Full-Time Fighter: A look back at Fight Festival 25 in Finland

Originally posted on MMAjunkie.com

Wow. That fight did not go at all like I expected.

Credit to Lucio Linhares for coming out and really putting it on me during this past weekend's Fight Festival 25 event in Finland.

I have been told that he opened with a right hook that I did not even see coming. I remember moving side to side and feeling that I was out of range (which was part of the gameplan), but then all of the sudden, my knees were wobbly and I was in recovery mode.

He came right after me after landing the punch. I was able to score the takedown, but it was not clean at all, and he was able to sweep me in the scramble. I was trying to hold guard, but my legs were still wobbly, so he had a very easy time moving to mount. None of the punches from mount were getting through, but I wasn't able to tie him up, and I could hear the ref telling me to "Defend!"

I had no choice but to give up my back (what seemed like the lesser of two evils at the time). He locked up a figure-four on my body, which wasn't too tough given his 6-foot-6 frame. He methodically punched me while working to get his arm under my chin -- which he was able to do and force me to tapout.

I really wish that I had some great excuse about an injury, the fight being on short notice or perhaps all the nonsense I had to deal with securing my passport. But I don't. My training camp was one of the best I've had, I am confident that my gameplan was perfect (if only I had executed it), I felt no preasure the day of the fight, and I was completly confident in winning that fight.

I didn't execute, and he did. Lucio performed great. Congratulations.

Also fighting on that card was one of my training partners, Marc Cofer. Mark completly dominated the first four minutes and 50 seconds of the first round (with what would have probably been a 10-8 round). But with 10 seconds left, his Frech opponent was able to land a knee to the head, which Marc seemed to take very well. Yet the ref jumped in and stopped the fight.

From where I was sitting in the corner, I had no idea why the fight was being stopped until Marc got over to us and we could see that he had suffered one of the worst cuts I have seen. He needed a massive amount of stitches -- 48 in all -- that night to close it, but I will say that I have never seen him fight so well before he got tagged.

After getting back to the hotel and showering, I was really unsure of what I wanted to do. I was leaning toward crawling in a hole and hiding for a couple months. However, I was in Helsinki, there were a couple of after-parties, my flight didn't leave until Sunday afternoon, and honestly, how many people get the opportunity to come to Europe with someone else paying?

As the late and great Evan Tanner would say, "I wanted to collect the story." So I went out with some people from one of the radio stations that had interviewed me earlier in the week and had a great time.

The clubs in Helsinki are huge, and the people are extemly friendly. I also learned something I had believed to be true my whole life was in fact wrong. It turns out that Santa Claus does not live at the North Pole; he lives in Lapland, Finland, (apparently the whole world knows this). Just something I learned during a two-mile walk back to my hotel in 25-degree weather. It's something I would never had learned if I decided to crawl into that hole.

Now it is time to get that rubber match with Helsinki. I can't end there on a loss. Give me a call Petturi! Fight Festival 26 sounds good to me.

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