Legends Never Grow Old: A Different Perspective of UFC 102

MMA announcer Michael "The Voice" Schiavello of HDNet Fights checks in with ProFighting-fans.com

In the living room of a house in suburban Las Vegas, Vitor Belfort is sitting next to me on a large cream sofa and chatting about all things fighting. He’s wearing a pair of black pants and a white short-sleeved collared shirt. His hair is combed immaculately and the soft scent of a woody cologne – Issey Miyaki or Armani Attitude – wafts from his freshly shaved neck.

The sound of an electric garage door opening is accompanied by the purr of a GT Bentley being parked. This can only mean one thing: the owner of the house has returned and he’s brought food. Ray Sefo enters with three large boxes of Mexican take-out tucked under one of his enormous arms. “Dinner is served,” he hollers, placing the boxes on the kitchen table as a queue begins to form, lead by Jay Heiron with plastic plate in hand. When he’s loaded up, Heiron angles to the kitchen bench and plucks a bottle of water from another box. Unlike any of the other thousands of UFC house parties taking place right now around the world, there’s not a bottle of alcohol in sight. In fact you won’t find even a thimble of alcohol anywhere inside of Sefo’s palatial abode. He doesn’t drink and he’s annoyed even by the smell of alcohol.

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This is the general setting of a UFC viewing party at Casa de Sefo, which I’m told are a regular occurrence. “Every time one of the team fights, I book the pay-per-view and it’s an open invitation for everyone to come over and watch, eat and enjoy themselves,” says Sefo. Sometimes it’s just Sefo, Griffin, Heiron and Kampmann. Other times Belfort joins the party, or Mike Pyle, or any of the other name fighters from Xtreme Couture. Tonight they’re in force to support their inspirational leader, Randy Couture, as he goes up against Minotauro Nogueira.

“I’m excited for him man but I’m nervous too,” says Sefo. “Nogueira’s a great fighter. But I tell you brother, Randy’s been looking awesome in the gym.”

Sefo is radiant. Since joining Xtreme Couture he’s become a big brother figure to the gym’s Brat Pack of Griffin, Kampmann, Pyle and Heiron. They keep him young with their energy in the gym and the occasional night out at any of Vegas’s glamour clubs. A few nights ago I’d tagged along to XS at Encore and watched Heiron and Sefo get ushered to the front of seemingly endless queues by bouncers who shook their hands like old friends and afforded them every deserved respect. A night at Spearmint Rhino with Sefo and training mate Brice Ritani-Coe saw a table immediately cleared and cleaned, followed by a continual flow of buxom dancers who stopped by to say hello. Not once did Sefo reach into his wallet for a private dance nor did he accept any of the privates offered “on the house.”

“Tonight’s about the brothers,” he said, as he says so often, having been out on the town with him in Amsterdam, Auckland, Montego Bay, Tokyo, Taipei and Seoul. “When the brothers are on the town, the party’s always here” – he pointed to each of us – “nowhere else.”

Michael Schiavello with Ray Sefo (right). Photo courtesy Michael Shiavello

Having loaded up his plate last, Sefo takes a seat in the massive armchair that is solely his domain and watches as undefeated Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt Demian Maia faces off against battle-hardened veteran Nate Marquardt. Most of us are tipping the red-hot Maia by submission. The Brazilian has choked more people than a cheap steak and unless Marquardt has a Heimlich Maneuver in his repertoire, chances are high that Maia will make “The Great” his sixth consecutive UFC victim via choke submission.

The consensus on Maia subbing Marquardt is unanimous until Belfort chimes in.

“No way Maia wins this,” he says with confidence.

“How do you figure that?” I ask.

“Maia is a southpaw and he always drops his left hand when he throws a kick. What’s the best weapon to use against a southpaw?”

“The straight right hand,” I answer.

“Exactly. Nate is quick and powerful with good hands. Maia will get sloppy and Nate will catch him. Watch.”

Only seconds into the fight, Belfort’s crystal ball prediction comes true. Maia steps in to throw a kick off his back leg, drops his left hand, and Marquardt catches him with a beautiful counter right that knocks Maia out in only 21 seconds.

“I told you,” Belfort grins.

The next two fights also meet with Belfort’s predictions: Rosholt submits Leben with an arm-triangle choke and Thiago Silva knocks out Jardine in the first round.

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When Randy appears on screen walking to the Octagon for the main event, the entire living room explodes. Griffin and Heiron, who are seated on the floor at the foot of Sefo’s armchair, jump up like coiled springs and pump their fists into the air. Belfort is off the sofa and even the more reserved Kampmann can’t resist bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet with nervous excitement.

Michael Schiavello with Vitor Belfort (left) and Shawn Tompkins (right). Photo courtesy Michael Shiavello

“What do you think Vitor?” I ask.

“Randy can win but it won’t be easy. He’s gotta stay busy, keep moving. Randy should just move, strike, move, strike, dirty box on the inside and move off. All night. If it goes to ground Randy has to stay on top. You don’t want Nogueira on top of you.”

At the start of the second round Nogueira lands a solid hand combination that sends Couture down. Nogueira pounces on his opponent and looks to lock up a modified D’Arce choke. Couture escapes and receives a rousing our ovation. It’s even louder a few moments later when he survives Nogueira’s attempted arm-triangle choke from the mount.

“Fucking warrior!” screams Griffin. “Did you see that? He’s a fucking warrior!”

“Holy shit!” exclaims Sefo. “What a round! Man Randy is just phenomenal. That choke was almost sunk.”

“Yeah it was,” says Kampmann, who wishes he had long nails right now so he’d have something to bite down on.

“How does that choke work exactly?” asks Sefo. The 38-year-old New Zealand K-1 star is a still a baby in the MMA game and consumes with zeal every nugget of information Belfort and other gym members offer.

“Here man,” says Belfort, taking off his shoes and scooting onto the floor in front of the television. “I’ll show you quickly.”

And what a moment it is. A thirty-second mini-grappling clinic as Vitor Belfort D’Arce chokes Ray Sefo and then explains what Sefo can do to counter the submission.

The third round sees Nogueira almost end the fight with a right hand that levels Couture. Couture survives the punch and Nogueira’s attempt to take his back to see out the round.

As the unanimous decision is read, a feeling of pride rather than dejection fills the living room.

“You still the man Randy!” Sefo screams at the television. “I love that guy.”

“He will always be the man,” says Heiron. “There’s no one else like Randy, man. Never has been, never will be.”

“He’s just incredible,” says Sefo. “You see his conditioning and his work rate? The guy’s forty-six years old and he’s fighting like he’s in his twenties! I see him fight like I that and I wanna go to the gym right now and train my ass off. He’s an inspiration to an older guy like me.”

“He’s an inspiration to all of us,” says Heiron.

“He can fight till he’s fifty,” says Kampmann. “Even older.”

“He’s a legend,” says Belfort. “And legends never grow old.”

By Michael Schiavello
ProFighting-fans.com MMA Guest Writer

Michael Schiavello is the voice of MMA and K-1 on HDNet and a regular correspondent for InsideMMA. He commentated the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne and The Contender Asia reality TV series. He can be found online at: www.thevoiceofficial.com and at Twitter "SchiavelloVOICE."