Sean McCorkle did his best to promote his UFC 124 fight with Stefan Struve and they were rewarded.
MONTREAL -- There must be something about Montreal that makes the UFC want to put “special attractions” on the cards.
No, I’m not talking about the most talked-about fight of 2010 (or is that the most trashed-talked-about fight of 2010) with Josh Koscheck challenging welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre.
I’m referring instead to the second-most trashed-talked-about fight of UFC 124, one that is somewhat surprisingly the co-main event of this fourth show in La Belle Province, between 6-foot-11 Stefan (Skyscraper) Struve and 6-foot-7 Sean (Big Sexy) McCorkle, who actually looked short by comparison as the two attended fighter workouts for the media Wednesday.
It’s surprising because both are coming off appearances in which they were in the first or second fight of an unaired undercard and now they’re the second-to-last matchup on a televised card.
While both had impressive finishes in their last fights, it’s probably safe to say that’s the first time that’s happened.
The second-billing status even caught McCorkle off-guard.
“I didn’t even know until I got here that it was the co-main event,” said McCorkle, who displayed some of his wry wit, adding: “It should be the main event; who wants to watch the two best welterweights in the world fight when you can watch two heavyweights try to avoid gatekeeper status?”
The 34-year-old Indianapolis native, who made his UFC debut in his hometown in September, was definitely one of the more entertaining guys Wednesday. His war of words with Struve coming into the fight has been well-publicized and he said he thinks “more people want him to lose now because of it.”
But he doesn’t consider himself playing “the bad guy.”
“I like to play the funny guy,” McCorkle said. “I don’t know if that makes me the bad guy just because I’m real witty. Who wants to hear two guys just give the standard answers all the time?
“Not to be a (sponsorship) whore, but I like to be on the main card to get more sponsorship money so you got to do what you got to do. I’m really just being me. Like it or don’t,” said McCorkle, who clearly carries the “Big Sexy” nickname unabashedly.
He said it’s literally a factor of “times 10” between the sponsorship dollars he gets for being on a main card vs. the prelims. “If you’re getting $1,500 for being on the undercard, you’ll get about $15,000 to be on the main card.”
He added it’s too bad he wasn’t told he was in the co-main event before Tuesday because “I probably could have scored some more sponsorship dollars if I would have known that.”
But McCorkle, who trained with former UFC champion Tim Sylvia and fellow Indianapolis native Matt Mitrione to prepare for Struve, admitted this is the first time he’ll be in a fight in which he wasn’t the taller guy. Struve, by contrast, was more serious in his responses and didn’t really want to get into the whole “he said, he said.” The Dutchman has fought in a co-main event before, losing to Roy Nelson in March.
But the 22-year-old, who rebounded with a win in August, isn’t concerned about the pressure this time around, because he doesn’t feel the same nerves as he did before.
“I’m used to fighting in the UFC now, and it’s going to be one hell of a fight,” said Struve.
He also said the fact the focus of their bout’s promotion is that it’s between two of the tallest fighters in UFC history doesn’t really bother him.
“I just see myself as an exciting fighter (regardless of height),” he added.
This is not the first time a UFC show in Montreal has featured a fight to which you could argue had a gimmicky aspect. UFC 113 earlier this year had Kimbo Slice, whose short career in the Octagon was quickly ended that night by Mitrione, a man who ranks right up there with McCorkle in the carefree jokester department.
And the first-ever Montreal show, UFC 83, saw the organization’s only all-Canadian matchup on home soil. That fight between Joe Doerksen and Jason MacDonald happened to be a bit of a grudge match (no we Canadians don’t always all get along) after some words went back and forth between them leading up to the clash. While MacDonald won that one by TKO, Doerksen fights at yet another Montreal event this Saturday against Dan Miller.
That April 2008 event also happened to feature the UFC debut of a little-known Mexican-American heavyweight named Cain Velasquez. He beat Brad Morris that night and has done pretty well for himself since, you could say.
So perhaps the also-undefeated McCorkle should not be so self-deprecating. After going from opening fight to co-main event, you never know, a headlining title fight could be in the future.
“I’m excited (about being so high on the main card),” McCorkle said. “I don’t really feel like it’s warranted or deserved, not on my end anyway. But like Kimbo Slice I’ll take it.”
NOTES: Perhaps GSP heard what McCorkle said about “standard answers” because he had some interesting things to say Wednesday beyond his typical responses.
Or perhaps he felt it necessary as he spoke to one of the biggest gatherings of media to engulf an athlete I have seen. And that was just the French group.
Because of the amount of press on hand to speak to the man of the hour, they split it up between the French and English media (which was logical to do anyway). And while St-Pierre did give some of the routine answers he always does (in both languages) he had few other good things to say.
And, of course, Koscheck was his typical self. But he said he intends to irk the Montreal fans in a new way Saturday night during the walkout to the cage.
“I’ve got something different planned that I haven’t done before, so it should be interesting to see.”
Koscheck has no issues with self-promotion either.
