01/01/2006 .
Drew Fickett -- Never Say Die
By Thomas Gerbasi
FROM UFC.TV
For all intents and purposes, it was over. Drew Fickett had been game, but on this October night in Las Vegas, Josh Koscheck was apparently the better fighter, and with less than a minute remaining, he was well ahead on the scorecards and had the Arizona fighter on his back as the seconds ticked away. Like I said, it was over - the final moments of the fight a mere formality before the bell sounded and Koscheck's hand was raised in victory. Someone didn't tell Fickett.
"I knew I was down on points, but I almost had him so many times that I was pretty sure I was gonna catch him," remembered Fickett, but with his back to the mat, he needed a little help, needed to get a stand-up from referee John McCarthy to put the fight on even terms, if only for a moment. "Please John give me a chance," thought Fickett as Koscheck held him down.
"John, give me a chance." McCarthy broke the two fighters and stood them up. Fickett had his chance – now he just had to execute. And he had a plan. "Right before that I almost caught him with a knee coming in because I started backing up during the fight and letting him come to me, rather than being more aggressive, which gave him the easy takedown," he said. "I was pretty optimistic that I was gonna catch him, one way or another." Koscheck shot in hard, Fickett met him with a knee to the head, and suddenly, it was a new fight at the Hard Rock. The Ultimate Fighter season one alumnus fell to the mat and Fickett pounced, locking in a rear naked choke that ended Koscheck's night with 22 seconds left in the third and final round.
It was one of the most amazing turnarounds you'll see in any sporting event, and a stark reminder that in mixed martial arts, it's truly never over until it's over. But frankly, some in the same position would have mailed it in that night, chalked it up to a bad night, and moved on. Fickett though, on the verge of falling under the .500 mark in the UFC, kept coming, kept thinking that he was going to get his opportunity to pull out the fight.
"In there," he explains, "once I get hit one time, I'm all about strategy, I'm all about how can I win. If I'm fighting, I'm going to fight until the very end because I grew up wrestling, I grew up fighting, and I grew up with close fights and close wrestling matches, so it's never over. There's always a way to pull it out, and always a way to get that victory."
Fickett has had his hand raised over 25 times after a mixed martial arts match during an almost seven year career. On January 16th, he will try to move closer to victory #30 when he faces Josh Burkman, and the bout is an intriguing clash of styles between the newcomer and the veteran. "I think he's gonna try to come out strong, but I think I'm just gonna be too much for him," said Fickett of the fight. "I believe this is gonna be my little coming out party and people are gonna see what I've got." In Burkman, Fickett is facing his second member of The Ultimate Fighter cast in a row. Does he resent being placed in the role of gatekeeper for the UFC newcomers?
"No, I love it," he beams. "I love beating down Team Hollywood. I'm a real fighter and I come from a real place. I've had over 30 fights and I've had to dig my way up from the bottom. The more reality guys they give me, the bigger the smile that's gonna be on my face." Fickett's smiling because he knows that another couple of high-profile wins like the one over Koscheck will move him further up the ladder in what he calls "the toughest division in the UFC. It's a good mixture of speed, strength, power, and skill – it's pretty awesome. Hopefully after I win these next two fights after Burkman, they'll start putting me on some main events, and we'll go from there."