Issue 190

May 2020

The former UFC welterweight champion looks back at the fights – inside and outside the octagon – that have shaped his career.

1. Fight with myself, Ongoing

It’s the fight of overthinking, worrying if you are going to be enough. Is it one of those nights like the Koscheck fight where I go out there and kill, or is it one of those nights where I don’t really pull the trigger like the Kamaru Usman fight? Din Thomas has a whole gym of fighters to coach, he has a family, a son that needs his dad around. He spent so much time with me in Milwaukee. He makes his schedule available to me just to win. I think he was a little mad at me after the Usman fight. If he was, I wouldn’t be surprised and I wouldn’t be mad at him. That’s what I fear. That’s my number one. That’s my biggest fight, always.

2. Darren Till, UFC 228

I think Darren Till was the second best fight I ever had. I was given that fight on very, very undesirable terms. I had very short notice on the fight. I had a lot of personal things going on in my life at that moment where it was very inconvenient for me to jump into a training camp. My coaches were in Germany. I had to do what I had to do. I trained 21 days straight with no break. I told my coach, This kid thinks he can beat me and if I let him, he will beat me. A lot of people talk the talk but Darren Till believed it. I told Din to stay on my ass the whole camp. I trained like a fucking madman. I finally got a portion of the respect that I feel I deserve after this fight. 

3. Josh Koscheck, UFC 167

That was a great fight. We were so evenly matched. We both needed to win desperately at that time. We were both coming off of losses and nobody wants to lose two back to back. He had fought for a title before. He had a crazy overhand right. I had a crazy overhand right. He had good conditioning and a great chin. He had just been in that spot so long. I thought, If I can get to him just a half a second before he gets to me, I am going to beat him. We worked that whole camp on speed, accuracy and combinations. When I come out fighting, throwing combinations in the beginning of the fight I have never lost. That fight I did just that.

4. Nate Marquardt, Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Kennedy

I got knocked the fuck out but, shit, I fought my ass off. I fought hard. I had a terrible training camp. I was in Vegas eating hotel food. I didn’t hit mitts for two weeks. I had no sparring partners. The weight cut was terrible. I tore my hamstring in the locker room. I was on the last stretch. On my right leg, I went down to stretch and… pop. I stood up. I walked into the bathroom. I called my coach in. I told him not to stretch me. I didn’t want people to see me grimace. The adrenaline will take over. I won’t feel it. I am going to go out there and fight and win. I went out there and fought. It didn’t cause me to lose. I didn’t feel it during the fight. That was just one more thing I had to overcome. That fight let people know I wasn’t just a wrestler, I was a fighter. I knocked him down. He knocked me down. I knocked him down again. I had a moment where I was against the cage. I was going to push him away and tee off on him. Here I go. Here I go. Boom…elbow. That’s all I remember. In reality it was elbow, elbow, elbow, uppercut, uppercut and all I remember was the first elbow. I distinctly remember having that conversation with myself though.  

5. Jay Hieron, UFC 156

I hate that this keeps getting put on my highlight reel because me and this guy have become friends. I love his hustle in film. I love his hustle before that. It’s on the list, not because of the knockout, I preface this because Jay might read it – it’s on the list because I sent a message to the UFC. I came in and I just had that loss to Marquardt. I feel like people forgot about me. I was a little fish in a big pond. I was just the top dog a few months before in Strikeforce. I had to go out there and show people. I did it so explosively that they can never forget that UFC debut. That might be one of the top ten UFC debuts of all time.