Stann learns from his mistakes

If Jon (Bones) Jones gets past Vladimir (The Janitor) Matyushenko on Saturday night, the rising UFC light-heavyweight star might look to a fighter on the undercard for leading the way.

 

 

Jones, 23, already credits former WEC champion Brian (All American) Stann for showing him the value of hard work and dedication.

Stann, a former marine who trains with Jones at Greg Jackson's camp in Albuquerque, N.M., takes on middleweight Mike (The Master of Disaster) Massenzio on the undercard at the San Diego Sports Arena.

"I thought I was on point but this guy, he studies, he works on his weaknesses," Jones said of Stann. "Where some guys are blessed with athleticism, he's just pure hard work.

"This training camp has really taught me how to work even more and not just to depend on being athletic or blessed. I'm mean I study but this guy, he does his homework. He's a great contributor to the (Jackson) team and it's an honour to be going through the same training camp at the same time with him, because he's tough and he's war-proven. It's going to make me tougher being around him."

When Stann enters the training room, the intensity level rises, says Jones. "He's a leader."

The 29-year-old Stann seems the epitome of success.

He played four years of football for Navy, graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy in 2003 with a degree in economics.

He was awarded the Silver Star for bravery in Iraq after his platoon was ambushed in May 2005 while seizing a bridge near Karabilah.

"You can forget all the other medals," Stann, who left the marines in 2008 as a captain, says on his website. "I just wanted the award that said 42 out of 42 men came home safely."

But Stann credits his failures for his success, a theme that prompted him to write "Heart for the Fight: A Marine Captain's Journey from Assault Platoon Leader to Mixed Martial Arts Cagefighting Champion."

The book, written with John R. Bruning, is due out Sept. 10. Stann hopes it will help others aspiring to lead.

"Anybody who really really tries to do great things, you're going to fail at times and I've had many many failures," he said. "I've had many many unfortunate things happen to me. And all of those I think have prepared me for certain extreme times in my life.

"I'm certainly not finished yet," he added. "I don't know where my life's going to take me but wherever it is I plan on being a leader at that time and being in a position where I can help other people."

Stann (8-3) does just that when he is not fighting. He works full time at Hire Heroes USA, finding jobs for returning veterans — "not just a job, but the right job."

They help any veteran, but prioritize those who are wounded or served in combat. Since June 2007, they've assisted more than 200 veterans find work.

"Regardless of your thoughts on these conflicts overseas or what your beliefs are, we still need to honour the service of these men and women who are going over there and fighting," Stann said.

He also works for its parent company, MedAssets Inc., handling its corporate real estate in the U.S. MedAssets CEO John Bardis, who is also Hire Heroes USA's chairman, corners Stann each fight.

Stann, who lives with his wife and two young daughters in the Atlanta area, knows his fighting career helps open doors for Hire Heroes USA. He also credits the UFC for a big helping hand, noting the organization's support for the military.

Stann was only a few months out of the marines when he joined the Jackson camp and acknowledges he was largely self-coached when he was in the military.

"I was very very raw getting ready for my first UFC fight," he said. "And it really wasn't a secret. Everybody knew that. But when the UFC comes calling, you don't turn them down.

"I'm enjoying myself every day and luckily I have such seasoned and experienced fighters around me that I can gain ground a little bit quicker by having such good guys around me."

After going 5-1 and winning a title in the WEC, Stann lost his first UFC outing by submission to Canadian Krzysztof Soszynski at UFC 97 in Montreal in April 2009.

He bounced back with wins over old WEC foe Steve Cantwell and Rodney Wallace before running into Phil (Mr. Wonderful) Davis at UFC 109 on Feb. 6.

Davis, a former NCAA wrestling champion and four-time all-American at Penn State, took Stann down and controlled him, although he could not finish him. Davis won by unanimous decision.

Stann said he went into the fight knowing "it was the worst possible matchup for me."

"People told me I couldn't win the fight and that drove me towards it. I said 'OK now I want to take the fight and see if I can find a way to stop him.' And unfortunately I could have wrestled for the next 10 years and still not be able to outwrestle Phil Davis in that fight.

"He turned it into a wrestling match and that was smart of him."

He admits to conflicting emotions that night. For one, it was frustrating being unable to escape Davis.

"When he gets on top of you, there's not much room to get out."

But he took pride in refusing to stop battling Davis.

"I remember saying to myself, I don't care if this fight was 10 rounds, I would go all 10 rounds and I would take everything he had and I would beat him based on exhaustion.

"In order to beat me you're going to either break a limb or you have to knock me out."

A small light-heavyweight who sometimes did not have to cut weight to make 205 pounds, the six-foot-one Stann has moved down to 185 pounds.

"The UFC has now given me three straight wrestlers. Realizing for some reason that's just the matchup they want to give me, dropping down makes more sense," he explained. "Having to cut some weight makes some sense because I'm bigger, stronger, I'll be harder to take down and more importantly harder to hold down."

Stann normally walks around at 220, but says the pounds melt away because of his work ethic in the gym. He says he feels "great" as a middleweight.

"I'm faster, I have not lost much strength at all, which is a very dangerous thing for the guys in the middleweight division. I haven't lost any power in my strikes at all and my cardio's better too.

A striker who is working hard on his ground game, Stann had been told by his manager after Davis that he would be facing a standup fight next time out. Instead, he got Massenzio, another wrestler.

"I just laughed," Stann said of the matchup.

He took four days off and went right back to work, focusing on his wrestling and jiu-jitsu. "I put the gi on for 5 1/2 straight months."

"Mike Massenzio is a great wrestler, no doubt about it. But he's not Phil Davis," said Stann.

For Stann, Massenzio (11-3) is the final exam to those months of hard work and study.

Whatever happens Saturday night, Stann will no doubt turn it into a positive.

"When I fail, I'm not going to hang my head, I'm not going to hide in the corner. I'm going to pick my head up and I'm going to keep coming."

He points to all those people who told him he had no business fighting.

"I'm still here," he said. "I'm still in the UFC, I'm still winning fights."