INDIANAPOLIS -- Joe Doerksen has had a whirlwind year so far. But the Winnipeg middleweight isn't complaining.
"I've only had two weeks off since January," said Doerksen, who has won three fights in 2010, including a second-round submission of Tom Lawlor in his return to the UFC. The win in Montreal, improved his overall win streak to seven.
Now Doerksen, who takes on The Ultimate Fighter finalist C.B. Dollaway on the undercard of UFC 119 Saturday in Indianapolis (one of two preliminary fights that will on Sportsnet), is thinking big.
"Up until now, I was just fighting, getting experience, having a good time," Doerksen explained. "But I woke up one day and realized I'm 32 years old, I'm going to be 33 before the end of the year. I'm still young enough to compete, but I don't feel I need to gain experience any more."
"I feel like I really improved my game in the last two years where I feel like I can compete with anyone in the world. And I'd like the chance to prove it. I'd like to go out there and put four or five or maybe six wins together and whoever happens to be holding the title at that time let me get in there and take a swing at him."
It's not that he's looking past the 27-year-old Dollaway or that he's taking things for granted. Doerksen just knows that all he can control is how prepared he is and how he competes and that if he fights his game, things will take care of themselves. That type of self-confidence is a far cry from the way things were around this time two years ago.
In the fall of 2008, Doerksen had just lost his third straight fight a few months earlier, falling to fellow Canadian Jason (The Athlete) MacDonald, at the UFC's debut show in his home country. The loss dropped his record in the premier organization to 1-5. To make matters worse, he was subsequently, though not unexpectedly, released by the organization.
He was discouraged, but determined to find a way to get back to the big show. With a victory in late August, he started a five-fight win streak in smaller promotions over the next 24 months. But he still wasn't making enough money, or getting the opportunities he wanted and he contemplated retirement.
Then the call came. Tim Credeur suffered an injury, just weeks before the May 8 show and the UFC needed a quick replacement. And even though Doerksen had just fought on April 16, he wasn't letting this chance slip away. And when he capitalized on it, you could tell by his emotional reaction in the cage he had turned over a new leaf.
"I always struggled early on in the UFC. I don't know why. Maybe it was a confidence problem," Doerksen confessed. "So it was a huge breakthrough for me, being a 5-1 underdog, coming out there and winning. And not just winning but finishing the fight early in the second round, coming back after some having trouble early on."
"Yeah, it was kind of like (relief). It was a good feeling. It proved to myself that I belong."
Following that fight he had a slight dilemma. He was scheduled to fight Shawn Marchand in the headliner of a Canadian Fighting Championships event in Winnipeg. Now normally the UFC doesn't permit fighters under contract to compete in other promotions at the same time, but because it was the main event and he did them a favour by stepping in on short notice, the UFC allowed it as part of their deal.
The show was on June 4, less than a month after UFC 113 and would be his third fight in seven weeks. Not to mention if he were to lose, he could be in jeopardy of being cut by the UFC, since their contracts are not guaranteed. But Doerksen felt loyal to the Canadian organization, which he had fought for a year prior, and to his hometown fans. And it couldn't have worked out any better -- he won by TKO in 43 seconds.
"I was weary (about that fight)," Doerksen admitted. "I was tired. And there was a lot to lose. But from experience, I know that focusing on what you might lose might actually make you more likely to lose it. So when I went into that fight, I just treated it like any other fight."
"At the end of the day, whether you're in the UFC, or you're in another show, it's just you and another guy punching each other in the face. I went out there and prepared myself mentally for a long, hard fight. Luckily, it didn't happen that way."
That approach is a clear demonstration of the new-found confidence that Doerksen (46-12) has. Add to that the fighting experience he has accumulated, he has a right to feel like he'll be successful, not just Saturday against Dollaway (10-2) but beyond.
"I probably had 40-50 fights under my belt before he had his first one," Doerksen said. (It's 46, to be exact.) "I feel like I'm the best fighter I've ever been and I'm going to assume so is he. I feel like I have more experience standing and on the ground, and I feel like his wrestling obviously on paper better than mine. But it's not a wrestling match, it's MMA. I've fought plenty of wrestlers with better credentials than his and I've done just fine."
"Maybe he can control where the fight goes, whether it's standing or on the ground, but I feel like I have more experience and better tools. That doesn't mean he's not capable or not dangerous. I still have to go out there and take him seriously. But I just feel like I'm going to do really well for the next couple of years."
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