“The crowd was so loud that I couldn’t hear my corner. If I heard them and knew, you know, there are 10 seconds left, five seconds left, whatever, I would have tried to hung in there a little longer and survived. But it was so loud and these people were supporting me so much, I couldn’t hear and I had to tap.”
– Houston Alexander tells Yahoo!Sports.com that if he knew how much time was left in the first round (seven seconds) he perhaps would have tried to last until the bell rather than tap because of an Eric Schafer arm triangle at UFC Fight Night 15: “Diaz vs. Neer” last night. Alexander is from Nebraska and had his hometown crowd vociferously rooting him on until the waning seconds of the opening frame. The loss is Alexander’s third straight, pushing his record inside the Octagon below .500 (2-3).
128 Comments »
I think that he would’ve been out before those 7 seconds were up. That’s LONG time when there’s no blood to the brain and it had already been applied for a while.
I would agree. It’s not like the triangle was sunk in at the 10 second mark. He held in there for as long as he could before almost going to sleep.
I wouldn’t doubt that he couldn’t hear though. The crowd was so f’ng loud you could talk to the guy next to you.
Yeah, he would have been out for sure. The bell would have rand and they would have had to scrape his lifeless body off the mat.
What a chump this guy turned out to be. He completely wilted as soon as the the fight hit the ground.
Houston is truly a one-trick-pony.
Tut Tut Houston…there is no excuse for inadequate training.
I still would have liked to see it go to the next round though (Mainly cos I had money on him winning….what was I thinking!!)
This dude got a different excuse for every one of his fights. In the past, even going to the point of saying he wasn’t KO’d when he clearly was. EVen before the UFC he’d get beat and blame in on some guy being all greased up. Houston Alexander is NOT and MMA fighter. He should go back to the back alley of Nebraska and fight gas station attendants and what not like he used to before the UFC. Either that, or go fight Kimbo in a parking lot. He does not belong in the UFC which wastes our time. Sakara and Gouviea each got the bonuses for KO and Sub of the night but we didn’t see them because they HAD to show Houston fight in Nebraska.
The only fight that I would be interested in seeing Houston in would be against Kimbo but they are different divsions and orgs.
Also, in regards to last nights telecast, if anyone else does what I do and start watching it like an hour late and fast forward the commercials, then we missed some news. I just read that durin the commercials, they announced TUF Season 9 will be USA vs UK.
In that case, this season should have been USA vs Brazil.
It is going to be VERY unfair to the fighters that are on Team Nog come fight time. During yesterday’s fights, all you hear is Frank Mir giving PERFECT instructions to the fighter his trainers were cornering. And from Nog’s corner, the ONLY thing I heard was whenever thier guy thew a kick, thier corner would do the Brazilian, “AAAAAAAAYYYYYY!” I don’t think that that will help thier fighters too much…
I was really impressed with Mir…the dude knows his MMA. He’s going to be an awesome coach this season. Hopefully Nog has an english speaking coach that can bark directives during the fight.
This years coaches have got to be the best yet.
RealDrew: I totally agree this has to be equally the best talent for the TUF coaches.. Nog is just set cuz of the language barrier.. but still would be a great coach IMO.. I think TUF 9 will be 185er’s.
I thought Nog spoke extremely well for what I was expecting. They both were spitting direction to their respecting corners. I think Nog will be be a more effective coach than Rampage was.
Houston is done. Even if he did make it to the next round, he definately wouldn’t have made it past the next. He clearly blew his load. Eric would have gotten him to the ground and finished him in the early minutes of the next round. Can’t help to feel bad for Houston, I always liked his fighters heart. Hopefully, he will rebound elsewhere.
Hey Guys, what would the chances be for a TUF season where actual camps (Miletich or Jackson, etc.) acted as the coaches? Don’t know about the feasability of this, but it would sure be interesting!
good idea…then have guest appearances from camp members.
definitely. I have thought about that in the past. They can easily do
Team Jackson vs Team Couture
or
AKA vs ATT
(American KickBoxing Academy / American Top Team)
All 4 of those camps have plenty of talented young fighters. Back in the day, Miletich was a Top 4 camp, but not any more
you guys are funny, I said this 6 months ago and you guys all thought I was nuts. track back and check it out. by the way, caesar gracie vs jackson would be good!
F that! Perfect solution for not holding up titles because of TUF coaches:
Team Rogan vs. Team Goldberg and you let Goldie and Rogan hire prominant mma coaches like Greg Jackson or delagrotti,
While these coaches like Jackson are coaching tuf who would prepare his guys for their fights?
Have to give some props to the folks in Omaha. They showed themselves to be a pretty good MMA crowd. There were 3 decisions on the main card, yet I didn’t hear a lot of boos. I heard a few boos during the 3rd round of the Guida vs. Danzig fight, but that was it. The midwest boys were plenty of support.
That has me thinking…what city has the worst MMA fans?
My vote is Sacramento. They started booing during the Torres vs. Maeda fight.
Anyone that boo’d during that fight should no longer be allowed to even watch MMA on tv, and that include EliteXC
Why not. I wanted Danzig to win and Guida wouldn’t stop humping him. I didn’t boo but i could see why someone might
I don’t recall a more popular fighter who is as lost on the ground as Houston is? Does anybody?
Kimbo maybe?
Good point
I’ll preface this by saying that I’m not a fighter, but for the love of god how hard could it be to learn how to close your guard?? The second he got taken down his legs were spread like…[insert hollywood bimbo here]. Just to keep half guard could have made all the difference.
Also, Houston didn’t seem to realize the significance of Red putting Houston’s arm over his own neck. Was this some secret move? Nope.
(Thanks for letting me vent)
your welcome
Eric Schafer didn’t have any problem hearing Houston’s corner. That’s how he knew he only had a minute left.
lmao , great point. Eric said that in his interview with Rogan.
He couldnt hear cause he was getting ponded and choked out.
Were ppl booing Shafer after he won? , or Houston ? Did they actually cheer when he was getting choked regardless of where hes from? If so thats a good mma crowd , who cares where they are from , as long as they can scrap.
Also Ive seen pics on ufc.com and somewhere else that shows atleast one of Houstons big knees were illegal.
THANK YOU for mentioning illegal knees! I’ve been reading about cutting or not cutting Houston from the line-up, BUT the most important thing from my point of view is how often he throws illegal knees. My opinion is that he cannot fight while remaining calm and subsequently can’t defend against well anything.
On the ground, Houston would lose a grappling match to his grandma!
Sucks that Houston can’t stay alive on the ground. It’s nice to see unusual talent, i.e., an ability to knock people out with short punches while clinched or dirty boxing. He also generates crazy power with his knees and everything else for that matter.
Train all ground game Houston until you don’t suck or your contract expires.
10 seconds to go nite nite is all that is needed.
I imagine that feels like an ETERNITY.
Imagine Someone steals tine from you..that is what it’s like.. About a year ago.. I was rolling with a decent skilled grappler.. I get him in a head arm choke.. and he doesn’t tap right away.. so I ajusted a bit.. turned counter clock wise.. and he still didn’t tap.. Homeboy.. went out.. I let go. .and dude is out with his EYES WIDE OPEN.. making some creepping noises.. I start banging on his chest to wake his ass up.. he comes to in about 10/15 seconds afterwards..talking about he was dreaming..I realized by the time I adjusted my grip.. he went night night..quick.
Spot on Chef. You could tell that Houston was almost out by the time he tapped (and after Red got off him he was still really woozy). So, had he not tapped, the fight would have been over at the end of the round anyway, when they discovered that Mr. Alexander was sleeping under Eric when the bell finally rang. I’m pretty sure something like that happened to Chuck in his first fight with Jeremy Horne.
That said, I thought the fight was very exciting. Great job by Schafer in weathering the early sh!t-storm from Houston. I don’t know what DW is going to about the Nebraskan Assassin at this point (sh!t, he may be cut already, for all I know), but I’d keep him around for at least one more fight based on his explosiveness in the first round (and maybe don’t give him a BJJ Black belt in his next fight).
I can’t believe he blames losing the fight on the fans when he would have been out anyway. I usually enjoy watching his fights too because they are usually exciting win or lose. That was a nice arm triangle.
That’s a nice excuse. He should go to Brazil and train BJJ.
He should go anywhere and train BJJ.
LOL!
Hahahahah wow. Just wow. There are no words to express just how delusional this idiot is. His loss to Thiago Silva he complained that he wasn’t out and that “oh i really do have a groundgame, I just lost my frame of mind momentarily!”, then his loss to Irvin he proclaimed he wasn’t out yet again, and now he’s blaming the loss on not being able to hear.
Jesus. Fucking. Christ.
Where is the Rich Clementi comments after that Houston Alexander fight?
Schafer should of said “you a’int crap Houston. Go learn jiu-jitsu.”
Yeah, because that would have been extremely classy, and earned him a lot of fans.
Go back to watching WWE, please.
What the hell does that have to do with having no ground game and defense? That choke was sunk in at 12 seconds and was good and tight. Houston would have been drooling on himself if he didn’t tap. I’m not surprised by the outcome, but I feel for the guy- he has 6 mouths to feed. And I suppose that keeps him from going away for weeks at a time for training camps or be able to afford those training camps for that matter. We were rooting for him in my house and I wanted to see him make it to the second round just to give me another chance but- this isn’t EliteXC. The UFC isn’t hinging there whole survival on the hype of 1 person and they aren’t going to feed Houston cans just to continue his hype. No one wants to see a guy in that life sitaution lose his job, but that the way the cards are falling.
Don’t feel bad for him. He made a conscious decision to pop out all those kids. MMA requires sacrafice. And if you can’t sacrafice for good training because you got a bunch of kids then thats the path you chose in life.
I have only one mouth to feed ‘cuz I stopped f*cking long enough to train jiu-jitsu. Props for being a stand-up father but maybe if your a fighter you don’t take that phrase so literally?
I think it had more to do with the fact that Houston was gassed and just gave up. And didn’t Shafer say that he went for the arm triangle because he heard Alexander’s corner yell out how much time was left? I guess aside from fighting abilities Shafer has better hearing abilities as well.
u r right!
eric did say that.
good point son.
Nice catch! Ouch!
He said he heard Houston’s corner yell that there was one minute left.
yeah, its funny that Houston couldn’t hear his own corner while Schafer said he heard them clearly and reacted by going for the submission ASAP. I don’t think its very professional for Housotn to blame it on the crowd noise… Houston has no groundgame, and couldn’t defend properly. Ive never seen anyone who is that bad on the ground. Very disappointing since he has some decent stand up.
houston should write a book on excuses.
He said he was going to but he couldn’t because he had six kids and he didn’t have time. But then he made some time and still didn’t write it because the sun was in his eyes. This guy can’t catch a break.
LMAO. So funny!
lmao
You know what they say- those who are good at excuses are rarely good at anything else. (except making babies apparently)
hahahaha!
did anyone else notice that the first knee houston threw was illegal, i had to see it again because I didn’t catch it the first time, Schafer was on his knees when the knee conected, props to him for surviving that 1st minute
I saw that too. I thought the first two knees by houston were both illegal as schafer was technically on the ground. The ref thought about stepping in but let it go for whatever reason. I’m glad houston lost in a way. I have no personal disrespect for the man but he’s nothing more than a brawler taking up valuable real estate in a crowded division.
Not the first time Houston has used illegal knees. He nailed Jardine with one too (although it was pretty much over for The Dean at that point anyways).
It seems as though you can easily get away with one solid knee to the head of a downed opponent in each fight. It happens often and nothing happens.
Unless your Nate Marquardt and your beating the shit out of Thales Leitas.
The rug in my bathroom has more ground game than Alexander.
I normally don’t like when we rip on a guy but so much, but this stuff has me laughing out loud at work!
I think Houston could earn the nickname “the rug” because as soon as he hits the ground - he just lays there…flat…just like a rug!
Even the “tweeners” that train with Dan Lauzon at his self defense class can submit Houston on the ground. (if you didn’t see the “Upgrade” TapOut episode, then you do not know what I am referring to)
Right, or Little Kimbo would be good.
Houston will be okay even if cut from the UFC. He got great exposure while there and will make decent coin fighting in a smaller org as a UFC veteran fighter.
Or doing appearances at swap meets and flea markets.
Hahaha!!!
Man, you are one cold SOB, Mexi.
Or maybe he can get back to his illustrious career of being a bastian of North Omaha’s underground hip hop movement (thats per his Wikipedia page). I read that and laughed. Who would have known that Omaha and North Omaha was such a mecca for underground hi-hop.
Dude I live here. Don’t go to North O at night.
Man I would like Houston a lot more if he just accept the fact that he lost plain and simple. His pathetic excuses/explanations after he loses horrible are getting old fast. Sad when you fight in the UFC and have literally no ground game.
Yeah, go ahead and blame it on the people who support him.Maybe he should just own up and admit that he has a crap ground game. He’s a strong dude but he always looks too stiff in the cage, there’s no fluidity to his movements. If the muscles are always tensed like that then it won’t be long before you gas out.
I like the guy and eveything, he’s always exciting to watch but c’mon, learn some BJJ already. At least enough to defend.
exactly, his muscles are too big and they are getting in his way thats why he’s always stiff and moving the way he does.. you can’t be a good boxer with a body like that.. and he looked like he was getting tired too, more technique and running for Houston and not so much weightlifting that would be good for him and his body…
worst fighter on the ground in the entire ufc for sure..
Drew McFedries (sp) is up there too.
McFedries doesn’t belong in the UFC. The only reason he was ever given an undeserving chance to fight there is because he is/was one of Matt Hughes’ training buddies. He sucks.
kongo
Another 5 seconds and he wasnt going to hear the crowd or his corner because he would have been sleeping.
I like Houston so I will not talk sh*t like the rest of you. All I will say is it it too bad he is 36. If he was 26 he could take a 3-4 years to learn some solid jits and work his way back. Oh well… It was fun while it lasted.
I like Houston. He’s very entertaining, but he’s got man holes in his game. I love plenty of fighters but I’m not blind.
“man holes”
That is just gross…
dirty mind, he meant sewers lids
Jesus BNF get your mind out of gutter. Are you at work with that dirty mind?
Houston and Liddell should go to K-1
He should have let Red put him to sleep. The time shouldn’t have been a factor. An armbar or something more painful I might understand, but in front of the hometown he should have fought right to the end.
Easier said than done when you’re not the one being choked unconscious.
thats the end of his career in the ufc….i remember when everyone on this site was hyping him up!!!!!exacly what hansen said about the average american mma fan…turned their backs on houston…a long time ago…
Gotta love the Houston hate here. I wonder how many of you Mousepad Marines actually fight, let alone train. You’re a bunch of pussies.
Hahaha!!!
We got us a computer tuff guy!!!
Go Bears!!!
“A computer tuff guy” LMFAO!!!!!!
Go Texans!!!
i fight and train tough guy. are you posting to make fun of people that are posting…. you’re super tough
You have 2 screennames?
LMAO.
Sure, you train. So do I. I box.
What’s
your
point?
Go Steelers!!!
So Do I
STEELERS!
Someone give this guy a pickle. My zipper is stuck.
Is your zipper stuck on your boyfriend’s hairy rear end?
So as fans of the sport we can’t debate/comment/critique one of the fighters? That’s absurd. I bet you critiqued the Colts when they lost to the Bears. Butyou shouldn’t have, because I also bet you don’t play pro football.
Chef-
You still a Bears fan? So few of us left…
actually, I’m a Bears AND Colts fan. When I was a kid my cousins and I always had two favorite teams (one had to be good, the other had to suck). So back then (30 years ago) I chose the Bears cuz my Dad had met Ditka and said he was cool, and the Colts were my toilet bowl team. Wow, things have turned around. lol
Yeah, and us “pussies” actually buy the PPVs and the DVDs and the books and the shirts, etc., in effect paying the salaries of these fighters. So if that doesn’t entitle us to our opinions, I don’t know what does.
And like the saying goes, “Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach.” So maybe if everybody on these forums criticizes a fighter’s ground skills lack thereof, then perhaps the fighter could use it as constructive criticism and start learning what he doesn’t know.
I for one, have nothing but respect to any fighter who steps into the cage/ring to get punched, kicked, choked, beaten, etc. but I also like to share and discuss my opinions with other fans. If you perform in a public forum like any pro athlete, you should learn to deal with public opinions… and maybe even learn from them.
Go Beavers!
I LOVE Beavers!
Ditto!
And boobies!
I’ve pulled trains with chicks before. Does that count?
Don’t let your man crush for Houston make you talk all crazy now. The guy has been exposed and sucks as a professional fighter, plain and simple.
He’s still one of my favourite fighters, mainly because you know you will never see a boring Houston Alexander fight. He’ll never be a champion but he’s a fighter I love to watch.
Stozo, I agree. Houston does bring it. He should work on his cardio though. What was up with that?
I definitely enjoy watching him fight though.
Excuses excuses
Houston always has one. You LOST, got choked out, plain and simple
I saw him verbally ask for the “time” while he was on the ground, so his comment is interesting.
I think he needs to train a LOT off his back, like do only that for the next year. It’s great to have takedown defense, and he can work on that. But he especially needs to become as close to an ace off his back as his body will allow. Some guys are built for BJJ, and maybe his body isn’t. Either way, I hope he works exclusively off his back for a while.
for him to become better technically he has to change his training and his body first and become a little leaner too much muscles on Houston.. either way he always puts on a good show
Being unaware of the time is not a valid excuse for surrendering.
phuck you, phuck you, phuck you, You’re cool, and phuck you I’m out!
ROTFLMAO!
Witty retort!
This ladies and gentlemen is the very deifinition of douchebag….
Houston, we have a problem.
The reason houston is not good is he like to clinch and damage his opponet from there by throwing knees and dirty boxing. But when u clinch u have a greater chance of getting taken down. And when your ground game is that bad clinching is not a good idea. Why chuck is so good against jits or wrestler is because he keeps his distance so its hard for them to take him down. So sorry houston you are never going to go anywhere with that strategy when ur ground game is htat bad.
The reason houston is not good is he like to clinch and damage his opponet from there by throwing knees and dirty boxing. But when u clinch u have a greater chance of getting taken down. And when your ground game is that bad clinching is not a good idea. Why chuck is so good against jits or wrestler is because he keeps his distance so its hard for them to take him down. So sorry houston you are never going to go anywhere with that strategy when ur ground game is htat bad.
I said Red was going to win. Everyone on this page gave me crap!!! Told you!
I knew eric schafer was gonna win.
Houston should fight Kimbo. They seem like they have the same skill set.
no they don’t.. their standup is totally different
What a loser
this guy never runs out of excuses does he?
what a joke!!! HAHAHA you were gassed buddy! the worst excuse ive ever heard. such an obvious arm triangle.. what a joke! youre a joke to the ufc buddy.. move on
I couldn’t hear my trainer
I swallowed my gum
I craped my shorts
I couldn’t move he was holding me down
He wouldn’t stop hitting me
He was so mean
Excuses, excuses
chill out.. the journalist obviously asked him a question about how it was out there for Houston and about the finish of the fight, and Houston gave him his answer and there’s no big deal about it.. fact is that he couldn’t hear his corner and that’s it..
Agreed…plus it’s not like Shafer had an answer for him on the feet…Shafer is as one dimensional as Houston…just a different aspect of the game…the question was could he take his shots…yes he could…could Houston sprawl and scramble enough to keep the fight standing…I thought he did a good job, but ultimately looked like he fatigued and Schafer used his one dimension to choke him out…
are you joking dude? Red looks 1 dimensional?
For 1 he has a better chin then Houston , those illegal knees would have put Houston away tko.. He got up and kept slugging with Houston and going for the takedowns. He was setting them up with punches except once when he took a leg kick..
And when he got the take down he didnt let up , Houston had him hurt at teh beginning and couldnt put him away .. He also didnt gas like Houston and was just as strong as him in the clinch without having too break a sweat.
Red is much much much more rounded then Houston. No idea why he was the underdog.
There was only 1
He looked pretty dazed after. I think he would have been counting sheep by the bell.
Yeah im sure he wasnt making excuses, notice he said he would have tried to survive…no excuses there!!
Good point!