

It didn’t take long for Edgar to establish his superior grappling skills. The former state high school wrestling standout at Toms River High School East and All-American at Clarion University scored his first double-leg takedown 30 seconds into the fight. It was a sign of things to come as he dropped Fisher 60 seconds later. Fisher tried to keep the fight vertical, looking for a roundhouse kick 3:30 in, but Edgar dodged it and Fisher fell to his back, where Edgar kept him until time expired.

The second round was much of the same, although this time Edgar’s pounding on the ground drew blood. The first takedown came 15 seconds into the round and “The King” only regained his feet for 15 seconds before Edgar used a leg sweep to down him again.

“I would have stood more as I felt I connected on a couple of right hands, but the takedowns were there,” Edgar said. “And I’m not going to give them up if they’re there.”

Edgar was dominant again in the third and final round as Fisher stayed vertical for only five seconds before tasting another Edgar takedown. The Rutgers University assistant wrestling coach almost ended it with a rear naked choke, but never secured it all the way. There were two more Edgar takedowns and the crowd rose to its feet as time expired with Edgar landing hammer fists on Fisher.

“It was something you dream about,” Edgar said.

Judges scored it 30-27, 30-27 and 30-26 all for Edgar.

“It’s a huge win,” Edgar said after the fight. “Spencer is a hell of a tough guy.”

On Saturday, Edgar was tougher.

In other action, Karo “The Heat” Parisyan (26-4) won a disappointing unanimous decision over Ryo Chonan (14-8) in a fight that drew the crowd’s ire for its pacing and lack of solid action. Parisyan even apologized to his fans in the post-fight interview, noting personal problems had prevented him from properly training for the bout.

Ed Herman (16-4) knocked out Joe Doerksen (39-11) 39 seconds into the third round as both fighters were tired and started throwing haymakers. Herman connected with a hook, dropping Doerksen hard and the ref immediately called the fight.

The “Fight of the Night” was stopped early as Thiago Alves (19-4) earned a technical knockout after the ringside doctor advised the official to stop the fight because a deep cut over Chris Lytle’s brow. It happened early in the first round when an overhand right caught Lytle (32-15-4) hard. Still there was not an excessive amount of blood and the fighter put forward an entertaining two rounds before the stoppage after the second.

The crowd was into Joe Lauzon from the moment he stepped into “The Rock” and the fiery 5-10 fighter out of Bridgewater, Mass., didn’t make them wait long for some excitement. After a few seconds of striking, Lauzon (14-3) took down Jason Reinhardt (17-1) and made him tap to a rear naked choke at 1:14 of the first round.

Marcus “Maximus” Aurelio (15-4) also brought the crowd to its feet with a strong technical knockout of Luke Caudillo at 4:29 of the first round. After a takedown, he pounded Caudillo (15-8) with hammer fists until the referee stepped in to stop the fight.

The evening began with a spirited fight from former PRIDE fighter Akihiro Gono (28-12-7) who secured a second-round armbar tapout from Tamdan “The Barn Cat” McCrory (9-1).

*****

Also, since the event ran so late, the Courier News only had time for a feature, so I wrote this piece on Houston Alexander. I think it’s a good read, even though he lost Saturday. He’s a fascinating man with a great story to tell. I hope I did it justice. In the meantime, keep this in mind: I spoke with him after the fight and he was sure to note that he’s getting right back to work. I don’t think this spells the end of “The Assassin.”

So learn a little more about him.

Alexander nothing like Octagon persona
Published Nov. 18, 2007

By STEVE FEITL
STAFF WRITER

After explosive one-minute victories in his first two outings with the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Houston Alexander gets recognized a lot whenever he travels.

But in his hometown of Omaha, Neb., that was already the case.

The man known in the Octagon as “The Assassin” is also known in Nebraska as a DJ, community activist and single father.

So no matter the outcome of his bout against Thiago Silva Saturday night at UFC 78: Validation in Newark, Alexander has plenty waiting for him when he returns home.

Among them is his weekly radio show, “Sunday Night Raw,” on Power 106.9, where Alexander provides a platform for independent hip-hop and R&B music from all over the world. He’s been involved with hip hop since he heard the early-’80s classic, “The Breaks,” by Kurtis Blow.

It was an introduction to a new sound that has remained with him for nearly a quarter-century.

“I’ll be 90 years old and still remember that,” the 35-year-old Alexander laughed. “It was delivering the message of our life.”

Finding that message in today’s music scene has become increasingly difficult. Aside from the occasional Kanye West or Jay Z song, Alexander doesn’t hear much on the radio that truly speaks to anyone.

“A lot of radio stations are playing stuff that doesn’t make sense,” he elaborated. “They focus on the dance music, which is cool because there’s all different types of rap music, but every once in a while I’d like to hear someone on the radio saying something that means something.

“A lot of the radio stations have gotten away from playing music that means something to the people.”

To help combat that and counteract the often-negative portrayal of the hip-hop community, Alexander formed an organization called “The Culture Shock School Tour.” It travels to the local schools to present the history and positive contributions of hip hop.

Alexander takes it upon himself to help educate the younger generation on the path blazed by people such as revolutionary DJ Kool Herc.

“Kool Herc was one of the founding fathers of the whole culture,” he said. “Without Kool Herc, there would be no rap videos, there would be no record contracts, there would be none of that. We teach the kids about that and we let them participate. We have the kids break dance.

“And then we have the teachers break dance, too — whether they like it or not.”

The 6-foot-3, 203-pound Alexander has plenty of experience being forceful, and not just from his fights in Octagon. “The Assassin” is a single father of six, with ages ranging from 5 to 16.

He practices a three-strike policy with his children where the first strike is something nice, the second is something harsh and the third . . . well, no kid has dared test the third strike yet.

The father, who describes his techniques as “strictly loose,” has faced a harrowing scenario no parent would welcome. His oldest daughter, Elan, was born with a kidney deficiency and seven years ago, Alexander was selected as a potential donor match.

“I was damn near her twin,” Alexander recalled. “Go figure that.”

A week later, the father was without his left kidney — the result of a successful donation — and Elan is healthy today, along with his other children: Bonita, Houston, Ira, Armon and Aniellia.

With so much on his plate, finding time to train for his fights is a challenge, but Alexander employs what he calls “military” time management.

He wakes up at 5:30 a.m. and is at the gym a half-hour later for a few hours of training. Then it’s time to take the kids to school, after which he’s back at the gym. After a short lunch break, Alexander is back training again until it’s time to pick up the kids from school.

He’s sure to point out that his fighting skills are a result of strong training and good coaching, but does admit to bringing a little of that “kid fury” into the Octagon.

” “Sit down.’ “Pick your clothes up.’ “Do your homework.’ I take all that fury out in the ring,” Alexander smiled. “If you’ve got kids, you know what I’m talking about.”

Still, the juxtaposition of this caring father and community activist against this aggressive knockout artist is impossible to ignore.

“You have to be that way in the ring,” Alexander said. “If you want to be Opie Cunningham in the ring, you’re going to get beat.

“But you can be Opie Cunningham outside the ring.”

*****

I hope you enjoyed all the UFC coverage this week. It was a tremendous experience for me and I hope I wrote some entertaining articles for everyone to read. Back to the Mets on Monday.

UFC 78: Validation Coverage

Greetings from Row 1 cage-side for UFC 78: Validation at the beautiful Prudential Center in not-so-beautiful Newark.

The crowd is still filing in but the dark matches are underway. Any of these may wind up on the pay-per-view broadcast if fights go short later.

Akihiro Gono vs. Tamdan McCrory — Gono came out in a wig and a “stylish” white leisure suit. He’s got personality, there’s no questioning that. New Yorker McCrory has the crowd behind him and pressed the fight early. In the second round, Gono connected with a left to the jaw that knocked McCrory down. After some ground work, Gono manuevered him into an armbar at 3:19 of the second and got the tapout. McCrory was locked in deep and wasn’t getting out.

Luke Caudillo vs. Marcus Aurelio — This one didn’t last long as after a minute or so of some clinching and some moderately successful striking, the heavily favored Aurelio took him down, scored side control and just pounded him with hammer fists. The ref stepped in and made the stop at 4:29 of the first.

After the fight, Aurelio told announcer Joe Rogan that he was much more comfortable in the process of scoring his first UFC win.

“Now UFC is my house,” Aurelio said. “Maximus is back.”

Joe Lauzon vs. Jason Reinhardt — The crowd was into Lauzon from the moment he stepped into “The Rock” and the fiery 5-10 fighter out of Bridgewater, Mass., didn’t make them wait long. After a few seconds of striking, Lauzon took Reinhardt down and secured side control. He lost him briefly, but as Reinhardt tried to regain his feet, “The Ultimate Fighter” alum slid behind him and locked in the rear naked choke. Reinhardt tapped within seconds and the fight was stopped at 1:14 of the first round.

Thiago Alves vs. Chris Lytle A good first round of action between these two, as Alves connected on a right hook that looked like it caused a cut over Lytle’s left brow. He also floored Lytle with another hook and got caught with a kick of his own. Lytle dumped him on the mat, but Alves literally kicked him off. During the break, the video screens showed the cut which is far deeper than you would think given the minimal amount of blood.

After another round of solid action, the ringside doctor advised the referee to stop the fight due to Lytle’s cut. An unpopular decision as both fighters were turning in an exciting couple rounds and the crowd was clearly jazzed for a third. Alves was hitting well with kicks and may have won an eventual decision, but the stoppage seemed premature. Lytle’s cut was bleeding no worse after the second than after the first.

The live pay-per-view is about to start and there are still scattered empty seats in the corners of the arena. Guess they didn’t get the sellout they were hoping for, but there are still a lot of people in this joint.

There’s a guy to my right with a Houston Alexander cut-out on a pole. Simply tremendous.

Frank Edgar vs. Spencer Fisher — The crowd is super-hot for the hometown boy as there was a noticeable cheer when they showed his picture for the prefight video package. There’s a “It’s All Good When U Got THE ANSWER” sign in the lower bowl. A “Frankie” chant broke out as the fight began. Edgar wasted no time, scoring a wrestling style takedown 30 seconds in. He dropped Spencer again 60 seconds later with a throw. About 3:30 into the fight, Spencer regained his feet, but immediately missed a roundhouse kick and was on his back again. Edgar pounced and went back to looking for openings to pound him. The round ended to huge applause with Edgar in side control. Easily Edgar’s round.

Another strong round for Edgar. This time he drew blood. Edgar took him down 15 seconds into the round, held him about a minute before Spencer regained his feet. It only took Edgar another 15 seconds to hit with a leg sweep and put him down again. He rode him out for most of the round.

They were chanting “Frankie” in between rounds. Hot crowd.

Now warmed up, Edgar took Fisher down five seconds into the third. Nearly ended it with a rear naked choke, but couldn’t get it all the way. A little over a minute in, he took Fisher down again and then scored a double leg three minutes in. He seemingly can take Fisher down at will. The crowd roared its approval as the time expired with Edgar landing hammer fists. A dominant statement win for Edgar, who never seemed fazed by the atmosphere and the step up in competition.

Judges scored it 30-27, 30-27 and 30-26 all for Edgar.

“It’s a huge win. Spencer is a hell of a tough guy,” Edgar told Rogan after the fight. “Not bad for a Jersey shore kid, eh?”

Ed Herman vs. Joe Doerksen — Didn’t see much of this fight because I had to file our Edgar story for the HNT, but I saw all I needed to see: the first 39 seconds of the third round. They both were tired and just started throwing haymakers and Herman connected with a hook that dropped Doerksen hard. It was a scary knockout and a good win for Herman.

Karo Parisyan vs. Ryo Chonan — “The Heat” started off early connecting with a strong strike to drop Chonan and later dropping him with a huge slam. Second fight was more striking with Chonan mixing in some kicks until Parisyan caught a leg and dropped Chonan again. They lost the crowd during a slow third round. Unanimous decision for Parisyan, who admitted it wasn’t his best performance after the fight to boos from the crowd. The crowd wasn’t thrilled with the fight to begin with, but then Parisyan said there were some personal issues going on in his life and they hated it.

At least the Jersey boy won.

Fighters Matt Serra, Kenny Florian, Keith Jardine and B.J. Penn are in attendance.

Houston Alexander vs. Thiago Silva — Alexander looked like he was going to rip the arms off of the fans slapping hands with him on his way to the ring. The man is intense. I just wrote a feature about how much of a great family man and community activist he is in Omaha… and then you see this ferocious animal when he’s in the Octagon. It’s jarring. Huge reaction for Alexander who has developed quite the following off two UFC bouts.

The bout went to the mat early as Silva got the mount and worked over Alexander. After they were on the mat for 20 seconds or so, Alex Marvez of FOX Sports turned to me and said Alexander was in trouble. He was right. All week long, Alexander was telling people that he had a ground game. If he has one, he never got the chance to show it tonight. Silva moved past guard and eventually started dropping heavy punches. Alexander couldn’t shake him and eventually the ref stepped in for the TKO at 3:25 of the first. Alexander walked past the press area shaking his head like he was upset at the decision, but this wasn’t his night. It didn’t look like he was escaping that.

At least the Jersey boy won.

MAIN EVENT: Rashad Evans vs. Michael Bisping — Evans struts to the ring first. All week long in prefight media sessions, it struck me that Evans was incredibly confident for this fight. We’ll see if it pays off. A better reaction than I expected for Bisping who was booed mercilessly at the weigh-ins Friday. Crowd seems ready for a big main event after the Parisyan bout was disappointing and Alexander was upset.

Evans controlled the first round, scoring a takedown halfway through. Bisping appears to be having a little trouble solving Evans who peppered him with jabs early and the worked him over once he took it to the mat. Second round will be interesting to see if “The Count” can gain any momementum. Nope, huge slam by Evans 30 seconds into the second. The crowd starts its third “USA” chant of the night. It is 2007 right? Just checking. Put a couple thousand people in a room and they’ll disappoint you every time.

Actually, Bisping gained some traction as the second wore on. The ref stood them up off the early slam and Bisping found more success with some strikes and a few nasty knees. Much tougher round than the first.

Interesting third round where Evans scored the takedown but they traded control a couple times. Also they traded strikes midring a good deal. It looked like Bisping had a little more at the end but couldn’t score.

Waiting for the judges. It’s Evans in a split decision. All three judges went 29-28 with Evans getting two. Probably the way I would have gone as well. Fight got better as it went along. Bisping would probably like to get that first round back.

“I thought it was a very close fight,” Bisping said after the fight. “I think I proved I belonged in there tonight.”

That’s it. Check for my follow-up in the Home News Tribune later Sunday morning.

Last-Minute Odds

We’re about eight hours away from the start of UFC 78: Validation and I just thought I’d offer the current odds as a guide of what you might expect if you head out to Newark tonight or order the pay-per-view. Of course, this has been a year of upsets in this constantly evolving sport, so I wouldn’t put too much trust in these. But here they are for your perusal.

Joe Lauzon -400
Jason Reinhardt 280

Marcus Aurelio -500
Luke Caudillo 350

Thiago Alves -200
Chris Lytle 160

Akihiro Gono -190
Tamdan McCrory 150

Frankie Edgar -160
Spencer Fisher 130

Karo Parisyan -350
Ryo Chonan 250

Ed Herman -150
Joe Doerksen 120

Houston Alexander -170
Thiago Silva 140

Rashad Evans -320
Michael Bisping 240

Of particular interest, oddsmakers have installed Edgar as a slight favorite against his far-more experienced opponent and Alexander isn’t flying under the radar anymore, as he too is a favorite against a tough opponent. Evans should be a prohibitive favorite given he has fought in this kind of position before, but I still suspect Bisping learned an awful lot in September and will be ready for this main event. That line might be a little too high. We’ll find out soon enough.

*****

We’re obviously suffering from technical problems associated with a server change for the blogs. There may not be any more photos with tonight’s coverage. I apologize, but it’s a problem with all our blogs.

*****

Here’s the text of my preview of the event that ran in today’s Home News Tribune and Courier News.

Two ‘Ultimate Fighter’ champs meet tonight
Published Nov. 17, 2007

By STEVE FEITL
STAFF WRITER

NEWARK — Never have two champions of the Ultimate Fighting Championship reality show met in the Octagon.

That ends tonight in Newark.

The champion of the second season of “The Ultimate Fighter” Rashad Evans takes on the third season champion Michael Bisping in the main event of UFC 78: Validation at the Prudential Center and live on pay-per-view. The card starts at 8:15 p.m. and goes live over the air at 10 p.m.

Evans (15-0-1) weighed in at 206 pounds Friday in the practice rink at “The Rock” for his fight against “The Count,” who came in at 205 and with an unblemished 15-0 record.

The two almost didn’t wait for tonight however. Bisping offered his hand after stepping off the scale, but Evans wanted none of it and instead stepped in for a staredown. The two went head-to-head for a few moments before Evans shoved Bisping off and UFC president Dana White stepped in between.

“It’s Season 2 versus Season 3,” Evans said at the press conference Thursday. “Let’s see who had the better season.”

Underneath the Bisping-Evans clash is a loaded undercard packed with potentially exciting style matchups.

Of particular interest is another light heavyweight fight featuring Houston “The Assassin” Alexander (8-1) and Thiago Silva (11-0). Alexander has stormed onto the scene, scoring one-minute upset knockouts of Keith “The Dean of Mean” Jardine and Alessio Sakara in his first two appearances for the UFC.

No longer an unknown, Alexander now has to prove he can continue his rampage through top contenders.

“Houston Alexander came out of nowhere,” UFC president Dana White said Thursday. “He knocks out Keith Jardine. ‘Oops, that must have been a fluke.’ Comes back and knocks out Sakara the same way. Now if he come out Saturday night and does the same thing . . . very interesting.

“A win Saturday puts either of these guys in the mix of a very interesting, evolving light heavyweight picture.”

Hometown boy Frank “The Answer’ Edgar (7-0) will get to fight in front of a partisan crowd when he takes on veteran Spencer “The King” Fisher in a bout that White has already hyped as a potential “Fight of the Night.” The Toms River native weighed in at 154 and soaked in the cheers of the weigh-in crowd as he strode to the stage wearing a red Jason Kidd Nets jersey with “New Jersey” written in script across the front. Meanwhile, it was a mixed reaction for “The King” who came in at 154.5.

It is expected to be an exciting bout featuring two aggressive fighters, but it also represents a step up in level of competition for Edgar.

“Frank is in the position he needs to be to be here,” Fisher said. “A lot of people ask if Frank deserves this caliber of a fight. I think he does. He’s shown it time and time again. But Saturday night, I’m looking to knock him out.”

Is Edgar ready for this next level of fighter?

“I better be,” Edgar said.

In another main card bout, Karo “The Heat” Parisyan (25-4) will face former PRIDE fighter Ryo Chonan (14-7), who owns a win over middleweight champion Anderson Silva. Parisyan expects a thriller.

“I’m ready to throw bombs on Ryo,” Parisyan said. “I’m telling all the camera guys to get your cameras ready because win or lose, I’m going to do something crazy and you’re going to want to catch it in the air.”

In other matchups before the live crowd, Joe Doerksen (39-10) takes on Ed Herman (15-4), Chris Lytle (34-14-4) meets Thiago Alves (18-4), Jason Reinhardt (18-0) will face Joe Lauzon (14-3), Luke Caudillo (15-8) fights Marcus Aurelio (14-5) and Akihiro Gono (27-12-7) goes head-to-head with Tamdan McCrory (10-0).

Weigh-In Details

Nothing much to report from the weigh-ins for UFC 78: Validation other than I think I have memorized the “Countdown to UFC 78″ special they’ve shown on a loop before both the press conference and weigh-ins. I DVR’d it the first time it was on SpikeTV. If I had only known I’d see it six or seven more times… But Joe Rogan’s line about Houston Alexander’s knockout of Keith Jardine looking like a Dairy Queen parking lot beatdown does make me laugh every time.

Considering the little bit of prefight sniping that’s gone on between Rashad Evans and Michael Bisping, it’s only fitting that they had the only real contact at the weigh-in with a face-to-face staredown and a shove by Evans. Should be a good main event tomorrow.

Here are the weights for you viewing pleasure.

Akihiro Gono (169) vs. Tamdan McCrory (170).
Luke Caudillo (155.5) vs. Marcus Aurelio (156).
Jason Reinhardt (155) vs. Joe Lauzon (155).
Chris Lytle (170.5) vs. Thiago Alves (171).
Joe Doerkson (185.5) vs. Ed Herman (186).
Frank Edgar (154) vs. Spencer Fisher (154.5).
Ryo Chonan (169.5) vs. Karo Parisyan (170).
Houston Alexander (203) vs. Thiago Silva (204).
Rashad Evans (206) vs. Michael Bisping (205).

Remember to check back tomorrow night for updates from the Prudential Center.

The Main Event

Talk to Michael Bisping for several days and you’ll learn a couple things.

First and foremost, he has impeccable comedic timing when it comes to faking outrage. Earlier this week I documented how he “scolded” his trainer for talking to his opponent this Saturday, Rashad Evans, while he was in the middle of an interview during open workouts Wednesday for UFC 78: Validation. During the press conference Thursday, he turned the tables on Dana White and interrupted the UFC president, drawing laughter from the packed hotel conference room in Elizabeth. White was in the process of explaining his perspective on Bisping’s controversial victory over Matt Hammill at UFC 75: Champion versus Champion in England when the Bisping wit emerged…

White: “I’ve been doing this for seven years and I’ve seen a lot of bad decisions. That night, I said, ‘Wow. OK. Bisping won the fight.’ I didn’t think it was that big of a deal. It happens all the time. Then we got back to the United States and I’ve never gotten more death threats by e-mail in my life. Back in the day, I used to be sitting on my couch like everybody did and you’d watch a Don King fight and…
Bisping: “I don’t like where this is going Dana. Where are you going with this? I’m trying to play this down and you’re bringing it back up.”
White: “… you’d say, ‘That fight was fixed, that fight was rigged.’ I used to say the same thing and now apparently, I’m that guy. (Turning to Bisping) Saturday night, maybe you can put this behind you. (Turning back to the crowd) But he looks nice today, doesn’t he?”

The exchange made for a light-hearted moment (and Bisping was well-dressed for the press conference). But, of course, it was all in jest because Bisping knows he can’t erase that last fight. And that brings you to the second thing that becomes apparent when talking to Bisping: He seems to genuinely believe he learned an awful lot from the experience. And that can only help him as he attempts to move forward.

“During the whole training time and the whole fight, I was too worried about him taking me down. I was too worried about his gameplan. I didn’t concentrate on implementing my own gameplan.”

But another aspect of that experience is how he handled the takedowns. As White noted Thursday, Bisping was able to walk away from Hammill’s best takedowns, which should be an especially helpful experience when facing someone with three years of wrestling background at Michigan State like Evans possesses.

Of course, Bisping wasn’t the only one to learn something from his respective previous fight. In his draw against Tito Ortiz in July at UFC 73: Stacked, Evans got his first taste of a truly high-profile fight — something that should come in handy when headlining his first pay-per-view this Saturday.

“It wasn’t a main event, but it was the fight everyone was talking about. With all of the drama, it gave you that main event feeling. But from that, I learned some DOs and DON’Ts from the situation. … To be present more than anything. I was there but I wasn’t really there. I was too caught up in the situation. It does have an effect on you and you get pulled in so many different directions. It wasn’t like that until stepping in the ring, so that’s something you can’t anticipate.”

But now that Evans knows the feeling and burden of main eventing, he should be far more comfortable under the bright lights of the Prudential Center.

“I’m going to go out and do my thing. It’s Season 2 versus Season 3. Let’s see who had the better season.”

And for Bisping, there’s more than just reality show bragging rights on the line.

“You’re only as good as your last fight and a lot of people look at my last fight and say it wasn’t very good. So I want to put an exclamation point on this and impress people.”

*****

Here is the text from Friday’s feature-length article on the main event in the Home News Tribune and Courier News.

Bisping, Evans more than just reality stars
Published Nov. 16, 2007

By STEVE FEITL
STAFF WRITER

ELIZABETH — “Sugar” Rashad Evans has heard it all before.

“He’s just a TV fighter.” “Can he rise to the level?” “Does he have what it takes?”

Such is life for a reality television star — a moniker that puts Evans in the same dubious class as Richard Hatch, Ruben Studdard and Joe Millionaire. Only Evans didn’t win his reality show by living on a beach or singing standards for Ryan Seacrest.

No, Evans was a champion in the second season of “The Ultimate Fighter” by winning fights in the Octagon.

Still the stigma remains. And not just for Evans, but also his opponent on Saturday in Newark — the champion of the third season of the Ultimate Fighting Championship reality show, Michael “The Count” Bisping.

No wonder the tagline for the UFC 78 pay-per-view the two will headline is “Validation.”

“You have a bull’s-eye on your back because everyone wants to prove these guys aren’t so tough and they just do it for TV and they’re just reality stars,” Evans said during a conference call Monday for the event that will begin at 8:15 p.m. Saturday at the Prudential Center and go live on pay-per-view at 10 p.m.

“So when you get out there, it’s pretty tough because not only do you have your opponent, but you have the media and the fans (doubting you), so it opens you up to a lot of criticism.”

Both main-eventers have done plenty to deflect that criticism during their mixed martial arts careers. After winning UFC contracts with their reality-show triumphs — on the show, the fighters live together and eliminate each other via sanctioned bouts — each fighter has compiled an unblemished record. Evans is 15-0-1, while Bisping is a perfect 15-0.

But those glistening records didn’t come without controversy.

Bisping, the 6-foot-2 fighter out of Liverpool, England, won a split decision over Matt Hammill during September’s UFC 75: Champion vs. Champion event in his home country. However, many observers scored the fight for the underdog Hammill.

“This guy is coming off the most controversial fight we’ve ever had,” UFC president Dana White said Thursday during a press conference in Elizabeth.

Bisping admits it wasn’t his best performance and would like to put the fight behind him.

“I’m looking forward to this fight and I’m also looking forward to moving on with my career,” Bisping said. “I think I won that fight. A lot of people said they didn’t think I won the fight, but when they went back and watched the tape, they changed their mind.”

Not everyone was swayed, however, and in a clear display of gamesmanship, Evans said as much during Monday’s conference call.

“No, I didn’t think he won the fight,” Evans said. “Matt Hammill pressured him and put the fight where he wanted it to be and in my point of view, that’s the sign of a winner.”

Of course many people didn’t think the 5-11 Niagara Falls, N.Y.-born Evans won his last fight either.

At UFC 73: Stacked this past July in Sacramento, he settled for a draw against Tito Ortiz when the former light heavyweight champion was docked a point for grabbing the cage during an Evans takedown attempt. As a result, scores were 28-28 across the board for the unanimous draw.

Like Bisping, Evans is ready to look to the future.

“Last fight was last fight,” Evans said. “I was disappointed in my performance. I can’t bring last fight into this this fight because no matter what I do, I can never vindicate myself in that last fight.”

White doesn’t think that’s necessary anyway. He points to the difficulty of putting together any kind of winning streak in the constantly evolving MMA game.

“This isn’t like boxing where you can bring a guy up to 40-0 with 39 knockouts,” White said. “There are so many different ways to win, so many different ways to lose, that when guys go 15-0 it’s unbelievable.

“This is a main event.”

A main event that represents more than simply a chance to stay undefeated. White said the winner of this fight will move into the upper crust of challengers to Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s light heavyweight (205 pound) championship.

And it also will give both fighters a chance to wash away the bad taste of their last controversial fights. And maybe, just maybe, erase a little of that reality-star stigma.

Not that either fighter really minds.

“If it wasn’t for “The Ultimate Fighter,’ I wouldn’t be the fighter I am today,” Evans said. “I definitely hold it in great esteem. I will look at it as one of the tools that helped me get that belt when I have it.”

UFC On The Radar

Dana White can sense something is different when he walks down the streets of Manhattan.

It’s been two years since the Ultimate Fighting Championship ran the New York area and in the meantime, it’s been nothing short of a meteroic rise for the mixed martial arts group. Their last event — UFC 77: Hostile Territory — sold out the U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio and did an arena record $2.5 million gate. It’s just the most recent in a long line of sellouts, high ratings and general awareness growth. This Saturday in Newark figures to be the next success as the UFC president anticipates a sold-out house at the new Prudential Center.

It seems especially likely since now when he walks around NYC, he gets stopped and told how much people love the UFC.

“Just going to New York and people knowing about UFC is great. People don’t give a (expletive) about anything in New York. You could be Brad Pitt walking down the street in New York and no one would care. The awareness here now is amazing.”

And with that newfound awareness, White is excited about the card he’ll be presenting to the New York market this Saturday. He talked about the UFC 78: Validation card at a press conference Thursday in Elizabeth. Sporting a stylish black Viper Room T-shirt from the famous Hollywood club and fighting a cold, White was clear that several of the fights on UFC 78 have the potential to be among the year’s best. Like all sports, what matchups look like on paper don’t always play out the same way on the playing field — in this case, the Octagon. But all White can do is put together intriguing matchups and hope for the best.

For UFC 78 — with “The Ultimate Fighter” champions Rashad Evans and Michael Bisping meeting in the main event — he seems to think he’s done exactly that.

“Last night, I was at dinner with my partner Lorenzo Fertitta and no promoter hype, he must have said to me five times, ‘I’m so excited about this card.’ This is one of those cards where people say, ‘Oh, Chuck Liddell isn’t on the card.’ Let me tell you this, this card is stacked with some of our biggest talent. On paper, this is one of the sickest cards we’ve put on in a long time and we are so excited about it.”

MMA is constantly compared to boxing in the mainstream press, as UFC’s pay-per-view buyrates have rivaled and in many cases surpassed boxing’s best cards. But one of the areas that has been largely ignored is UFC’s relative value per dollar. Millions of sports fans remember the much-hyped and wildly successful Oscar de la Hoya/Floyd Mayweather fight from earlier this year. But for fans purchasing the fight on pay-per-view, there was one other fight on the card featuring lesser-known fighters. That is never the case with a UFC card, which schedules four-to-five fights for each event broadcast and then inserts bonus matches if the fights run short.

For people that spent hard-earned money on Mike Tyson 90-second knockouts in the 1980s, it’s a foreign concept. For UFC, it’s business as usual.

“I grew up a huge boxing fan and I used boxing as the blueprint of what not to do. One of the things that they did that I always hated was they’d give you one fight you cared about and the rest of the card sucked. We did the exact opposite.”

And of particular interest to UFC fans is whether White will soon promote a card with his heavyweight champion Randy Couture, who announced his resignation last month. A conference call or press conference doesn’t go by without White being asked about the situation. He had a little more concrete information Thursday and it appears there is at least an opportunity for resolution.

“I’m going to dinner with Randy Couture on Tuesday.”

When asked if this development represents the light at the end of the tunnel, White would only say, “I don’t know. We’ll see.”

A Hometown (or State) Favorite

Compared to many of the other outspoken personalities on the UFC 78: Validation card, Frank Edgar seems to be the most quiet. Quiet in an intense way.

Come to think of it, Frank Edgar comes off as quiet in a ready-to-fight way.

He’ll get his opportunity in two days at UFC 78: Validation from the Prudential Center in Newark and live on pay-per-view. He’ll be taking on UFC veteran Spencer “The King” Fisher and I wrote about the Toms River native’s path to this fight in a feature-length story appearing in Thursday’s edition of the Home News Tribune and Courier News.

I touched on his new relationship with the Rutgers wrestling team in the article. Rutgers head coach Scott Goodale seemed to be very pleased with his selection of Edgar as an assistant coach for the Scarlet Knights. And it seems to be a mutually beneficial relationship.

“It’s great to get that college atmosphere (by working with the Rutgers wrestlers). I never got that the last two years (at Clarion), so it’s nice to be around the guys like that. Coach Goodale runs a pretty good practice and I just do everything they do. It’s a different look from sparring and a different kind of conditioning, but it’s something you need.”

Edgar obviously benefits greatly from his wrestling background when he’s in the Octagon. And learning the other disciplines that make up the mixed martial arts didn’t prove to be too great of a hurdle for the lifelong wrestler. He says he thought he was lucky to pick up the skills he was lacking rather quickly and without much hassle.

He wasn’t even worried about taking those first punches — something frowned upon in the amateur grappling ranks.

“That was the thing I like the most about (MMA). I used to joke around in wrestling saying every once in a while I wish I could just hit this guy. So it works out well for me.”

And he found success early on in his UFC career. In his debut with the premier MMA organization in this country at UFC 67: All or Nothing on Feb 3, Edgar won a sizzling fight against Tyson Griffin in a unanimous decision. It won Fight of the Night — an official UFC award that earns the fighters a bonus — largely because of a thrilling finish that easily could have left Edgar with a loss in his first venture to the big stage. Griffin caught him in a kneebar with about a minute remaining in the third and final round.

A less determined fighter might have tapped. Edgar didn’t.

“He lulled me to sleep a little bit and caught me. Good for him. But I looked at the clock and saw there was a minute left. I just told myself I wasn’t going to tap. My knee popped a couple times, but I just said screw it. Might as well just hold on for now. I got out of it in the last 15 seconds and started hitting on his legs, trying to get some points back. I pride myself on being a stubborn fighter who’s out there to win, no matter what.”

He’ll need that same determination Saturday.

*****

Here’s the text of the Edgar feature:

BACK TO HIS ROOTS
Frank Edgar part of fight card in UFC’s return to New Jersey
Published Nov. 15, 2007

By STEVE FEITL
STAFF WRITER

ELIZABETH — The commercial airs nationwide several times a night on the SpikeTV cable network. In between the rapid-fire video highlights and flashy graphics, an announcer with a booming deep voice runs down several seemingly exciting scenarios.

Among them . . .

Undefeated Frankie “The Answer” Edgar takes on the unrelenting Spencer “The King” Fisher.

The commercial promotes an Ultimate Fighting Championship event and the man referred to as “The Answer” is actually lifelong Toms River resident and former amateur wrestler turned mixed martial artist Frank Edgar.

“It’s definitely a little wild to see myself in those commercials,” Edgar laughed. “I guess it’s just part of it and I try not to get too caught up in that stuff. But it’s cool and my family and friends get a kick out of it.”

If his acquaintances enjoy seeing Edgar on the small screen, just wait until this Saturday when they get to see Edgar fight in his home state at UFC 78: Validation — the UFC pay-per-view emanating live from the Prudential Center in Newark.

Edgar (7-0) will take on veteran Spencer Fisher (21-3) in a main card bout. The event begins at 8:15 p.m. and goes live on pay-per-view at 10 p.m.

The 5-foot-6 Edgar expects a definite hometown advantage when he steps in the Octagon with a contingent “in the hundreds” of friends and family among the thousands of Garden Staters that will flock to the new arena this weekend.

“It’s a great opportunity,” Edgar said. “I just want to put on a great show for everybody.”

His family wasn’t always so supportive of his career turn in the fledgling sport of mixed martial arts.

After an accomplished wrestling career — one that saw him place twice at states while at Toms River High School East and qualify for nationals all four years as an All-American at Clarion University in Pennsylvania — Edgar chose to train for the combat sport that merges numerous disciplines from wrestling to jiu-jitsu to kickboxing.

At first, Edgar’s parents and fiancee were a bit “wishy-washy.”

“But they know the type of person I am and that I take it very seriously,” he said.

If they needed proof of his dedication, all they needed to do was look at his training schedule. For each UFC bout, he embarks on two months of intense training, with twice-daily, two-hour-plus sessions six days a week.

It’s necessary in a grueling sport that is as hard on the mind as it is on the body. In fact, that’s the very reason Edgar chose to step into the Octagon.

“I just think mixed martial artists are the toughest athletes in the world and I wanted to be the best at the hardest sport,” he said. “I think this is it.

“There’s so many different aspects that are involved in the sport. It’s not one-dimensional and you have to be trained in many different disciplines. You have to be intelligent and you have to be extremely well-conditioned.”

Even during his eight weeks of personal boot camp, Edgar finds time two or three days a week to work with the grapplers on the Rutgers wrestling team as an assistant for new head coach Scott Goodale.

Not surprisingly, the same traits that have made Edgar a successful professional fighter also made him an obvious choice for Goodale when assembling his staff in Piscataway.

“Frank Edgar is a flat-out “goer.’ His intensity and work ethic are by far what separates him from anybody I have ever seen,” Goodale said. “He is exactly what I needed in a coach and our kids are into what he is doing. They love training with him.”

By taking part in all of Goodale’s endurance training for the grapplers, Edgar feels it’s a new angle for his training. And that will come in handy this weekend as he takes a step up in competition.

Fisher has been a mainstay in the lightweight (155-pound) division for years and will bring a wealth of experience that the 26-year-old can’t match.

Edgar doesn’t think that’s a problem.

“I always want to fight better guys,” Edgar said Wednesday during open workouts in Elizabeth. “I think I progressed from my last fight to now and from the last fight before that. I think I’m getting better and better every day.”

However, he still expects a tough but exciting fight out of the 5-7 Fisher.

UFC president Dana White agrees. He sees a combustible mix of two well-rounded, aggressive fighters that may just produce the fight of the night.

If not more.

“Frankie Edgar is awesome. This card is awesome,” White said. “You’ve got Karo Parisyan and Ryo Chonan, Joe Doerksen and Ed Herman, Houston Alexander and Thiago Silva, Rashad Evans and Michael Bisping where both guys are 15-0, but Frankie Edgar and Spencer Fisher could be the best fight you’ve ever seen in your life.”

The Fighters Are Loose

It’s three days before UFC 78: Validation and the fighters are rather loose.

Meeting the media Wednesday at the open workouts in Elizabeth, most of the fighters were downright playful. In the middle of answering a question about what he learned from his last fight, Michael “The Count” Bisping suddenly boomed in his deep British accent, “Get in here!” A quick 180 revealed Bisping had spotted his opponent Saturday — “Sugar” Rashad Evans — chatting it up with Bisping’s trainer. “Get in here,” Bisping repeated to his trainer. “Shut the door.” As the laughter in the conference room died down, Bisping noted the flushed face on his trainer. “Traitor. Look how red he’s gotten.” And then without missing beat, he continued his interview. “What were we saying? Yes, this time I’m just going to do my thing.”

That Bisping and Evans would joke around so much is surprising, if only because they’ve been sniping at each other in much of the prefight media. Bisping indicated today that he doesn’t mind the back-and-forth.

“It breaks the monotony of training. It puts a little fire in your belly, so when you’re getting tired in training it helps you go the extra nine yards, so to speak. I don’t think there’s any real genuine bad blood between us.”

On top of that, Bisping may just be so loose because he’s fighting away from his homeland of England. His last fight — his controversial split decision over Matt Hammill at UFC 75: Champion vs. Champion on Sept. 8 — was in England and while some still cling to largely bogus claims of an unfair homefield advantage influencing the decision, Bisping is clearly happy to be on American soil. And not just because there will be no questions about hometown bias.

“When I fight in England, the pressure is just unbelievable. It’s hard to put into words. I just feel this extra burden to perform and do well. Everyone there wants to see me win and I want to give them what they want.”

Meanwhile, his opponent was not moved by UFC president Dana White’s declaration Monday that the winner of the fight would move into the Top 5 challengers for Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s light heavyweight crown. “I thought I was in the Top 5 already,” Evans deadpanned.

“I thought I was at the top already, but I guess you’re not really at the top until you have that belt. It means a lot but you can’t let yourself get fooled by labels. The next thing you know you’re waking up in the locker room wondering what happened.”

But Evans doesn’t think that will happen. If he can stay relaxed enough to fight his fight — “constant movement” — he predicts the fans at the Prudential Center in Newark and the worldwide audience on pay-per-view will be in for quite an exciting fight.

“Do I like my chances? I love my chances. I’d rather have my chances than his chances.”

UFC Comes East

Welcome to UFC Week.

If you didn’t read my last post, the UFC coverage is invading the CitiBlog this week because the Home News Tribune doesn’t have a UFC blog and if it did, I’d probably be the guy who had to do it. And I need a third newspaper blog like Britney Spears needs a third child. Is that harsh? Yes. Is it true? Absolutely.

So again, UFC is holding UFC 78: Validation at the sparkling new Prudential Center in starkly ugly Newark this Saturday night and I’ll be covering the event for the Home News Tribune and its sister publications. Starting Thursday, there will be features in the newspaper previewing the event and the fighters who will step into the Octagon this weekend. In between, I’ll fill in some of the blanks from the prefight activities throughout the week here in the blog. That starts today with some of the highlights from the UFC 78 conference call I participated in Monday.

The thing you need to understand about covering UFC is it still is finding its legs in the media. Not all outlets have jumped on board yet, but the ones that have swear by the fledgling sport. So you end up with an odd conference call with the fighters and UFC president Dana White fielding calls from writers from a diverse group of outlets such as the Washington Post, CBS Sports and MMA Web sites. But all the UFC reps have been incredibly helpful and as long as they continue to put on the entertaining, value-packed fight cards that have been their trademark for several years now, it’s only a matter of time before the rest of mainstream media catches on.

Still, there was a lot of interesting stuff that will appear in our coverage later this week. Here’s some of the stuff that won’t.

– UFC hasn’t been back in New Jersey — once a UFC home-away-from home — in nearly two years, but don’t expect the next absence to be nearly as long. This return to the New York area is a reintroduction of sorts as White has set his sights on getting regulated in New York so he can bring the Octagon to the media capitol of the world. Here’s what White had to say about that very subject:

“The first three years we were basically back and forth between Las Vegas and Atlantic City and Mohegan Sun. With all these other states opening up, we wanted to move this thing around and get to a lot of different places. … It’s big for us to be back on the East Coast. We’re working on going to New York as soon as possible.”

White estimates UFC could debut in New York in late 2008 or early 2009. And asked why he put the event in Newark rather than its old Atlantic City stomping grounds, White had a simple answer.

“They have the new arena. We wanted to go out there and check it out.”

Me too Dana. Me too.

– The original main event for UFC 78 — now set as a clash of “The Ultimate Fighter” champions Michael Bisping and Rashad Evans — was going to be a grudge rematch between Evans and Tito Ortiz, who fought to a controversial draw in their first fight.

But White said he was told that Ortiz was injured and couldn’t make the fight.

“Then I found out he was shooting ‘The Apprentice.’ “

Ortiz is rumored to be a contestant on the new celebrity version of the Donald Trump reality show currently filming. Other contestants are rumored to be supermodel Carol Alt, professional wrestler John Cena, actress Marilu Henner; “Sopranos” vet Vincent Pastore, retired boxing champion Lennox Lewis, and KISS frontman Gene Simmons.

Another option was a rematch between Bisping and Matt Hammill, who lost a controversial decision to Bisping in England. Only this time a reality show didn’t get in the way.

“Matt Hammill really did get hurt.”

– Speaking of television, there always seems to be talk about where UFC will air next. The group recently re-upped their highly successful partnership with SpikeTV. But with the writers’ strike wreaking havoc on the networks, a couple UFC primetime specials could neatly fill some airtime.

White didn’t have any concrete news Monday, but when asked about possible new ventures, White did have this to say:

“I’m talking to a lot of people right now. One thing we’ve always done is we’ve taken this thing to another level every year. Wait till you see what we’re going to do in 2008.”

*****

I’ll have more from Wednesday’s public workouts right here in the CitiBlog.