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ZuffaKiller- Posts : 4178
Join date : 2011-11-19
'Hungry' Gerald Harris looks at WSOF 1 fight with Josh Burkman as starting career over
Mon Oct 29, 2012 5:26 pm
Gerald Harris must feel like he's all over the news lately. On Saturday, he hopes he's being talked about for reasons beyond his nickname.
As Hurricane Sandy bears down on the East Coast, "Hurricane" Harris is preparing to bear down on the World Series of Fighting and is looking for a fifth straight victory. Harris (21-4) meets fellow UFC vet Josh Burkman (23-9) in the promotion's debut.
World Series of Fighting 1 takes place Saturday at Las Vegas' Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino. The show is headlined by a heavyweight fight between Andrei Arlovski and Travis Cole, and the main card airs live on the NBC Sports Network. The Harris-Burkman fight is part of the preliminary card, which streams at Sherdog.
For Harris, his WSOF debut has been a rare opportunity for a mostly full fight camp. For his previous two fights, Harris fought a new opponent on a day's notice and another on less than a week's notice. For Burkman, he'll have had two months.
"This is everything I've asked for," Harris on Monday told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio). "I'm hoping for the best in this one. I've been through the mess. I've been through it all. Anything can happen. If there's an opponent change, it doesn't bother me. We'll look at the video and we'll take the fight. There's no such thing as a perfect camp, but in my eyes, this was great. Everything's coming together."
Harris' road to the upstart WSOF has been an interesting one. After going 3-1 in the UFC with a pair of "Knockout of the Night" bonuses, Harris was infamously cut after just one loss. Four months later, he dropped a decision to current UFC welterweight James Head.
Since then, though, he's gone on a four-fight run of decision victories for Tachi Palace Fights, DREAM and Legacy FC. But it was his face-to-face meetings with the WSOF brass that convinced him signing was the right move.
"We just got away from fighting and just talked and laughed … it was just crazy how everything went," Harris said. "I think without that meeting, I wouldn't have signed because it would have seemed like just another organization. But I was really impressed. It wasn't sweet talk. I kind of felt like I was in high school again getting recruited for college."
Harris dropped from middleweight to welterweight for his most recent victory, a split-decision win over Mike Bronzoulis at Legacy FC 11 in May. But he said despite his impressive 21-4 record it's a new beginning at 170 pounds.
"To me, I'm 0-0," he said. "At 170, I consider myself starting my career over. A lot of things have happened that I don't want to happen again, like the injuries and stuff. But it's a good fight. It's what I wanted."
Harris made news recently when he said his hope was that he and his opponent for any future fights could undergo in-camp random drug testing through the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association. And though nothing official came of his letter-writing campaign to VADA and the Nevada State Athletic Commission, he remains hopeful for the future, saying he's a clean fighter and knows he's not alone – but that fighters using performance-enhancing drugs are making the entire sport look bad and tarnishing the innocent, who become guilty by association.
That's been a mild frustration for Harris, as was the news a week ago that his fight against Burkman was no longer part of the televised main card at WSOF 1, as he thought it was. ("I was a little pissed about that," he said. "If I express my personal feelings, it wouldn't be professional. So I'll just leave it at that.")
But those little annoyances don't seem to have gotten in the way of the reality of his fight against Burkman, who with two straight wins likely is just as eager to continue his win streak as Harris is.
"You can say that we're hungry," Harris said "But I don't ever lose my hunger no matter where I'm at, whether I'm at the top, at the middle or at the bottom."
http://mmajunkie.com/news/31343/hungry-gerald-harris-looks-at-wsof-1-fight-with-josh-burkman-as-starting-career-over.mma
As Hurricane Sandy bears down on the East Coast, "Hurricane" Harris is preparing to bear down on the World Series of Fighting and is looking for a fifth straight victory. Harris (21-4) meets fellow UFC vet Josh Burkman (23-9) in the promotion's debut.
World Series of Fighting 1 takes place Saturday at Las Vegas' Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino. The show is headlined by a heavyweight fight between Andrei Arlovski and Travis Cole, and the main card airs live on the NBC Sports Network. The Harris-Burkman fight is part of the preliminary card, which streams at Sherdog.
For Harris, his WSOF debut has been a rare opportunity for a mostly full fight camp. For his previous two fights, Harris fought a new opponent on a day's notice and another on less than a week's notice. For Burkman, he'll have had two months.
"This is everything I've asked for," Harris on Monday told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio). "I'm hoping for the best in this one. I've been through the mess. I've been through it all. Anything can happen. If there's an opponent change, it doesn't bother me. We'll look at the video and we'll take the fight. There's no such thing as a perfect camp, but in my eyes, this was great. Everything's coming together."
Harris' road to the upstart WSOF has been an interesting one. After going 3-1 in the UFC with a pair of "Knockout of the Night" bonuses, Harris was infamously cut after just one loss. Four months later, he dropped a decision to current UFC welterweight James Head.
Since then, though, he's gone on a four-fight run of decision victories for Tachi Palace Fights, DREAM and Legacy FC. But it was his face-to-face meetings with the WSOF brass that convinced him signing was the right move.
"We just got away from fighting and just talked and laughed … it was just crazy how everything went," Harris said. "I think without that meeting, I wouldn't have signed because it would have seemed like just another organization. But I was really impressed. It wasn't sweet talk. I kind of felt like I was in high school again getting recruited for college."
Harris dropped from middleweight to welterweight for his most recent victory, a split-decision win over Mike Bronzoulis at Legacy FC 11 in May. But he said despite his impressive 21-4 record it's a new beginning at 170 pounds.
"To me, I'm 0-0," he said. "At 170, I consider myself starting my career over. A lot of things have happened that I don't want to happen again, like the injuries and stuff. But it's a good fight. It's what I wanted."
Harris made news recently when he said his hope was that he and his opponent for any future fights could undergo in-camp random drug testing through the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association. And though nothing official came of his letter-writing campaign to VADA and the Nevada State Athletic Commission, he remains hopeful for the future, saying he's a clean fighter and knows he's not alone – but that fighters using performance-enhancing drugs are making the entire sport look bad and tarnishing the innocent, who become guilty by association.
That's been a mild frustration for Harris, as was the news a week ago that his fight against Burkman was no longer part of the televised main card at WSOF 1, as he thought it was. ("I was a little pissed about that," he said. "If I express my personal feelings, it wouldn't be professional. So I'll just leave it at that.")
But those little annoyances don't seem to have gotten in the way of the reality of his fight against Burkman, who with two straight wins likely is just as eager to continue his win streak as Harris is.
"You can say that we're hungry," Harris said "But I don't ever lose my hunger no matter where I'm at, whether I'm at the top, at the middle or at the bottom."
http://mmajunkie.com/news/31343/hungry-gerald-harris-looks-at-wsof-1-fight-with-josh-burkman-as-starting-career-over.mma
SandmanFC- Posts : 181
Join date : 2012-09-14
Re: 'Hungry' Gerald Harris looks at WSOF 1 fight with Josh Burkman as starting career over
Mon Oct 29, 2012 6:18 pm
War Harris.
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