Issue 174

December 2018

From the playground to the Octagon, the all- action fighter recalls five memorable scraps.

1. Robbie Lawler, Icon Sport: Mayhem vs. Lawler

This was one that tested my durability. It also checked my ego. I was a step ahead of him every kick and punch that first round. They warned me in between rounds that he was going to come out with thunder. His corner was screaming at him to kill me. I was like ‘Good luck, you slow son of a bitch. You are never going to catch me with those big, slow punches.’ Oh yeah? He caught me.

I remember his arm coming up and then I was on the ground. Then he just got on me. He was beating my ass. I even spit out my mouthpiece and told the ref not to stop the fight. I kept yelling, ‘I’m fine.’ I just came back to the corner and said over and over ‘I’m sorry. I’m sorry.’ I knew I was in better shape. I went out there and took him down and choked him out. I pulled out that W.

2. "Tristan", Fort Bragg

I was ten. This little boy was beating my sister up by the slide. He was giving her the business. She was down and he was kicking her and stuff. I ran over there across the yard in the government housing in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Man, I hit him with a straight one right between the eyes. He fell down and I mounted him and I gave him the business until he started crying and balled up. Then I stood up and walked my sister back to the house.

3. Mansour Sayeed, 12th Grade

I fought him every day in fifth grade. He was a goer. He was much smaller than me. Every day he tried to take it out on me forgetting that I was way bigger than him. I would wrestle him down to the ground and pound him out. Then we would both go to the principal’s office.

In seventh grade his brother sucker punched me in the lockers. He walked o and I didn’t see him again until twelfth grade. I was standing at the State wrestling tournament in North Carolina and I heard over the loud speaker, ‘Mansour Sayeed to mat four.’ I said ‘No fucking way.’ He recognized me. He said ‘Man, you got bigger. I said, ‘Man, you stayed the same.’ I never saw him again.

4. Al Dill, First fight

It was my first professional fight in April of 1998. I was 17 years old. I was fighting in front of 3,000 people. I was nervous as shit. This guy was a big black dude. He was wearing a gi just like my hero, Royce Gracie. I was wearing biking shorts like Randy Couture. I just took the guy down with my high school wrestling skills. I gave him the business. It was uneducated ground and pound punches. I had been in plenty of street fights. I was trying to be a technician. I basically laid and prayed. He was trying to get me in jiu-jitsu but I had already studied that jiu-jitsu. I knew just enough to keep out of the grasp of “The Superman”.

5. Georges St. Pierre, UFC 52

Yeah, I lost the fight. Yeah, I had to cut 30 pounds. Woe is me. That was the night I realized that I had no quit in me. That was the first time I took a fucking walloping. Did I ever think about getting out of there? No. Did I always think the entire time, ‘I’m about to win. I’m about to turn this around?’ Georges is a terrific athlete and he was the champion for so long for a reason. He is smart. He has really fast reflexes. He has good control of his body. He has a light skeleton and big muscles. He’s a born fighter. He was a step ahead of me every time that night. The next day I came into the gym and everyone stopped training, turned and gave me a standing ovation. That was one of the highlights of my entire life.