Who is this version of Sonnen and where did he come from? When he first ventured into the Octagon at UFC 55, he was just a wrestler who couldn’t stop himself from getting caught in submissions, and when he was cut from the organization he wandered, competing in BodogFight, Northwest regional promotion Sportfight, and then losing to Paulo Filho in the WEC. But somewhere between tapping out to Demian Maia at UFC 95 and now, Sonnen sewed up that hole in his game, polished his boxing, and turned into a righteous dispenser of beatings. Post-transformation, Sonnen dominated Dan Miller and top-ranked Yushin Okami, the latter earning him a duel with Marquardt for the right to face whomever holds the belt after the future Anderson Silva/Vitor Belfort dustup. Such was the stage when UFC 109’s co-main event kicked off.

For three rounds Sonnen put the former King of Pancrase on his back, dodging a couple dangerously close guillotine attempts and peppering the Greg Jackson-trained fighter with fists from above. No slouch himself, Marquardt fired back from the bottom, opening up a nasty gash on Sonnen’s forehead that painted the violence crimson and made both men slick with blood. But that – and a reversal and brief stint on top in the final seconds of the bout – was all Marquardt had, and when the ultimate tally was read, the scorecards accurately reflected reality: the dominant Sonnen had won.

Next for Sonnen is a crack at the belt. Miraculously, this Sonnen may even have a chance.

Unlike the young wrestler, the aging Coleman did not stand a chance. But what did everyone expect? After a meager performance against an under-prepared Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and a narrow decision against Stephan Bonnar, it was clear the best days of the once-feared “Godfather of Ground and Pound” were behind him. Conversely, though on the far side of his 40s, Couture has remained in the mix with the upper echelons of the light-heavyweight and heavyweight divisions, and if Coleman pioneered the art of getting on top and raining down strikes, “The Natural” has refined the method into a science. So it was that the two met in UFC 109’s main event (instead of UFC 17, when they were originally scheduled to meet), and so it was that Couture bullied Coleman against the cage, dirty boxed him for the first round, and tossed him the canvas and went to work in the second. The end came when Coleman rolled to his stomach and Couture mercifully sank the choke – a sad finish to a sad and unnecessary bit of matchmaking.

Matt Serra proved he’s still got those heavy hands, which he used to send Frank Trigg into dreamland half way into Round 1 in their bout. Neither the jiu-jitsu master nor the ex-wrestler bothered with grappling, choosing instead to duke it out, and after a few select punches to the body Serra fired off a stunning overhand right. The trio of follow-up blows on the ground was just the icing on the cake, as Trigg was out. Also out was Mike Swick, who engaged in a stand-up battle with the big punching Paulo Thiago and paid for his folly with a right hook to the chops, a punch that sent him confused to the canvas. The Brazilian wasted no time applying a D’Arce choke, and Swick was asleep just shy of the two-minute mark of the second round. Coming off a crushing loss to Marquardt at UFC 102, Maia turned in a tame performance against fellow jiu-jitsu black belt Dan Miller, edging ahead with slightly more effective striking and a few takedowns to snag the decision.

In undercard action, both Mac Danzig and Melvin Guillard squeaked by Justin Buchholz and Ronnys Torres, with the TUF refugees’ victories more a matter of securing a dominant position here or landing one or two more strikes there than anything else. UFC rookie Phil Davis, however, left no doubt who was the better fighter in his bout with former WEC champ Brian Stann, with the highly-decorated wrestler getting the Marine Corps officer down repeatedly and beating on him for the decision. And if Rolles Gracie had wanted to make an impression in his first UFC outing, he certainly did – although probably not how he’d hoped. Controlling late-replacement Joey Beltran early with his groundfighting, Gracie seemed to live up to the hype his last name carries. That is, until he gassed. A minute and a half into Round 2 and he was done, exhausted and turtled as Beltran pounded out the TKO win.

The Ultimate Fighter reality show wasn’t even a raw concept yet when Nover popped his MMA competition cherry. The year was 2003, the promotion was Kipp Kollar’s Reality Fighting, and the venue was the gymnasium of Marist High School in Bayonne, New Jersey. Back then, the Filipino was more of a Jeet Kune Do stylist, an intense rookie employing a mishmash of striking skills to go with his newly-acquired Rodrigo Gracie-taught submissions. But he hit hard, and wasted no time doing it, cracking opponent Ron Stallings in the chops before finishing the stunned fighter with a guillotine.

After that, Nover returned to action only once a year, scoring a knockout here and sinking a choke there, all the while juggling his nursing pursuits with his training. Yet with each subsequent win, Nover’s reputation as a top competitor simmered on the stovetop of Northeast MMA, until Ring of Combat’s Tournament of Champions came along and brought his it all to a violent and steaming boil. It was there where he took out a fighter from Spain and kimura’d a dangerous wrestler from the Jersey Shore, and though Nover was forced to miss the final round of the eight-man tournament due to a shoulder injury sustained in training, he’d more than made his mark. His next bout would be aired on SpikeTV.

Losing to Escudero forced Nover to return to nursing, but he was game and eager when he stepped into the Octagon to take on Kyle Bradley at UFC 98 six months later. Unfortunately, a premature and controversial stoppage marred that outing, the result of him getting dropped with punches and referee Yves Lavigne erroneously thinking he was done. Then came UFC Fight Night 19, where just hours before his match with Sam Stout, Nover fainted in the locker room – a turn of events that prompted the athletic commission to call the bout off.

Now, medically cleared to compete, Nover gets to face Emerson on Saturday night. To say he’s in desperate need of a win is putting it mildly. Nover’s got his back to the figurative wall. To be or not be? For Nover, and the fans he made rising up through the Northeast ranks as well as from kicking ass on TUF, that is the Shakespearian question.

About 517,000 viewers tuned in to watch Heisman Trophy winner Walker take the pugilistic plunge against a tomato can, making Strikeforce: “Miami” the second most-watched Showtime MMA event ever (“Carano vs. Cyborg” ranks number one). How much of that is attributable to football fans curious to see one of their athletes compete in a wholly new realm? How much of that is from the “freak show” factor? Honestly, it doesn’t matter. Like the 35-year old Kimbo Slice – a man who entered MMA too late in his life to turn himself into a contender, yet because of his mass appeal as a former backyard brawler is the most popular fighter of all time – Walker’s an eyeball magnet if ever there was one. Of course, being perilously close to 50 means his time in the cage will be short, and if he faces anyone with even a modicum of ability he’s a dead man, but that’s beside the point. This old man’s got fans. Consequently, as long as he willing, he will always have fights.

Some may argue that Coleman and Couture’s UFC 109 headlining status is a sign of Zuffa’s shortage of “big names”, and to a degree that may be true. But Coleman was a UFC superstar long before Zuffa entered the picture, and back when Dana White and company were contemplating making Bob Meyrowitz, the promotion’s original owner, an offer, “The Hammer” was winning Pride’s prestigious Grand Prix tournament. He may have looked horrific against Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC 93 and just barely squeaked by Stephan Bonnar at UFC 100, but he was the man back in the day.

Fellow UFC Hall of Famer Couture’s story is similar, although his run as a title threat ended much more recently (at UFC 91, when Brock Lesnar TKO’d him for the belt). Couture’s popularity has proved enduring, and the stuff of solid pay-per-view buyrate legend. It’s a given that as long as he’s willing to compete, the powers that be will let him. And whether the Coleman the ex-wrestler win or Couture the ex-wrestler wins at UFC 109, it ultimately means nothing for the rankings. Two old men with strong fan bases are mixing it up, and Zuffa is going to let them. That’s purely a bone tossed to the fans keen on shelling out the dough to watch.

The sport is too new and too young for much of a mapped-out retirement plan, and really, do great fighters ever truly retire when they’re supposed to? However, if you’re an aging competitor with a ton of people willing to watch you throw down, retirement can remain a dirty word. Lots of fans means you will always remain important.

The most competitive of the beatings was Diaz’s championship tilt against DREAM import Marius Zaromskis. A champ within the Japanese organization, Zaromskis made a name for himself as a devastating, deadly striker, a fact which made itself apparent to Stateside fight fans when he charged right at Diaz and threw at him everything he had. It was a tactic that bore fruit, Zaromskis seeming to overcome his opponent’s reach advantage and land enough fists to send Diaz tumbling. But Diaz recovered, and when they were both upright he did what he does best: a nonstop stream of pitter-patter punches that eventually turns foes to jelly. By 4:38 of Round 1, the Lithuanian DREAM champ was done, and Diaz had himself the Strikeforce welterweight title.

Cyborg’s battle with Dutch fighter Marloes Coenen was competitive at well, at least at first, when the two came out with guns blazing and firing point blank in each other’s faces. But a pattern quickly emerged in this contest between the Chute Boxe rep and the Golden Glory rep: Coenen would land maybe one or two punches on the feet and go for one or two submissions while on the ground, while Cyborg would utterly plaster her. Gradually, as time ticked on, Coenen wore down, and by the latter half of the third she had little to offer by way of defense. The end via TKO came at 3:40 of Round 3, when the Strikeforce 145-pound female champ began banging away at the Dutch challenger and Coenen had no answer.

Ex-champ Robbie Lawler was getting completely battered by DREAM veteran Melvin Manhoef – a turn of events actually expected by pundits familiar with the Dutch kickboxer’s handiwork. For about three and a half minutes of Round 1, Manhoef chopped at Lawler’s legs with authority, mixing in punches as he stalked the American around the cage, and for all intents and purposes, it looked as if Lawler was well on his way to getting destroyed. But when Lawler’s heavy hands are involved in the equation, all it takes is one overhand right to turn the tide – and one overhand right did. Manhoef was unconscious on the canvas at 3:33 of the first round, a victim of the only meaningful strike Lawler threw in the bout.

Famed footballer Herschel Walker stepped into the cage a 47-year old in great shape but with no combat experience, but when he got done with the overmatched Greg Nagy, he was a veteran with a victorious one-sided beatdown and win by TKO on his record. For nearly two and a half rounds Walker put Nagy down and punished him from above, and aside from a few submission attempts here and there, Nagy had nothing. Wes Sims had nothing as well when he faced pro wrestler Bobby Lashley. From takedown to finish by ground and pound, Lashley was just too much for the last-minute opponent (Sims took the bout on only a few days notice), and referee stepped in at 2:06 of the opening round.

Matt Hughes, Mr. Company Man, not doing what UFC asked him to do?

“Well I did have to make a decision there,” Hughes told M M A F i g h t i n g . c o m in an interview yesterday. “The UFC knows that when they ask me to do something, I generally say yes. But when Dana White calls and says hey I need you to do something, I always do it and this is the first time I’ve said that I just can’t do it. I ran down here with Robbie (Lawler) to do this, the fight, I have something scheduled that I signed a contract for so there’s two reasons why I didn’t go to Abu Dhabi and the third being my wife just had a baby so I got to get back and my wife absolutely said that I’m not going to the Middle East right now, no if, and, or buts about it, so I put those three together and I just said Dana, I just can’t do it.

“I don’t think he was upset. He did remind that I was the only fighter who would not be there, but um, you know he definitely wasn’t mad. I think he understood that you know they should have gave me a little bit notice. They told me a week before they wanted me to jump on a plane that they wanted me to go over there, so they needed to work things out a little bit better than what actually happened.”

Hughes is helping out fellow H.I.T. Squad compadre Robbie Lawler. Lawler, who lost to Jake Shields last July in St. Louis at the Scottrade Center, is on the comeback trail against K-1/DREAM fighter Melvin Manhoef. Manhoef has incredible striking power and could easily knock out Lawler if it’s a stand-up war. If Lawler takes Melvin to the ground, the fight will end quickly. A simple-enough fight to game plan for, right? Hughes said not-so-fast.

“It’s all on how Robbie feels when he steps in the Octagon. On any given day, somebody can beat somebody else. But if Robbie feels like he’s on top of his game, he’s going to come out of there with his hand raised. I think that we’ve got some great game planning going into this. Obviously Melvin brings a great striking pedigree into the fight, but you know we’ve done our homework, we’ve looked at the tapes and we’ve come up with what we believe are his weaknesses like I’m sure he’s done with Robbie.

“We can come up with as much game planning as we want to but what’s going to happen in that Octagon Saturday is whatever Robbie wants to do. You know, I can yell and scream all I want from the sideline, you know, but Robbie does whatever he wants to do and if he wants to stand up with the guy then he’s going to stand up with him, there’s nothing that I can do about it. So, that what’s Robbie wants to do that’s what he’ll do. But I mean, Robbie’s watched enough tape to see what this guy does, what he’s strong at, what he’s weak at, so Robbie’s very good about putting himself in good positions on his feet so you know you don’t want to underestimate Robbie when it comes to stand-up because he’s very, very good at digesting somebody’s game and coming up with a game plan.”

Lawler last fought in July, which was over six months ago. According to a comment made by Hughes on his web site on December 21st, the H.I.T. Squad went out to California to meet with Strikeforce and couldn’t get a fight booking sooner.

“Last week I was in California with Robbie, Pena, and Foster, hoping they would find a replacement so Robbie could fight. It didn’t happen and I guess I’m just spoiled being with the UFC. From what I understand, Showtime really likes to stick their nose in Strikeforce’s business and because of that I don’t think that Strikeforce will be around for much longer; but enough with that.”

There was a lot of discussion online as to whether or not this meant political trouble between Strikeforce and the H.I.T. Squad camp. Hughes said there was no heat, but he also didn’t mince any words yesterday.

“I think I said what I had to say on my web site but I didn’t like the way it was handled. From the organizations that I fight for, the UFC, it wouldn’t have been like that. But everybody’s different and I don’t have any grudges or dislikes at all. And if somebody’s got a problem with me, I sure hope they come up to me and say something about it. But you know I don’t have a problem with Strikeforce, they’re always very friendly to me. I just didn’t like the way that was handled.”

As for Hughes’ immediate future in Mixed Martial Arts, his focus is entirely on fighting Renzo Gracie. It’s a unique match-up in the sense that it really won’t determine or shape the direction of the UFC Welterweight division, but it’s two tough veterans who give it their all and will make the fans undoubtedly happy.

“I think Renzo’s a great opponent. I think it works well for both of us. I beat his cousin, I beat his student one student Matt Serra, he just beat my former coach well he beat my former coach Pat Miletich a couple of years ago, so storyline-wise it really works out good for us. The bad thing about the fight for me is I like Renzo. He’s a great guy, you know, if you don’t like Renzo Gracie then there’s something wrong. He’s just a really nice guy so that’s one thing I dislike about it. It’s a lot easier preparing for somebody like Matt Serra who run his mouth and doesn’t know what he is talking about as opposed to Renzo who’s got nothing but nice things to say about somebody, so trying to get myself motivated which I’m not having a problem right now, just trying to get in the best shape of my life and you know I think it’s going to be a really interesting fight. You know Gracie brings in that great ground game, he’s you know pretty well-rounded I would say. I think I hold the takedown ability if the fight wants to go to the ground I think it will be because I put it there. You know he’s kind of got crazy stand-up a little bit because he doesn’t care if it goes to the ground, he can be kind of reckless. So, it’s interesting, it’s an interesting fight.”

Renzo will have home turf advantage in Abu Dhabi, given the fact that he has trained many people in the country. Plus, Abu Dhabi is, well, home to the ADCC (Abu Dhabi Combat Club) Submission Wrestling World Championships. There’s a lot of money put into bringing the biggest names in the fight game every year to Abu Dhabi. It’s prestigious. The Gracie name plays really big over there. When Hughes fights in Abu Dhabi, he will no doubt be the heel.

“Fighting overseas doesn’t bother me, I’ve done it several times. I probably have over 10 fights out of the country, so that really doesn’t bother me but you know I got to clarify with the UFC, I don’t know who they are bringing over there to judge, you know I’m going to make sure the cut men are there to tape my hands and everything so I want to make sure it’s like I’m fighting in the United States but I’m just in a different country. I think Renzo’s going to be the favorite over there, you know he spends a lot of time over there and that doesn’t bother me, I actually like that. You know, I’ve always been the guy to where if I can guy to somebody else’s hometown, beat ‘em up and leave, I mean I love ruining people’s day like that.”

After he fights Renzo Gracie in April, will we see Matt Hughes compete again in the UFC?

“I think I can, you know if I want to, it all depends on my drive, you know, I definitely want to take this fight. I really like the match-up, I do, so we’ll see what happens after this fight. It’s one fight at a time for me, no doubt about it. So, right now I still want to compete, I love it, so we’ll keep going.”

The truth is that Hieron doesn’t deserve the treatment he is getting. With that said, Jay Hieron is proof positive that being successful in Mixed Martial Arts is often determined by how strong your political and business connections are as opposed to what your skill level is in the ring/cage.

Of all the IFL veterans who have latched onto other promotions since that group’s collapse last year, Hieron and Roy Nelson are the two most successful fighters so far. Hieron is a legitimate talent who has been constantly screwed over by promotions collapsing due to financial difficulties and fighters who can’t get their act together. The end result is that Hieron is left often on his own accord without a lot of political leverage. Hieron thought he had caught the break of a lifetime when he was scheduled to face Nick Diaz last year in California. Instead, Diaz flaked out of signing a contract and didn’t fight in California due to licensing issues. Naturally, the odor of marijuana issues reared it’s head in the media. Hieron was left to fight former Ultimate Fighter cast member Jesse Taylor in a dark match on Strikeforce’s event last August in San Jose. Hieron lost money from sponsors because his fight did not air on Showtime.

No one has been screwed over more than Hieron has been over the last couple of years in the business. He’s been stuck in a training camp for the last six months in Las Vegas. In a recent interview with Dave Farra of R a w v e g a s . t v, Hieron expressed gratitude to the fact that he’s been able to stick with everything despite all of the horrible luck he has had to deal with.

“Yeah, it’s been a blessing that it’s been this long because I’ve been training for a southpaw, which was supposed to be Nick Diaz and you know I’m still fighting a southpaw which is Joe Riggs.”

And don’t even mention the name Nick Diaz around him.

“No thoughts, I don’t even care about him, I mean he’s not even on my mind. Joe Riggs, I’m fighting him this weekend, so you know, after the fight we’ll sit down with Strikeforce and see what’s up.

“Of course, it’s a little frustrating you know, people don’t see that stuff we deal with behind-the-scenes but you know again I’m a professional and you know I can only control what I do and that’s Saturday night on the 30th, get out there and do what I do best. If I concentrate on that negative stuff, you know, I’m going to feel it in my training, I’m going to feel it when I fight so I try to be 100% positive and it takes work, man, I got to tell myself it’s all good, there’s a bigger and better plan for me, everything happens for a reason, so again it’s not the end of the world, I’m still on the card, I’m still fighting, you know, patience is my servant man, I mean, I’ll get my shot.”

They (Strikeforce) were waiting for Diaz to come to and to sign the contract and whatever. For some reason he didn’t sign the contract and now I’m not fighting him, so I’m not fighting for the title. Again, I’m not trying to feed into the negative and start worrying about why I’m not getting a title shot, why I’m not on TV, of course it hurts my pocket because of sponsors and fans that want to see me, they’re not getting to see me, but I don’t have any control of that. I’m still, I still think about the positive sides about it. I’m blessed, I’m healthy, I’m still here, I’m still in the sport, I’m still fighting, so I concentrate more on that.”

Hieron vs. Riggs will air on E A S p o r t s m m a . c o m and not on Showtime. Instead, fights involving Herschel Walker and Bobby Lashley will take center stage. A women’s match between Marloes Coenen and Cris Cyborg has also been completely overshadowed by the presence of Walker making his MMA debut. When asked about the strange matchmaking for the Florida event, Hieron put on his best face.

“If you look at it outside-looking-in, it’s good business by Strikeforce because there’s NFL, Super Bowl, so they’re getting all them football player fans you know for Herschel Walker so I mean if that’s what they want to do, put butts in the seats, they’re achieving that I believe.

Hieron is once again in a dark match position. Is it because he is perceived as boring? What about the fact that his opponent has a relatively decent following of fans in MMA?

“Of course, I mean you know I prepare myself every fight to go out and try to put on the best fight I can, the most you know exciting fight ever but you know I mean you know when I get out there and fight tough guys, you know I’m so sharp and I’m in tremendous shape right now. You know, it’s going to be an exciting fight no matter what.

“Tough guy you know, he’s been on the top show, he’s fought for the title in the UFC, so you know it’s a fight that I want to fight right now. This is a fight that makes sense for me and my career right now and just the kind of guys that I want to fight. Guys with name, so at the end of the fight, I have something to gain from. My stock goes up and you know bigger and better things.”

Hieron knows what is at stake on Saturday night. He has to win. Unfortunately for Jay, even if he wins, that doesn’t necessarily guarantee him a spot on television of a major card. It’s frustrating, but it’s not in his control right now.

“You know, time, it’ll come man, it’ll come. … I fight on Saturday, all steps in the right direction, we’ll site down after that, see what’s going on, but you know I do the hard work every day, I’m here every day, twice a day, all year round, I take a week or two weeks off so you know if you have that much drive, motivation and dedication, you know stuff’s going to happen, doors are going to open, and that’s you know I live by that. Hard work pays off.”

On the Newark undercard is a potential #1 contender’s bout in the Welterweight division between former #1 contenders Jon Fitch & Thiago Alves. Alves is coming off of a loss to St. Pierre last July at UFC 100. Fitch, meanwhile, is coming off of another unimpressive performance in which he (once again) couldn’t finish an opponent and decided to take it to the scorecards. It’s Fitch’s lack of ability and his constant need to go back to his comfort zone of wrestling that puts a ceiling over his potential to become the Welterweight champion.

Fitch has faced St. Pierre before a couple years ago in Minneapolis and got destroyed in the fight. Since that fight occurred, Jon Fitch has given the fans little reason to believe that he has improved to the point that he could take on St. Pierre in a re-match. Because of this belief, it’s very hard to book Fitch in the Welterweight division if you don’t believe that he can become the champion.

When Fitch and Alves square off on March 27th, all the pressure will be on Fitch. Not only does he have to win but he also has to finish Alves, which is unlikely to happen. In a recent interview with Inside MMA on HDNet, Fitch commented on the different paths the two men have gone on since they first fought each other over three years ago.

“You know, I think the biggest thing is mentally [Thiago]’s matured a great deal in that time period, I think he was pretty young when we fought, mentally and his wrestling has increased, his wrestling defense is much better, he’s harder to take down and he’s a little bit bigger and stronger. I think he’s matured also physically, so a little bit more power. Maybe he’s slowed a little bit, I don’t know, we’ll see.

“I’m peaking, you know, I’m in my prime. I plan on being in my prime for the next 10 years. I’ve changed my diet around, you know I got the fiancée, my future wife has been taking good care of me, so I feel younger now than I did a few years ago, you know I’ve been seeing a strength and conditioning coach, working a lot on speed and agility, I feel like I’m a much better athlete than I was a couple of years ago. So I mean I’m a much improved fighter than I was when we first fought and so he is so this makes for a really good match-up and we’re both fighting for another crack at GSP, so we both have something big that we want out of this fight.”

If Fitch beats Alves by decision and neutralizes him for three rounds, that will not win over fan support nor will it win him the #1 contendership in the Welterweight division. This reality is something that Fitch acknowledges.

“If I stop him, I don’t see how they can deny me a shot with GSP, you know, at that point I would have stopped somebody twice that GSP couldn’t finish in five rounds. So, I think that makes a very strong argument for me getting another title shot.”

With the rumors of St. Pierre considering a permanent move to Middleweight (185 pounds), Jon Fitch and Thiago Alves could only be so lucky if that move happens. Otherwise, the two men will forever have a permanent glass ceiling in the division. Neither man is beating St. Pierre any time soon. With this in mind, it makes it harder for both men to market themselves as the elite-level fighters that they really are.

In order to try to get the word out about himself and market himself in a positive light, Fitch was recently filmed for a new documentary called “Such Great Heights.” He believes that anyone who sees the documentary will become a fan of not only him but also the many fighters followed at American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose.

“We just have to get it out there for everyone to see, so you know take advantage of the hard work all the guys did to put that movie together.”

On Inside MMA, clips from the documentary were shown. Fighters discussed why they do what they do and what motivates them to be the best that they can be.

“You have to live it. Simple as that. You got to live fighting. Daily. You’re going to get punched in the head.”

“It’s something that’s in you. You’re not normal to chose to be a fighter and put everything in the world on hold.”

Ironically, the centerpiece of the film is about the lead-up to Fitch’s biggest fight against St. Pierre in Minneapolis, which was an absolute mauling.

“This is the biggest thing that I’ve ever been a part of,” Fitch says when looking at promotional materials hyping up the St. Pierre fight.

Fitch was asked on HDNet to explain why “Such Great Heights” would be a different kind of MMA documentary than other ones already produced (like “Smashing Machine” featuring Mark Kerr or the new documentary featuring Jens Pulver coming out soon.)

“Yeah, it’s a very good movie without the train wreck quality that you get from most successful documentaries. It shows what it is to be a fighter, what it means to be a fighter. It shows a lot of different levels from myself to guys just starting in the sport, guys who have been around a long time and haven’t gotten anywhere yet. It just shows you what it means to be a fighter and why we’re doing this and what it means to us.”

As for how the documentary covered Fitch’s loss to St. Pierre, he puts it this way.

“Yeah, it shows the aftermath you know, the stuff immediately after the fight, the stitching in the ambulance. You know, back in the hotel room with my parents and fiancée and then family. So, it shows you a bit of the sport that a lot of people don’t ever really get to see.”