Sometimes your birthday wish comes true, sometimes it doesn’t.
For Sam Stout, who turned 25 on Thursday, this year it came early, when judges unanimously awarded the London, Ont.-native a decision victory over Matt Wiman Saturday at UFC 97 in Montreal.
That’s not to say he didn’t deserve it, or it was some kind of home-town decision for the Canadian (as Wiman appeared to think when he stormed out of the cage after the announcement was made). After getting the better of Wiman in the standup and frustrating him on the ground early on, all three judges gave Stout the first two rounds for a 29-28 score.
But it was definitely the best gift he could ask for.
"It felt unbelievable," Stout said. "Especially to happen in Montreal in front of such a supportive crowd that was all behind me."
Of course, it wasn’t the way he wanted it go down. Stout (14-5-1, 3-4 in the UFC) would have much preferred to end it by way of his fist — a manner which he’d been able to accomplish often early in his career and which earned him his nickname Hands of Stone.
In truth, up until a bout against Spencer Fisher in June 2007 (his 15th as a pro), the Muay Thai practitioner had not been used to going the distance. Only three of his fights — all wins — had been in the hands of the judges.
But his past five UFC bouts have gone to decision and he had lost two in a row, including a split one to Rich Clementi in the same venue last year at the organization’s Canadian debut.
So Stout really didn’t want to let this one go to the scorecards. Hey, you can’t get all your wishes to come true.
"I know (I left this one up to the judges again)!" Stout said regrettably. "I didn’t want to but at least it came out in my favour this time."
The win came with a bow on top. He and Wiman received top fight honours, so Stout got to take home an extra US$70,000, the most the UFC had ever given out as a bonus. That’s the kind of gift that doesn’t need any wrapping paper.
The victory also brought back memories of his first fight in the Octagon, a memorable split-decision nod against Spencer Fisher at UFC 58: USA vs. Canada.
That was the last time he sported a winning UFC record. Since then, he’s gone 2-4 (though mixed in there were three wins in the Montreal-based TKO Championship Fighting, which folded late last year).
He believed this fight was a "make or break" one for him. If that wasn’t enough to test his nerves, he had to wait a tortuous amount of time for his fight, which was originally scheduled to be the first on the night, going out at 7:30 p.m.
But because the arena was still filling in at the time scheduled for the first bout, the UFC decided to hold back the bout involving the Canadian, who is fan favourite in particular because of his past times fighting in Montreal.
He was told to keep warming up and he’d be sent out when the time was right. As it turned out, that didn’t come until after Mauricio (Shogun) Rua knocked out Chuck (The Iceman) Liddell in the co-main event.
"I arrived at the arena at 5 p.m.," said Stout, who didn’t go out until after midnight. "Essentially, I had a six-hour warmup."
It worked out well, as the Bell Centre crowd got to see an exciting bout in the penultimate position, which was great considering what a dud the main event turned out to be.
"It paid off (for him)," UFC president Dana White said. "Fight of the night."
It’s funny how quickly fortunes can change.
One minute he’s sweating out the long wait for his fight — at one point even worrying it might get scratched from the card — the next minute, he’s getting high-fives from hordes of jubilant fans as he exits the arena along with his entourage.
His UFC future once on the line, now looking quite bright.
You’d think he’d be utterly ecstatic about his performance.
Yet Stout remains humble, even managing to find things from his fight about which he can critique.
"I wish I would have gotten off my back a little quicker when he took me down those couple of times," Stout said. "But it was a learning experience again.
"Another three-round fight — just 15 more minutes of experience. I’m happy about it, so long as I got the win!"
That was important because he feels he’s still got some business to get done in the UFC. The last lightweight champion in TKO, Stout has his sights set on another belt.
But first things first. His next goal:
"I just want to get back to a winning record in the UFC."
