Ten wins, nine finishes, one world title belt and zero time on a UFC pay-per-view main card. With dynamite hands, tight chokes and an unparalleled finisher’s instinct, Brian Bowles may very well be the most dangerous UFC fighter that casual fans have never heard of. Despite opening his career with five submissions and two knockouts, Bowles was essentially fed to Miguel Torres as another victim for the unbeatable WEC bantamweight champion. Brian had other plans. What ensued was Miguel Torres’s first knockout loss in thirty-eight professional fights. Brian Bowles, the soft-spoken kid from Athens, Georgia, had arrived.
“I was confident going into that fight (against Torres). I knew that I was going to win that fight but I think I get more confidence every time I fight. When I first got out there I wasn’t sure if I belonged at that level but you just keep getting experience and keep winning and keep getting that confidence.”
Nagging injuries, however, plagued Bowles’s training camp going into his first title defense against Dominick Cruz. “I went into that fight with injuries. I had a rib injury, I couldn’t grapple, couldn’t clinch, then when I went out there I broke my hand so I couldn’t punch anymore.” What followed was a doctor stoppage victory for Cruz, after Bowles admitted that his hand was broken. Despite Bowles’s warrior spirit, he received ample criticism from fans who perceived the loss as Bowles “quitting.”
“Fans didn’t know the full story. They think I just broke my hand and quit. They didn’t know that I went into that fight with injuries. Any fan that thinks it’s easy to fight completely defenseless I’ll be willing to punch them for 25 minutes if they want,” Bowles joked.
Adding insult to injury, literally, Dominick Cruz went on record saying “To me, if I break my hand, if I break my foot, I’m fighting until you push a button on me or put me to sleep to get me to stop. I ain’t going to stop for nothin’.” Understandably Bowles did not take kindly to Cruz’s candidness. “He said some off handed, douchey comments which is one thing I don’t respect about him,” Bowles said of Cruz. “He says stupid stuff. I didn’t really hear it myself but I had people tell me. If I beat somebody no matter how I beat them I show respect for them. I think that’s just how fighters should act towards each other. We didn’t have any kind of beef going into that so I just think it’s really low class.”
While it is easy to dwell on past battles, Bowles has a very real challenge in the form of Urijah Faber this Saturday night at UFC 139. Faber, the former WEC featherweight champion, will be looking to get another crack at Cruz with a win over Bowles. Thanks to Faber’s prolific highlight reel however, Bowles knows not to overlook the California Kid.
“(Faber) is one of those guys that poses threats everywhere. He has knockout power, great wrestling, great cardio and he also has that choke game. He really poses threats everywhere but you can’t let him impose his will. I gotta stay out from underneath him and not eat elbows and I can’t let him get his arms around my neck.”
Although this Saturday will be the first time that Bowles and Faber will officially face off in a cage, they are far from strangers. Bowles enlisted Faber to help him train for his 2008 victory over Will Ribeiro.
“I learned a little bit from (training with Faber) but it’s one of those give or take things. I’m sure he picked up on some stuff from me. I don’t think I gained any secrets from him. I just went up there for some good hard training. I wasn’t really thinking that I would be fighting him but I could definitely say that I walked away with a few things.”
This Saturday night, Bowles will be looking to bring his finishing style to the Octagon and show the fans the importance of stopping your opponent. “That’s just my style,” Bowles says regarding his nine career stoppages. “I think fans definitely like a finisher. The problem is you don’t get as much TV time. If you finish a guy quick then people don’t get to see you perform as much so it kind of plays against you in a way. I just don’t want to be one of those guys who go out there and put on a boring performance. I think being a finisher is definitely overall a good thing.”
What does the future hold for Bowles? If it were up to him, a rematch with the man that dethroned him. “I would come in with a different game plan now (against Cruz). He was kind of a person that I didn’t really pay that much attention to. I didn’t realize how his stand up game was; I didn’t really study it. Now it’s no secret that he’s going to be hard to hit but I think the main thing is that I would hopefully come in healthy.”
Bowles is also not counting out an eventual drop to 125 lbs if the UFC adopts the flyweight division. “I would consider the drop but it would be a lifestyle change for me. The right circumstances would have to be there but that would really be a weight cut for me.”
While Bowles has trained tirelessly for this fight, he knows that anything can happen in the Octagon. “I can win by imposing my game plan and having a good night. If either one of us are really on top of our game then they’re gonna win. I’m going to go out there and stay off my back and win in the strikes.”
For training tips and videos from Brian Bowles, check out BrianBowlesTraining.com and BrianBowles.TV
CHECK OUT BRIAN BOWLES’s UFC 139 FIGHT SHORTS
Adam Kronengold
