Dean Lister – Ready for the Climb Back Up the Ladder

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By Thomas Gerbasi

It should have been the best night of Dean Lister’s career. A win over Nathan Marquardt on January 25th would have put Lister at 3-0 in the UFC and would have likely landed the grappling wizard a title shot against middleweight champion Anderson Silva.

But when the bell rang at the Seminole Hard Rock Live Arena in Florida, nothing went right. Lister bobbed when he should have weaved, zigged when he should have zagged, and by the time the fight was over 15 minutes later the question wasn’t who won the fight, but how Lister survived the three round distance. The shutout verdict for Marquardt was just a formality.

So what happened?

“Two things,” said Lister. “Quite simply, and this isn’t taking anything away from Marquardt because I definitely lost, but I didn’t feel right. I felt really off and I don’t know what I was. I felt that way the whole week before the fight and it was something I couldn’t shake. I wasn’t myself. And two, a big factor with me not being able to take him down was that I got hit pretty hard and it was tough for me to recover. I didn’t get knocked out, but I ran into one of those knees and it took my power away. That changes things. I tried to fight my way through it the best I could, but it just wasn’t my day.”

For a fighter, it’s the worst thing that can happen. If you work a 9 to 5, if you don’t feel well you can call in sick; if you’re a writer and you’re not feeling it that day, walk around the block, take a break, and try again later. If you’re a professional prizefighter, when that bell rings you’d better be ready to go. If not, you’re in for a long (or sometimes short) and painful night. It’s the beauty of this game and its curse at the same time.

“It’s kinda strange because some people try to fight their way through it, and try to make themselves feel different, or they believe that what resists persists, so they try to forget about it and hope it will change,” said Lister, one of the game’s most cerebral practitioners. “Everyone has different philosophies, but that’s one of the big challenges of the sport – you’re on one day, you’re off another; this one fighter has your number, the other doesn’t; but that’s what makes it mixed martial arts and not mixed martial science - it’s its own thing.”

Unfortunately for Lister, the disappointment of the loss to Marquardt was compounded by a torn bicep muscle suffered in April, and suddenly the opportunity to return to the Octagon and get back in the win column was put on hold for much of the year, with ‘The Boogeyman’ finally cleared to return to action at UFC 79 this Saturday against Jordan Radev.

“I’ve just been missing the life,” he said. “Just the thrill of being in my arena, which is where I want to be, and doing what I’m doing. Before a fight things can get hectic, but that’s what you live for. When I’m 80 years old, I’m gonna look back at the things I did and be glad I did them. I definitely miss the moment of the fight.”

With a packed house in the Mandalay Bay Events Center to watch Chuck Liddell take on Wanderlei Silva and Matt Hughes and Georges St-Pierre tangling for a third time, it’s the perfect atmosphere for Lister to return in, as it can’t possibly get any louder and more electric than it will be for the final UFC show of 2007. But playing Devil’s Advocate, Lister could be in a no-win situation against the former Bulgarian Olympic wrestling team member. If he wins, he beats a guy who was knocked out in 33 seconds in his UFC debut by Drew McFedries. He loses, and he lost to that same guy. Lister doesn’t subscribe to that notion, recalling his MMA as art, not science, argument.

“Arts can not be replicated the same way at all,” he explains. “As a matter of fact, you’d be surprised at how many times Fighter A will beat Fighter B, Fighter B will knock out Fighter C, and Fighter C will submit Fighter A, and it happens all the time. I just want to put on a good performance, be entertaining, and show a new side of my skills in this fight. Besides that, everybody knows what I want to do, and that’s take my guy down and submit him. But it doesn’t matter to me what people think about the fight – lose-lose, win-win, this is the opponent that I was offered, I said yes, and I just want to show people my new skills and my abilities.”

He’s also ready to get back in the title picture at 185 pounds.

“I see myself a few fights away from getting back into the mix,” said Lister, 9-5. “I just had a bad performance (against Marquardt) and it wasn’t my day. I don’t know how high the ladder is, but I am gonna take a few steps up and reach for the top and grab that can of paint or whatever it is on top. (Laughs) I have to get past a few rungs of that ladder first though and I’m not thinking too far ahead. I have to live in the moment, and the moment right now is my fight with Jordan Radev.”

That’s not to say Lister hasn’t started looking closely at the man at the top of that ladder, Silva. And despite ‘The Spider’s seeming invincibility at the top of the division, Lister wouldn’t refuse if offered a shot at him.

“If you’re looking to be protected as a fighter or not accept any challenges, I don’t think you have the right mentality to be a fighter,” he said. “Everyone has their own personal weaknesses – maybe they have bad cardio, maybe they get kicked in the legs and their legs are weak, maybe they have good wrestling but no submissions. I think it’s important that you have a good gameplan against every opponent, and you have to take these challenges on. Being that I’ve been in the sport for a while, I think I could take on anyone on any day with my strategy. If you asked me five years ago, I would have said I needed a little more time, but now I would take a chance as soon as I got it.”

For now, he’ll take Jordan Radev, and no matter who stands across from him on fight night, Dean Lister is happy to finally be back where he belongs.

“If I don’t look forward to this, and if there’s someplace I’d rather be than here, then I’d better look for something else to do.”

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