It was an innocent comment, perhaps taken out of context, and made 16 months ago, but Dave (Pee Wee) Herman can’t seem to live it down.
The UFC heavyweight said in an interview that jiu-jitsu “doesn’t work” — correction, it doesn’t work “on him” — and to his credit he has yet to be submitted in a professional MMA fight. But if ever there were a time where that will be tested, it’s in his co-main event contest at Saturday’s UFC 153 in Brazil, which is the birthplace of the form of grappling most practised in MMA. Herman (21-4) faces third-degree Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, who has 19 career submission wins.
The 28-year-old Team Quest fighter had better to be ready to put his money where his mouth is.
Watch two UFC 153 preliminary fights Saturday at 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT live on Sportsnet.ca. This is followed by the two-hour televised undercard on Sportsnet ONE at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT.
Here’s what Herman told The MMA Hour just after his TKO win over John-Olav Einemo, another BJJ black belt, at UFC 131 in Vancouver in June 2011:
“I honestly really don’t think it does (work). If you have any knowledge at all of jiu-jitsu, it’s just not going to work. If you literally have never heard of anything and have no idea what they’re doing, OK, kind of like the first UFC, yeah jiu-jitsu works. It’s kind of like trickery, basically. If you have any idea about any of the tricks, it’s just not going to work, unless you’re a complete idiot and fall for it… Maybe I should rephrase it and just say jiu-jitsu doesn’t work on me. As a wrestler I’m going to have to stick with wrestling as the best (foundation), but I really think jiu-jitsu isn’t that great, and even from a spectator standpoint, it’s not that fun to watch. Striking is obviously the most entertaining.”
On a pre-fight conference call last week, Nogueira responded to Herman’s comment that it doesn’t work.
“You know one can work as one wants to (but) my BJJ works very well,” Nogueira said. “I have like 33 wins in my career, like 20 of them are defeated by Brazilian jiu-jitsu. I know that works.”
Nogueira (33-7-1, 1 NC) trains out of Black House MMA, one of the world’s most renowned gyms that is home to many strong submission fighters and is headed by second-degree black belt Carlos Barreto, who trained under ninth-degree red belt Carlson Gracie. So, yeah, you could say Nogueira knows what he’s talking about.
It has not worked that well lately however for the 36-year-old, who hasn’t had a submission win since he choked out Tim Sylvia for the interim title at UFC 81 in February 2008. He has gone a disappointing 2-3 since, including his first two knockout losses and his first defeat by submission in his last fight when Frank Mir caught him in a kimura at UFC 140 in Toronto.
“Some of my last fights I have been trying to attack more. But you know for this fight especially I train(ed) a lot of Brazilian jiu-jitsu. If I have a chance to go to the ground I will go for it … especially for this fight I’m training more my Brazilian jiu-jitsu.”
His December loss to Mir was more than a shot to his pride; after refusing to tap out, he ended up having his arm broken. But after sitting out 10 months, Nogueira is ready to go again.
“Yeah I’m feeling good, I’m feeling strong in my arms,” Nogueira said. “I was hungry to fight, I was asking UFC to fight in Brazil. And now I got a chance to give an event and fight in Brazil.”
As for Herman, he hasn’t backed down from his past comments.
“We all know BJJ doesn’t work. It’s useless,” Herman said at Wednesday’s fighter workouts in Brazil. “Wrestling means you don’t need to worry about jiu-jitsu. I’ve never lost by a submission and I am not worried about it at all.”
Herman also calls the fight his biggest to date and is excited for the opportunity to fight a legend on his home soil.
“He’s won (against) a lot of big names, you know pretty much everyone,” said Herman, who is on a two-fight losing streak since the win over Einemo in his debut. He lost both fights by TKO to top contenders Stefan Struve in February and Roy Nelson in May, the latter a straight knockout from a punch less than a minute into his UFC 146 bout when he came in as a late replacement for Gabriel Gonzaga.
Still, Herman isn’t intimidated by Big Nog.
“I like how I match up with him,” he added.
He’s also hoping he isn’t “tricked” by any of his opponent’s jiu-jitsu. If he is, he’ll have a foot in his mouth to deal with, even if it’s from something he said 16 months ago.
