Adam Martin

Photo courtesy Sherdog.com

It’s not easy fighting on short notice, especially in the UFC. It’s even tougher when you’re coming off an injury and stepping into the cage just two weeks after being on vacation with your fiancé.

But that’s exactly the situation Tom DeBlass was put in last month at UFC on FUEL TV 2 in Stockholm, Sweden. When Jorgen Kruth pulled out of the event with an injury, the former two-division Ring of Combat (ROC) champion and world-class Brazilian jit-jitsu practicioner was given the call by UFC matchmaker Joe Silva to step in and fight Cyrille Diabate on only 12 days’ notice.

“What happened with the last fight was I was originally set to fight April 27 to defend my (ROC) title, but a month before I pulled out with a fractured ankle and I wanted to let that heal. So I wasn’t training for about two or three weeks at all,” the 30-year-old native of New Jersey told theScore.com. “I was on vacation with my fiancé the week before, and when I got back the UFC called me and asked if I wanted to step in to fight Diabate. I’m not gonna turn that down.

“But I knew I wasn’t in any kind of shape whatsoever and I had never went into a fight before unprepared and that was my biggest concern. I wasn’t in shape. You could tell by my body.”

Indeed, DeBlass was eating things he admits he shouldn’t have been eating before the got the call, which was evident judging from the extra weight he carried around his midsection against Diabate. Still, though, DeBlass dominated the French striker on the ground in the first round, and even picked up a 10-8 round on one judges’ scorecard. But he gassed in the second and third rounds and ended up losing a majority decision to Diabate (the judges’ scored it 29-28, 29-28, and 28-28 for the tall Frenchman).

But despite losing for the first time in his MMA career — his record now stands at 7-1 — there are no regrets on the side of Ricardo Almeida and Renzo Gracie disciple to take a fight halfway across the world on short notice.

“Lets give Cyrille his due. He was expected to fight a kickboxer then gets completely floored and his opponent is switched to a decently-known grappler. So I mean, he had to change his gameplan, too,” said DeBlass, who has been Pan American champion, a world champion, and Abu Dhabi Trial champion in BJJ. “If you’re a fighter, you gotta love to fight. Joe Silva knew I wanted to get in for a while so I can’t say ‘Get me in, get me in,’ then when the opportunity presents itself say, ‘Oh no, I need more time.’

“I thought it was a winnable fight. Although it was taken on short notice I could have did some things differently and I think I could have won that fight. But there was no hesitation to accept the fight (on short notice).”

And while many fighters making their big-show debut under the bright lights of the UFC say they feel the so-called ‘Octagon jitters,’ DeBlass says he didn’t experience that and can’t use it as an excuse for the reason he gassed out. That, he says, came from inadequate preparation due to an extremely-condensed training camp.

“I didn’t feel the jitters at all,” he said. “To me, a fight’s a fight. I felt great the first round dominating Cyrille. I wasn’t throwing many strikes because I knew I wasn’t in shape and was trying to conserve energy throughout the fight. The reason why I got tired was because I took the fight on short notice. It got me a little tired. Cyrille was the first guy I’ve fought that tall as well so that was an interesting battle to climb.

“But it was fun, man. I was so appreciative of the opportunity the UFC gave to me and I’m actually very happy that fight happened because I learned a lot about myself.”

It’s why he expects to have a much better performance when he steps into the cage for his sophomore Octagon effort this summer. DeBlass fights Canadian Nick Penner on July 11 at HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif., and he says the lessons he learned in the Diabate bout will carry through when he takes on the native of Blumenort, Manitoba.

“I’m very, very confident where I am in my training camp right now,” he said. “I’ve been through the worst. I took a fight across the world on 12 days’ notice and I was put in some pretty bad sports in the third round and I know what it feels like to get completely exhausted and get your faced elbowed and punched a few times. Being punched and elbowed isn’t that bad, being tired is. I just don’t see how anyone can make me that tired in a fight again.”

DeBlass promises that, with a full training camp in tow, he’ll put on a much better performance the next time out.

“I know (the full camp) is gonna make a huge difference,” he said. “Right now I’m already in better shape then when I fought Cryille and it’s eight weeks out from the fight because as soon as I got back from Sweden I started training instantly the day I got home. (Against Penner) you’re gonna see me in there, what I’m really capable of doing.”

He admits he doesn’t have a lot of knowledge of the Canadian Penner — who, likewise, lost his UFC debut after being TKOed by Anthony Perosh in “The Hippo”‘s native Australia in March at UFC on FX 2 — except for the fact he defeated Eric “Butterbean” Esch back in 2007.

“You know I really don’t know much about Nick Penner, like it’s pretty hard to find video on him,” DeBlass said. “His videos are pretty old and I haven’t seen his fight with Anthony Perosh yet, but I’m sure he’s very tough ’cause he’s in the UFC for a reason. I’m very excited to get in there with him, especially with a full camp behind me.”

While Penner is more of a standup fighter and DeBlass does his best work on the ground, the world-class BJJ player says it wouldn’t surprise him at all if Penner looked for the takedown considering how Diabate was able to lay on top of him and score points when he fatigued in the latter runs. So maybe DeBlass will turn the tide and try to strike with Penner because, at the end of the day, you need to be good at every facet of the game to succeed in the Super Bowl of MMA.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if Nick takes me down ’cause in that third round when I had no energy left Cyrille was able to do some damage on top of me,” he said. “I’m a fighter and a fight starts on the feet so that’s where we’re gonna get started. If it ends up on the ground, I believe I have a stronger ground than Nick but you never know what can happen in a fight nowadays. Everyone in the UFC’s so good, so tough, so I’m sure Nick has something up his sleeve, as well.”

And while DeBlass admits he was entertaining thoughts of dropping to 185 pounds after the Diabate loss, he says when the UFC asked him to take on Penner at 205 pounds, he just couldn’t say no.

“They asked if I wanted to fight at 205 and who am I to say no?” he said. “I think it’s pretty hard to judge my performance against Cyrille at what I can really do at 205 because it was on 12 days’ notice. Can I make 185? One-hundred per cent I could. But can I do well at 205? One-hundred per cent I can. I’ve fought at heavyweight before. I’m gonna come into this fight in great shape at 205 and the UFC asked me, they had an opportunity fairly shortly after my fight in April (against Diabate). I’m just a guy who likes to fight. They ask and I’m gonna do it, man. I’m excited.”

Perhaps the best thing about taking fight so closely after his last one is that he gets to erase the sting of defeat to Diabate, a loss which ruined his unblemished MMA record, and something which DeBlass says still eats at him to this day.

“I’m still not over it. I hated it. Losing is one of the worst feelings in the world,” he said. “I was trying to find a reason why I lost and even though it was on short notice I still changed a ton of things in my training. I feel like I’m a guy who has never fought before. Every training session I have an open mind and am just looking to improve so much. I’m working on the areas of my game that need the most improvement.

“I can honestly say the only time I was happy about that loss when I was training wasn’t until I found about this next fight coming up, so I’m extremely excited. I’m a little bit upset, too, just because I knew I could’ve done so much better with more time to prepare but, shoulda, coulda, woulda, Cyrille was the man on top that night and that’s what it comes down to. I would never take losing lightly. I think it’s a horrible, terrible feeling.”

It’s a feeling DeBlass hopes he never has to feel again, and that’s why he’s so motivated to get into the cage and show Penner, as well as the UFC brass and fans, just exactly what he’s made out of.

“I’m coming in there to do what I want to do and that’s win. I’m coming in there to fight hard, man. A fight’s a fight and I know he’s looking at it the same way. We’re both gonna dig deep and we’re both gonna fight our hearts out, so may the best man win that night,” he said.

“I’m so blessed to be in the situation I’m in and have this chance so quickly after my loss to redeem myself in early July, get that victory, and enjoy the rest of my summer with a win.”