When Joe "Daddy" Stevenson steps into the Octagon against George Sotiropoulos at UFC 110, he'll likely hear the loudest boos of the night. UFC 110 is, after all, the UFC's first card in Australia, and Sotiropoulos is the UFC's top Australian fighter.But Stevenson says he's fine with that.
"Fighting an Australian in Sydney, obviously I don't expect to get the biggest cheers of the night," Stevenson said. "But, hey, the fans have to do what that can do to help their guy George. That's what home fans are supposed to do and I respect that. Is it tough getting booed? I've been booed before, and I've won over crowds that started off booing me before too. I am looking forward to doing what Rocky did when he went to Russia in Rocky 4 to fight Drago. The Russians all hated him when he walked in but he and Drago gave them so great a fight at the end they were chanting 'Rocky, Rocky, Rocky'. I am looking forward to hearing some "Joe Daddy, Joe Daddy, Joe Daddy" chants towards the end of the fight with George because I am expecting him to give me the fight of his life."
Stevenson, who said he's "looking for a dominating win" against Sotiropoulos, said he's improved by leaps and bounds since starting to train with his new coach, Greg Jackson.
"When you lose, you have to grow," Stevenson said. "If I wanted to go forward, I had to make changes and going with Greg Jackson's camp was something I needed to do if I wanted to go back to winning."
Stevenson is currently on a two-fight winning streak, having defeated Nate Diaz in June and Spencer Fisher in October, and he said he thinks that if he wins a couple more big fights, he might get another shot at UFC lightweight champion B.J. Penn. Stevenson got a shot at Penn once before, at UFC 80 two years ago, and it didn't go well, with Penn bloodying Stevenson and beating him with a second-round rear-naked choke.
"I want to keep on winning, and winning big, so the fans are like 'Give Joe Daddy his second title shot already,'" Stevenson said. "I was asked by BJ if I wanted to train with him for this fight but, as great as would be, I had to say no because I think I am going to be fighting him again at the end of the year."
But Stevenson knows he's got a big task ahead of him before anyone will be talking about him as the No. 1 lightweight contender.
"Frankie Edgar has the next title shot, but Gray Maynard is there, too, and the whole division is stacked," Stevenson said. "I need to keep on looking good and making sure the UFC notices me every time I fight."
Sotiropoulos has won all four of his fights since signing with the UFC in 2007, and none of his UFC opponents have even gotten into the third round with him. But Stevenson said he views himself as a step up in competition for Sotiropoulos, and he said he's accustomed to fighting opponents with names like Penn and Sanchez and Florian and Diaz, he doesn't want to lose to an opponent named Sotiropoulos.
"The worst thing about losing to George would be losing to a guy with that weird name," Stevenson said. "People would be like 'Who did Joe Daddy lose to? George Soter-something?' and it would be as if no one had ever heard of this guy because no one can pronounce his full name. ... Everyone who knows MMA knows George has serious skills and is an up and comer, but to casual fans it would be like "George Who? George What? You lost to someone and you don't even know his name?"
Ultimately, Stevenson said, he's excited about the opportunities that a fight with Sotiropoulos provides him -- and he's excited to spend some extra time in Australia. Stevenson said that Greg Jackson was actually friends with the late Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin, who was a big MMA fan, and that he and Jackson have visited Irwin's zoo together. Stevenson is also planning a vacation with his wife and kids after the fight, but first he's got business to attend to.
"I need a dominant performance," Stevenson said, "to start breaking out from the pack again."
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
talk about a fight with no relavence what so ever...
i mean where is joe daddy on the top 10 lightweight list exactly
and sotiropoulos i ain't even gonna begin to talk about him only reason he's on the card is so these Australian's have something 2 cheer about...new york just needs to pass the law and allow mma regulation in ny so i wouldn't have to travel 2 australia 2 see a ufc fight and the fact Australian women give the best head
i couldn't care less when joe stevenson fights again.
ufc, get some better fighters, will ya.
and fans, speak up. everyone's like oh ufc 112 is gonna be sick!! why?? just cause a. silva and bj penn are fighting?? who are they fighting. vitor?? one fight back?? edgar. good kid. but that ain't nothing to go nuts over. matt hughes vs a 43 yr old gracie?? you act like we're being given a gift. i must be on another wavelength cause there's not much getting me excited these days in ufc territory. i like to see matt brown fight. and kimbo vs mitrione is cool. thats about it. i'm bored to death of ufc already.
piprocks - if your bored to death of the ufc, dont watch it. bugger off to strikeforce buddy. 2 title fights on 1 card. i think most fans would be more than happy to see that!!
pipp you're gonna have to stop trolling, its not a good look.
joe daddy has always been an exciting fighter, and Sotiropoulos is looking like hes gonna easily be one of the top bjj guys in mma relatively soon. this is an exciting match up and this will be the first legit card the ufc has had in 2010 cain vs nog is gonna be nuts
I appreciate your concern about my internet image. And I hate to be te one to break this but the matchup stinks. Joe stevenson stinks. He's never been exciting, and I like george s. But this isn't a good matchup at all. No one matches well against joe stevenson and ufc should have better fighters than him. He sucks all the excitement out of the sport with his clogging style. He brings his opponents down to his level. And cain vs nog is just a paper matchup. Cain couldn't finish cheik kongo. He had to hold him down and smother him for 3 rounds just to beat him. Snooore. Nog never ko's anyone. Once you start to look at matchups by style and not by their names you will realize that ufc has burned through all their fighters. Their picking names out of a hat. I still don't know what 'trolling' is. I call what I see. Consistent bs is what I see.
A. Silva vs nick diaz. 2 of the best boxers in the sport ever. That's the matchup ill compliment.
Fedor vs frank mir. The 2 purest most complete hw's in the sport. And neither are roided out jacked up freaks. That's a matchup ill write home to momma for.
And for the gsp huggers. Gsp vs jake shields. If you're a fan of 2 guys groping and humping eachother, then this is the fight fans would crap their pants over.
I'm just sick of this bs. I didn't sign up to hate on ufc. But something I will always do, speak the truth. What I see is what I say. And for all the tricks dana's pulled, I have no problems being the 'troll' and wipe my sh*t all over his coverage cause that's what it looks like to my eyes.
piprocks or Nick Diaz? hmmm they sound quite familiar- choosing fights between different promotions.
Yeah, we would all love to see those fights, but guess what- aint gonna happen chief!
Let's start being a lil more realistic if we are gonna start ripping apart the UFC. Come up with some matches that are possible- otherwise don't criticize!!!
piprocks - its funny how all your 'dream' match ups are involving 2 promotions. and we all know that thats not going to happen any time soon. speaking the truth is one thing, but adding a little realism to the picture is another. and trust me, no one cares about you or your internet image.
"The worst thing about losing to George would be losing to a guy with that weird name," how juvenile! this guy needs to get over himself and not talk so much. maybe he can show us instead of running his mouth!
I have a realistic idea. Let's, the fans, speak out and say what we want. Co-promotion. A new years eve mma superbowl. The more the fans ask for it, the more realistic it can be. You can expect me to do my part. We have to be vocal on it. Eventually its gonna have to happen. they're doing it in japan already. M1 is doing it with sf on cbs. Anythings possible if we make a push for it. An old saying, the customers always right.
Another thing too. How bout they take all the american wrestlers in ufc and put them in a tournament and keep the top 4 fighters, cut the rest. And same goes for all the c level fighters. Get rid of 80% of ufcs roster and bring in some good young talented and colorful fighters from all over the world who can finish fights. Strip the ufc format down to 4 ppvs a year, not burn out all the contenders and then we can talk matchups. On the real, ufc needs a whole new roster. Since I'm the one paying for them, ill assess and criticize all I want.
It seems like their is alot of haters or young kids who comment on fighters in these forums .I think what Joe is saying is that Goerge is an exeptional challenge without a big name and that by beating him he wont get the credit or move up the lightwieght ladder any but at the same time if u have follow Goerge and u seen this guys potential witch im sure Joe has u would know that this is going to be one hell of a fight.And another thing,I know Joe .used to train at his gym until i had my newborn son.Joe is a stand up dude who is very down to earth chops it up with anybody and is always down to take a picture or give an autograph .The last thing he is ,is full of himself, he deserves to be were he is at .Anybody who trys to say otherwise is talking out of ther crack.
Piprocks666 You sound just like the Diaz brothers You have to thier friend with you that make three big as- whinners. I would not pay to see either one of them fight. Your bull---- does give me a big laugh. I am sure you are in the minority.