As a fighter that has spent over 3 months training for a fight, I received the worst email possible yesterday. “Terry Etim is out with an injury. Looking for a replacement”. Wonderful. I spent 3 months training for a 6’1″ kickboxer with slick BJJ. I knew the replacement would never be even close to that. We had done a LOT of very specific training for Terry, which was all for nothing. I hope Terry has a speedy recovery and maybe we can do it down the line.
The UFC was looking for a replacement and they found one in Gabe Ruediger.
Gabe was on my team on The Ultimate Fighter and is most known for getting a colonic, arguing with people in the house (mainly Matt Wiman), not making weight because he was eating cake and ice cream… and then eventually being kicked out of the house by Dana White. Not exactly the light anyone wants to be cast it, but Gabe dug his own grave.
Before Gabe was casted out of the house, I trained with him a good amount and it went both ways. He caught me, I caught him. I think I got the best of him on the ground while he got the best of me on the feet. We have gone back and forth about things on The Underground on a few occasions, and this fight has a lot of history behind it.
I know I have grown tremendously as a fighter since the show… but I am sure everyone on our season has and I expect nothing less from Gabe. I think I have a number of major advantages going into this fight… but none as great as being the better fighter. I want to smash Gabe just as much as he wants to smash me. And luckily you get to see it August 28th for free on Spike TV.
Let the cake jokes commence. (I am sure you will see quite a few retweets of them on my twitter!)