Mike Russow Makes a Confession

I think Jon has better ground and pound and that I’ve got better submissions. I
think it will be a good fight." - Mike Russow

Mike
Russow, the man who staged one of the greatest comebacks in UFC history,
recently made this startling admission: “I’ve never sat down and watched the
whole fight.”

The 34-year-old Chicagoan is referring to his May 2010
bout against then unbeaten-Todd Duffee, the heavyweight phenom who made a
punching bag out of Russow for the contest’s first 12 and 1/2 minutes before a
booming right hand stunned everyone inside Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena and
rendered The Next Great Thing out cold on the canvas.

Reflecting on what
many consider the signature win of his career, Russow (13-1, 1 NC) struck a
relatively somber tone, sounding more like the guy who lost the fight.


“I was real disappointed with that fight. I wasn’t happy at all,” said
Russow, who will put a nine fight win streak on the line March 26 against Jon
Madsen at UFC Fight Night in Seattle, Washington. “I really don’t even like to
think about it (the fight with Duffee). There’s nothing good about it until he
put his hands down and I caught him with the right hand at the end. That and the
fact that I can take some punches. Duffee hits pretty hard. But as the rounds
went on he was getting tired and his punches had less steam on them.”


Russow’s self-criticism is even more pronounced when one factors in that
he broke his left arm in the first round blocking a Duffee kick.

“I
still threw punches with it,” Russow said, who indicated that Duffee may have
slept on his right hand because he rarely threw it in their battle (hesitation
prompted by the lingering after-effects of an elbow surgery).

Following
a 10-month hiatus from the Octagon – time he utilized to heal up and also
exchange wedding vows with his wife – Russow is returning to battle a familiar
foe. Russow and Madsen have occasionally trained together at Brock Lesnar’s
Death Clutch gym in Minnesota. The nexus between the two men is Rodrigo
“Comprido” Medeiros, the world champion Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt who
trains both Russow and Lesnar.

“I like Jon, he’s a great guy. But my
manager Monte Cox said ‘This is who you got.’ The UFC says you gotta do it, you
gotta do it,” said Russow, a former Division I wrestler who competed for Eastern
Illinois University, the same alma mater as welterweight legend Matt Hughes.


“Jon is a good fighter. Our wrestling is a lot alike. I think John has
better ground and pound and that I’ve got better submissions. I think it will be
a good fight. I think our wrestling skills will cancel each other out and a lot
of the fight will be on our feet.”

It has been almost a year since
Russow and Madsen last trained together. Russow has, however, ventured to Las
Vegas and trained with Medeiros and Lesnar, who were filming The Ultimate
Fighter season 13. The vast majority of Russow’s camp has been in Chicago, where
he has worked for the city’s police department for eight years.

“The
most adversity I have,” he said, “is working 10-hour shifts and juggling that
with training.” 

Russow said he is assigned to police some of the most
dangerous parts of Chicago’s southside.

“I’ve been involved in foot
chases, car chases … I’ve been shot at,” he said. “In police work everything
happens when you least expect it.”

Kind of like the right hand that
knocked out Todd Duffee.