I got back to training this week after a long time off since the Wilson Gouveia fight. I took plenty of time to rest over the holidays.
I got the first couple of training days out of the system and it wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be. Usually after a few weeks off it takes some time to get used to getting back to work. But I felt pretty good this time.
Jason Day, who is fighting Kendall Grove in March, will be coming up to train on Fridays and Saturdays at my Pure Fitness gym here in Red Deer. I’ve also got a couple of my guys (George Belanger and Curtis Duchene) who are preparing for the new Heat card that Mark and Dave Pavelich are putting on.
That’s taking place on Jan. 30 — yes, the day before Georges St. Pierre vs. B.J. Penn, which I’m going to Vegas to see. So unfortunately, I won’t be around to see my guys fight, but I’ll leave them in the capable hands of Josh Russell and the gang. Speaking of whom, Josh, Evan and Ryan are also preparing for their next MFC fights.
And there are lots of great fights coming up in the MMA world.
There’s Franklin-Henderson next weekend in Dublin. And my buddy Denis Kang is making his UFC debut then too.
Of course there’s B.J. and Georges at the end of the month. And Arlovski vs. Fedor in Affliction.
I’ve also heard word about a few fights for the next Montreal card. David Loiseau is back in the UFC and says he’ll be fighting there; Keith Jardine looks to be taking on Luis Cane. Not to mention Anderson Silva vs. Thales Leites.
I also read Michael Bisping saying he will be at the fight card in Dublin and will have a close eye on Franklin-Henderson, the winner of which of course he will fight next. Bisping said that he asked to fight one of those two guys because a lot of people have been dogging him for not fighting top competition.
And then there was this story in Fighters Only Magazine in which Henderson is quoted as saying he’s going to beat the (bleep) out of Franklin. I just have to say, as a guy who has sat in that chair being interviewed like that, I know what position Henderson was in when he gave those answers.
These interviewers have a method of posing questions and eliciting answers that make you sound cockier than you are. See they ask a question which you have no choice but to answer in a certain way, and that makes you sound more arrogant than you want to.
As an example, an interview may go something like this:
Q: What would be the perfect night for you against Franklin?
A: I’ll knock him out.
Q: How exactly are you going to knock him out?
A: I’ll take him down and then ground and pound him.
Q: Give me more details. What are you going to do to make sure you get the stoppage?
A: Well … I’ll beat the (bleep) out of him.
And they just use the quotes in such a way that it makes you sound real cocky. Basically, they weasel you into saying something you don’t really want to.
So whenever I read those kinds of articles, I just take it another way. Because the bottom line is Henderson is anything but cocky.
Talk to you next week, when I’ll have my predictions for their fight and more.