UNANIMOUS CLOTHING

***Story courtesy of MMAWEEKLY.COM***

“I’m not a mixed martial artist, I’m a fighter. I’m gonna fight him, win or lose.”

Such were the words of Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson when his fight against Roy Nelson was announced for this week’s episode of “The Ultimate Fighter: The Heavyweights.” And perhaps this simplicity is the appeal of the man who built his initial reputation in backyard brawls on YouTube.

Nelson is a former International Fight League champion. His professional record is 13-4. He enters the bout with Kimbo coming off of back-to-back losses for the first time in his lengthy career, but those losses were to former UFC heavyweight title challenger Jeff Monson and former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski. Nelson has four times the mixed martial arts experience of Kimbo.

The majority of his fight experience being the aforementioned backyard punch-outs that highlight him on YouTube, Kimbo has a record of 3-1 in MMA. Most of those bouts were little more than his backyard experiences, save for a tough test against British brawler James Thompson.

In Nelson, Kimbo easily faces the most difficult test of his career. He must fight a true, well-rounded mixed martial artist.

“I wouldn’t want it no other way,” he said during a conference call with the media on Monday to promote Wednesday night’s TUF episode.

And he’s not fazed by the attention the fight has drawn.

“It’s just the first fight for me after my last fight,” he said, of course knowing full well what the result is with the episode being filmed months ago. “This fight is very exciting. This fight is probably, pound for pound, one of my best fights.”

Regardless of how the fight turned out, Kimbo will be fighting again in December’s finale. It’s now just a matter of finding out if he made it to the finals of the series, or whether he’ll be part of the supporting cast elsewhere on the card. But either way, he knows he has work to do and has already begun to shoulder the load.

“I’m still there… a puncher working on my ground game. Mixed martial arts, it’s that type of training where you learn life. The more you roll, the more you learn. That’s something you have to continue to do,” said Kimbo, adding that he has signed on to train with American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Fla.

“I need a camp now. I need to be involved in a camp; I need a home. That’s why I made this move that I’ve made.”

But he knows now the focus is on his TUF experience and whether or not this fighter can run the gauntlet to become a mixed martial artist.

It doesn’t come easy. Every athlete at this level pays his dues.

“That’s just pretty much how it is in the world; you have to prove yourself.”

And visual evidence of that proof comes Wednesday night.

Sean Denson reppin the Unanimous Clothing at UFC 103 in Dallas Texas!!!

Last Saturday night, light heavyweight Brandon Vera got an unexpected call.

His management asked him if he was training. He said yes. His management asked him to train harder—he was going to be fighting November 14 on a main event.

“I was like, ‘no I’m not,’” recalls Vera. “’I’m not fighting November 14th, you’re trippin.’” (My management) was like, ‘you’re going to fight Randy Couture.’”

“Hmmm,” Vera said. “Let me call you back.”

Just last month, he had dispatched Krzysztof Soszynski convincingly at UFC 102, an event headlined by Couture and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Vera had trained with Nogueira for much of his camp and had simulated Couture in the gym. Now, less than three months away, he was going to headline a UK card against the idol.

Fight accepted. He would headline UFC 105 in Manchester, England against a five-time champion.

What’s more, he can’t imagine why anyone wouldn’t do the same in his position.

“It was funny to hear other people other turning the fight down,” he said. “I was like, c’mon man, what kind of fighter are you that you’re going to turn down a fight against Randy? Are you kidding me? C’mon.

“He’s one of my heroes, one of my idols. How are you gonna say no? That’s almost disrespectful. I had to say yes.”

The 31 year-old San Diego resident says the fight against Couture represents the ultimate measuring stick of his abilities. He wants the light heavyweight championship, and maybe more than that, to cement the feeling that he’s a complete mixed martial artist, an expert in his field.

In recent years, Vera has frustrated fans. After a string of highlight reel finishes, he’s looked overly tentative against fighters with half his striking pedigree. He’s rarely used his wrestling. He’s let guys off the hook.

He counters that there’s a method to his madness.

Last fight, it was switching stances to confuse and make vulnerable Team Quest’s Soszynski. It worked: Vera was one step ahead in the striking exchanges. Again, though, he failed to finish his opponent.

“I was trying to knock him out with my hands from a southpaw stance, instead of doing what I normally do,” explained Vera. “I was trying to switch it up, I guess. We wanted to try out some different things. I got to try out stuff during a live fight, so I can’t be too disappointed about my performance, other than I didn’t finish him. That sucks. It’s almost like you didn’t win.

“My whole thing is, I kick people in the face, I knee people in the face, I can submit people. Now, if I can go to the southpaw stance, and I’m knocking people out from the southpaw stance, people are gonna be like, ‘oh my God, now what am I gonna do with Vera?’”

He knows he won’t have any time to hesitate with Couture. Couture has already stated that he’d like to take Vera’s best weapon—his Muay Thai skills—away from him.

“I’m letting everything go with Mr. Couture,” laughed Vera. “You’ve got to. You can’t hold back with Randy. I’m gonna pull out every trick, everything I know.”

If he ends up on his back—so be it.

“It’s not a big deal,” said Vera. “Nobody’s seen me on the ground, except for once. Oh, twice. Once with Fabricio Werdum, but we won’t go there again.”

Vera says Couture’s fight with Nogueira revealed some things he can exploit, and after all, he’s simulated “The Natural.”

“Then again, Randy’s a master tactician,” said Vera. “If he were in the Army, he’d probably be one of the best generals in the world. He’s the master planner.”

Vera is already in camp at Alliance Training Center in San Diego and will remain there until he flies to Manchester a few weeks before the fight. It’s the opportunity of a lifetime, but it hasn’t set in yet.

“I’m excited,” he said. “The nerves aren’t hitting yet. The nerves will probably start to set in about halfway through the camp.

“It’s a big deal if you make it a big deal. For me, it’s more about the fight. I’m fighting Randy Couture. It doesn’t matter if it’s televised, not televised, main event, or a dark match. It’s not where I’m at on the card, it’s who I’m fighting. I don’t think there could be anything more exciting than the match itself.”

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Unanimous Clothing will be watching UFC 103 at Kahunas Sports Bar and Grill. Doors open at 3pm fights start at 4pm. No cover.

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Unan1mous Clothing would like to wish the best of luck to Koa “Boy” Ramos in his upcoming fight September 12th at Up N Up! Good Luck Koa!