The Past and Future 03.17.09: Mike Swick
Posted by Robert Steele on 03.17.2009
“You can never predict how a fight will go.” This week a profile of UFC welterweight Mike Swick. Mike discusses his time on The Ultimate Fighter, his fights with Marcus Davis and Jonathan Goulet, and more.
Before his win over Jonathan Goulet at UFC: Fight for the Troops, Mike "Quick" Swick was not living up to his nickname. His previous four fights all went to the judges. Against Goulet, Swick went looking for the kill and found it, winning in just 33 seconds. Against Ben Saunders at UFC 99, he may or may not try to do the same.
The Past:
Mike Swick grew up like a lot of those who are now fans of MMA -- watching martial arts movies and loving the action. Like many of the fans, he would get involved in martial arts; but unlike the many of us who quit after a few months, Swick stuck with it. He joined Tae-Kwon Do at eight-years old and continued from there, progressing and building his skills as a fighter, leaning different disciplines.
Before becoming a full-time fighter, Swick took a stint away from his home in Texas to work at the US Embassy in Moscow, Russia. He also trained in Russia while working, before deciding to move to Thailand in search of a Muay Thai camp. "I think world experience helps you develop on so many levels," Swick said. "I love traveling and seeing the world. Training abroad also helps. Anytime you train with new people you should be able to pick up some new stuff."
After winning five straight professional fights, Swick met with Chris Leben at WEC 9. The fight went two rounds with a good deal of all-out swinging. Both landed solid punches, with Swick getting caught a few times causing him to stumble. He would manage to escape Leben's chances to capitalize on the ground. Early in the second round, however, Leben connected another clean punch causing Swick's knees to buckle. The ref jumped into stop the contest with Swick hunched over awkwardly.
The two would meet again on the first season of The Ultimate Fighter as middleweight team mates on Team Couture. Swick would lose to Stephan Bonnar in the semi-finals of the show, but go on to win with a quick KO punch to beat Alex Schoenauer at TUF Finale. This 20 second KO would help earn him the nickname "Quick."
Mike Swick described one of his most memorable moments from the filming of the show. "…We were carrying Randy Couture on a sofa over our head in Lake Mead and I tripped on a rock and Randy fell on me."
Swick never had the chance to avenge his loss to Leben, with it being speculated that Leben turned down an opportunity to fight Swick at Fight Night 11.
Swick continued on a winning streak before losing to Yushin Okami at UFC 69. It was after this fight that Swick decided he was giving his opponents an edge by not cutting weight. He dropped down to welterweight. "It is my natural weight class," Swick said. "I walk around at 185(lbs)." The initial hesitation may have been due to fellow American Kickboxing Academy members Josh Koscheck and Jon Fitch occupying the same weight class as top contenders.
Swick adjusted to the weight with a bit of difficulty at first, managing to win his first fight at welterweight by a close decision over Josh Burkman. This led to a fight against Marcus Davis, a fight that fans expected to be a complete strike-fest. While there was some striking, a lot of the fight took place on the ground. "Well, you can never predict how a fight will go," Swick said. "I was thrown off by Marcus trying to take me down so much." Swick still managed to get a unanimous decision win.
At UFC: Fight for the Troops, he would reclaim the nickname "Quick" by beating Jonathan Goulet in a 33 second KO. When asked, Swick confirmed he was going in for the kill early in his fight with Goulet.
The Future:
Swick will fight Ben Saunders in his next fight. Of the fight, Swick said simply, "He is a tough opponent and I think it will be a good fight." Swick has been dominant with only two losses in his career, with eight of those wins being against UFC opponents. He should be able to pull it off a win against Saunders.
Moving from middleweight to welterweight was likely a smart move in terms of being able to win fight. It does come with a few problems. The welterweight division is deeper and more competitive. And having Fitch and Koscheck as team members who will not fight one another is also an issue. I think at some point it is inevitable that two of the three will need to fight each other. He is, however, a top ranked welterweight who will at some point soon likely get a title fight, provided he keeps winning. He should not be too many fights away from a title chance.
Swick is also more involved on the publicity side than most other fighters. He is involved with TV projects, keeps both a detailed up-to-date website and Myspace page, and will soon be in a new MMA movie. This will help keep him as a popular and recognizable face inside UFC for the future.
Mike Swick on his new website: "Please check out my all new website which will launch by March 20th! It is going to be huge with over 1000 photos and videos."
