Python
10-09-2006, 03:46 AM
Rivera finds inner strength
Sunday, October 8, 2006
Rivera finds inner strength
The world saw a devastated Jorge Rivera Thursday night, after the Milford middleweight was eliminated in the final preliminary bout of “The Ultimate Fighter 4” on Spike TV.
What they didn’t see was the message Rivera had for his family. After his bout, Rivera was hit with a slew of emotion, most of which did not make the airwaves. When he was interviewed, the words came from the heart.
“They started asking me about my family and I basically had a breakdown,” Rivera said when reached on his cell phone in Milford last week.
Unlike some of the other fighters, Rivera is a 34-year-old father who grounds and pounds to, as he so aptly puts it, “put food on the table.” He is not some 20-year-old up-and-comer. He’s a grizzled veteran with a checkered past. “I really thought I was the best guy there,” he said. “I thought it was my tournament to win. I just had a baby girl. I had a lot riding on it.”
Which made the unanimous loss to Patrick Cote all the more hard to take. Afterward, it was like his whole life -- all his mistakes and missed opportunities -- came flooding over him. His arrests. His time in jail. His drug use. Rivera let it all out, but the majority of it didn’t make the telecast.
Here’s what he said:
“I made a lot of mistakes growing up. This was the one time in my life I thought I could make my mother and father proud and redeem myself. I love my father to no end. He’s the person I admire the most. I’ve wanted to tell him so many times how I feel about him. I just don’t have the strength to do it.
“My father was an orphan who came to this country from Puerto Rico. I never saw him do anything wrong. I appreciate everything he’s done for me and I’m just so sorry I fell so short of the standard he set for me.
“I valued the wrong things. I thought it was cool to hang out and sell drugs. It was a crazy mentality. Maybe it was the culture I was wrapped up in, I don’t know. I can’t explain it. I spent time twice in jail. I was going nowhere with my life. I was just a foul person.
“I was always involved in drugs. I was just a major screw-up. When I got kids, I reflected on what I did when I was growing up. I just look back and reflect on what was given to me by a guy who had no parents. Someone who had so little. And what I have offered the world so far, it just doesn’t match up. He brought me up with so much more.”
Despite the loss, Rivera has turned his life around and he credits mixed martial arts and the UFC with giving him an outlet. Friends such as Mark DellaGrotte, Keith Rockel, Doug Colenda, Pat Barbieri and Tim Burrill “have taken me in, given me time and helped me out of their own pocket. They do this out of the goodness of their heart.”
Rivera’s toughness and showmanship have earned him respect in the UFC and the loss to Cote will not mark the end of the dream.
“Dana White came down and had a conversation with me after I lost and those words meant a lot to me,” Rivera said. “I thought it was over and I’d have to go home and figure something else out.
“They see a lot of potential in me. They know what they have in me. I’m a guy who really does his job. It was encouraging to me.”
As for the fight, well, the kick to the chin from Cote, when it looked like Rivera had things under control, was lights out. Literally.
“I blacked out. I mean, I was dominating him. I was thoroughly handing him his ass,” Rivera said. “All of a sudden, I’m waking up and I’m hearing his corner saying, ‘Patrick, he’s hurt!’ I woke up to him running over ready to hit me.
“It took me a while to figure out what was going on.”
But now that he does know, Jorge Rivera’s going to be OK.
***
Brockton rocks
Don’t look now, but hard-nosed Brockton, the home of Rocky Marciano, is having its name represented by a pair of pretty decent mixed martial artists.
Joe Lauzon, 22, shocked the Vegas crowd at UFC 63 two weeks ago when he spoiled legendary lightweight Jens Pulver’s return to the ring with a first-round knockout in his UFC debut.
“I wanted to fight him on the ground, didn’t want to stand with him,” Lauzon said after the fight. “He was looking for the takedown, looking for the takedown, so I just threw the hook. It landed. That was it.”
Joe just graduated from Wentworth and now his little brother, Dan, 18, makes his UFC debut on the undercard of UFC 64 next Saturday night in Vegas. Dan, a lightweight similar to his brother at 5-foot-10, 155 pounds, is the youngest competitor in the UFC. He has his hands full with Spencer Fisher, who holds a 19-2 MMA record and is fresh off a TKO win over Matt Wiman in May.
***
Title time for Florian
Also on the UFC 64 card is Dover lightweight Kenny Florian’s shot at the UFC lightweight title. KenFlo battles rock-solid striker Sean Sherk, whose only losses have come to welterweights Georges St. Pierre and Matt Hughes.
“I’m excited with the opportunity,” Florian said. “(Sherk’s) a big dude. He’s ripped. He looks like everyone’s nightmare.
“But I know it’s a fight I can win and one in which I can shine.”
The pay-per-view event, which also features the middleweight title fight between Rich Franklin and Anderson Silva, airs at 10 p.m. on Saturday.
[Only registered and activated users can see links]
Sunday, October 8, 2006
Rivera finds inner strength
The world saw a devastated Jorge Rivera Thursday night, after the Milford middleweight was eliminated in the final preliminary bout of “The Ultimate Fighter 4” on Spike TV.
What they didn’t see was the message Rivera had for his family. After his bout, Rivera was hit with a slew of emotion, most of which did not make the airwaves. When he was interviewed, the words came from the heart.
“They started asking me about my family and I basically had a breakdown,” Rivera said when reached on his cell phone in Milford last week.
Unlike some of the other fighters, Rivera is a 34-year-old father who grounds and pounds to, as he so aptly puts it, “put food on the table.” He is not some 20-year-old up-and-comer. He’s a grizzled veteran with a checkered past. “I really thought I was the best guy there,” he said. “I thought it was my tournament to win. I just had a baby girl. I had a lot riding on it.”
Which made the unanimous loss to Patrick Cote all the more hard to take. Afterward, it was like his whole life -- all his mistakes and missed opportunities -- came flooding over him. His arrests. His time in jail. His drug use. Rivera let it all out, but the majority of it didn’t make the telecast.
Here’s what he said:
“I made a lot of mistakes growing up. This was the one time in my life I thought I could make my mother and father proud and redeem myself. I love my father to no end. He’s the person I admire the most. I’ve wanted to tell him so many times how I feel about him. I just don’t have the strength to do it.
“My father was an orphan who came to this country from Puerto Rico. I never saw him do anything wrong. I appreciate everything he’s done for me and I’m just so sorry I fell so short of the standard he set for me.
“I valued the wrong things. I thought it was cool to hang out and sell drugs. It was a crazy mentality. Maybe it was the culture I was wrapped up in, I don’t know. I can’t explain it. I spent time twice in jail. I was going nowhere with my life. I was just a foul person.
“I was always involved in drugs. I was just a major screw-up. When I got kids, I reflected on what I did when I was growing up. I just look back and reflect on what was given to me by a guy who had no parents. Someone who had so little. And what I have offered the world so far, it just doesn’t match up. He brought me up with so much more.”
Despite the loss, Rivera has turned his life around and he credits mixed martial arts and the UFC with giving him an outlet. Friends such as Mark DellaGrotte, Keith Rockel, Doug Colenda, Pat Barbieri and Tim Burrill “have taken me in, given me time and helped me out of their own pocket. They do this out of the goodness of their heart.”
Rivera’s toughness and showmanship have earned him respect in the UFC and the loss to Cote will not mark the end of the dream.
“Dana White came down and had a conversation with me after I lost and those words meant a lot to me,” Rivera said. “I thought it was over and I’d have to go home and figure something else out.
“They see a lot of potential in me. They know what they have in me. I’m a guy who really does his job. It was encouraging to me.”
As for the fight, well, the kick to the chin from Cote, when it looked like Rivera had things under control, was lights out. Literally.
“I blacked out. I mean, I was dominating him. I was thoroughly handing him his ass,” Rivera said. “All of a sudden, I’m waking up and I’m hearing his corner saying, ‘Patrick, he’s hurt!’ I woke up to him running over ready to hit me.
“It took me a while to figure out what was going on.”
But now that he does know, Jorge Rivera’s going to be OK.
***
Brockton rocks
Don’t look now, but hard-nosed Brockton, the home of Rocky Marciano, is having its name represented by a pair of pretty decent mixed martial artists.
Joe Lauzon, 22, shocked the Vegas crowd at UFC 63 two weeks ago when he spoiled legendary lightweight Jens Pulver’s return to the ring with a first-round knockout in his UFC debut.
“I wanted to fight him on the ground, didn’t want to stand with him,” Lauzon said after the fight. “He was looking for the takedown, looking for the takedown, so I just threw the hook. It landed. That was it.”
Joe just graduated from Wentworth and now his little brother, Dan, 18, makes his UFC debut on the undercard of UFC 64 next Saturday night in Vegas. Dan, a lightweight similar to his brother at 5-foot-10, 155 pounds, is the youngest competitor in the UFC. He has his hands full with Spencer Fisher, who holds a 19-2 MMA record and is fresh off a TKO win over Matt Wiman in May.
***
Title time for Florian
Also on the UFC 64 card is Dover lightweight Kenny Florian’s shot at the UFC lightweight title. KenFlo battles rock-solid striker Sean Sherk, whose only losses have come to welterweights Georges St. Pierre and Matt Hughes.
“I’m excited with the opportunity,” Florian said. “(Sherk’s) a big dude. He’s ripped. He looks like everyone’s nightmare.
“But I know it’s a fight I can win and one in which I can shine.”
The pay-per-view event, which also features the middleweight title fight between Rich Franklin and Anderson Silva, airs at 10 p.m. on Saturday.
[Only registered and activated users can see links]