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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Please be advised the following fighters are available for interviews with regards to their upcoming bouts. The fighters have been listed chronologically with the soonest fight card first:

Rob McCullough, Mike Budnik, James Thompson, Sean Salmon, Marc Cofer, Brandon Lee Hinkle, Martin Kampmann, Joe Scarola, and Josh Hendricks.

“Razor” Rob McCullough returns to action after his fight of the year quality match. This time Rob faces Marcus “The Wrecking Ball” Hicks at WEC 39 on 3/1/09 in Corpus Christi, TX. Hicks brings an impressive 8-1 record into this bout with no fights going the distance. This match will help determine who is next in line for a shot at the WEC lightweight title. “Razor” has been training hard at Xtreme Couture for this bout and looks to showcase new skills in this bout.

Mike “Wildfire” Budnik, a nine-time X Games inline skating medalist, is set to face John Franchi in a lightweight match at WEC 39 on 3/01/09. “Wildfire” brings an exciting and impressive 7-1 MMA record to this bout with only one of his fights going the distance. Budnik has shown slick submission skills and dangerous striking in his 8 fights. John Franchi is an exciting IFL veteran with a 4-0 record. 2 of his wins have come by submission and 2 by TKO.

James “The Colossus” Thompson returns to action in Japan’s World Victory Road against “Big” Jim York on 3/20/09. Over 500 lbs of fighting mass will collide in the ring. In their combined 34 fights, only 1 match has gone the distance. Look for fireworks since both heavyweights are coming off losses.

Sean Salmon is set to face Lucio Linhares in the main event of Fight Festival 25 in Helsinki, Finland on 3/14/09. Salmon is looking to improve his 15-6 record and Linhares would like to continue to make a name for himself internationally in this middleweight bout.

Undefeated 3-0 Marc Cofer will also be competing on the Fight Festival 25 card in Finland on 3/14/09. He will be tested against 9-1 Timo Suhonen in this middleweight bout.

Heavyweight UFC veteran Brandon Lee Hinkle is fighting in the main event at SNBCMMA: Beatdown 4 in New Town, ND against Chris Tuchscherer on 3/21/09. Tuchscherer has a 15-1 record and was a finalist in the YAMMA Pit Fighting inaugural tournament. Hinkle is fresh off a victory over Roman Zentsov and looks to rack up another W against a game challenger.

Martin “Hitman” Kampmann steps up his welterweight competition as he faces WEC welterweight champion Carlos Condit in the main event at UFC Fight Night 18 on 4/01/09. Kampmann’s impressive 14-2 record is full of exciting finishes, in fact, only 1 of his fights has gone the distance. The same can be said about Condit’s 22-4 record. This fight has knockout of the night and fight of the night written all over it.

TUF alumn Joe Scarola returns to action at MMA Big Show in Bellaterra, IN on 4/11/09 against newcomer Rocky Bowman. With a 4-1 record, all wins by submission, Scarola will likely utilize his solid Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu background to submit Rocky.

UFC veteran Josh Hendricks will take on Brian Heden at the main event in the MMA Big Show event on 4/11/09. Hendricks has a 15-5 record with 10 wins by submission and Heden is 10-6.