Monday, October 29, 2007

Full-Time Fighter: Sean Salmon Discusses Fight With Jason “Mayhem” Miller, Possible Bout With Cung Le



Originally posted by Sean Salmon on October 25, 2007 at 9:58 am ET
by Sean Salmon/MMAjunkie.com

I’ve got a lot of catching up to do for my MMAjunkie.com fans and a lot of thanking to do.

Let me run this back to last week and thank one more time Duke Roufus, Eric “Red” Schafer, David Heath, Joe Doerkson, Alan Belcher, and the rest of Duke’s staff and students for making me feel so welcome and part of the team when I was up there training in Wisconsin. I also want to thank my cousin Kyle and his girlfriend, Jenny, for letting me into their home for a week of training and dieting. I am not as easy to get along with as these columns may lead you to believe.

There was also one night in Milwaukee that I did not get to mention. I was treated to an awesome night of youth boxing at the Milwaukee Athletic Club during my trip. I did not have a suit and tie (which were required), though they let me slide with a TapouT shirt and sportcoat. It was a great dinner and night of fights, so I have to thank our host Jay Peters and his friend Steve Beiser. Thanks to those two guys, I never once felt like an outsider. Jay was the best host I could ask for, and Steve and I had more in common than I would ever expect (especially considering he’s a guy that has to wear a shirt and tie to work — haha!). I only hope that I can return the favor the third weekend of August at Irish Fest in Milwaukee (that goes for you too, Duke and Red!).

On to the fight. I landed in Calgary two days before the Oct. 19 Hardcore Championship Fighting’s “Title Wave” event and weighed 196 lbs. I will always wish to be lighter, but that was right on par with my gameplan. And unlike Finland, this time I had help; my brother Matt flew up from San Diego. Matt has recently been hired as my strength and conditioning coach here in Columbus, as he is moving home soon. There is no one involved with my career that does not get second guessed, save Matt. Matt has asked me to inform you all that not only has he been an athlete his whole life (he once scored 12 goals in a 4-and-younger youth soccer game), but he was an All-State soccer player for Worthington Kilbourne, played college soccer for Marshall University (a great place to visit), has participated in numerous triathlons and marathons, and is now training for his first full Ironman. I am blessed to have great people surrounding me.

The fight with my opponent, Marcus Vinicios, went just like I planned. I knew to avoid his kicks by staying out of range or in his face. I closed distance well and scored takedowns when I wanted to. There was a time during my warm-ups that I felt that I was giving him too much credit for his kicks (like I was talking myself into having one land). I stopped my warm-up, refocused myself, and said, “There is no one at middleweight that can deal with your size and speed.” I ended up doing exactly what I wanted. I will say that Marcus was a great opponent. I got to meet him before the fight and speak with him after. He is nothing but a gentleman and a sportsman. I am sure my readers are getting sick of hearing me say this, but I promise to let you know if an opponent is anything else.

Hardcore Championship Fighting (www.cfseries.com) is also run by some of the best promoters to work for. I was never let wondering what was going to happen; they kept me informed every step of the way. I will fight for them anytime they call.

My last thank you? TapouT. TapouT (www.tapout.com) jumped on board with me shortly after UFC 71 and my loss to Alan Belcher. Even I know that there was no reason to believe in me, but they did. Everything I have asked for I have gotten from them, including money. I know they seem crazy with their TV show on the Versus Network, but they truly take care of their athletes. I have never been confused with where I stand. I only hope that the MMA community will start putting their money back into the companies that support the fighters. If you didn’t know, I even weighed in for my fight in Calgary in TapouT boxer shorts (there’s got to be pictures out there somewhere).

Now, onto upcoming fights (or what I am permitted to say, anyway): I am “for sure” fighting on the Strikeforce card on Nov. 16. However, Eugene Jackson (my original opponent) is injured and can’t fight. I know Cung Le’s opponent has fallen through, and I would like nothing more than to fight him. Here we go again:

Dear Strikeforce and Cung Le:

Please give me this fight. I am looking for this type of opportunity, and you can give it to me. I will beg if I have too. (Maybe I need to hang out with my boy Phil Baroni and learn to trash talk.)

I believe the fans of San Jose derserve this type of fight.

Sincerely,
Sean Salmon

Either way, I have been assured that I am on this card, but I’m most likely an “alternate bout” to the tournament. I can’t complain about that, as I would be honored to fight anyone in that four-man field.

Next up, I have been given permission to announce that I will be fighting Jason “Mayhem” Miller on the Dec. 15 HDNet Fights card. I know Mayhem has more fans than I do (as I am a Mayhem fan myself, but not a numbered Monkey). Please go to www.hdnetfights.com and let them know how excited you are about this fight. I am praying that they get 100,000 emails about this fight — double up on your emails if you feel you should. I have now had 18 fights in less than two years and think that this one will be great entertainment for the fans. In fact, I can’t wait to see the replay. If you are a Salmon fan or a Mayhem fan, go to www.hdnetfights.com and let Guy Metzger know how excited you are about this fight. Please show Mayhem, HDNet Fights and me know how badly you want this fight, and ONLY THIS FIGHT to happen.

I only have one more issue for my readers at MMAjunkie.com to tend too. I am going to be promoting a charity this Christmas season that I am begging all of you to get behind with me. I am neither rich nor famous, but I want to take advantage of the opportunities given to me through fighting and this website to give back to those in need. I am looking for suggestions. I only have two stipulations: it has to be a U.S.-based charity, and it has to involve kids. I will also back a runner-up charity if it involves our troops. I have a cousin serving overseas that I have not seen since I was 14, and I only want him and his younger brother to be able to meet our grandma on a beautiful day in rural Wisconsin.

This is something that I will be devoting a lot of time to and want to put the full power of this website into. You can email all suggestions, along with a brief description and website of the charity, to my personal email address at salmonsean@yahoo.com. I will be teaming up with the Junkie himself on this project. This is not something that I want to take credit for alone. I want to put everyone’s name that visits this website on it. This is a free website with great information for everybody, so let’s team up and see what a difference the MMA community can make together.

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