UFC heavyweight Derrick Lewis didn’t win many new fans with his uninspired win over Shamil Abdurakhimov at UFC Fight Night 102 earlier this month. However, his post-fight candor was impressive.
He apologized to the fans for the underwhelming performance, and said he was going to call out Travis Browne or Mark Hunt, but instead, he thought it was appropriate to “sit his a** down.”
That was apparently enough of a call out for Travis Browne to say it was “personal.” The pair are scheduled to fight at UFC 208 on February 11 in Brooklyn, New York.
“He’s looking up and down the top 10 for the easiest fight and choosing my name,” said Browne to Brett Okamoto for ESPN. “I don’t know how much more personal it gets than that.
“I’m not usually one to talk trash, and I do respect him as a fighter, but you want to test yourself, buddy? I’m your man. I’ll show you what this s*** is all about up here.”
Browne is now 1-3 his last four, most recently losing a decision to Fabricio Werdum during which he suffered a dislocated finger and was gifted a timeout.
“That was the weirdest sensation I’ve ever had in a fight,” said Browne. “I looked down and saw a bone popping out of my hand. When that happens, and there’s a dude trying to take your head off, I didn’t know what to do. I got a timeout I maybe wasn’t supposed to. I don’t know what to tell you. Going into that fight, I was ready to f***ing scrap, get down, ugly, go after it. And then that weird s*** happens, it took the wind out of my sails.”
Browne’s background was not in wrestling, BJJ, boxing, or Muay Thai. It was in basketball, which presents a profoundly challenging learning curve.
“I didn’t come from wrestling. I didn’t come from boxing or kickboxing,” he explained. “These are my growing pains and you’re seeing me develop on the biggest stage against the best of the best. I feel the best is yet to come. Keep doubting me. Please keep doubting me. I will give you something to be upset about if you doubt me.”
Browne said he plans to continue working with Edmond Tarverdyan at Glendale Fighting Club, and with grappling coach Ricky Lundell. He also hopes to work with Neil Melanson and some new sparring partners. His partner Ronda Rousey is also sticking with Tarverdyan after her loss to Holly Holm.
Back in February Rousey’s mother, Dr. AnnMaria De Mars, called Tarverdyan, “the most worthless human being God ever put on this Earth.”
I don’t claim to know everything but I know what it takes to win a world championship,” said Dr. De Mars, the first American to win a world championship in Judo. “I know what good coaching is. I told Ronda more than once, ‘I know what training to beat the world looks like and this isn’t it.’
If she changes gyms she could go dramatically further. Even if she was with a good coach I think going to a different place would really improve her. When you’re with someone who wants to keep you from going to other places, that’s a bad coach that doesn’t have your best interests at heart.
I think if she changes gyms she has an outstanding chance of winning. If she doesn’t? As a statistician, the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. If you do the same things with the same people you can expect the same results.
Rousey and Browne are not the only figures with a great deal riding on the next two UFC pay per view events. If Rousey and Browne win, Tarverdyan will catch some reflected glory and respect. If they both lose, Dr. DeMars’ words will ring louder – “I think he hit the lottery when Ronda walked in there.
