“Feral cats that nobody takes care of – they eat out of your dumpster and stuff. A friend of ours said that they are pound for pound the most ferocious animals alive.”
June 3, 2006 – Tamdan McCrory, 6 foot 4 and 170 pounds soaking wet, enters a ring for the first time as a professional mixed martial artist. He doesn’t look the part, since he wears his glasses into the ring – not as a gimmick, but to see. But when the bell rings, the barn cat comes out.
“In my first fight, I kinda just went out there and freaked out and went crazy on him,” said McCrory of his 79 second stoppage of John Jenner. “I was going nuts and my coaches were wondering whether they should throw me in there because I was freaking out backstage. But yeah, I ran out there and decided ‘let’s go get the job done.’”
He got the job done, and 13 days later he did it again, taking out Bobby Dias in the second round. This time his trainers had a surprise for him.
“After my first fight, they said ‘you’re like a barn cat,’” he remembered. “It was always a little joke. But my second fight, they put it on the card for the announcer and didn’t even tell me – then it stuck.”
Seven more wins without a loss have followed for the 20-year old Ithaca, NY native, and every time out, the philosophy is the same.
“Go out there, get it done quick, and put ‘em down as fast as I can, however I can,” he said. “Of course it’s chilled out a bit since then and I’m a little more ring savvy. I’m more level-headed when I walk into a fight – but I’m always focused and ready to go.”
With 12 months and an attitude like that, it’s no surprise that McCrory’s UFC debut Tuesday against veteran Pete Spratt has gotten a considerable buzz over the last few weeks. It’s come as a shock to a college kid who just a year ago was getting his feet wet in local MMA shows.
“It’s kinda weird actually,” he said. “I’ve always been the underdog in a fight, and it’s just amazing to see that as you progress and keep winning and winning, and despite looking like a nerd all the time, it’s amazing to see how the fans start to flip, and it’s becoming more 50-50 with every matchup that I have. Half the fans believe in who I’m fighting and half the fans believe in me. I’m glad that the fans are receiving me well and that I’m gaining more and more every time I perform. That’s awesome.”
He will be stepping into the deep water though against Spratt, a 24 fight veteran who is 16 years McCrory’s senior. But despite the huge edge in experience, McCrory has something all the experience in the world can’t cure – a seven inch height advantage. Plus, when you’re 20 and have never lost, you’ve got that feeling of invincibility that can sometimes make up for other shortcomings in your game. ‘The Barn Cat’s got that feeling.
“He’s obviously a seasoned veteran,” said McCrory of Spratt. “He’s got two or three times more fights than I have, he’s very experienced, and definitely has great standup. I know his ground game is lacking and there’s always an option to take it there, but I don’t believe I really need to take it to the ground. I think that I can win anywhere and that’s the way I feel going into any fight. I train to have great skills all around, so I don’t rely on any certain position or any certain ability anytime I fight. I’m gonna go out there and stand with him and we’ll see where it goes from there. All the fights start on their feet, so I’ve got to find a way to get around what his standup is, so I think it’s gonna be a real interesting fight. The fans are gonna be expecting one thing and then I think they’ll start seeing another.”
That could be the story of McCrory’s life, as, by his own description, he was the typical ‘nerd’ growing up, glasses and all. Of course, the usual trials and tribulations that go along with being the odd one out followed, and he had little positive outlets for the anger he was feeling.
“At first when I started out, I had a lot of repressed anger and rage from high school,” he admitted. “I never really got into fights in high school, I always just kinda bottled things up. Then I got to college and got into some trouble and didn’t quite fit in. I started getting more and more out of control and I wanted to fight because I wanted to unleash it.”
McCrory found his outlet at CNYMMA in Binghamton, and his soon to be trainers - Ryan Ciotoli, Erik Charles, Kevin Seaman, and Jared Palmer – put him through the wringer to see if he had what it took to be a fighter.
“I was like that young punk who saw it (MMA) on TV and said ‘that isn’t that tough,’” McCrory remembered. “Then I started training and getting my ass kicked quite a bit by my coaches. They took me under their wing and beat me up, but I ended up getting better. I was that kid who thought I could do it but then learned it wasn’t so easy, but stuck with it.”
And once he got a taste of competition, there was no question that he had found his calling.
“I won, and kept going,” said McCrory, who is also a college student finishing his junior year at SUNY Cortland, pursuing a B.S. in Kinesiology with a concentration in Fitness Development, and a minor in Exercise Science. “Then I said, let’s make some money, and it got to a point where I kept winning and winning, and I said ‘you know what? This is what I’m here to do.’ I don’t want to fight for the money or the fame. I want to fight to be my best in something. I always wanted to find my calling and be the best at something, and I think this is it. I’ve never had the same kind of success so quickly and had my work pay off like it has in this sport, so this is what I’m here to do.”
On Tuesday, he steps up to the big leagues, and fight fans will find out whether McCrory can deal with major league pitching – not only by facing a veteran like Spratt, but by dealing with everything that goes along with being in the UFC. It’s those little things that have befuddled debutants in the past, but McCrory and his team feel they’re ready for this step.
“My coaches and my manager thought this was the perfect opportunity because fighting at the Hard Rock, it’s a smaller venue, and it’s gonna be more like home to me because it’s gonna be the same size or maybe a little bit smaller than some of the venues I have been fighting in,” McCrory explains. “In that case, it’s not really like it would be if I was fighting on a pay-per-view in front of a huge arena, so that’s a good thing. And to me, every time I train and every time I have a fight coming up, I train for the fight. I don’t really worry about the press conferences or interviews – I worry about my fight and my training. I’m just there to do a job, and I’m there to perform. I always go out there trying to do my best every time. I don’t fight to win or lose – I fight to do my best and to give all I have and go out there swinging.”
It should be an interesting clash between McCrory and Spratt, and if the youngster wins, we could be witnessing the birth of a new prospect in the sport’s toughest division. But at the very least, the ‘Barn Cat’ wants one thing to be made abundantly clear:
“You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover and even the kids with glasses can throw down.”
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