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By Thomas Gerbasi - The last time I dug that Alice in Chains lyric out was in January of 2002. The occasion? The UFC lightweight title fight between champion Jens Pulver and unbeaten phenom BJ Penn. For those who don’t follow mixed martial arts, let’s just say that the conventional wisdom at the time was that the gritty champion from Iowa was good, but that Penn was on a whole different level. The way fans and pundits saw the bout, Pulver didn’t even need to show up and take any physical abuse on fight night. He could just send the championship belt to Penn in Hawaii.
"I just can't believe it," Pulver told me before the fight. "I'm dumbfounded. At the same time I'm glad. If they think he's that unbeatable and unstoppable, then more power to him. I felt that making me a 3-1 underdog just showed a big-time disrespect to me. But I get to prove more people wrong. I ain't losing this fight. He can train all he wants, it doesn't matter. I think he's a great fighter, he's skilled, he's explosive, and I like the guy. He's always been respectful to me and I've always been respectful to him. I'm battling a fighter in front of me, respect issues, the fans, my career, and things inside my own head. He just happens to be the person that's got to receive the punishment that I'm going to be dishing out because of it." [Click Here To Read More]
"I just can't believe it," Pulver told me before the fight. "I'm dumbfounded. At the same time I'm glad. If they think he's that unbeatable and unstoppable, then more power to him. I felt that making me a 3-1 underdog just showed a big-time disrespect to me. But I get to prove more people wrong. I ain't losing this fight. He can train all he wants, it doesn't matter. I think he's a great fighter, he's skilled, he's explosive, and I like the guy. He's always been respectful to me and I've always been respectful to him. I'm battling a fighter in front of me, respect issues, the fans, my career, and things inside my own head. He just happens to be the person that's got to receive the punishment that I'm going to be dishing out because of it." [Click Here To Read More]
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