2mcgrath
11-01-2008, 10:45 AM
Former UFC lightweight champion Jens Pulver was in a heap at the mat’s edge. AMC Pankration head Matt Hume has just given him one of the worst beatings he could remember in his ten-year career. And Pulver was no stranger to brutal workouts – as a Miletich Fighting Systems mainstay, he had taken as many beatings as he had given. But this one was different. He actually thought about quitting, going back home.
“I was so broken, I didn’t know whether to cry,” he told MMAWeekly Radio on Thursday. “On the inside, I had this one little growing ember left, this one little piece of hope left going you know what? If I stay at this, if I work at this, I can be like that? Damn.”
Pulver said he was ashamed of his performance against Urijah Faber at WEC 34. In every exchange, he felt a step behind. Faber was too fast for him. Hume had an opinion about that, too.
“Matt Hume said you’re forty percent of where you could be,” Pulver said. “I’m like, huh? I was fighting Urijah (Faber) at forty percent?”
Pulver admits that the creature comforts of his Iowa lifestyle had dulled his skills over the years. Being close to the office took away the urgency of upcoming fights. It wasn’t like he was oblivious to the idea of going to a training camp – he had one in his neighborhood. But getting away never crossed his mind.
“Especially when you’ve been doing it for so long, you’ve got to break that comfort,” he said. “I was growing stagnant. Eight or nine years in one place, it was just simply for me to get a new look, a new change.
“I’m man enough to admit, I watched the sport evolve right by me.”
Now, he has little to concern him outside the AMC gym. He’s got a place to sleep, eat, and train. That’s it. The former champ says it’s going to stay that way in the future.
“I love it,” he said. “I’m as happy as can be. I’m still going to go home, but I just need that training atmosphere.”
Pulver’s conditioned fear of Washington, borne of a traumatic childhood growing up just outside of Seattle, no longer holds power over him. In the past, he had avoided every opportunity to return.
“All these people kept trying to get me to go back,” he said. “They even tried to induct me into the high school hall of fame,” Pulver said. “That didn’t work, I made my brother go get the award.”
Pulver’s goal is to get where Hume says he can be, using eighty percent of his skills in the cage. His challenge on Nov. 5, Leonard Garcia, promises to be an intense fight for both. Neither man likes to back down, and will happily stand in the pocket and trade until someone falls down.
“Everything I’m doing is built on building my explosion, keeping the endurance I already had so I don’t go out there and look so dang slow,” Pulver said.
Being broken down for the first time since his early days at Miletich has given him a new sense of confidence.
“I was confident before just to get out there and fight, I didn’t really care about a gameplan, I was just going to let the fight happen,” he said. “Now, the biggest thing is for me not to get overwhelmed.”
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“I was so broken, I didn’t know whether to cry,” he told MMAWeekly Radio on Thursday. “On the inside, I had this one little growing ember left, this one little piece of hope left going you know what? If I stay at this, if I work at this, I can be like that? Damn.”
Pulver said he was ashamed of his performance against Urijah Faber at WEC 34. In every exchange, he felt a step behind. Faber was too fast for him. Hume had an opinion about that, too.
“Matt Hume said you’re forty percent of where you could be,” Pulver said. “I’m like, huh? I was fighting Urijah (Faber) at forty percent?”
Pulver admits that the creature comforts of his Iowa lifestyle had dulled his skills over the years. Being close to the office took away the urgency of upcoming fights. It wasn’t like he was oblivious to the idea of going to a training camp – he had one in his neighborhood. But getting away never crossed his mind.
“Especially when you’ve been doing it for so long, you’ve got to break that comfort,” he said. “I was growing stagnant. Eight or nine years in one place, it was just simply for me to get a new look, a new change.
“I’m man enough to admit, I watched the sport evolve right by me.”
Now, he has little to concern him outside the AMC gym. He’s got a place to sleep, eat, and train. That’s it. The former champ says it’s going to stay that way in the future.
“I love it,” he said. “I’m as happy as can be. I’m still going to go home, but I just need that training atmosphere.”
Pulver’s conditioned fear of Washington, borne of a traumatic childhood growing up just outside of Seattle, no longer holds power over him. In the past, he had avoided every opportunity to return.
“All these people kept trying to get me to go back,” he said. “They even tried to induct me into the high school hall of fame,” Pulver said. “That didn’t work, I made my brother go get the award.”
Pulver’s goal is to get where Hume says he can be, using eighty percent of his skills in the cage. His challenge on Nov. 5, Leonard Garcia, promises to be an intense fight for both. Neither man likes to back down, and will happily stand in the pocket and trade until someone falls down.
“Everything I’m doing is built on building my explosion, keeping the endurance I already had so I don’t go out there and look so dang slow,” Pulver said.
Being broken down for the first time since his early days at Miletich has given him a new sense of confidence.
“I was confident before just to get out there and fight, I didn’t really care about a gameplan, I was just going to let the fight happen,” he said. “Now, the biggest thing is for me not to get overwhelmed.”
source ([Only registered and activated users can see links])