#2 Matt Wiman waves goodbye to his consciousness
2006 was a fun time to be a UFC fan, and one of the reasons was the re-introduction of the 155lbs (Lightweight) class, which had been on ice since 2004.
When the weight class was brought back, one of its burgeoning stars was Spencer ‘The King’ Fisher, an exciting fighter who could strike and grapple equally well. He’d lost his first foray at 155lbs to Sam Stout, but the fight had been high quality and so big things were expected from him.
Originally, he was set to face Leonard Garcia on the undercard of UFC 60, but when Garcia broke his leg in training, newcomer Matt Wiman took the fight on late notice. Wiman was an unknown to casual fans but hardcore fans might’ve remembered him from a classic three-round war with Roger Huerta on the regional scene late in 2005.
The fight caught the eye of Dana White and so Wiman was signed to a UFC deal.
The first round of the Fisher/Wiman fight suggested Fisher had perhaps overlooked his foe. Wiman, a jiu-jitsu expert, took Fisher down early and after a close guillotine attempt, took full back control. He spent the majority of the round in the position before Fisher escaped, and wound up on top with seconds to go.
That’s when things got personal. Fisher landed an elbow strike that opened a cut over Wiman’s left eye, and as the buzzer sounded to end the round, he mimicked a lap-dance as he stood.
Big John McCarthy threatened to disqualify Fisher, but evidently, he’d managed to get into Wiman’s head.
The two men came out to exchange in the second round and it was Fisher who struck first, landing a right hand that clearly staggered the debutant. Undeterred, Wiman decided to showboat a little and wagged his finger in the air at Fisher as if to tell him the right hand hadn’t hurt him.
Fisher responded by launching himself into the air, catching Wiman unawares with a brutal flying knee. Wiman went down and out, and Fisher didn’t even need to follow up the blow, simply walking away as McCarthy stepped in.
Moral of the story? Even when you’re showboating, never leave yourself open. You never know where a flying knee might come from!
