Todd Duffee feels he could have won and still learned the same lessons
UFC heavyweight, Todd Duffee has been speaking about the disappointment at losing to Mike Russow at UFC 114 in May after dominating the entirety of the fight, explaining he didn’t need to lose to learn the lessons he did that night.
Speaking via MMAJunkie.com, Duffee said:
“I could have learned all those lessons and won that fight. My boxing coach, James Gifford – he’s one of the best in town – he left, he walked out of the room, and he walked back in, and he goes, ‘Damn it.’ He said, ‘I’d like to say we learned something, but we could have learned all that and still won.”
“The worst part about that knockout was that I was awake the whole time. I flashed when I hit the ground, but I flashed so fast that I really didn’t miss a beat. I missed maybe half a second. I could see him coming. I could see the ref coming. I could see everything. I actually put my hand and stopped the ref and said, ‘I’m fine.’ I was like, ‘I can’t believe that just happened.’”
When asked was it a learning experience, Duffee said:
“No, it’s not. I’m so tired of hearing that. You know what a learning experience is? When you didn’t get something you wanted. That’s what a supposed learning experience is.”
Duffee also spoke about the perils of being both a fighter and a fan, saying nothing prepared him to the inevitable criticism that came his way after the fight.
“Jorge Santiago, one time he saw me messing around on the Internet (looking at MMA websites). He said, ‘I wouldn’t do that if I were you.’ I was like, ‘Why?’ He was like, ‘It’s bad for you mind.’ I think that’s a reason a lot of guys say that (they aren’t fans). I know most fighters pay attention to the fights. Maybe some of these guys aren’t fans, though. They’re fans of the lifestyle or something like that.”
Duffee won six fights straight to open his MMA career, including a seven second knockout win over Tim Hague on his octagon debut, a UFC record. Can the heavy hitting man mountain get back to winning ways next time out or will this be the beginning of the end for another promising up-and-comer?
By Michael Pepper. (Follow me on Twitter)
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