Mar-29-2009

Subtle Changes in Philosophy Help Stephens Keep His Edge

By Thomas Gerbasi

As Clint Eastwood’s character in the Oscar-winning film “Million Dollar Baby” noted, sometimes “tough ain’t enough.” In lightweight up and comer Jeremy Stephens’ case, being the guy stepping in on short notice may gain you fans and prove your willingness to scrap anytime, anyplace, against anyone, but it can also lead you to defeat when facing the type of top-notch competition that fills the UFC’s 155-pound weight class.

And that’s precisely what happened in February, when Stephens jumped in for his injured teammate Hermes Franca on 12 days’ notice against Joe Lauzon and found himself on the losing end of an armbar in the second round of what had been to that point, a spirited clash. But without a full camp or full tank of gas, Stephens saw his Octagon record dip to 3-3 in the blink of an eye. For his part, Stephens has no excuses, but he does admit to having learned a valuable lesson.

“I took the fight on a 12 day notice, everybody knows that, but no excuses,” he said. “Lauzon did well, he submitted me, and that’s that. I have to put that in the past, move forward, and have a full training camp and show people what I’m really about. I got beat, but now I get to come back, and my mind and my heart are fully focused on this fight. It (the loss to Lauzon) taught me a lesson about being prepared at all times and taking this on a professional level.”

For guys like the 22-year old Stephens, it’s a fine line to walk. In his mind, he wants to fight as often as possible against all comers. If he gets a call two weeks after this Wednesday’s bout against Gleison Tibau to fight again immediately, he’ll probably take it. But while that attitude can work on the local show level, in the UFC, it can be the difference between moving up the ranks and moving out the door. So Stephens must compromise if he wants to keep his championship dreams alive.

“There’s definitely tougher competition and a better level of opponents in the UFC, and it’s constantly evolving, so I want to be ready at all times and be focused constantly,” said the Des Moines, Iowa native, who ironically, will be facing an opponent coming in on three weeks’ notice in Brazilian ground ace Gleison Tibau, who is replacing the injured Efrain Escudero.

“It’s not really that bad to switch gears,” said Stephens. “It seems like every time I fight a ground guy or a wrestler. (Laughs) I’ve almost never fought a real striker that’s gonna stand up, so it’s always the same gameplan with me. He’s gonna try to take me down and work his jiu-jitsu. He’s not gonna want to stand and trade with me, so it’s the same gameplan. I was looking forward to fighting Escudero; unfortunately he got hurt; but it would have been good to kick his ass because he won the show (The Ultimate Fighter). But now I move up to a tougher opponent who’s coming off a good win over Rich Clementi, and I’m real excited to go in there and kick his ass now.”

In his six fight UFC stint, Stephens hasn’t been blessed with any gimmes stylistically. Diego Saraiva, Cole Miller, Rafael dos Anjos, and Lauzon all have respected ground games, Din Thomas used his jiu-jitsu to submit Stephens, and Spencer Fisher’s underrated ground attack helped carry him to victory over the ‘Lil’ Heathen’ in June of 2008. So taking on a jiu-jitsu specialist in Tibau is nothing new for him.

“In reality, it’s made my ground game come a lot faster,” he said. “I have to work on my ground game and focus on my jiu-jitsu because all these guys want to take me down and try to submit me. I still work on my standup and MMA training as well, but working on my ground game has helped me step up my level and Hermes (Franca) has shown me a lot of good ground guys who kick my ass everyday and get me better.”

To get ready for the bout, Stephens moved from the friendly confines of Iowa and his daily wars with Josh Neer to sunny Florida, where Franca has been putting him through the paces along with a veritable cast of thousands that includes Pablo Popovich and members of Team Nogueira. And work is not only focusing on the ground game of Tibau, but on dealing with the size and strength of the former welterweight.

“I still think I’ll be as strong as him, and I think he’s gonna wear out,” said Stephens of his foe. “He’s got three weeks notice, he’s a big guy, and he’s got to cut a lot of weight. And ever since we found out about Tibau, we’ve been picking it up and pushing it the extra mile. We’ve been putting in swimming and different types of cardio into the program, and Hermes being the coach, he doesn’t take it easy on me. So the intensity picked up, and we’re still drilling technique and working on a specific plan to beat Tibau.”

So with a full camp in his pocket and a team of jiu-jitsu assassins twisting his limbs in every direction, the only thing left for Jeremy Stephens to do is show up in Nashville on Wednesday and take care of business. And ideally, he’ll do that from the opening bell to the finish, which would be a switch for the slow-starter, who usually doesn’t get into gear until the second round begins. He laughs when you bring this topic up, and claims its all part of his master plan.

“That (starting slow) is something I’ve always said to my people,” he admits. “I don’t get fired up until the later rounds, but at this level, you don’t want to just go in there and attack. Like I was told today – look at the best strikers in the world; they don’t just come out and try to kill their opponents, even though they could. They slowly pick them apart, figure them out, and in the end, the result’s a finish. I want to go out there, figure them out, and then turn it up in the end and work my stuff once they get tired.”

Then he pauses and chuckles before continuing.

“Like Forrest Griffin said, sometimes you gotta get hit to get in the zone a bit.”