Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Blackburn Takes Step up with Win Over Chonan


Originally posted on MMAweekly.com

By now, Brad Blackburn is used to having his nose broken. In eight years of mixed martial arts competition, it’s happened six times.

“I just don’t want it to get any flatter,” he says with a laugh.

His opponent, Ryo Chonan, caught his nose with a punch in the final moment of the third round, giving him not-so-lucky number six. It was hard to breath after that.

“That was a long minute,” he notes.

The damage was a small price to pay for a victory over an opponent with international recognition. Chonan’s luck had been mixed in the UFC, with a win and loss inside the Octagon, but he did have a respectable resume, punctuated by a quick submission win over reigning middleweight champ Anderson Silva.

Three months back when Blackburn first learned of the fight, he said he needed to do three things right.

“One was be in great shape,” Blackburn told MMAWeekly.com on Monday. “Two was not let him take me down, not to fall for any of his tricks. (Three was) to keep it simple. I wanted to keep it a kickboxing match.”

Chonan got the memo on the kickboxing match, because the two spent almost no time on the ground. When given the opportunity to get back up, Blackburn took it.

Click here to read the entire article at MMAweekly.com

Labels:

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home