The Long Climb Back Up the Mountain
Jack Encarnacao Jun 3, 2008
A lot of mixed martial artists say they'll fight any place, any
time. But few have had as many chances to prove it as Travis Wiuff (Pictures).
From his formative days fighting in bars with almost no training and taking his first UFC fight on eight days' notice, to his battles in the rings of Brazil, Pride Fighting Championships, the International Fight League and Yamma Pit Fighting, the Minnesotan has fought under more promotional banners than just about anyone in his roughly 60-fight career. And thanks to his manager, the uber-connected Monte Cox, Wiuff has the chance to fight on three other shows in the next two months: Sengoku, Adrenaline and Affliction.
"I just like to stay really busy, and I've got a great manager in
Monte Cox who knows I like to say busy," Wiuff said.
For all his exploits, Wiuff, 30, has never fought overseas. Even his fight last year for the Japan-based Pride, a submission loss to James Lee, took place in Las Vegas. Despite his coming up short, Wiuff said Japanese fight officials had liked what he brought to the table as "a big, strong American wrestler with a decent look." He crossed his fight-worn fingers for the opportunity to compete in the Orient.
"I guess that's my biggest concern honestly, is how I'm going to adapt to the time difference," Wiuff said. "The fight is Sunday evening in Japan, which translates to about 3 in the morning on Saturday over here. … Obviously Fujita's a very tough wrestler, a good fighter, experienced. But it's going to be pretty bizarre for me, for my body, getting ready to fight at 3 in the morning. But I'll be fine."
Since age 5, when the native of Owatonna, Minn., began wrestling, Wiuff has had very little time to worry. In his wrestling-crazed home state, Wiuff kept a hectic schedule, competing in tournaments throughout the school year and in Greco Roman and freestyle competitions in the summer.
"Every weekend my dad and I were on the road traveling to one place or another," Wiuff said. "Growing up, that was our lives: getting ready for wrestling matches and traveling."
Wiuff's father had plenty of experience on the road. Before Travis was born, Larry "The Snake" Wiuff worked as a professional wrestler, hitting the local state fair circuits during the 60s and 70s.
"I remember hearing stories about him wrestling in state fairs and county fairs when wrestling would come to town," Wiuff said. "I remember one particular story he told me. He was wrestling some guy and he kept body slamming my dad over and over again. And my grandma, my dad's mom, she didn't realize that it was staged. And she kept jumping in the ring and grabbing his ankle. That's a story I've heard quite a few times."
Wiuff grew up a big fan of pro wrestling and strongly considered it as a career option after achieving All-American status as a wrestler at Minnesota State University. Of course he ended up in MMA, but today sees more similarities than differences in the two endeavors.
"In wrestling you've got the heels and you've got the good guys, and I definitely see that in MMA," Wiuff said. "You may not be the greatest fighter technically, you may not be the most skilled, but if you talk good on the mic and you're presentable in front of the camera, that goes a long way nowadays in both mixed martial arts and pro wrestling. I wish I did have more of a personality like that."
When seeking a placeholder job as a bar bouncer in his hometown, Wiuff ran into Brad Kohler (Pictures), an early-era UFC fighter who had done pro wrestling in Japan. Kohler was promoting local fights under the "Ultimate Wrestling" banner at the bar where Wiuff was applying for work. He asked Wiuff if he had ever considered mixed martial arts.
"He asked me if I wanted to do it, and I just laughed," Wiuff said. "I'd never gotten into a fight in my life. I'd never punched anybody or even thrown a punch. And he said, ‘Just come up to my school in Minneapolis.' I went up there in the afternoon, and I threw maybe about a half hour's worth of punches on a heavy bag. And he said, ‘You're ready to fight.'"
The next night Wiuff was in the ring, defeating his opponent in 20 seconds via TKO before 30 or 40 spectators in the barroom. Wiuff's offense was pretty much limited to wrestling, and that was painfully obvious in his first effort. He and his family occasionally pop in the tape of that 2001 fight for laughs.
Wiuff's breakthrough came in 2002, when he knocked out Keith Jardine (Pictures) in six seconds on an Extreme Challenge card in Iowa. That earned him a spot in a 16-man heavyweight tournament put together by the Super Brawl promotion in Hawaii, where Wiuff lost to Wesley "Cabbage" Correira after absorbing a series of strikes in the third round.
For the next several months Wiuff toiled on the local circuit, unsure if he was going to enter a higher echelon in the then-fledgling sport. But in November he got a call to face current IFL champion Vladimir Matyushenko (Pictures), who had been considered one of the best light heavyweights in the game. Wiuff took the fight at UFC 40 on eight days' notice, and he succumbed to strikes four minutes into the first round.
"I was nowhere near ready to be at that level," Wiuff said. "But the UFC calls and you don't say no to them."
That loss, and another to Renato "Babalu" Sobral at UFC 52 in 2005, told Wiuff that the 205-pound weight class wasn't for him. That is echoed by Jeremy Horn (Pictures), the 100-plus-fight veteran who has trained with Wiuff on and off over the past decade.
"It doesn't quite suit him as well," Horn said of Wiuff at 205. "He actually fights better as a small heavyweight rather than as an average-sized light heavyweight."
Slowly but surely, Wiuff has had a chance to prove that. Though he faltered in his IFL and Pride efforts, in April he outlasted the field in an eight-man heavyweight tournament held as part of the curious inaugural card from Yamma Pit Fighting. Wiuff used his wrestling and the unorthodox sloped ring surface to notch wins over Marcelo Pereira and Ricco Rodriguez (Pictures) in one-round bouts, and he bloodied fellow Minnesotan Chris Tuchscherer (Pictures) in the final to win the tournament.
Wiuff isn't sure how to process the strange night or how much his one-round wins mean. There hasn't been a peep out of the Bob Meyrowitz-led production since the first show, and Wiuff hasn't heard anything about coming back, even though as the group's heavyweight champion he technically has two more fights contracted to them. Considering his fighting strengths, Wiuff would have no problem stepping into the sloped fighting arena again.
"If you can't take a guy down that's standing on that angle, then you shouldn't call yourself a wrestler," Wiuff said. "It was definitely a weird experience, but for me it was a good payday and I got some quality wins. It was a good night for me."
The recent victories have Wiuff thinking he could be on the cusp of a late-career renaissance. A victory over Fujita, who has been a star fighter in Japan since he knocked out Bob Sapp (Pictures) and Olympic gold medalist Karam Ibrahim (Pictures) in 2004, would up Wiuff's stock in the Orient. Meanwhile, Cox has told Wiuff he's on the undercard of the July 19 Affliction event, for which he'll be helping train fellow Cox client Tim Sylvia (Pictures) for his main event fight against Fedor Emelianenko (Pictures). Wiuff said he is also interested in fighting for Cox's own promotion, Adrenaline MMA, which premieres June 14 in suburban Chicago.
Wiuff, the father of a 1-year-old daughter, is keeping things close to home in training for this latest fit of fight activity. He's training in his low-key hometown of Rochester with Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Mario Roberto as well as in a local boxing gym and on any outdoor track or hills that will improve his cardio. Those hills are some of the same ones Wiuff has climbed again and again in building his diverse resume.
"I think I've had my ups and downs," Wiuff said. "I've fought in the big organizations, and I never did well in them . . . It's taken me a while to kind of get back to this level, where I get a little bit better paydays or a little bit better exposure. I'm going to take advantage of it this time. I don't want to say I've been to the top of the mountain, but I've seen what it's like to be at the top of the mountain. I've kind of had to start all over at the bottom, and I'm making my way back up there now."
From his formative days fighting in bars with almost no training and taking his first UFC fight on eight days' notice, to his battles in the rings of Brazil, Pride Fighting Championships, the International Fight League and Yamma Pit Fighting, the Minnesotan has fought under more promotional banners than just about anyone in his roughly 60-fight career. And thanks to his manager, the uber-connected Monte Cox, Wiuff has the chance to fight on three other shows in the next two months: Sengoku, Adrenaline and Affliction.
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For all his exploits, Wiuff, 30, has never fought overseas. Even his fight last year for the Japan-based Pride, a submission loss to James Lee, took place in Las Vegas. Despite his coming up short, Wiuff said Japanese fight officials had liked what he brought to the table as "a big, strong American wrestler with a decent look." He crossed his fight-worn fingers for the opportunity to compete in the Orient.
On Wednesday Wiuff will take a 12-hour flight to Saitama, Japan,
where, on Sunday, he'll face the powerful, iron-headed heavyweight
grappler Kazuyuki Fujita
(Pictures) as part of the third
Sengoku card from the World Victory Road promotion. Wiuff has
proven he'll fight any place; now he'll be proving the "any time"
part.
"I guess that's my biggest concern honestly, is how I'm going to adapt to the time difference," Wiuff said. "The fight is Sunday evening in Japan, which translates to about 3 in the morning on Saturday over here. … Obviously Fujita's a very tough wrestler, a good fighter, experienced. But it's going to be pretty bizarre for me, for my body, getting ready to fight at 3 in the morning. But I'll be fine."
Since age 5, when the native of Owatonna, Minn., began wrestling, Wiuff has had very little time to worry. In his wrestling-crazed home state, Wiuff kept a hectic schedule, competing in tournaments throughout the school year and in Greco Roman and freestyle competitions in the summer.
"Every weekend my dad and I were on the road traveling to one place or another," Wiuff said. "Growing up, that was our lives: getting ready for wrestling matches and traveling."
Wiuff's father had plenty of experience on the road. Before Travis was born, Larry "The Snake" Wiuff worked as a professional wrestler, hitting the local state fair circuits during the 60s and 70s.
"I remember hearing stories about him wrestling in state fairs and county fairs when wrestling would come to town," Wiuff said. "I remember one particular story he told me. He was wrestling some guy and he kept body slamming my dad over and over again. And my grandma, my dad's mom, she didn't realize that it was staged. And she kept jumping in the ring and grabbing his ankle. That's a story I've heard quite a few times."
Wiuff grew up a big fan of pro wrestling and strongly considered it as a career option after achieving All-American status as a wrestler at Minnesota State University. Of course he ended up in MMA, but today sees more similarities than differences in the two endeavors.
"In wrestling you've got the heels and you've got the good guys, and I definitely see that in MMA," Wiuff said. "You may not be the greatest fighter technically, you may not be the most skilled, but if you talk good on the mic and you're presentable in front of the camera, that goes a long way nowadays in both mixed martial arts and pro wrestling. I wish I did have more of a personality like that."
When seeking a placeholder job as a bar bouncer in his hometown, Wiuff ran into Brad Kohler (Pictures), an early-era UFC fighter who had done pro wrestling in Japan. Kohler was promoting local fights under the "Ultimate Wrestling" banner at the bar where Wiuff was applying for work. He asked Wiuff if he had ever considered mixed martial arts.
"He asked me if I wanted to do it, and I just laughed," Wiuff said. "I'd never gotten into a fight in my life. I'd never punched anybody or even thrown a punch. And he said, ‘Just come up to my school in Minneapolis.' I went up there in the afternoon, and I threw maybe about a half hour's worth of punches on a heavy bag. And he said, ‘You're ready to fight.'"
The next night Wiuff was in the ring, defeating his opponent in 20 seconds via TKO before 30 or 40 spectators in the barroom. Wiuff's offense was pretty much limited to wrestling, and that was painfully obvious in his first effort. He and his family occasionally pop in the tape of that 2001 fight for laughs.
Wiuff's breakthrough came in 2002, when he knocked out Keith Jardine (Pictures) in six seconds on an Extreme Challenge card in Iowa. That earned him a spot in a 16-man heavyweight tournament put together by the Super Brawl promotion in Hawaii, where Wiuff lost to Wesley "Cabbage" Correira after absorbing a series of strikes in the third round.
For the next several months Wiuff toiled on the local circuit, unsure if he was going to enter a higher echelon in the then-fledgling sport. But in November he got a call to face current IFL champion Vladimir Matyushenko (Pictures), who had been considered one of the best light heavyweights in the game. Wiuff took the fight at UFC 40 on eight days' notice, and he succumbed to strikes four minutes into the first round.
"I was nowhere near ready to be at that level," Wiuff said. "But the UFC calls and you don't say no to them."
That loss, and another to Renato "Babalu" Sobral at UFC 52 in 2005, told Wiuff that the 205-pound weight class wasn't for him. That is echoed by Jeremy Horn (Pictures), the 100-plus-fight veteran who has trained with Wiuff on and off over the past decade.
"It doesn't quite suit him as well," Horn said of Wiuff at 205. "He actually fights better as a small heavyweight rather than as an average-sized light heavyweight."
Slowly but surely, Wiuff has had a chance to prove that. Though he faltered in his IFL and Pride efforts, in April he outlasted the field in an eight-man heavyweight tournament held as part of the curious inaugural card from Yamma Pit Fighting. Wiuff used his wrestling and the unorthodox sloped ring surface to notch wins over Marcelo Pereira and Ricco Rodriguez (Pictures) in one-round bouts, and he bloodied fellow Minnesotan Chris Tuchscherer (Pictures) in the final to win the tournament.
Wiuff isn't sure how to process the strange night or how much his one-round wins mean. There hasn't been a peep out of the Bob Meyrowitz-led production since the first show, and Wiuff hasn't heard anything about coming back, even though as the group's heavyweight champion he technically has two more fights contracted to them. Considering his fighting strengths, Wiuff would have no problem stepping into the sloped fighting arena again.
"If you can't take a guy down that's standing on that angle, then you shouldn't call yourself a wrestler," Wiuff said. "It was definitely a weird experience, but for me it was a good payday and I got some quality wins. It was a good night for me."
The recent victories have Wiuff thinking he could be on the cusp of a late-career renaissance. A victory over Fujita, who has been a star fighter in Japan since he knocked out Bob Sapp (Pictures) and Olympic gold medalist Karam Ibrahim (Pictures) in 2004, would up Wiuff's stock in the Orient. Meanwhile, Cox has told Wiuff he's on the undercard of the July 19 Affliction event, for which he'll be helping train fellow Cox client Tim Sylvia (Pictures) for his main event fight against Fedor Emelianenko (Pictures). Wiuff said he is also interested in fighting for Cox's own promotion, Adrenaline MMA, which premieres June 14 in suburban Chicago.
Wiuff, the father of a 1-year-old daughter, is keeping things close to home in training for this latest fit of fight activity. He's training in his low-key hometown of Rochester with Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Mario Roberto as well as in a local boxing gym and on any outdoor track or hills that will improve his cardio. Those hills are some of the same ones Wiuff has climbed again and again in building his diverse resume.
"I think I've had my ups and downs," Wiuff said. "I've fought in the big organizations, and I never did well in them . . . It's taken me a while to kind of get back to this level, where I get a little bit better paydays or a little bit better exposure. I'm going to take advantage of it this time. I don't want to say I've been to the top of the mountain, but I've seen what it's like to be at the top of the mountain. I've kind of had to start all over at the bottom, and I'm making my way back up there now."
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