Feb-17-2009
Rory Markham - A Wednesday Survivor Heads to London
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UFC 107: Penn v. Sanchez DVD
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By Thomas Gerbasi
As Brodie Farber pursued Rory Markham around the Octagon last July, landing punch after punch along the way, it would normally be panic time for any man on the receiving end of those blows. Not Markham though. Getting hit is just an occupational hazard for the Chicago native, and after 20 pro mixed martial arts fights, he knew that redemption is always just one shot away.
THWAP!
That was the sound of Markham’s right leg landing to the side of Farber’s head that summer night in Vegas. Farber was knocked out before he even hit the mat, and Markham had come back from some rocky moments to secure his first UFC victory. Just another day in the salt mines.
“Getting rocked is nothing new to me,” he said. “What a weird thing to be comfortable with, but if you don’t find comfort there, you’re not going to succeed. It’s eventually going to happen in a fight, and you’re pretty much going into autopilot, so your training is what prevails in those instances. Unluckily for me, I’ve been rocked quite a few times in fights, but I know how to circle, and I know how to bait guys into certain things and stay alive.”
Ask Markham where you develop skills like that, and it’s not from a book or video or at your local strip mall dojo. He’s learned grace under fire in one of the sport’s legendary proving grounds – the Wednesday night sparring sessions at the Miletich Fighting Systems gym in Iowa. It doesn’t matter who you are, if you’ve been in the Bettendorf gym on Wednesday night, you have gotten a beatdown or two or twenty over the course of your time there. If you come back, you become a better and tougher fighter. That doesn’t make it easier though, and even Markham still gets jitters when the middle of the week rolls around.
“Every Wednesday,” he deadpans. “I get the pre-fight nerves because Wednesdays for us are just brutal and they make a man outta you. It’s a baptism by blood, but that’s the whole point. The first guy who told me to come down here was Eric Johnson. I worked with him for about a year and a half, doing some MMA, and he told me ‘if you want to go make it, go down to Miletich. I heard that if you make it through their Wednesday night, then they’ll let you hang, and maybe then you’ve got something. But you have to make it through Wednesday.’ The first night I was down there, I was in a group with Drew McFedries, Matt Hughes, and Jeremy Horn.”
Markham admits that he got dropped that first night, which prompted the famous Pat Miletich mantra, “Anybody gets dropped, find your way to the corner of the room, make sure nobody trips over you.”
He came back though, and every Wednesday since, he’s in there banging away with some of the best in the world, along with a host of those who hope to someday earn that description. But it’s not for everyone, and Markham has seen his share of fighters come in through that door and walk right back out after a bad night of sparring.
“A very low estimate, I’d say at least 50,” he said of the MFS turnover rate. “There are guys coming down, puffing up their chests, ready to rock and roll and Monday’s tough, Tuesday, you get through it, and it’s just rolling, but Wednesday comes and now let’s see if this guy takes the cake. For a while, Hughes was calling me and Robbie Lawler the gatekeepers. Anybody in our weight class would have to go with us, and Rob hits like a ton of bricks, and I can get a few in there once in a while, and we’d see what you were made of.”
It will make you a fighter, or lead you into another line of work, and luckily for fight fans, Markham has decided to stick it out in the world’s toughest game. He’s taken his share of knocks over the years en route to a 16-4 record, but what you’ll never get out of a Rory Markham fight is a boring waltz. He’s there to fight, and win or lose, he’s looking to take your head off. It’s an attitude that gained him fans during his eight fight stint in the IFL, and after his near-decapitation of Farber, he’s garnered even more followers – not only among fans, but the media too. And he’s loving every minute of it.
“When I’d run late at night, instead of thinking of fights – and this is embarrassing – I would go over potential interviews in my head and how I’d respond,” he laughs. “I wanted to make sure I’d never be at a loss for words and I’d always be able to give a great interview. I truly worked on it.”
“I took a nice slow process to get here,” he continues. “I had some exposure in other organizations and it all kind of nurtured me to this point. As this week has picked up and the interviews have picked up, it really is living up to my expectations. In all humility, more people are recognizing me, which is really cool. My girlfriend owns a salon and even she can’t cut a head of hair without them asking questions.”
And despite Saturday night’s bout against local hero Dan Hardy only being Markham’s second UFC fight, the buzz in the UK is such that this is almost like the main event for British fans.
“That’s such an honor,” said Markham of the bout, which will be aired on Spike TV. “I’m truthfully very honored with the placement of this fight and how the UFC has built it. What I really like about it and what’s kept me really comfortable about it is that as much pressure as there is on me, we’re both gonna go out there, perform to the best of our abilities, and there’s a great line in ‘Without Limits’, the story of (Steve) Prefontaine, that says “after a while, the hay’s in the barn.” You did all the work, now you go out there and you just perform. That’s what’s really cool about it.”
What’s really cool about this fight for the fans is that both Markham and Hardy are promising fireworks once the bell rings. Markham especially likes the matchup with ‘The Outlaw’.
“I see a good striker,” said Markham of Hardy. “He seems like he’s a technical guy and he likes to throw quite a few combinations. More than anything, I see excitement. We’re both gonna go out there and we’re gonna really get after it. I really feel that the fans are gonna be the real winners and I’m looking forward to a fun fight.”
But does Markham – who has never gone the distance in his 20 fight career – suspect that Hardy may not be so eager to stand and trade if he tastes some of his power?
“I don’t know where I’m ranked in the UFC, but I do know that I’m one of the few welterweights that carry the type of power that I do,” he said. “I’m trying to be as humble as I can, but if he tastes my power, he’s not gonna want any more of it – I have no doubt about that.”
Sounds like there’s gonna be a little bit of a fight brewing in the O2 in London this weekend. Good thing, because that’s exactly what Rory Markham signed up for. And when it’s over, he hopes that he’ll have some British fans on the bandwagon as well.
“On an international stage, I hope to welcome tens of thousands more fans,” he said. “That’s what I really want more than anything.”
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