I was watching UFC Live on Versus 4 with the old man last night and several interesting things happened in that match. The main event consisted of two fights: Charlie Brenneman and Rick Story, followed by Pat Barry vs. Chieck Kongo.
In the first match, the two welterweight fighters were not originally scheduled fight each other. Rick Story was supposed to go up against Nate Marquardt, but Marquardt didn’t pass his medical examination and was removed from the bill at the last minute. Enter Charlie Brenneman. Brenneman had a fight scheduled later that week, but it was scrapped because his opponent being too injured to fight. So, mere hours before the match, these two find out they’re fighting each other. Although Story has more fights under his belt than Brenneman, he lost after 3 long rounds, making this victory the biggest win of Brenneman’s young career.
Moving on to the second main event…Kongo v. Barry. Both heavyweights are known more for their punching and kicking routines than for their wrestling and martial arts moves, so I expecting it to be a long drawn-out fight, but things were over 2:39 into the round. What happened was that Barry was going in for the win. He was the better striker and almost had Kongo where he wanted him. He knocked Kongo in the side of the head and Kongo started looking woozy and fell down. The ref rushed over like he was about to call the fight. Heck, even the announcers — Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan — hollered, “He’s out!” But he wasn’t out. Kongo stumbled back onto his feet and punched Barry in the head. Barry passed out and Kongo was declared the winner just seconds later.
Okay, so what can we learn from these two events?
1. Be ready. Brenneman was bummed about his cancellation, but when Dana White and the crew offered him this new opportunity, he jumped at it.
2. Don’t listen to speculation. No one thought Brenneman was actually going to win. Even the commentators were pro-Story. But Brenneman didn’t let the talk bring him down. He still fought 100%. Even in Round 3.
3. Don’t be over-confident. Barry thought his fight was in the bag. So did everyone else. But it ain’t over till the last bell rings. He let down his guard for just a hot second, and he was out like a light.
4. Comebacks happen. Kongo was on his last leg, but he didn’t go down and stay down. He keep swinging until the very end. Don’t give up. Keep fighting until you win.
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