UFC welterweight Mike Pierce picked up his fourth win in a row at UFC 162 this past Saturday, however many fight fans might not have known this as he was placed in the very first bout on the Facebook preliminary portion of the card. He defeated David Mitchell by second round KO.
The curious case of Mike Pierce
Pierce has come a long way since his professional MMA debut back in 2007. He holds a record of 17-5 and is currently riding his second longest winning streak of his career at four fights.
The 32-year old made his Octagon debut with a victory over Brock Larson at UFC Fight Night 19 in 2009. He has fought twelve times under the UFC banner and has gone an impressive 9-3. His only Octagon losses have come to Jon Fitch (UFC 107), Johny Hendricks (UFC 133) and Josh Koscheck (UFC 143). The fights against Hendricks and Koscheck were both split decision losses in which many critics believed Pierce was robbed, which would have made his current run an impressive 7-0.
With a four-fight winning streak, one would question the fact that Pierce is so far down on the undercards. Many would argue that the UFC is disrespecting the talented welterweight. However, Pierce himself said to Ariel Helwani after his victory at UFC 162, “Honestly my fights haven’t been the most exciting. People want to see those finishes, they want to see the knockouts; they want to see those things and they pay good money for it. Part of what I’m trying to do now is deliver more of that and get back to the pay-per-view and main card action.”
Funny how he and many others feel that way, since he has two knockouts in his last four bouts. I wouldn’t call two stoppages in four fights “boring”.
Only two of Pierce’s twelve fights in the UFC have been on the main card – unfortunately both of which were losses. At UFC 107 he fought Fitch on the middle of the PPV card and lost via unanimous decision. His most recent loss to Koscheck although controversial, still was a loss and was the last time Pierce has seen the PPV portion of a fight card.
Unlike Fitch, at least Pierce has set his focus on changing his game to make a step forward and make his fights more exciting.
In Pierce’s post-fight speech he said, “I came here tonight to prove something, get noticed and deliver, and I think I did that in the second round. I think this win is definitely a step in the right direction.”
Indeed he did prove himself, however it doesn’t seem fair that a fighter who has a winning record is bumped down to the preliminary portion of the card when the organization feels he is not exciting enough. Fight boring and you’ll never see the light of a main card.
