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Thursday, Nov 15, 2012

Nick Ring on UFC 154 Bout With Constantinos Philippou: “I Can’t Wait to See Where This Fight Goes”

Nick Ring working against Riki Fukuda (photo via UFC.com)

By Kelsey Mowatt

While much of the Montreal, UFC 154 crowd Saturday night will likely be behind fellow Canadian Nick Ring, the Calgary fighter has been assigned the tough task of ending the four fight win streak of Constantinos Philippou. Of course, due to the Long Island fighter’s recent successes, Ring has a key opportunity to step further away from his loss last September to contender Tim Boetsch.

“He’s been doing really good; he’s a great athlete,” Ring (13-1) noted about Philippou (11-2) in a recent appearance on Full Contact Fighter Radio. “I think this is a good opportunity for me. It’s a great chance for me to test myself and I’m looking forward to the challenge.”

The main card tilt could provide plenty of intriguing striking exchanges on account of each man’s stand-up abilities. Philippou is an accomplished amateur and former professional boxer, while Ring is also a decorated Muay Thai competitor with several pro boxing bouts under his belt. Then again, it’s MMA, and Ring could try to put his ground game to use, as he did so effectively in his submission win over James Head last June.

“You know what? I’m preparing for all elements,” the 33 year-old Ring said about Philippou, who continues to round out all elements of his game with the Serra-Longo Fight Team. “Obviously he’s a little bit more of a striker, but I think he’s an underrated grappler too. We’ll see what happens here.”

“I don’t like to project too far into what the fight is going to be like,” added Ring, who holds a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu under Roy Harris. “He’s got some very obvious strengths so we’ll see what happens.”

To prepare for the UFC 154 bout, Ring has once again enlisted the services of several notable camps in Canada and the U.S.

“I just finished, done with Tristar and I took a trip to Vegas and Xtreme Couture too,” said Ring, who spends most of his time training out of Champion’s Creed in Calgary, which is headed by second degree BJJ black belt Brian Bird. “I’ve had a few, really good training partners at both camps…I always enjoy going down to Tristar. You’ve got Rory (MacDonald) and Georges (St. Pierre); a lot of really big names out of there. It’s a super good camp.”

Ring is coming off a tightly contested unanimous decision over Court McGee in July, to rebound from the aforementioned loss he suffered versus Boetsch last fall. The bout marked the second time Ring and McGee had squared off, as the Calgary fighter worked his way to a majority decision win over McGee in 2010, when the two competed on the eleventh season of TUF.

“It was an important win for me, but clear cut? No. Not exactly,” Ring noted about their UFC 149 rematch. “Obviously they gave me the first two rounds and I would definitely give Court the third round. Court is one of those guys where he just gets stronger and stronger as the fight goes on. He’s very determined and doesn’t let up on the pressure. So, he’s a tough, tough individual. I was honored to get to fight him again.”

“I’m looking forward to this one. I think this brings an entirely different set of challenges,” Ring furthered. “Court’s a little bit more of a grinder and I’d say Constantine is more of a technician. I can’t wait to see where this fight goes.”

UFC 154 will be hosted by Montreal’s Bell Centre on November 17th and will feature a welterweight bout between the champion St. Pierre and interim champ Carlos Condit.

 

 

posted by FCF Staff @ 3:11 pm
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