Duane Ludwig got a great present on Christmas Eve last year when UFC figurehead Dana White gave him the news that his knockout of French-Canadian striker Jonathan Goulet at UFC Fight Night 3 in 2006 would be recognized as the promotions fastest knockout in history.
“Bang” Ludwig was making his octagon return following a three-year hiatus and wasted no time putting Goulet away. Ludwig was approached by Goulet at rapid-speed throwing a looping hay maker that was countered by Ludwig and put his lights out in 6:06 seconds.
For years anytime he was given a working microphone the former kick boxer lobbied to get it overturned and he got it but not without controversy.
On boxing day, two days after receiving the news he’s waited upon for five long years with Keith Keizer of the Nevada State Athletic Commission denied that the record was broken. “There’s no legal avenue to overturn it” before going on to say “I timed it myself with a stopwatch. It was eight seconds. Officially, it’s got to stay at 11 seconds, but unofficially, it could be at eight.”
Despite video proof put forward by the UFC President Nevada still recognizes 7-second obliteration of Tim Hague as their fastest but the UFC has it for Ludwig.
“They don’t want to go back and fix that because they don’t want to admit that they were wrong. I know they said they have a lot of fighters complaining about fights being stopped earlier or later with the times so they said they don’t want to open up a can of worms.”
Ludwig stated in interviews in the past that he wanted to leave behind a legacy for his two children and is thrilled that the bosses inside the UFC are giving him the record in their books.
“The UFC are still the number-one show in the world and the promotion that everyone respects and knows and it means more to me for the UFC, my fans and my family on my side with this than the athletic commission.”
Last year the Grudge Training Center product made his return to welterweight division and since then has been unbeaten collecting back-to-back victories over ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ alum’s Nick Osipczak and Amir Sadollah.
“My wrestling and my jiu-jitsu are the most improved part of my game — That’s attributed directly on me moving up to 170 [pounds] so when I go into the gym I concentrate on becoming a better athlete and not so much sweating, worrying about calories or losing weight.”
When most people enlist the services of professional fighter turned nutrition magician Mike Dolce they are usually in a predicament like Thiago Alves, having difficulties making weight and unwilling or unable to bulk up the additional pounds to move up.
For Ludwig it was quite the opposite, he wanted to move up a weight class from his usual 155-pounds and let Dolce take care of his diet while he takes care of the physical part of his career.
“I have learned through Mike Dolce when to eat and what to eat – A lot of it has to do with timing of your meals to benefit your works outs and stuff so he definitely educated me a lot — It’s not just the basic low-carb diets, definitely not just that. It’s a lot about the foods and the nutrients and where they come from and there’s a lot more to food than people think.”
As he looks to stretch his win streak further he has a tough task ahead of him in the veteran of 43 bouts Josh Neer.
Neer is on quite the little tear of his own though, “The Dentist” is on a five fight win-streak with his last win coming in his promotional return busting up the face of Kieth Wisniewski to force the doctor to step in and call-off the action.
“I think we match up well; obviously we’re both top-notch strikers. I feel I have better speed, better power but he’s definitely tough as nails. Both our wrestling is decent but he’s better off his back than I am with more submission victories.
It’s a good match-up on paper but I feel I’m the better athlete and I’m gonna win.”
These two talented strikers will go to war in the co-main event slot of this Friday’s UFC on FX 1 event headlined by Jim Miller vs. Melvin Guillard.
You can catch the entire interview on MMASucka radio as he chatted with Jeremy Brand and Trevor Dueck for over twenty-minutes.
