Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Hail the King!


I've always been a shameless, unapologetic supporter of UFC lightweight stud and MFS product Spencer "The King" Fisher. Since first seeing him choke the dickens out of Thiago Alves at Fight Night 2 - and then watching him dismantle Aaron Riley just a few months later - , I decided that he was a guy I'd always root for.

As my friend Ross sat beside me last night and took very sloppy bites of his cheeseburger deluxe, he asked, "So why do you still love Spencer Fisher so much? I mean, he's good but...I don't know."

That's right, douchenozzle, you don't know!

So for the benefit of my buddy Ross, and anyone else who does not yet support the Fisher monarchy, here's why Spencer Fisher is - and always will be - one of my favorites.

Last night, he came out, once again, to Johnny Cash's "God's Gonna Cut You Down." If you're not familiar with this song, you ought to be. Johnny Cash is a cowboy and an Indian, a saint and a sinner.

"The King" is a badass nickname. Regal, authoritative, classy, not trying to be too tough. Now that I think of it, I wonder if his nickname is in reference to the movie The Fisher King or to Kingfisher beer...

We're MySpace friends, which means that in my mind, we're real-life friends. (Don't judge me.)

Ask Mr. Matthew Wiman about the worst flying knee he's ever known. G'head...

Of his 7 UFC fights, 4 of them have been on a Fight Night, which is on Spike, which is free.

Joe Lauzon impresses me quite a bit. He's young, powerful, intense, and he's only getting better. Spencer Fisher, despite coming off a devastating KO loss to Hermes Franca a few months ago, recently called out the much younger Lauzon. I love shit like that.

He seems to genuinely love his wife, his daughter, and his friends.

Have you ever seen a Spencer Fisher fight that was boring? Punches, knees, and elbows - all delivered in rapid succession and with very bad intentions.

He's not covered with incongruous, cheezy tattoos.

He does not dye his hair or gel it up into what I call "the homohawk."

He hasn't abandoned the jab for the knockout blast. While I greatly appreciate the coexistence of submission fighting, kickboxing, wrestling, Muy Thai, and everything else that makes MMA the best sport on the planet, I particularly appreciate the fighter with a sound boxing skills. Last night, Fisher let the leather fly and made Sam Stout, a decorated kickboxer, look clueless.

He's gracious both in defeat and in victory. In his first fight against Stout, Fisher filled in for the injured Kenny Florian on short notice and cut 20 lbs. in 2 days. He lost a close decison and made not a single excuse. After pounding on Stout for 15 minutes last night, he shared his opinion that the fight should have been ruled a draw. Was he being humble? Perhaps. Was he subtly telling UFC brass that he (and the fans) want Stout-Fisher 3? God, I hope so.

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