The finale of Sean Salmon's UFC debut is hard to take. But Salmon has watched it again and again, looking to squeeze something positive out of being on the wrong end of a highlight-reel moment.
Unbeaten light-heavyweight contender Rashad Evans knocked Salmon out with a vicious right-footed kick to the head in the main event of a televised Ultimate Fight Night card on Jan. 25. Evans might as well have used an axe and shouted timber. Out cold, Salmon toppled to the canvas where he took a couple of punches to the face for good measures before the referee stepped in.
The knockout was so brutal that the TV show's producers elected not to show Salmon being attended to in the ring after the mixed martial arts fight was stopped
"I'm pretty satisfied. I'm not satisfied that he's still laying there," Evans said in his post-fight interview.
Salmon, 29, went to the hospital that night for a battery of tests but says he had no lingering physical issues.
"Everything came back negative, which from the shot that I took is kind of unbelievable," he told The Canadian Press. "No concussion, no nothing. Just a bad headache for probably eight, 10 hours afterwards. I woke up the next morning nothing but embarrassed about the loss."
"If I could block this Evans match out of my head right now, I would love to. But I can't," he said.
"Right after the fight I watched the video about a million times. I still watch it at least once a day. Still looking for any mistake I made or anything I can improve on. And I've done that."
Salmon, a former wrestler still learning MMA skills, reckons he has taken all he can from that six minutes and six seconds. But he can't escape the memory."
"Now it bugs me. It still eats at me. It keeps me up at nights. I just hate having it in my head. And if I could get rid of it, I would - but I can't.
"The only thing I know how to do is just to continuing using it."
Other fighters have endured hard losses, but Salmon says he has not really talked to them about it although he has sounded out friends and family.
"Every fighter deals with adversity and losses differently," he said.
His wife Missy, who was ringside for the Evans' fight, has also had to deal with it.
"That's not something we ever planned on having happen to me," Salmon said. "She took it pretty hard but she hasn't given me any grief about it."
Instead she offers tips.
"Every once in a while when I come home from a workout, she'll ask 'Are you keeping your chin down and circling away from his power?"' said Salmon, who lists his wife and Lance Armstrong as his heroes.
The Salmon win vaulted Evans into a high-profile bout with former champion Tito Ortiz at UFC 73. Salmon finds himself on the undercard of UFC 71.
Salmon (9-2) is due to meet Schafer (9-2-2) on May 26 in Las Vegas in the card featuring Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell against Quinton Jackson.
Salmon reckons both he and Schafer are at their best on the ground - Schafer at jiu-jitsu and Salmon at wrestling.
"He poses some problems for me," Salmon said. "But I'm doing everything necessary to get them figured out and come away with the best game plan to win."
Salmon is looking forward to showcasing his skills a bit more this time.
Salmon is a big believer in learning from mistakes, citing his only other loss - via armbar submission - to David Heath.
"I don't see myself every getting armbarred again and I don't see myself ever getting kicked in the head again because of those two losses."
One mistake against Evans was letting his opponent get back up after using his wrestling skills to take him down.
"When I watch the replay of that fight with Rashad, I get more sick to my stomach watching him get off (the) bottom than I do getting kicked in the head. I've never had anybody get off bottom after I take him down. That's obviously a mistake I made in that fight that I don't see it ever happening again."
He has tinkered with his training this time out, saying Evans taught him he needed to improve his conditioning.
"If you're smart in this game, you should learn something every single time you prepare for a fight, and then learn something more from the fight - things that work for you and things that don't."
For Evans, he started training and dieting 12 weeks before the bout. The strict diet took away from his enjoyment of the training, he said, so this time he didn't bother watching what he ate until closer to the fight. The extra calories gave him more energy and improved his mood.
He has also spent more time on his boxing and standup, noting that when Evans kicked him in the head he was actually leaning toward the kick. Salmon fights as a southpaw, which can mean leaning into a right-hander's power.
"Which is exactly what I did with Rashad. That's not going to happen again."
A former collegiate wrestler at Ohio State, Salmon retired from the sport in 2005 but turned to MMA, following the footsteps of training partner Rex Holman.
Today he is a full-time fighter, quitting his bartending job in mid-December.
"To become the best at this sport, you have to do it full time," he said.
A native of Columbus, Ohio, he trains about 90 minutes south in Westchester, Ohio, where Jorge Gurgel has an MMA gym. Former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin, UFC lightweight Dustin Hazelett and Bodog fighter Mike Patt also train there.
Salmon normally walks around between 210 and 215 pounds, cutting down to 205 when he fights as a light-heavyweight. After this bout, he plans to move down to middleweight and fight at 185 pounds. At 5-10, he is a small light-heavyweight but will be more in line with middleweights.
Notes: The UFC has confirmed details of UFC 73, slated for July 7 at ARCO Arena in Sacramento, Calif. The main events pits middleweight champion Anderson Silva against Nate Marquardt.
© The Canadian Press, 2007
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