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[Clint]

http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=news.detail&gid=8277

I’m down 3-1 entering this week, but I never really thought that I picked the wrong guys, to be honest. I put it on me and what I’ve been doing wrong. I love my group of guys, no doubt about it. I just wondered why they weren’t winning fights. Every time after we lost, I just went back and tried to figure out what I needed to change up so my guys could come away with some victories.

I got word that Mac Danzig was getting on Blake Bowman for his loss and I didn’t like it. Mac’s the only one that’s won so far, so to have him going after his own teammates is terrible for morale and terrible for the team aspect. I can’t really say I came down on Mac, but I did have a little talk with him in front of everybody and I know he wasn’t happy about it and this and that, and that I didn’t hear the whole story, but I didn’t need to hear the whole story. I heard from the guys on the team what happened, and I didn’t come down on Mac hard enough where I needed to know his story. I just knew the facts. He’s one of the guys that doesn’t like to be called out like that in front of everybody, but I felt I needed to. Mac is gonna need his whole team later on in the show and I want the whole team to be there for him because I got wind that some of them were just getting fed up with what he was saying.

Unfortunately, we got news this week that Paul Georgieff’s cousin had passed away. I had it about as easy as I could have it because all I did was hand the phone to Paul. His mom wanted to tell him, so it could have been a lot worse for me. But as soon as he hung up, I was like ‘hey, I’m sorry to hear it,’ and I tried to console him as much as I could. And I just reassured him that he’s got some great teammates that are gonna have his back no matter what happens. As a coach, I’m not there as much as his teammates are. He’s living with his teammates and I wanted to reassure him that he had guys who were gonna be around him 24 hours a day and that were willing to help him anyway they could.

Speaking of help, I’ve had a lot of it with my assistant coaches this season. I brought in the guys I did because I knew they were all gonna play a part and were all gonna do very well with their part.

I brought Robbie Lawler in because he’s kind of a muscle man. As a head coach I’ve got to sit back and watch everything. I can’t really specialize as much as I’d like to. But with Robbie Lawler there, he gets to go in there, get hands on with the guys, and he can help them in so many ways. About halfway through, I stopped yelling at my guys when I’m cornering them and I sat behind Robbie, and whenever I told Robbie to say something, he said it. So before my guys went out there, they knew this and they were concentrating on Robbie’s voice
and not mine. But when I’m sitting behind Robbie, I’m not worried about projecting my voice. All I have to do is sit and digest and then talk to Robbie, and he worries about making sure the guys can hear him. So Robbie played a very significant part. Also, Robbie’s got a great personality and the guys really liked him right off the bat, and they could relate to him. If the guys had a problem, sometimes they’d talk to him about it and he’d kinda set them straight on why they were doing this or that. Robbie was definitely that guy they could relate to and talk to if they needed to.

Marc Fiore comes from a long wrestling background where he was the Army Greco coach in Colorado Springs at the National Training Center, so he brings in so much on the wrestling side, and Matt Pena is my boxing coach, so he played a good part as the head boxing instructor.

When it comes to this week’s fight, of course I don’t have to tell you that I’m frustrated at the way things have gone. I wanted Paul Georgieff to feel very secure and confident in his fight, so I went ahead and I wanted to get his input on which one of the two he could fight, Troy Mandaloniz or Jon “War Machine” Koppenhaver. And I actually thought Troy was the better matchup for him because I knew he could take him down whenever he wanted to and I thought he was gonna be better on the ground than Troy. And Troy’s a lot shorter and wouldn’t have the range that “War Machine” would. So I thought Troy would be a good matchup for Paul. What I didn’t expect is that Paul would not try one takedown. I could not get him to want to spar at all, he never wanted to hit mitts, he never wanted to do anything with the standup, and then when he goes out into that fight, that’s all he wants to do, and he got totally away from what’s brought him to where he’s at now, and he gets knocked out. That was even more frustrating than me falling as far behind Serra as I am, 4 to 1.

So I’ve got to win these final three fights to have some say so in the quarterfinal picks. But I’ve left all my good guys for the end here, so I don’t know if there are any matchups remaining that I don’t think I can win.

[Tick]

In regards to Paul Georgieff, I don't think his mind is in it. If he is refusing to do bag work and spar then he isn't serious about being a MMA fighter. He knows that when he gets out of school he will have a job paying decent money. If he is in graduate school for engineering, he will REALLY have to screw up not to be making good money right out of college. Would anyone want to see Paul Georgieff vs Joe Scarola? That would of been a good ground game me thinks.

Anyway, did anyone see the preview for the next one? Hughes lays a beat down on one of the fighters it looks like (I forget which guy though.)

[jkilla374]

I'm a Serra fan but I thought it was B.S. that Dana basically took Hughes' pick away from him by forcing one of his fighters to fight before he went to the wake. That was lame.

[thumper]

Originally Posted by Tick

In regards to Paul Georgieff, I don't think his mind is in it. If he is refusing to do bag work and spar then he isn't serious about being a MMA fighter. He knows that when he gets out of school he will have a job paying decent money. If he is in graduate school for engineering, he will REALLY have to screw up not to be making good money right out of college. Would anyone want to see Paul Georgieff vs Joe Scarola? That would of been a good ground game me thinks.

Anyway, did anyone see the preview for the next one? Hughes lays a beat down on one of the fighters it looks like (I forget which guy though.)

Isn't he the guy who mentioned he didn't want to box because he didn't want his face hurt and somehow this could affect his career as an...........egineer? I still haven't figured that one out. I know how tough it is for all those out of work ugly engineers ?!?!?!

[Tick]

Originally Posted by thumper

Isn't he the guy who mentioned he didn't want to box because he didn't want his face hurt and somehow this could affect his career as an...........egineer? I still haven't figured that one out. I know how tough it is for all those out of work ugly engineers ?!?!?!

Exactly! Maybe he doesnt think people will take him serious if he has a crooked nose and cauliflower ear.

[Weirdharold]

Originally Posted by thumper

I still haven't figured that one out. I know how tough it is for all those out of work ugly engineers ?!?!?!

HAHA I, for one, refuse to hire an ugly engineer.... that profession lives or dies on its physical appearance...

Quite honestly, id be more apt to hire someone with a crooked nose and cauiflower ear... chances are we could talk MMA!

[chico76]

Originally Posted by thumper

Isn't he the guy who mentioned he didn't want to box because he didn't want his face hurt and somehow this could affect his career as an...........egineer? I still haven't figured that one out. I know how tough it is for all those out of work ugly engineers ?!?!?!

I think he was more likely referring to brain injury rather that cosmetic damage.

[Weirdharold]

Originally Posted by chico76

I think he was more likely referring to brain injury rather that cosmetic damage.

oh yeah, ..... forgot about that part...