London, Ontario fighter enters weekend bout with 8 knockouts and having won 4 of his last 5 fights
When Sam Stout fights, he puts on a show.
The London, Ont., native enters UFC 131 on Saturday night at Rogers Arena with a 5-5 record in UFC fights but the 27-year-old won the fight of the night award in half of those bouts.
“I go out and I bring it when I fight. It’s not something in my head when I’m out there. I don’t think about the bonus, but I think about putting on an entertaining show,” Stout said following a workout at a Yaletown gym. “It’s something I pride myself on.”
He relied on a combination of a strong chin and powerful striking to earn both a 16-6-1 record (8 KOs) in all MMA contests and the nickname “Hands of Stone.”
“I can take a punch. I can throw a punch. I’m not scared to get into a scrap and I’m athletic,” he said. “I’m tough to submit and my conditioning is always good. I leave it all in there.”
A fight of the night award includes a monetary bonus and the Muay Thai kick-boxing specialist put the cash to good use. He purchased a car outright for himself, put a down payment on a house and bought his dad a new driveway for Father’s Day last year.
He said he hopes to give his dad something a bit different this year. “I think this year I’m going to get him a win against Yves Edwards,” he said.
Stout takes on Bahamas-born Edwards in the final bout of the UFC 131 preliminary card.
Edwards -a 34-year-old veteran of 57 MMA fights and 12 UFC bouts -specializes in Muay Thai and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. He won his fight of the night award last January at a UFC event in Texas after defeating Cody McKenzie by submission.
“Edwards is a very technically sound guy, but I don’t think he’s a very big power puncher,” Stout said.
The bout will be shown on free TV at 5 p.m. (Spike TV) as part of the UFC 131 preliminary card.
Stout said although he needs to finish fights to push himself into contention for the lightweight title, he also respects his opponent’s game.
“I’m not going to force anything, I’m not going to take any unnecessary risks, but a decisive win against Edwards would put me in the right direction to have people talking about [title contention],” he said.
As originally published in The Vancouver Sun