Redemption on TUF4 By Matt Serra Blog Entry
Chris Lytle moves onto the semis in a tough fight with Din Thomas. If you are wondering why you didn’t hear me yapping in the background during this fight, yelling out instructions and such, it’s because I was in a backroom awaiting my showdown with Shonie. Both fights were taped in the same day. Before we get to any of that, though, Marc Laimon is back.
Now, as you know, I’ve had my problems with Marc Laimon’s attitude in the past. That never changed while he was sitting in on our practice. At least in the experience of Team Mojo, he was by far the laziest of any of the trainers the UFC provided for us. His arrogance and condescending nature were nauseating. This exchange he had with Scott Smith is probably the best example I could think of:
Scott: Hey Marc, can you show something from the guard?
Marc: What do you want me to show you?
Scott: I don’t know, a submission maybe.
Marc: Which submission?
Scott: Any one, really, I’d like to add one to my ground game.
Marc: Well, pick one, when you know which one you want, tell me.
The way he dealt with Scottie was pretty typical of his interactions with our team. No one liked him as a trainer, but I can deal with a bad trainer. It’s terrible human beings I can’t stomach.
Now, before I get to our confrontation, allow me to make clear that all of this happened the night before the incident with Matt Hughes and GSP in the restaurant. Tricky editing, as usual, would lead you to believe that this was after the semifinal matchups had been decided. Matt Hughes was playfully trying to get me and Marc to roll jiu-jitsu with each other, and neither of us were biting. I jokingly told him maybe he could see that after the finale, and did my best Ace Ventura impression, yelling “CAN YOU FEEL THAT BUDDY?!” We all had a laugh about that.
Matt then asked Marc if he had seen the latest PPV where Hughes had defeated Royce Gracie in the main event. This led to Laimon sucking up to Matt and talking about how he called it all along, and how Royce was totally decimated and should never have gotten in the ring, and how Marc actually almost got into a fight in the parking lot on the way out because he was so fired up at seeing Royce lose, blah blah blah. Now, I’d held my tongue before, but at this point, I had had enough, and you saw what happened.
I said it before, and I’ll say it again, I have no problem with anyone saying Matt Hughes is a better fighter than Royce Gracie, or commenting on a fight, as long as you’re respectful about it. Laimon has no respect, for anyone, let alone the Gracie family, who brought jiu jitsu to the United States. Think about it, without the Gracies, Marc Laimon probably doesn’t have a job right now. Yet, still, he talks smack about how pathetic Royce looked. I may be a little biased regarding the Gracies considering I trained under the great Renzo Gracie, but his attitude would annoy me if he was talking about any fighter.
Look, fighting is not for everyone, and I understand that. However, if fighting is not for you, you should have a minimum amount of respect for the people who do fight, especially if you’re a world class [supposedly] trainer working inside the industry who knows how difficult it is to get to this level. As for his “it’s a free country” rationale, that is something a 12-year-old says. Maybe he learned it from the 12-year-old he almost got into a fight with in the parking lot after the HughesGracie fight. Marc Laimon is a joke, and I can’t believe I’ve spent so much energy typing about him. Let’s move on.
Shonie’s antics led to what amounted to a bad SNL skit from Rich Clementi and Jorge Rivera. “Fonie” Carter. C’mon! If I was Rich Clementi, and I had six weeks to think of something after being eliminated, I’d have been ashamed of myself. But that’s just me.
Shonie and I had buried the hatchet after nipping his training with Team No Love in the bud. We were totally cool heading into the fight, which was great, because I honestly like Shonie a whole lot. I’m glad we were friends going into our bout, though we’d have to suspend that friendship after we touched gloves to the final bell.
Going into the fight, I was thankful that Shonie was my opponent – it was a shot at redemption I wasn’t sure I’d ever get. Knowing Shonie and his flair for the dramatic, I would be looking for the spinning backfist when we were on our feet. Also, knowing from experience, he is a slippery fellow, like a wet fish in Speedos. As such, my plan was to work him over, gain top position, and strike from there and to be extremely patient in trying to apply submissions – I’d let those come to me.
Round 1 started and I tried to push pace. I thought I won the round early on, when I got him on the ground and started landing punches while I was on his back. I was hitting him with pretty clean shots, and Shonie looked rocked. When the fight got back to our feet, Shonie utilized his unorthodox striking method to land – you guessed it – that spinning backfist. I was looking for it going into the fight, but still got caught by it. In retrospect, it was a good thing because it served as a wakeup call for me – from that point forward, was looking for the unorthodox move from Shonie, because the only way he was going to get me down was by catching me off guard. Anyway, I felt like I won round the first four minutes and thirty seconds of the first round, and he won the last thirty seconds. If I were a judge, I’d have given the round to me.
Round 2 I felt I won pretty handily, and my conditioning helped me a great deal in doing so. I went for the inside leg trip that I got in the first round. When he pulled out, I just switched it to the opposite side for a smooth takedown.
Going into Round 3, I still felt pretty fresh, and I was determined to push the pace. The last thing I wanted to do was leave any doubt in the judges minds that I won this fight, so I made sure to apply pressure to Shonie at all times. I wanted all three rounds, and it seems that the judges agreed with me, punching my ticket to the finals on Nov. 11 LIVE from the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas on Spike TV. It felt great to redeem the one knockout I’ve ever been dealt in my career, but I would definitely welcome a rematch with Mr. Carter down the road.
Serra vs. Lytle. Should be a great fight. I’ll do a preview of it going into the bout. In the meantime, check back next week as we take a look at the first middleweight semifinal.
