Notes and quotes from fighters from the Great White North. In this edition: Patrick, Bongfeldt, Pierson.
In this week’s "Trick or Treat" edition, we look at a fighter who's fitting in with the UFC like treats on Halloween as well as two fighters who are set to bring their tricks to the Octagon for the first time.
Treats are tricky for The Prince
Toronto's Claude (The Prince) Patrick could not have imagined his start in the UFC going much better. Two appearances, two wins, including a convincing submission of Ricardo Funch in his Octagon debut in his home country at UFC 115 in Vancouver in June.
Well, there is one way...
"If I had won a couple submission or fight of the night (bonuses), that would have been better," Patrick said.
While getting some extra coin can always be called a "treat," the "trick" is to not let it affect your ability to ultimately emerge victorious.
"That's something I could try to plan or aim for, but then you've got to be careful because you start to play towards the bonus ... you start playing away from your skills and towards trying to get that money and that's when accidents happen."
Patrick says it's still impossible to ignore.
"It's got to cross your mind, that's change-your-life money," Patrick said. "If I have $60,000 or $70,000 in hand at one time ... that can change your frame for the whole year, two years, three years. But at the expense of taking some serious damage or a loss, it's not a good idea.
"I have a pretty exciting style and hopefully I'll catch up to one of those bonuses soon."
In his fight against James Wilks earlier this month, Patrick suffered a slight "spook" when the fight went the distance -- it was only his second career decision and the first since he lost to Drew McFedries in 2002 in his second career bout (the only loss of his career.)
But he was still pretty confident he was going to get the nod from the judges (even if his opponent was the hometown kid in London, England).
"He didn't have any advantageous position (in the fight) standing or on the ground, so it wasn't a situation where there was much discussion."
Patrick would love the opportunity to fight at the UFC's yet-to-be-announced show in Toronto, if the timing works out (he doesn't want to get rusty.)
And as for an opponent, he has his eye on Dong Hyun Kim, if not next, sometime down the line.
"Stylistically, (Kim) is a guy who I like watching fight and he's got a pretty unique style, so that's the one guy who I would like, as a fan and somebody who follows the sport -- as well as an athlete -- that I can test myself against."
Bongfeldt couldn't stop UFC knocking on his door
One Canadian who could have been in the UFC a while ago but actually chose to wait is Jesse (Water) Bongfeldt.
The Kenora, Ont., native, whose last fight was in September 2009, has spent the past year filling his bag with candy... figuratively speaking; he has been putting on the pounds to get to a weight at which he feels more comfortable fighting.
"I had been prepping for (205-pound fights) and getting up to weight for light-heavy division (when the UFC first contacted me)," Bongfeldt said. "I wanted to do a couple fights in that division first but this opportunity was too good; I'm not going to pass it up."
The six-foot fighter said the UFC's VP of talent relations Joe Silva had been trying to get him into the organization "for a while" but he finally accepted a fight when Jason MacDonald was forced to pull out of his bout Dec. 11 bout in Montreal against Rafael Natal.
Bongfeldt, who was the last welterweight champion in the Montreal-based TKO Championship Fighting promotion before it folded, has fought three times at middleweight since.
"I felt great (at that weight) and I think I'd feel good at (205) too. I've been doing lots of strength training, power training and my weight's come up the way I wanted it too, so it's been good."
Bongfeldt, who used to fight out of Lethbridge, Alta., along with former UFC fighter Jason Day, said he'll be going on a cross-Canada tour while he prepares for his UFC debut, starting in Thunder Bay, Ont., and making stops in Winnipeg and B.C. in addition to Alberta.
He'd love to add one more stop after this fight: Toronto.
"Wouldn't that be awesome? So hopefully things go good with this fight and then we can do the Toronto show."
But before getting to that, there is one piece of business to take care of -- getting his fight record corrected. He said Sherdog, which provides professional win-loss records on all MMA fighters, "did the mash" on his.
"They mashed up my record. They put a bunch of amateur fights on there. Anything before Jamie Varner is amateur. So we finally got their contact info and the UFC is squaring things away with that."
Pierson flies into the Octagon
Toronto's Sean Pierson also had a chance to be in the UFC earlier this year, but he instead signed to fight in Bellator's Season 2 welterweight tournament. Then he got injured and had to pull out.
It was not an uncommon theme for the 34-year-old Pierson, who has been sidelined a few times for extended periods in his fight career. But the veteran wrestler who has been doing Brazilian jiu-jitsu for years and calls himself a full-fledged mixed martial artist ("I've done everything and I do everything," he says) doesn't have any regrets.
"The road is different for everybody," Pierson said. "Obviously I would have loved to have been injury free, but then maybe I wouldn't be in the position I'm in."
Added the married father of one: "At the same time, I took a break from MMA but I've got a really great family and (a lot to keep me busy) during that time, so I can't really complain about too many things."
He definitely can't complain about the fight that earned him his shot at the UFC. In his first appearance in over 10 months, Pierson faced Ricky Goodall at a W-1 event in Halifax earlier this month and was able to dispatch of him by TKO in less than two minutes.
"Everything went to plan," Pierson said. "I wasn't sure if it would go quickly, but I thought there was an opportunity for me to get in there, get it done and get out."
The impressive performance earned him another opportunity as now he faces Matt Riddle at UFC 124 at the Bell Centre.
"I don't know much about (Riddle) but I know he's obviously good, he's got five wins in the UFC," Pierson said. "I know he's a young guy (but) he deserves to be there, so I just have to prove I deserve to be there."
If he does, there would be no better treat than that.
