THE CANADIAN PRESS
George Sotiropoulos just has to think about the time he lived in a New York laundromat to remember how far he has come.
It was just for a week, back in 2002, but it was long enough for the Australian to question his mixed martial arts career path.
"I was in an office, sleeping on a couch, but it was like ‘What am I doing here?"’ he recalled. "It wasn’t in the greatest part of town and basically it sounded like an asylum.
"Not that I’ve seen in an asylum, but I have seen the movies," he added with a laugh.
"I couldn’t wait to get out of there. And I did shortly after."
Sotiropoulos (14-2, including 7-0 in the UFC) now ranks as one of the world’s elite lightweights.
He can cement his place as a championship contender with a win over hard-nosed German kickboxer Dennis Siver (17-7, including 6-4 in the UFC) on Saturday night at UFC 127 in Sydney, Australia (available on pay-per-view).
"This has been such a long project for me," Sotiropoulos said. "It started over a decade ago. To get here was not easy. It was very difficult. I went through a lot of adversity and a lot of challenges and had to figure out a lot of things.
"And I finally got here and it’s no cakewalk."
Siver will ensure that.
| UFC 127 schedule | |||
| What? | When? | Where? | |
| Pre-fight press conference | Tuesday (re-watch) | Live stream | |
| UFC Fight Club Q&A | Friday, 8 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. PT | Live stream | |
| UFC 127 weigh-ins | Friday, 10 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT | Live stream | |
| UFC 127 live results | Saturday, 7:20 p.m. ET / 4:20 p.m. PT | Fight card | |
| Prelims on Facebook | Saturday, 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT | ||
| Prelims on Sportsnet | Saturday, 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT | Sportsnet | |
| UFC 127 main card (PPV) | Saturday, 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT | Pay-per-view | |
| Post-fight press conference | Saturday, 1:15 a.m. ET / 10:15 p.m. PT (approx.) | Live stream | |
The five-foot-seven master mechanic from Mannheim is tough as nails, with a signature spinning back kick that can end the night early.
Former lightweight and welterweight champion B.J. (The Prodigy) Penn takes on Jon Fitch at 170 pounds in the main event Saturday at the Acer Arena.
Sotiropoulos and Siver knows each other from having trained briefly together in Las Vegas in 2009. Despite the language barrier, the two enjoyed each other’s company and the respect remains.
"We got on great," said Siver.
"It was only brief. We had a few exchanges and a few meetings," said Sotiropoulos. "I think he’s very capable and I know what’s he’s about.
"We enjoyed the training that we had together."
Both men know that Saturday’s fight has implications for a 155-pound division brimming with talent.
"It’s a huge fight for me, probably the biggest of my career," Siver said though an interpreter.
Sotiropoulos, who is more than a 3-1 favourite, takes a more measured approach, seeing every fight, every win, as a possible step forward.
Most observers see the Australian profiting if he can take Siver down. The German, meanwhile, believes he has the edge on his feet.
Siver, 32, has trained accordingly, working with grapplers to prepare for Sotiropoulos and keep the fight where he wants to.
Outside the cage, the 33-year-old Sotiropoulos has a bachelor’s degree of business in banking and finance, and associate diploma of business in international trade. His resume includes stints with the National Australia Bank, Merrill Lynch, Globe International, and Mediterranean Shipping Company.
But he gave it up to pursue jiu-jitsu and MMA. He was a purple belt when he left Australia the first time in 2001. He trained in Los Angeles with the Machado brothers, then with Renzo Gracie in New York.
In 2002, he returned to New York to train. The next year, it was Los Angeles, and he returned to the West Coast in 2005 to work with the Machados, American Kickboxing Academy and Team Quest.
He spent most of 2006 training in Japan before returning to the U.S. in 2007 in advance of taking part in Season 6 of "The Ultimate Fighter." Since the TV show, he has spent time training in Las Vegas and he continues to commute to Los Angeles to work on his jiu-jitsu with Eddie Bravo.
Sotiropoulos, who lives with wife Cliona in Vancouver, Wash., says he never forgets that journey.
"I think about it every day, even though I’m at home here in Washington — and I’m the happiest I’ve been and I really love where I am — it’s like ‘What am I doing here?’ It’s like ‘How did I end up here?’ And I’ve basically said that about everywhere I’ve been."
But he knows that the training and travel have paid off, despite the associated costs.
"It’s just a fact of life," said the five-foot-10 native of Geelong. "I miss my family. I miss home. I miss the people I grew up with. I miss where I’m from.
"Basically I’m a foreigner wherever I go. Whenever I get up and move somewhere, I’m starting life all over. I’ve got to establish new contacts, I’ve got to go through it all over again and it’s time-consuming because you’re doubling up on things you’ve done before. … but I accept that’s the way life is for me, because that’s what I’m doing."
He settled in Vancouver — which he says is similar to Geelong — after travelling there to work with boxing coach Leonard Gabriel.
Sotiropoulos will have homefield advantage Saturday, as he did at UFC 110 when he defeated Joe (Daddy) Stevenson in Sydney.
He insists he feels no pressure fighting at home, seeing the attention as more of a positive than a negative.
The real pressure, according to Sotiropoulos, is that his job involves months, even years of preparation and then just 15 minutes to perform.
"Everything is really irrelevant, because once that cage door closes it’s you versus him. You’ve got 15 minutes to do your business. It comes down to what you’ve got and it doesn’t matter what goes on outside the cage."
Added Sotiropoulos: "Everything else doesn’t really stack up to that."
Siver, who has won both of his UFC bouts before German audiences, says serving as spoiler in someone else’s backyard will just make the victory sweeter.
Both men are coming off showcases performances.
Sotiropoulos picked up an US$80,000 fight of the night bonus for submitting Joe Lauzon at UFC 123 while Siver collected $60,000 for submission of the night for choking out Andre Winner at UFC 122.
NOTES — The UFC will use Facebook to air undercard bouts between featherweights Tiequan Zhang of China and American Jason Reinhardt and light-heavyweights Antony Perosh of Australia and Tom Blackledge of England, starting at 8 p.m. ET on the UFC Facebook page. Rogers Sportsnet will also show undercard fights, starting at 9 p.m. ET, including Calgary middleweight Nick (The Promise) Ring’s bout against Japan’s Riki Fukuda.
