Mac Danzig - Embracing The Pressure and Loving The Game

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By Thomas Gerbasi

It’s probably safe to say that every mixed martial artist starts training in the sport and its various disciplines because he or she loves doing it. Whether it’s the joy of competition, learning, or just being in prime physical condition, the daily trips to the gym are something to be savored. For some, this daily work leads to professional fighting, and the opportunity to make a living at what they love to do.

But at some point, other factors come into play, and whether its money, fame, relationships, or any other number of things, some fighters start to lose the joy that got them into the sport in the first place. Mac Danzig knows precisely how that feels, yet oddly enough, it took two losses for him to rebound and get the love of the game back.

“To be honest, it’s been something that had been hard to find as of late,” he admits. “I think the last two fights that I had, the passion and the will to train was still there, but I don’t think I was really having that much fun. I was putting a lot of pressure on myself. Now, the pressure is even higher, but I’ve come to realize that if I’m not having fun with this and not having a good time in doing it, even if I’m getting paid well, it’s not worth it to me. So with this fight I’m training real hard, I’m taking it 100 percent seriously, but I want to go in there and have a good experience. I want to have a great time doing the sport that I love and that’s something that I’ve been working on getting back, especially in this training camp and in my mental game for this fight.”

This Saturday night, Danzig steps into the Octagon for the fourth time since winning season six of The Ultimate Fighter to face New Jersey’s Jim Miller. It hasn’t been an easy ride for Danzig, with his first post-TUF finale win over Mark Bocek followed by back-to-back losses to Clay Guida and Josh Neer. The losses surprised many who believed that the veteran’s drop to 155 pounds post-show would be the start of a long and fruitful career in the UFC. Now, he doesn’t mince words about his future if he doesn’t pull out a win over Miller this Saturday.

“It’s definitely do or die for me,” said Danzig, 3-2 in the UFC and 19-6-1 overall. “I never expect to take a loss, and I don’t think any fighter who has their mind right expects to take a loss, but I’m going in there with the intent of leaving everything in the cage. I know he (Miller) is that type of fighter anyway. I’ve watched his fights before and he’s one of those guys who leaves it all in there and goes for it regardless, so knowing that his back is against the wall a little bit too (Miller is coming off a loss to Gray Maynard), I’m sure he has extra incentive, but it’s all gonna come down to who wants it more, and I know I want it more.”

That’s not to say Danzig laid down for either Guida and Neer, as he came out in shape and looking to win both bouts, only to fall short – first to Guida’s smothering attack last September, and then to Neer’s heavy hands and underrated ground game in February. Danzig has no excuses for either defeat, but he can definitely see where everything went south for him.

“In the Guida fight, I just wasn’t expecting him to fight that way,” said the 29-year old Las Vegas resident. “I thought he was gonna take more chances and it was gonna be a more active fight, but he took a stance of just wrestling and holding, riding the clock on points and neutralizing me, and hat’s off to him, he was able to do it and three five minute rounds just wasn’t enough time for me to finish him. The Neer fight, I don’t know what happened. It was the first time in my career that I’ve ever been submitted and it’s one of those things where I just froze up and stopped thinking for a second. I don’t even know how to explain it, but I think a lot of it has to do with the shots that I took early in the second round; they kinda stunned me and got me out of it. But I look at those losses and try to learn from them and I’m taking everything I got into this one right here. I trained really hard for it, and I’ll tell you one thing – win or lose, I’m not laying down for this guy. It’s not gonna be an easy fight for him at all, no matter what the outcome is. He’s gonna know he’s been in a war, regardless.”

Currently, the only winner of The Ultimate Fighter no longer fighting in the UFC is season four middleweight winner Travis Lutter, and Danzig doesn’t want to become the second. And of course you have to consider that in the lightweight division, a top fighter can lose every night if he’s not on point when the bell rings, simply because he’s going to be in there with another top fighter.

“When it comes down to it, there are so many tough guys in this division,” said Danzig. “The lightweight division is, by far, the toughest division in the UFC and in the sport. Welterweight is close as well, and the competition level and the skill level is so high. Anyone can lose at any given time, and it’s just a tough situation to be in when the UFC has let guys go after a couple losses in the past. I know that no matter who the UFC puts me against, it doesn’t matter if the fans know them real well or not, everybody’s tough, and we all gotta to do what we gotta do to save our jobs and our careers. Those guys (I lost to), Neer and Guida, are both amazing fighters and it was their night when they fought me, but that’s just the way it goes. This sport is tough, the competition level is really high, and they did what they had to do to win, and that’s what I’m gonna do when I fight Jim.”

If you’ve been paying attention thus far, you will have noticed that most of Danzig’s responses always circle back to Jim Miller and the upcoming fight. What that shows is that Danzig is only thinking of one thing right now – and that’s his opponent. It doesn’t matter what happens on July 10th or July 12th, the only thing on the radar is July 11th, and that’s the focus a fighter needs to have before the biggest fight of his career. And despite the ‘must win’ pressure on his shoulders, Danzig doesn’t seem to be flustered by it; in fact, he appears to be embracing it, knowing beyond the shadow of a doubt that he is a UFC fighter.

Oh yeah, and he’s got the love of the game back.

“I’m ready for this,” he said. “I know that I’m good enough to be at this level of the sport and I expect it. I just do my job and if I was sitting around looking for subpar fights and easier opponents, the UFC isn’t the place to do it. There’s a reason why I’m here – it’s because I earned it, and it’s not gonna be easy from here on out. But win or lose, I don’t want to look back on this fight and say ‘man, I was miserable the whole time. My entire training camp was just hard and I was just worried about winning or losing.’ I want to go in there and be like ‘I had a war with a really tough guy and he’s an amazing fighter, but I persevered and worked him over, and it was an awesome fight and I had a good time.’”

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