Joe Doerksen and Tom Lawlor pose in a staredown at Friday's UFC 113 weigh-ins.

BY JAMES BRYDON
sportsnet.ca

MONTREAL -- Joe (El Dirte) Doerksen stepped onto the stage at the Bell Centre, walked to the scale, weighed in at an acceptable 186 pounds then quickly stepped off for his staredown with Tom Lawlor ahead of their UFC 113 middleweight matchup. He was the only Canadian not to wave, flex his muscles or pose at all for a picture while standing on the scale at Friday’s weigh-ins.

Yes, it’s all business this week for the Winnipeg fighter.

Doerksen, who was added to the card in Montreal when Tim Credeur pulled out with injury three weeks ago, has been here before. The veteran fighter was part of the first UFC event in Montreal back in April 2008 where he took on fellow Canuck Jason (The Athlete) MacDonald. You’d think that a pair of Canadians fighting each other would feature some mutual pleasantries, but the two actually engaged in a war of words leading up to the fight at UFC 83.

If not for an elastic-like escape by MacDonald from a tight first-round kimura, Doerksen would have had his arm raised. But MacDonald survived and eventually came out on top, defeating Doerksen by second-round TKO, and Doerksen was then released by the UFC.

After a five-fight win streak in different promotions, including Sengoku in Japan, Doerksen earned his way back to the big show. And this time he decided he was going to keep it low-key, to the point of completely avoided the media until fight week.

“At the end of the day, nothing matters but the fight,” Doerksen said. “I don’t want to talk s---, I don’t want to talk about (the fight). I just want to go and do it and go home.”

Doerksen, 32, said he got tons of phone calls and messages from reporters and fans when word broke that he’d be returning to the UFC, but rather than answer the same questions multiple times, he figured people would just have to be patient and await the official confirmation.

After all, it was patience that allowed him to get back into this position. And fortuitous timing.

“I was under contract in Japan for a while, so while I was with them the UFC wasn’t really an option,” Doerksen said. “I’ve only been a free agent for a few months, and then out of the blue, (the UFC) had a last-minute cancellation, so they wanted a Canadian and my name popped up. Perfect timing for me.”

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While Doerksen's experience two years ago at the Bell Centre was obviously disappointing, the Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner wasn’t at all discouraged with himself.

“I’m happy with the fight, just not happy that I lost,” Doerksen said. “It was a great fight. I was in great shape. I was well prepared and it started off great. The first round I’m pretty sure was in my favour. It would have been a beauty (to get that submission) but what are you going to do? I went out there and did my best, and it didn’t go my way that night. It was disappointing, but life’s goes on.”

Doerksen is obviously looking for a different result this time, but he prefers to remain philosophical about outcomes.

“Losing always stings, nobody wants that to happen, but I don’t think about that anymore,” Doerksen said. “My manager once said if there’s 20 great fighters on a card, 10 of them are going home with losses.

“I just go out there and fight the best fight I can do and winning takes care of itself. If you do the work, it should take care of itself.”

While Doerksen was straight-laced at the weigh-ins, Lawlor was the opposite. The 27-year-old American playfully paid homage to MMA pioneer and former professional wrestler Dan Severn. He was dressed in black trunks, had tape on his wrists and the UFC Hall of Famer’s patented thin mustache.

Lawlor, himself a wrestler, exaggeratedly took his cornerman to the ground and acted wild prior to stepping on the scale, then struck a jokingly bashful pose in the staredown with Doerksen. Joe Rogan even joined in on the fun, referring to Lawlor as Severn when he entered and when he announced he had made weight at 185 pounds even.

Doerksen, who admitted to not knowing anything about Lawlor (6-2) until his name was mentioned as his opponent, knows that it will be all business for him too come fight time.

“I watched a couple of his fights. He looks tough,” Doerksen said. “It’s going to be a good fight, but I’m ready for it. I don’t want to say anything negative about him, he looks like a great athlete.

“Obviously with him being a southpaw we did a little different padwork in training, but there’s nothing new, nothing secret. Fighting’s fighting.”

Doerksen (44-12, 1-5 in the UFC) has had a tendency to be streaky. From February 2000 to September 2001, he won 12 consecutive fights, but then dropped three in a row. He immediately followed that with another double-digit win streak, taking 10 straight over a two-year span.

More recently, he went 6-0 from April 2006 to April 2007, before going 0-3 in a new stint with the WEC/UFC, including the loss to MacDonald.

“It’s just the way it goes,” Doerksen said. “A lot of people in my situation win 10 in a row then lose three in a row and then maybe retire. They get discouraged and they quit. I’m the guy that doesn’t quit. That’s why I have so many win streaks.”

He’s hoping Saturday his latest win streak increases to a fresh half-dozen.