With nine MMA fights under his belt and plenty of advice on how to handle his UFC debut, Canadian lightweight Mark (Boots) Holst thought he was well-prepared for his June fight against John (Guns) Gunderson.
He wasn't. The 25-year-old from Aylmer, Que., lost a three-round decision and then threw up in the elevator going to his Las Vegas hotel room after being checked by the doctor and receiving his fight cheque.
"He obviously won fair and square but a lot of it was I don't think I showed up for the fight," said Holst. "I had a lot of jitters."
Holst said he had been warned about the so-called "Octagon jitters" and the adrenalin dump that can hamper rookie UFC fighters.
"I knew about it, everybody gave me the heads-up about it but guess what? I couldn't do anything about it and it happened anyways," said Holst, who took the fight on four to five weeks' notice.
Pat Cooligan, Holst's longtime coach and manager, was also taken aback by how nerves hamstrung his protege despite the fighter's MMA and Muay Thai fight experience
"As someone's who's been in MMA a long time, I always discounted the so-called Octagon jitters as kind of an urban legend if you will," said Cooligan, a black belt under Renzio Gracie who runs the Ottawa Academy of Martial Arts where Holst works and trains.
"He was affected very adversely and yeah, he fought poorly. He wasn't able to follow instruction ... We were very disappointed in that fight."
Holst (8-2) has a second chance Saturday night in London when he takes on Liverpool's Paul (Sassangle) Sass on the UFC 120 undercard at the O2 Arena.
The middleweight main event features England's Michael Bisping and Japanese star Yoshihiro Akiyama. The co-main event pits English welterweight Dan (The Outlaw) Hardy against American Carlos (Natural Born Killer) Condit.
Sass (10-0) is a 22-year-old ground specialist who won his first seven fights by triangle choke -- hence the nickname.
Holst, his nerves under control, says the pressure will be squarely on Sass this time as the Brit makes his UFC debut before an expectant English crowd.
"I think he'll have double the jitters," Holst said happily.
And Cooligan says the Holst camp adjusted its pre-fight routine in the wake of the Gunderson loss, from strength and conditioning to mindset. A UFC fighter is a novelty in the Ottawa area and Holst came in for plenty of media attention first time around.
"With hindsight being 20-20, I think I mishandled the camp," said Cooligan. "And I'd be willing to take some responsibility for that, because a lot of the focus was on the UFC, more so than the fight if you know what I mean."
The six-foot Holst is part of a new breed of mixed martial arts fighter, one who essentially started training MMA rather than switching from a discipline like wrestling.
Holst took up karate at 15, branched into kickboxing and then began diversifying at 17 when he meet Cooligan.
"Mark was a remarkably developed standup fighter given his age," Cooligan said.
"He just had the right type of body," he added. "Very tall, very long and he had a great skill set from a standing point of view, so it was a pretty easy decision to try to take him under my wing, so to speak."
While Holst has a well-rounded game, fighting on his feet remains his preference. Prior to Gunderson, he had never needed to go the distance, finishing all eight of his wins either by knockout or submission.
Cooligan gave him the nickname Boots, because he likes to use his legs -- "I like the high kick a lot, (to) put the boot to the head," Holst explains.
Before he got his driver's licence, Holst used to take three buses each way to get to Cooligan's gym to train and work his way up the teaching ladder.
Today, Holst -- whose father passed away after battling Huntington's disease -- describes Cooligan as his mentor, head instructor, manager, boss and friend.
"When I was 17, I told him 'If you think I can make it all the way to the UFC, let's do it, I'm all for it. If you think I have the stuff that it takes, let's give it a shot,"' he remembered.
"And here I am now."
Cooligan's ties to the Gracie camp have opened a lot of doors to Holst, who has trained at the Renzo Gracie gym in New York. That connection has also helped him train with UFC champions Georges St-Pierre and Frankie Edgar, and veteran Ricardo Almeida.
"Talking to a lot of MMA fighters, to be the best you want to train with the best and I feel we've done a reasonable good job with that," said Cooligan.
To that end, Holst has been to Thailand five times to improve his Muay Thai and Brazil four times to work on his jiu-jitsu.
"I've been all over the place. ... it's fun to be able to travel for what you love to do, your passion -- which for me is martial arts," said Holst.
"I've been very lucky with the opportunity I've had."
Holst, who lives at home, also credits his mother for her support. Like most parents, she wanted him to focus on education first. But her son had different ideas after finishing high school.
"I guess I just put my foot down and I told her I wanted to do this for the rest of my life," he said.
It helped that he eventually sat her down and explained the rules, regulations and safety measures involved in the sport. Now his mother checks out MMA websites to research her son's opponents.
Holst almost took another route to the UFC. He passed the first round of auditions for Season 12 of "The Ultimate Fighter" reality TV show and was invited to Las Vegas for another look.
He didn't make the final cut. But that bad news was followed two weeks later by the offer of a four-fight contract from the UFC.
Prior to his close call with the TUF cast, Holst recorded a submission win over former TUF alumnus Corey Hill, who was making a comeback from a gruesome leg injury.
Holst survived a beating on the ground from Hill to rally for the victory.
"I still have that picture up on my Facebook and you can hardly recognize me, my face is all mashed up," said Holst, who described his head as like a pumpkin after the Hill bout.
"It was a really tough fight with Corey."
In contrast, the Gunderson bout produced "not even a scratch."
"People wouldn't even know I was in a fight, all Gunderson did was take me down and hold me there. He didn't do any damage to me."
The UFC apparently recognized Holst for his bid to turn up the heat.
"Basically Mark was trying to fight, he was trying to stand up with him, Gunderson wouldn't have any part of it," said Cooligan. "Props to (Canadian) Shawn Tompkins, who's his coach. He's definitely a master tactician and they employed the right game plan.
"What a lot of people don't know is, post-Gunderson, Mark got an additional cheque from the UFC, basically commending him for his effort to try to fight. Mark did have some sub(mission) attempts that didn't come to fruition so it was nice to receive that recognition from the UFC in the form of a cheque.
"And again that's the game plan for Paul Sass."
NOTES -- Canadian welterweight Rory MacDonald's UFC 123 undercard fight with Matt (The Immortal) Brown will be shown live on TV Nov. 20 ... UFC veteran James (Sandman) Irvin is fighting Jorge (Van Damme) Oliveira on the Tachi Valley Fights 7 card Dec. 2 ... The DVD of UFC 117, Silva vs. Sonnen, is due out Oct. 19.
Entertainment Plaza - TV, Movies, Sports, Music
http://members.shaw.ca/almosthuman99
Babe Of The Month
http://members.shaw.ca/almosthuman99/babeofthemonth.html
Hunk Of The Month
http://members.shaw.ca/almosthuman99/babeofthemonthman.html
No comments:
Post a Comment