Sean Salmon circled the cage looking to score another takedown. Suddenly a right, high kick sent him straight to the mat.
The mixed-martial arts fighter and former Ohio State wrestler was knocked unconscious in his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut against promising light heavyweight Rashad Evans.
"I was more disappointed with myself having got two takedowns," Salmon said. "I made some mistakes. A loss is never a good thing, but I have learned a lot."
Salmon, a veteran of smaller organizations such as King of the Cage and Fightfest Ohio, is stepping back into the cage. His fight with Alan Belcher is part of the undercard for UFC 71: Liddell vs Jackson II. The event takes place Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
The 29-year old looks to add another win to his 9-2 professional record, achieved with the help of Salmon's time wrestling at OSU.
"The whole base of my fighting is wrestling," he said. "I wouldn't be a successful fighter without my time at OSU learning under (former coach) Russ Hellickson, (volunteer coach) Rex Holman and (coach) Ken Ramsey."
The Worthington native is the latest in a line of former OSU wrestlers competing in the UFC, joining NCAA National Champions Mark Coleman, Kevin Randleman and Holman.
Salmon achieved a No. 10 national ranking his freshman year. The weight-cutting then became too much for Salmon, who left OSU after his sophomore year.
He continued wrestling, eventually returning to OSU as a volunteer coach to continue training.
Now Salmon is taking his wrestling base and expanding it as a member of the West Chester, Ohio-based Team Jorge Gurgel.
The team has helped Salmon's striking and Brazilian jiu-jitsu skills improve.
"(It is) a night and day difference," he said. "I was talking to my wife the other day and she said if I were this prepared for Rashad it would have been over quick."
Salmon altered his diet to ensure he peaks going into the Belcher fight.
"Last time I started 12 weeks out," he said. "Real hard training, real strict dieting. By seven or eight weeks out, I was burnt out. I didn't start my diet at all until about four weeks out this time. I've been able to push harder, (and) go longer."
Rigorous training is typical in the life of a fighter. Salmon details his training in a weekly column titled "Full-Time Fighter" for ufcjunkie.com. Help from sponsors such as UFC Junkie has enabled Salmon to turn MMA into a career.
"They stumbled across my Web site and I was blogging there," Salmon said. "I was in the main event against Rashad, and they saw an up-and-comer jumping right into main event, and they were looking for someone to sponsor. I started writing blogs every night (leading up to the fight) explaining everything. Lots of behind the scenes, life of a fighter type stuff."
The column has become one of the Web site's most popular features. Salmon will be writing each night this week leading up to his fight with Belcher.
Following Saturday's fight, Salmon will move down from the 205-pound light heavyweight division to the 185-pound middleweight division.
"I guess I decided to move down because I thought about myself first," he said. "Which (division) would I be the best athlete in. With the amount of time to recover (after weigh-ins) 185 is my best bet. I think I will be one of the better, if not the best in the division."
With a spree of upsets lately in the UFC, there is a chance that Salmon could be sporting gold soon.
"It's great for the sport. It shows what the sport really is," Salmon said. "(There are) a million ways to win and a million ways to lose."
Salmon looks to fight again within the next two months, however, his next fight could come in the fall as the UFC announced plans to hold an event in Cincinnati later this year.
"I'm really not big on traveling. I love Vegas and Florida but I don't enjoy real long flights. I'll go where (the UFC) tells me," Salmon said.
"My job is fighting."
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