You can’t Rattle Roli Delgado

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By Thomas Gerbasi

The last time we checked in with Rolando Delgado, ‘The Crazy Cuban’ was in that peculiar no man’s land known only to those who have competed on The Ultimate Fighter reality show. Fresh off the show (in his case, season eight) and fighting on the season finale card, it’s a chance to fight in the UFC, but since you’re fighting someone who was also on the reality series, some don’t see it as truly being a UFC fight.

“There’s a stigma when you’re fighting other guys from the show because you’re all on the reality show, and you’re considered second class UFC fighters until you start fighting other people in the UFC,” said Delgado, who was pitted against castmate John Polakowski on that December night in 2008.

The resident of Little Rock, Arkansas emerged victorious that night, submitting Polakowski in the second round. It was his eighth pro win in 12 tries, and certainly his most important because now he was a UFC fighter.

Yet despite the victory, there were still skeptics when it came to the six-foot-three lightweight, and some expected him to be sent packing when he took on UK favorite Paul Kelly on Germany’s UFC 99 card in June. Again, Delgado proved the critics wrong, and despite being on the short end of a 29-28 unanimous decision, he’s back in Europe again, this time to fight Andre Winner at the MEN Arena in Manchester on November 14th.

“It is kinda wild,” said Delgado of his journey to this point in his career. “It’s cool to get to travel and I actually fought in England in 2002 in my third pro fight, so it’s something I’ve done before and I’m excited about getting to go back there. I don’t think anybody expected me to still be in the UFC and doing so well.”

Delgado says this matter-of-factly, and if it bothers him to consistently be in the role of underdog, it doesn’t show. But don’t confuse that mature outlook with an attitude of just being happy to be here. Delgado wants to prove that he belongs here and that he’s not the same fighter he was when he was transported into everyone’s living room on a weekly basis.

“I’m still trying to show people,” he said. “I honestly thought I beat Paul Kelly. I obviously won the first round and I thought I won the second round. I controlled like the first nine minutes of the fight and he controlled the last minute of the second round and won the third round. Coming in as such a huge underdog, I really wanted to use that fight to show my progression and show my abilities. I did that against John Polakowski at the finale, but he was also on the show, and fighting Paul Kelly I thought that was my time to really show everybody that I was really good and that I belonged there. Unfortunately it was a prelim fight, so not everybody saw it, but everybody that watched it, most of them thought I won and they were really impressed. So hopefully now with Andre, they’re gonna see that I have a lot more to offer. I’ve been doing so much since I got back from The Ultimate Fighter and I really changed everything I do.”

For Delgado, the changes include adding weight training to his camp routine, working at a new boxing gym in addition to his work at Westside MMA in Little Rock, and ten days in Florida with American Top Team. He also cut out the midday class he teaches while preparing for the bout, allowing him to rest up between his morning and evening training sessions. In a nutshell, it’s what most fighters from The Ultimate Fighter go through when their time on the show is finished. Delgado expects that Winner - a TUF season nine finalist - is undergoing as well.

“I think it’s a lot easier to train when you know you have a really big thing coming up – like another UFC fight, for example,” Delgado explains. “When you know that you’ve made it, I think it’s almost more work to stay in the big show. You feel like you have to do more work just to be on that stage. And while you should be training hard regardless of who you’re fighting and what your venue is, I think what you’re gonna see from a guy like him (Winner) is that he’s probably made a lot more sacrifices between the show and now than he did previously before his fights. He knows he’s going to make more money fighting in the UFC, he’s going to get a little more sponsorship, he might not have to work as many hours if he has a job, not do as much teaching if he helps out around the gym. Whatever it is that takes him out of the gym, he’s not gonna allow that to distract him now that he’s in the UFC. It’s a lot easier to dedicate more of your time to training.”

What that usually translates into is a fighter that is quite a bit better once he’s got a couple training camps under his belt once the show stops taping. And considering that Winner was 3-0 on the show, only lost the final match to Ross Pearson via decision, and is currently training with the likes of Dan Hardy and Paul Daley, we may be seeing the best version of Andre Winner that we ever have. At least that’s what Delgado is hoping.

“He’s coming in and going ‘it’s my time to show people that I do belong here,’ so he’s got something to prove too,” said Delgado. “So it’s a good matchup because we’ve both got something to prove, and we’re probably a lot more similar than most people realize.”

And when it’s that type of matchup where the similarities outweigh the differences, a pretty good fight usually results. That’s what it comes down to for Delgado – not the fame that comes with being on a reality show, not the pre-fight bad blood like he had with Junie Browning on the show, and not a heated weigh-in encounter like the one with Kelly before UFC 99 – it’s about the competition. And he knows that he’s tougher and more talented than you may give him credit for, so don’t be surprised if he upsets the local hero in his homecoming.

“He (Winner) is gonna have to play up to his crowd and I think a lot of people are gonna be in his ear telling him ‘oh, you’re gonna kill this guy,’ and I know he’s thinking, ‘man, you guys don’t understand, you didn’t see the Paul Kelly fight. This guy’s a lot tougher than you think he is. It’s not an easy fight for me,’” said Delgado. “I think everybody’s telling him how good he’s going to do, he’s fighting at home, and the pressure is on him. For me, it’s really hard to rattle me. I know what I want to do and I know why I’m doing what I’m doing, so I don’t need to pump myself up in the respect of getting mad at my opponent or talking trash. I’m not trying to fight at the weigh ins or in the hotel and I’m not big on bluffing. When it comes down to the fight and I’m walking into the cage, I’m ready to fight.”