UFC on Versus 2 – Brian Stann talks about his “brutally honest” autobiography

UFC veteran, Brian Stann has been speaking about his recently released autobiography that details not only his military service but his career as a MMA fighter as well, something he describes as being brutally honest rather than an entertaining read.

Speaking via UFC.com, Stann said:

“I originally turned some people down when I had offers to do it and then I met this writer (John Bruning) and we decided to do it. I know that the men I led in battle, like myself and many combat veterans, have trouble talking about the things you experienced in life and things you went through over there. If I could put some of those things in a book, I know that the men I used to lead can say to their mom and dad or their wives and kids, ‘I know I have trouble saying anything and you want to know, but maybe this is something that can help explain it.’ Certainly not all the details and all the stories, but I think somewhere in the book it will help put people in that mindset and make them understand what our men and women go through over there.”

“It was very difficult. I’ve never really gone into too much detail with the media on things that I’ve felt, but it was a very difficult time because it really brought me back to a lot of tough memories. I normally don’t bring any of that into my home with my family. I hope I’ve done a very good job of not doing that, but sometimes the book brought that back and my wife would walk in the room and I’d kinda be in tears and not want to talk. But as private as some of those things are and some of those feelings are, the certain men that I served with deserve to be remembered and to be memorialized in something, and I don’t know if my book will do nearly as good a job as they deserve, but it’s just one more thing that will memorialize them.”

“I’m not a Forrest Griffin or Chuck Liddell or a name like that that’s gonna be a bestseller,” but at the same time, he hopes that whoever does pick up the book picks up more than an entertaining read. I’m gonna get some random people who are gonna pick up my book and maybe some kids, and as long as they get something from it, and learn something, than I’m happy with it,” he said. “I’m sure I’m gonna get some criticism as well, but that comes with anything that’s in the entertainment industry, and I’ve learned to block that stuff out at this point.”

“I think it’s a very honest account of my fighting career – brutally honest. What it’s like to try to be fighter, how I was basically trying to do this with zero skill in the sport and how emotional it is when we win and lose and all the tough things we go through. I talk about going into different gyms where you don’t know anybody and you get your butt kicked and things like that, and the overall theme is overcoming adversity. I’ve made more mistakes in my life than I’ve had successes, but I think the biggest thing for me is how I’ve dealt with those failures. And because I’m so stubborn, I don’t like to have people looking down on me. I get back up and I’ll climb the mountain again no matter what people think or what people say. I’m gonna try again. Hopefully some of those lessons I’ve learned will help another man or woman.”

Stann then changed tact to talk about his recent move down a weight division to 185 pounds and his upcoming fight with Mike Massenzio this weekend on the UFC on Versus 2 show.

“The great thing is that I feel like I’m striking with more velocity, so I hit harder and faster at this weight. I’m leaned out, but I haven’t lost anything tangible, so this is more of a natural weight class for me. It isn’t necessarily a bad thing to fight at full energy and be a faster 205er, but the problem is that everybody’s gameplan against me is to hold me down and keep me in that position to where they can neutralize the threat of my striking and my power. This is the better thing for me if I’m gonna make it very, very difficult for these top level wrestlers and grapplers to hold me down all night.”

“I put a gi on for five and a half months straight, doing gi jiu-jitsu every day as well just to get my bottom game even better and to tighten up my grappling. This is three wrestlers in a row and the person who has really benefitted is me. It’s all similar gameplans, it’s forcing me to work with higher and higher level wrestlers and continue to gain skill in the wrestling and grappling area, and I’m just getting a lot better. I’ve been very fortunate to have coaches and teammates who care a lot about me and have shared so many skills and Greg (Jackson) and my coaches couldn’t be happier with my progress. My skill set is finally catching up to my athleticism and I think I’m about a year to a year and a half away from peaking at this sport.”

“I think a lot of fighters, when they get to the UFC level, and the longer you fight, you go through transitions where you overthink the sport and your fight, and it hinders your ability to fight at full speed,” he said. “I certainly went through that transition period in a couple fights when I first got in the UFC. And now I’m back to where it’s you know what? He (Massenzio) is who he is. He’s a wrestler and a grappler. He’s got good boxing skills, but let’s be serious; I don’t care what he says, we know he’s going in there to take me down and stay on top of me and ground and pound me all night long. There’s no doubt about it. He’s gonna use some strikes to set it up, but we know what he’s gonna do and there’s enough film out there on him to understand and really get a good respect for his skill set.”

“There’s nothing that’s gonna happen in that cage that will make me panic at this stage and the best part of where I am now is that I truly enjoy the fight, which a lot of fighters lie about,” he said. “They don’t enjoy that moment at all. They’re scared to heck in that locker room, they’re scared walking out there, and they’re happy as heck when the fight’s over. I enjoy it. There’s gonna be a time in my life where I can’t do this anymore, and I’m gonna daydream and tell stories about when I used to do this. So I truly want to enjoy every minute that I get to be a professional athlete and fight on the greatest stage in the world in the UFC.”

“The ultimate goal for me in fighting, and this may sound weird to anybody, is first off to be a champion, and second is that when I’m done, I want to be able to look back on it and be satisfied and not have a whole bunch of what ifs. I want to have faced the toughest competition that I could have faced and I’d rather have a whole bunch of losses to really tough guys than a whole bunch of wins against guys I was supposed to beat and telling people ‘yeah, I could have been the UFC champ one day, I just decided I didn’t want to do it.’ I don’t want to be one of those has-beens who spits a lot of BS at people about how good they used to be. I’d rather say I got to this level but then I just ran into these couple guys who were better or I got to this level and I beat those guys and I was a champion one day. It’s all about the challenge and the journey and I think every fighter can attest to that.”

Stann will attempt to get his octagon career back on track following a disappointing three round decision loss to Phil Davis back in February. Prior to that he’d scored back-to-back wins over Steve Cantwell and Rodney Wallace, both by unanimous decision.

By Michael Pepper. (Follow me on Twitter)

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