MMA Training

Kind of sad today. My favourite fighter Jens 'Lil Evil' Pulver lost his seventh out of his last eight matches last night. It's not so much that he lost but the fact that I have followed MMA since UFC 1 was released on VHS and Jens was the first true little guy (like me) that came through and beat up guys bigger than himself,he was an inspiration to me and now his fighting career looks pretty much over. It dissapoints me that the TUF generation and the fans that never saw Pride never saw the true Lil Evil – The one that beat Uno as a huge underdog when Uno was considered the best lightweight on the planet, The one that grinded out a from behind win against BJ Penn, The one that fought boiled down welterweights like Dennis Hallman and Mach Sakurai even though he was a natural 145er, The one that scored one of the greatest KO's ever over John Lewis,The one that had the front of his eyeball scraped right off and kept on fighting when others get a poke in the eye and its all over for them.

Jens was a true pioneer for the lighter weight classes of MMA. After being beat by BJ Penn in their rematch he dropped down to 145 and moved to the WEC giving them some much needed starpower. His fight with Cub Swanson diverted a lot of attention to the WEC and then his title fight with Faber put the WEC on the map, opening up the floodgates for little guys everywhere to build names for themselves. Without Jens there would be very little known in the MMA world of names like Faber, Aldo, Miguel Torres, Brian Bowles, Mike Brown and now Benavides and Cruz.

After the rematch with BJ, Jens stated his intention was to help build the lower weight classes like 145, 135 and 125. He has made a bigger impact than most people realised.

He has been an incredible ambassador for MMA, always conducting himself impeccably and he is one of the most honest, genuine, caring and nicest people you could ever meet. I'll really miss watching Lil Evil. Thanks for your contribution to the sport Jens!