For Canadian Sam (Hands of Stone) Stout, “Redemption” couldn’t be a better word to describe what he’s looking for Saturday night in his UFC 97 bout in Montreal.
The London, Ont., lightweight was here for the historic UFC 83 one year ago — the first show in Canada — at the Bell Centre in Montreal, where he fought a hard fight against Rich Clementi. Unfortunately, in front of the home crowd cheering him on, he came out on the losing end of a split decision. If ever there was a loss that’s hard to take, that was it.
“Every time you lose a fight it’s disappointing but that one (was difficult),” Stout said. “In my head I thought I had won the fight. I thought I had done enough. Those really close decisions are always a really tough pill to swallow.”
It was even more difficult because it was on his home turf — and not simply because it was on Canadian soil. Stout had fought numerous times before in Montreal for the now defunct TKO Championship Fighting — including at the Bell Centre — where he became the local organization’s lightweight champion. In fact, he was undefeated in 11 fights under the TKO banner. Losing in his home country was something he had never experienced before.
Unfortunately, six months later, he experienced something else he hadn’t before: a second consecutive professional loss. That time it was a unanimous decision to Englishman Terry Etim, at UFC 89 in Birmingham, England. The hometown decision that Etim got, Stout did not in Montreal.
While Stout is willing to accept the judges’ calls for his past fights, he is not willing to do so for his undercard fight Saturday against Matt Wiman.
“I’ve had two of them in a row now so I really don’t want to leave it up to the judges this time.”
There’s no doubt Stout feels pressure, but he’s been no stranger to it. While Stout, a Muay Thai kickboxer, had never had those back-to-back losses professional, he has had a prior two-fight losing streak in the UFC.
After reeling off eight straight TKO wins from March 2004 to November 2005, the efficient striker earned his first shot at the big show in the UFC’s U.S. vs. Canada event in March 2006. While he was originally scheduled to face Kenny Florian, an injury resulted in Spencer Fisher stepping in as a late replacement. Stout took advantage of his opportunity, winning a split decision in his Octagon debut in one of the most memorable fights of that year.
Unfortunately, he got his chance to face Florian three months later and was submitted by rear naked choke in the first round. After that he went back to TKO and promptly won another couple of bouts. In the first he avenged a loss in his professional debut three years earlier against Jay Estrada. In the second, he successfully defended his lightweight belt against top grappler Fabio Holanda by forcing a second-round corner stoppage. Facing the home-town pressure in these, he rose to the occasion.
Then it was back to the UFC and a rematch against Spencer Fisher in June 2007. This too was another toe-to-toe battle that went the distance, but this time Fisher came out on top with a unanimous decision. The pressure was on to deliver in his next UFC bout lest he suffer a third UFC loss in a row.
Fortunately, in January 2008, the 24-year-old Stout evened up his UFC record to 2-2, getting a unanimous nod against Per Eklund in Newcastle, England. But since then have come the aforementioned two straight defeats. He’s quite certain he can’t afford a third.
“I know this is definitely a make or break fight for me when it comes to staying in the UFC,” Stout said. “I think they like me there, and they like the way I fight. But what it comes down to is wins and losses in the long run. That’s what people end up looking at. After a couple of weeks people forget the actual fight and they just look at your record. So, I think that’s the big pressure on me this time.”
With this knowledge hanging over him, he decided to start his camp a little bit earlier than he did for last year’s fight. He began at home in London where he first got himself into shape, then traveled to Las Vegas to work with his good friend and mentor Shawn Tompkins.
Tompkins, who is also originally from London, Ont., but now lives in Vegas where he is a head instructor at Xtreme Couture, worked with him for a good three weeks out there. For the final three weeks, he decided to come back home — and he brought Tompkins with him.
“After April 1st, pretty much all the guys who were training for fights were done,” Stout said. “So it’s kind of a ghost town there right now. Shawn and I decided to come home and finish up here.”
He spent his final preparation in London at the Adrenaline Training Centre, the gym that he owns with fellow Canadian fighters Mark Hominick and Chris Horodecki. Stout said there’s another benefit for him to training near his home base.
“This puts me in a good place mentally going into a fight,” Stout explained. “Training in Vegas is great, don’t get me wrong. But one thing about it is I get a little homesick. It’s nice to be able to sleep in my own bed and kind of go with my usual routine and feel really comfortable at home.
“Before going to the fights, I’m not thinking about coming home and seeing my family and my friends, I’ve already seen them, so I can just focus right on the fight.”
Stout believes that a key to prevailing against Wiman will involve some solid wrestling, something that hasn’t always been his strength. But this time he made it one of his top focuses.
“I usually spend a lot of time working on wrestling, but this time I’ve really, really been focusing on my ground work. And more neutralizing his ground game. If I break his spirit, stuff his initial takedowns and force him to stand with me and tire him out and wear him down, it will be open season and I’ll be able to pick my punches on him.”
If the pressure of fighting at home, redeeming himself from last year’s loss and avoiding a third straight isn’t enough, his fight is also scheduled to be the first of the event, so it will be up to him to set the tone for Canadians on the night.
Oh and his birthday is a five days later.
But he hopes he can ride the energy of the hometown crowd to a better result, and no longer have to worry about job security.
And celebrate his 25th in style.
