Issue 101

The world’s most famous cutman compares Anderson Silva’s KO to that of other great fighters.

JACOB ‘STITCH’ DURAN

Apart from being one of the most recognizable faces around the UFC, ‘Stitch’ Duran is a legendary cutman with vast experience in combat sports.

Stitch has launched a book called From the Fields to the Garden: The Life of Stitch Duran, documenting his personal experiences with some of the biggest stars in MMA. He also appeared in the movie Rocky Balboa, acting as Mason Dixon’s cutman.

Fans often ask me who will win. Like all armchair critics, I don’t know. Nobody knows. I have seen it time after time: a fighter who is supposed to win, gets beat. The first one that comes to mind is Mike Tyson when he got KO’d by the 22-1 underdog, James ‘Buster’ Douglas.

Tyson, at that time, was dominating boxing’s heavyweight division with his awesome power and aggressive style of fighting.

Buster Douglas, on the other hand, had lost his mother shortly before the fight and she was his motivation. But critically, Tyson was in Tokyo having fun and partying long before the big fight. And, 10 rounds in, the good life caught up with the baddest man on the planet.

Another major upset in boxing was Lennox Lewis vs. Hasim Rahman. This fight was right after we filmed Ocean’s 11, where Lennox fights Wladimir Klitschko in the final stages of the movie.

Lennox hadn’t taken Rahman as a serious threat, and took his training lightly. He arrived in Carnival City, South Africa, shortly before the fight and tasted the canvas in the fifth round. In the case of both these two great champions, a mentality of over confidence is what proved the game changer.

Every fighter is capable of getting knocked out. My case in point, Anderson Silva. While admittedly some critics and more than a few of the UFC’s fighter roster gave Chris Weidman the advantage, most believed ‘The Spider’ could win under any circumstance.

Remember the first fight with Chael Sonnen? For four rounds and at least three minutes of the final championship round, Anderson was getting beat by Chael.

This was not a fight that Silva took lightly. He trained hard even though he came into it with damaged ribs. With the surprise pummeling Sonnen was giving Silva, I decided to enter the Octagon and do preventive maintenance on his face with the KOS well and ice pack. In the third round he mentioned that his ribs were hurting, but like a true warrior he continued to fight.

Having the skills and courage to work through the beating and injured torso, he found a way to win. Had Sonnen won that fight it would have gone down as one of the biggest upsets in sport.

Fortunately for Anderson that wasn’t the case and he continued to win, at least until he met new champion Weidman. I had the privilege of wrapping both fighters’ hands before the fight and got to see firsthand how they were mentally focused. I went into the dressing room to prepare Weidman for the most important fight of his career.

Although I’d be working Anderson’s corner, I’d wrapped Chris’s hands many times before and my goal was to treat him like all other fighters and give him the best wrap I could. 

I set up the chairs, gauze and tape before I started wrapping Chris.

I could see he was so relaxed and talking to his team, including head coach Ray Longo. With his headphones on we started to wrap.

As usual, I asked him if he wanted the KO wrap or tapout wrap. Guess what he chose?

Once finished, I asked Chris if we could have a picture taken, unaware at the time that the wraps I’d given him would become part of history.

He smiled and said yes.

Next was Silva. He was dressed to impress and the cameras filmed him every step of the way. ‘Papi,’ he said when he saw me and gave me a hug.

I returned the gesture and told him I’d be in shortly to wrap his hands.

‘No problem,’ he said in his Brazilian accent. With two bodyguards the size of mountains outside the dressing room, I entered and saw Pedro Rizzo. Anderson was relaxed until I told him it was time. He acknowledged me and started to undress and put his cup and shorts on. His demeanor was confident.

I set up the chairs, and placed the two rolls of gauze, two rolls of tape, six strips of tape, that go between the fingers in their spots. Then I placed a towel on top of the chair to make it comfortable for the champ. We were set to go.

I talk to the fighters as I wrap their hands because it keeps them relaxed during the 15-minute preparation and I get to find out how focused they are. Anderson was focused, relaxed and ready. During the time I was wrapping his hands, Steven Seagal went through the game plan. Nothing was mentioned about Silva standing in front of Weidman with his hands down.

Wrapped and ready to go, Anderson gave me a hug. ‘Thanks Stitch,’ he said, and then gave me one of the team shirts. I wished him well and headed off into the arena for the event to begin. Nobody could have ever guessed what was about happen.