“First I want to apologize for the lackluster fight last night. I do take my fans very seriously and it obviously hurts to let them down. I am not the most experienced fighter out there yet and last night was a tough lesson I had to learn. There was a lot of pressure coming off a disappointing loss, cutting for the first time, and hosting a Main Event. I did gain a wealth of knowledge through this experience that will help me in my next outing. Though everyone here is saying how skinny I looked and this and that, I was 2 pounds lighter than when I fought Okami. The difference is that I bulked up after the Okami fight and then over cut myself the 2 months leading to this fight. Next time I will come in bigger and cut more at weigh ins. Burkman is strong and I wanted to prove that I could resist his takedowns and strength. I wanted to stuff his takedowns while gassing him then pick him apart on the feet. By the time the 3rd round came I let it get so close that just one takedown could have seen me going home with a loss and so I was more tentative than I should have been. I tried to look for the one punch knockout over using my usual combinations and flurries and deeply regret it now. Though I looked frail as some put it, I felt really strong at 170. My mistakes were mental. Believe it or not this whole experience made me a lot more confident about 170, my strength at 170, and dealing with what I had to go through leading up to this fight. You will see a much more confident me in my next fight and I hope to get back on track and put on the exciting fights I started my career with. I appreciate all the support and criticism.”
– Mike Swick issues a public apology via MMA.tv regarding his “lackluster” debut at welterweight last night against Josh Burkman during the main event at UFC Fight Night 12. Swick barely escaped with a majority decision over “The Peoples Warrior.”
(Thanks to MMAmania.com reader “Limey” for the assist.)
43 Comments »
i dont think theres a need for him to apologize…he just cut a lot of weight and beat a very tough josh burkman
Class Act.
I think the fight should have been a draw. But still Swick is a class act.
swick vs. davis sometime real soon would be a GREAT fight.
[quote comment=”279396″]i dont think theres a need for him to apologize…he just cut a lot of weight and beat a very tough josh burkman[/quote]
No need, but a good jesture. People tuned in to watch him fight, not play it safe. But it took two people to make it a boring fight.
class act i agree
Well thought explanation, but Swick and his corner should have known better. Back up at all times and defend the takedown, is a poor gameplan for his breakthrough to 170.
I love Swick. He is a good guy and I wish him the best at 170.
[quote comment=”279397″]Class Act.
I think the fight should have been a draw. But still Swick is a class act.[/quote]
Totally agree, I feel bad for burkman it should have at least being a draw in my mind. I still think burkman was the aggressor in this fight, anyone else agree with me? I know we all see things differently but I have a hard time seeing swick as the winner. Swick looked terrible to me in this fight and looked nothing like the swick I’ve seen in past fights. Maybe he still has some ghosts in his mind regarding his last loss? He did look nervous before this fight, I just hope he comes back like the aggressive old swick we knew.
Anyone else notice he looks like a young christopher reeves?
YAWN!!!! JUST SHOW US WHAT YOU CAN DO, WITHOUT SHOWING US WHAT YOU CANNOT DO
[quote comment=”279455″][quote comment=”279397″]Class Act.
I think the fight should have been a draw. But still Swick is a class act.[/quote]
Totally agree, I feel bad for burkman it should have at least being a draw in my mind. I still think burkman was the aggressor in this fight, anyone else agree with me? I know we all see things differently but I have a hard time seeing swick as the winner. Swick looked terrible to me in this fight and looked nothing like the swick I’ve seen in past fights. Maybe he still has some ghosts in his mind regarding his last loss? He did look nervous before this fight, I just hope he comes back like the aggressive old swick we knew.[/quote]
I agree with you. If anybody won, I think it was Burkman just because he was continually backing Swick up on the defensive. I think that’ll be the last Main Event Swick card in a long time. That fight was just horrible.
I don’t think Swick needs to apologize. He won, which is the only thing that matters. I would have liked to have seen more action, but he had some good reasons for being tenative.
I appreciate his respect for the fans. These fighters need to realize that ultimately, it’s the fan that pays their salaries. We’ll see how Swick does in his next fight.
No apology is necessary, I expect a boring fight when Burkman is involved. Swick is still a champ.
no need to apologize…it seems like Rogan or Goldy would have commented that this was also his first fight in over 9 months, thats a long layoff….so that, with the main event, and high expectations, the nerves are understandable….theres not many welterwights out there that could stuff 37 Burkman takedowns, couple that with the way Okami beat him, he showed improvement in td defense and i thought his performance was impressive, just a little gun shy…. i think he will figure out a way to throw flurrys plus td defense now that he knows what hes up against, if anything im a bigger fan now, and i was a big fan before…not many people are classier than Swick
[quote comment=”279455″][quote comment=”279397″]Class Act.
I think the fight should have been a draw. But still Swick is a class act.[/quote]
Totally agree, I feel bad for burkman it should have at least being a draw in my mind. I still think burkman was the aggressor in this fight, anyone else agree with me? [/quote]
I agree with you. Burkman was the agressor through all three rounds. A draw would have been a better decision. I don’t think either man did enough to win.
What next for Burkman? He’s obviously a really talented all-around fighter but this is his second boring decision.
Clearly a 2nd tier level fight. Even if one of them would have performed they just arn’t the same level of a GSP, Fitch, or even Karo. I’m suprised Swick is apart of the same training camp as Fitch and Kos.
I don’t know what was worse, watching the Swick fight or all the damn Rambo promos. Way to combine UFC and steriods…
swick is a class act, i love the fact he told the truth that he was careful because one takedown could of lost him the fight
This is a bit of a cop out! He said the same after Loiseau before getting owned by Okami.
His string of performances are actually common for all athletes. This is the mental game:
1. They are reckless and in this case come out swinging because they have nothing to lose
2. Then they think, ’shit, I have been winning and I am actually in contention for a title shot’
3. From this moment, they are over tenative, nervous and anxious to let loose because a lose sends them back down the ladder.
4. They realise they are getting paid less and fans hate them, so see point one.
An Apology is definitely warrented from swick, The card started off with a great submision then a great knock out from cote, The main event is what ruined that card. but burkmann shares in the blame, In this fight burkman was definitely the more powerful puncher and if he wasnt so adimant in taking the fight to the matt I think he could have caught swick with one of those powerfull hooks.
Talk is cheap, less talk and more action swick
[quote comment=”279455″][quote comment=”279397″]Class Act.
I think the fight should have been a draw. But still Swick is a class act.[/quote]
Totally agree, I feel bad for burkman it should have at least being a draw in my mind. I still think burkman was the aggressor in this fight, anyone else agree with me? I know we all see things differently but I have a hard time seeing swick as the winner. Swick looked terrible to me in this fight and looked nothing like the swick I’ve seen in past fights. Maybe he still has some ghosts in his mind regarding his last loss? He did look nervous before this fight, I just hope he comes back like the aggressive old swick we knew.[/quote]
HOLY SHIT NATHAN!!!! i think we may have found something to agree on here.i think it should have been a draw as well. Mike just didnt preform as his usual self.even though Josh couldnt take him down he still pushed the pace and stalked the entire fight, even tried some crazy ninja kicks and shit.
WTF, why do my post keep getting moderated
Didn’t he apologize his last few fights? I’m a Swick fan but want to see him winning by KO’s and Swickatines! It should have been unanimous. He stuffed every single takedown attempt. Marcus Davis vs Swick would be interesting. Although they are both among my favorite lightweights, I’d be rooting for Davis. I want to see Davis at the top!
Ya swick vs davis would be very interesting, as long as the old swick showed up, not the lamo from last night.
Even though last night sucked, I still like swick. Best of luck on ur next fight. A lot of blame also goes to burkman, he should be cut from the UFC. He has no business fighting there. He is boring as hell. I wanna see swick fight a striker next.
Ufn 12 wasnt the worst though. the military ufn was terrible, and so was the ufn where mcully dryhummped hardonk into a living death.
some of you guys got alot of balls! Why dont you jump in the ring with one of these guys and see how exciting you can make it???
[quote comment=”279692″]some of you guys got alot of balls! Why dont you jump in the ring with one of these guys and see how exciting you can make it???[/quote]
Because most of us would get our arses kicked thats why. Do you want us to lie and say “ya the burkman/swick fight was awesome!”. Well this forum is about people sharing there opinions and telling it like we see it, sorry if it offends but I call a spade a spade.
seriously… who cares?
I’m sorry, I actually enjoyed this fight. Both fighters were throwing bombs and it could have ended any second.
As far as the win being controversial, Swick landed a head kick. Some leg kicks. Locked a short guilloutine. Stuffed every takedown attempt. Reversed in the clinch and answered knees with his own knees. What was he supposed to do, let Burkman take him down? He tried a couple flurries and they didn’t work for him. If you want to see two guys stand in the middle of a ring and punch each other, watch boxing. I am an MMA fan and enjoyed the fight.
This sort of annoys me. The general direction the UFC is going with this issue. Look at what happened to the great AA after one “boring” fight. I hate when two BJJ guys are struggling for position and get stood up because it is “boring”. Again, MMA is not just punching in the face. The ground game and the clinch are parts of it too.
Im glad when these guys man up and apologize for their boring fights. I couldnt wait for the fight to end. Both he and burkman suck!
patrick cote and nate diaz were the boys of the night.
Jizzo - they are professionals mate. Pay me $500,000 a year so I can train 3 times a day, 6 days a week. Then, I will be more than happy to. What a shit comment!
[quote comment=”279497″][quote comment=”279455″][quote comment=”279397″]Class Act.
I think the fight should have been a draw. But still Swick is a class act.[/quote]
Totally agree, I feel bad for burkman it should have at least being a draw in my mind. I still think burkman was the aggressor in this fight, anyone else agree with me? [/quote]
I agree with you. Burkman was the agressor through all three rounds. A draw would have been a better decision. I don’t think either man did enough to win.
What next for Burkman? He’s obviously a really talented all-around fighter but this is his second boring decision.[/quote]
Burkman didn’t accomplish anything. All he did was shove Swick agains the fence, stomp on his feet, then Moustache Mazzagatti separated them. A couple crazy Silva-style back elbows and a freaky kick attempt aren’t worth giving Burkman a decision, especially since none of them actually connected.
Hey Mania, heads up… that Fight Quest banner is all messed up if you are using Firefox, and you have to scroll right to even view it (at least in my case)
Just an FYI, maybe somebody should look at that.
[quote comment=”279760″]Jizzo - they are professionals mate. Pay me $500,000 a year so I can train 3 times a day, 6 days a week. Then, I will be more than happy to. What a shit comment![/quote]
Ummm, I think they have to be good before they make money. Which means they used to train broke - just like you could.
[quote comment=”279455″][quote comment=”279397″]Class Act.
I think the fight should have been a draw. But still Swick is a class act.[/quote]
Totally agree, I feel bad for burkman it should have at least being a draw in my mind. I still think burkman was the aggressor in this fight, anyone else agree with me? I know we all see things differently but I have a hard time seeing swick as the winner. Swick looked terrible to me in this fight and looked nothing like the swick I’ve seen in past fights. Maybe he still has some ghosts in his mind regarding his last loss? He did look nervous before this fight, I just hope he comes back like the aggressive old swick we knew.[/quote]
I AGREE 100PERCENT IN FACT I HAD JOSH WINNING BUT ITS NOT LIKE THE BISPING HAMILL BULLCRAP…AT LEAST SWICKS A GOOD GUY
Swick seems to have an excuse for every poor performance/ loss. He should just suck it up and try to perform better next time. His striking is overrated, but at least he has solid TD defense
Mike Swick needs to go back up to middle weight, his name should be changed from mike the quick to mike the stick, that fight was weak
It’s been said over and over… class act. I couldn’t agree more. Swicks a great fighter with tons of upside in his future
It wasnt that bad of a fight, at anytime something could have happened… but didnt. Burkman pushed the fight and controlled the fight really, even though it was in the form of pushing against the fence. Do you get points for stopping takedowns???
All in all I would rather watch burkman than swick.
The salaries for these guys is f’n pathetic… guys go out and put it on the line train for 3 months and they get 15k…
[quote comment=”279705″]seriously… who cares?[/quote]
[quote comment=”279465″]YAWN!!!! JUST SHOW US WHAT YOU CAN DO, WITHOUT SHOWING US WHAT YOU CANNOT DO[/quote]
Idiots
that s typical, i don t care whatever it s said after a lackluster performance .i mean i ve already been screwed by Swick. I know he s overestimated himself he s just a B fighter
like 100 others.the truth is that he s unable to perform as he promisses.End of quote.
I kind of feel bad for Mike Swick. I haven’t seen the fight yet but I heard it was a real stinker. He’s a classy guy though and he clearly appreciates the fans. He was really upset after the fight and looked as if he was about to cry in the post fight video interview when he went back to his dressing room.
He’s doing all the right things outside of the octagon; great camp, great application to his training, nutrition etc, great PR, in the long run I think things will work out well for him. He has a lot of potential that’s for sure. It can’t have been easy fighting Burkman; they were kind of on friendly enough terms from what I’ve heard.
But business is business and I expect him to really bring it next time out.
Special Thanks to Mike Swick for his seminars on MMA training at our Muay Thai and MMA Training camp in Phuket, Thailand. Mike worked with our international fight team and gave some great advice to our amateur and pro fighters. Mike was welcomed with open arms in the home of Muay Thai which has a growing respect for MMA.
Tiger Muay Thai and MMA plans on having more Ultimate Fighters and MMA professionals to the camp for training seminars and instrctionals. Magical Ray Elbe (No Limits MMA / Lotus Club) is head MMA trainer with 3 asst coaches from weden, Brazil, and S. Africa. Also special Thanks to Sinister Angel cages which supplied us with our new cage inside our new MMA training facility.
Muay Thai and MMA in Thailand. Best of both worlds.