Issue 108

December 2013

After his incredible knockout victory reversal over Alistair Overeem in Boston, is bonus-check-collecting Travis Browne the most exciting heavyweight in the UFC? FO visits New Mexico to find out.

Travis Browne took the very best Alistair Overeem had to offer, shrugged it off, kicked him in the face and then beat him up with a little ground ‘n’ pound to land the biggest knockout victory of his blossoming mixed martial arts career. And, incidentally, he collected yet another UFC bonus check too. That makes four now, in just eight fights inside the Octagon. Now that’s an exciting heavyweight.

After moving his career record to 15-1-1 with the August upset, Browne concedes that when the former K-1 Grand Prix and Strikeforce heavyweight champion was raining down strikes midway through the opening round at UFC Fight Night: Shogun vs. Sonnen in Boston, cashing any manner of financial prize was the last thing on his mind. A simple, stubborn refusal to quit and, bizarrely, the lyrics from a country song were actually the only thing the big Hawaiian could think of during his mini-crisis.

Overeem, one of the most accomplished and successful strikers from this generation of heavyweight fighters, had Browne pinned against the cage midway through the opening round and was unleashing a barrage of heavy bombs. The fight looked all but over, but Browne just refused to quit. He refused to be undone despite the beating, and eventually he worked his way out and reversed his fortunes.

“I don’t like to accept that kind of stuff. That’s how I am in life. I don’t like to sit back and accept things. I want to keep pushing forward and be the best,” he recalls to FO. “At that moment, and this may be a little weird or off-topic, but at that moment when I first got kneed in the stomach and couldn’t breathe and all that stuff, I started singing a country song in my head to help calm me down. 

“Then as he was hitting me I heard Mario ask if I was OK and I told him I was. He told me to start moving, so I started moving and right before I got up I started thinking about my boys and that really fueled my fire again. Once I caught my breath and realized I was OK, that really fueled the fire.”

Yeah, we know, a country song. A Hawaiian fighter inspired by a country song. Browne accepts the comedy of it, but reveals: “It’s an old song called Wagon Wheel. Darius Rucker has a remake of it and it was out at the time. That was the song that was going through my head. During that whole fight camp we listened to country music when we drove up to the mountains, me and my girlfriend Jenna. And that was where I put myself mentally during the fight. Going up the mountain trails to go fishing and everything. I was able to catch my breath and it really helped me relax.”

Naturally, after collecting such a premier scalp, Browne admits the Overeem victory was easily the best of his career so far. But he’s adamant it won’t be his last big night inside the Octagon. And, if nothing else, it proved to the world he’s capable of absorbing knockout power. “In a fight like that you really learn a lot about yourself as far as what kind of punishment you can take and what you can overcome.

“You find out what kind of person you really are. I had every chance in the world to give up in that fight. And to most people, that would have been expected. They would be like, ‘Hey, that’s Alistair Overeem, you were taking hard shots,’ and this and that. I don’t like people making excuses for me and I don’t like making excuses. 

“Coming back like that, and the manner in which I finished the fight, it showed all the hard work and determination I have and it shows a lot about me as a man. From being on the brink of defeat to coming all the way back to stop him, all in the same round.” 

And as for the finish itself – Anderson Silva-style front kick to the face followed up by some nasty Donkey Kong-inspired ground ‘n’ pound – it once again singled out Browne as one of the most ruthless finishers in the UFC’s heavyweight division. This latest $50,000 bonus check was his third KO reward in his last six fights, and he also bagged one for a submission last year.

Yet it’s not the long-time pound-for-pound head honcho Silva that’s inspiring Browne to try new things inside the Octagon: it is, in fact, teammate Jon Jones. Travis says: “Just watching Jon Jones fight and finally getting up to Jackson-Winkeljohn’s gym and training with someone like that, who has his own style, that’s really brought me on as a fighter. 

“We have similar body types, both being so tall and lean, and we know how to use those things. I didn’t necessarily copy what he was doing, but he helped me use my imagination and athleticism, and not to second guess myself. I want to go out there and fight with my own style and fight like my personality and not conform to one way or even one style.”

Coaches Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn it seems have polished yet another diamond, although Browne insists there’s nothing in the water back in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It’s all just hard work and dedication. He reveals: “For every camp we do a workout that’s called our ‘birthday.’ It is meant to tear you down and build you back up, like being born again. 

“Every camp they keep getting worse and worse. Those are always my most memorable training sessions. It breaks you down and gives you every reason to quit. Hell, you could make every excuse in the world to quit. Everybody expects you to break down and give up and wouldn’t blame you if you did, but if you make it through it makes you that much stronger.” Once again, Browne’s gutsy performance in Massachusetts starts to become a little more believable.

His current success is a million miles away from his stand-out athletic career in college, and his professional mixed martial arts debut in Mexico in February 2009. Simply getting in and out of the venue with his life was the toughest fight of all that night, during which he scored a 43-second TKO victory at Cage Fire 15 in Tijuana.

Now able to look back and smile about it, Browne recalls: “It being my debut was stressful enough, and I had been down to Tijuana a few years before the fight and that was when it was still OK to go down there, hang out and have a good time. But I stopped going down there after that. During the time of the fight, that was the height of all the gang shootings and all that kind of stuff. It was scary. We were riding in the cabs with our bags pressed up against the windows so nobody could see us. You didn’t want to be an American in TJ at that time.”

The return to competition, however perilous, also spelled a new beginning for Browne, who as a teenager harbored dreams of competing in the NBA. A stand-out star on the court growing up, it was only after starting for Palomar College in San Diego that his sporting aspirations got slam dunked. Browne recalls: “In basketball I was a bigger guy but not necessarily the biggest guy. I was faster than most guys my size, and I was bigger and stronger than others too. I was a hard matchup for anybody. But I just didn’t have the talent, that’s the honest truth.

“But I didn’t transition from basketball to fighting. I actually transitioned from basketball to the couch and from the couch to fighting. I tried to do the whole nine-to-five thing, but deep down I wanted to continue to be successful athletically and so fighting just found me. And now I feel like I’m getting my athletic body back, if that makes sense. I put my body through six years of sitting on the couch being lazy. Now I’m just starting to gain my athletic body back and being 31 and young in the sport I feel like I have a lot still to offer.”

And he finishes: “I want to push myself as far and hard as I can. I have really fallen in love with the idea of being the best person I can be. For me that means being the best father, boyfriend and fighter. As far as fighting, I have fallen in love with pushing my body to be the best fighter I can be. Learning what I need to learn and pushing my body as far as I can in order to be successful. 

“I think that’s what makes me dangerous, I look to always be improving. That goes hand in hand with my love of being a dad and wanting to be a good person. Once you make that decision (to be the best you can be) it rolls over into all aspects of your life.”

And, as for his next opponents, well, Browne actually already has a couple of men in mind. “Yeah, there are two guys: my teammates Cub Swanson and Isaac Vallie Flagg. Those guys talk way too much s**t and they have called me out way too many times, so I want to smash both of them. I hope you post something on Twitter, saying I called them out too.” Now there’s a matchup for our Teammate vs Teammate page if ever there was one.

Travis Browne: Timeline

1982: Travis Kuualiialoha Browne is born on July 17th, 1982, in Oahu, Hawaii. 

1992: Moves to San Diego, aged 10, to live with his mother following his father’s death.

1993: Attends San Dieguito High School Academy were he becomes an MVP on the basketball court, smashing school scoring records.

2001: Plays one year at Palomar College in San Marcos as power forward, but realizes he’s not good enough for the NBA and drops out.

2008: Begins training in BJJ and after just three months starts winning grappling tournaments in his belt and weight class.

February 2009: After just 12 months of training MMA, wins his first fight in 43 seconds, knocking out 290lb heavyweight Evan Langford at COF 15.

February 2009: Just 20 days later, he jumps right back into the cage to fight Michael Westbrook. This time it takes three rounds to get the TKO.

2009: Ends the year 7-0 after finishing another four of his five opponents via KO or TKO.

2009: Ends the year 7-0 after finishing another four of his five opponents via KO or TKO.

October 2010: Suffers his first blip, drawing with veteran Cheick Kongo at UFC 120 in London. Kongo is deducted a point for holding Browne’s shorts costing him a win. 

May 2011: Obliterates seven-foot tall Stefan Struve with a magnificent superman punch in the first round of their fight at UFC 130 earning himself a ‘Knockout of the Night’ bonus in the process. 

September 2011: Defeats leading Brit Rob Broughton via unanimous decision at UFC 135 in Denver.

April 2012: Earns a ‘Submission of the Night’ bonus at UFC 145, tapping out Chad Griggs with an arm-triangle after a flying knee in the first round. 

October 2012: Headlining UFC on FX 5: Browne vs. Bigfoot, he suffers his only career defeat when a hamstring injury opens the door to a first-round TKO for Silva.

April 2013: Returns to winning ways at the TUF 17 Finale, defeating veteran Gabriel Gonzaga via vicious elbows a little more than one minute in. 

August 2013: Defeats former Strikeforce, Dream and K-1 champ Alistair Overeem after rallying from the brink of defeat to front kick and ground ‘n’ pound his esteemed opponent. 

Browne on... being called out by Ben Rothwell

“It’s actually pretty funny. I’m catching a lot of grief for coming off as cocky or arrogant. The way I look at it is that we had our fight scheduled a year ago and for whatever reason, he had to pull out. At this point in my career, I would like more of a forward fight. I understand him calling me out, he wants to move up the ladder. But I deserve to continue fighting guys ranked above me,” Browne says.

“People are saying how they used to like me but now I’m cocky and full of myself. That’s not it at all. I actually find it very disrespectful for someone to take the time that they have on the mic, since it’s so little, and use it to try and call me out. It doesn’t make sense for me at this point in my career. I wish him the best but I believe that my direction is further ahead.”