I fought with an attitude of not losing more so than an attitude of winning for this fight. Brower seem to be doing the same himself.

The whole fight was pretty much just a bunch of clinching with a few moments of us separating and throwing some punches. In the third round, I finally took Brower down and passed his guard. That was the deciding factor in the fight.

I captured the NFC Southeastern Title Belt from Brower. The judges gave me the decision for this fight, but I still don’t feel that great about it.

I got to display a lot of my boxing ability in this fight, but not in the first round. In the first round, I got a little impatient and attempted a sloppy takedown. Brower saw it coming a mile away and stuffed it by putting me on my back. Brower won the first round mainly just from being on top.

The second round was all me as I was dominant in the standup war with Brower. I even got the takedown midway through the second round. Brower defended most of my shots on the ground and was able to recover from the damage he took standing up.

The third round was pretty neck and neck. I’m a little biased towards myself because I thought I actually won this round and the fight, but the judges didn’t see it that way. Hey, nobody’s perfect! Brower was awarded the NFC Southeastern Title Belt in my hometown.

I was angry about this, and I wanted to prove everybody wrong. In three weeks, I went from a out-of-shape doughboy to an in-shape fighting machine. I actually tape recorded myself on a digital voice recorder saying, “Tom Nguyen stops Todd Carney in the 2nd round”, and played the recording over and over until I fell asleep each night leading up to the fight.

I utilized two gyms for this fight, X3 Sports and Total Package Boxing. I worked on my grappling and overall MMA at X3 Sports while I worked on my boxing at Total Package Boxing.

I didn’t get the second round stoppage like I predicted, but I came very very close. I elbowed Todd Carney more than 32 consecutive times at the end of the second round. The fight could have easily been stopped and nobody would have argued.

I’m glad the referee didn’t stop the fight though. Carney had me in a near submission midway through the last round. I fought out of it though and kept pounding my way to a unanimous decision.

Tim Williams came out like a man fighting for his life. He happened to land the very first kick on my shoulder and fracture it. I didn’t know it was fractured at the time, I just felt some excrutiating pain. Had I known that it was fractured, I probably would have quit. I went for a takedown even though I was injured, and Williams stuffed it. Tim Williams swung wildly at me while I was grimacing in pain for about a 30-45 seconds. I was thinking in my head, “Hmmmm. I might actually lose tonight.” Then, a few seconds later, I started to think, “Maybe I can pull this fight off if I hold on.” My opponent started to tire after his barrage of punches, and I picked myself up off the ground.

The rest of the fight just consisted of me fighting with one arm and using my other hand and as something to grab on to. I took Williams down multiple times, and did a one arm ground and pound on him for pretty much three rounds. In the end, I won a majority decision. This was my first Mixed Martial Arts(MMA) fight that went to decision.

After the fight, I realized I could not even lift my right arm. A few days later, the doctor told me my shoulder was fractured. I didn’t fight again for six months, and it took more than a year to regain full strength in my right arm.

For my entrance, I came out with green hair and a sword. I even took my time and sat on the steps for a second or two.

I really thought in this fight that I was going to utilize my boxing skills for the first time in my Mixed Martial Arts(MMA) career. As soon as the fight started, I went to throw a big bolo. I missed, we locked up, and then I got tossed to the ground. I was put on my back for the first time in a MMA fight. Luckily, I had been working a lot with Kevin Gittemeier, a fellow MMA fighter.

As soon as I was hip tossed, I started working my guard. I ate a couple of punches, but I was able to block or dodge most of them. At about a minute and 50 seconds into the fight, I was able to secure a kimura and submit Hathaway. I felt pretty satisifed with my first submission win from my back.

The fight ended up going the distance.  Robert Marsh was a durable boxer who prided himself on not getting knocked out in his losses.

David searched the world for a Vietnamese-American boxer in the heavier weight classes and I just happened to be the only one he could find.  Flyers were made with just my picture on it in front of a Vietnamese flag. San Jose has a huge Vietnamese population.

Although I was the crowd favorite, I wasn’t by much because Jermaine Johnson was from Sacremento. I ended up winning this fight via a majority decision. I got cut due to an accidental headbutt and had to go to the hospital right after the bout. My cornermen and I waited for hours before I was treated.

Anthony Henry was built like brickhouse with a chiseled chest and a six pack. Of course, in this game, looks don’t mean anything. It’s what you got inside of you what counts. I dyed my hair red for this special occassion. Don’t ask me why because I don’t know. Maybe I wanted to be like Dennis Rodman.

I ended up winning this fight in 37 seconds. Henry went down after I landed a jab to his face. I was totally shocked. When he got up, I grazed him with one more shot and he was down for the count. Henry really didn’t want to fight after being punched in the face.

Although the fight ended quickly, I decided to make the most of my limelight. I was on ESPN after all, so I started acting like a fool doing cartwheels and jumping on the floor. I also started screaming, “This ain’t William Hung, I speak perfect English!”

Because of my antics, a predominately Vietnamese-American school wanted me to go and speak to their students, but that never turned out.

I was scheduled to go back to work at the jail the next day, and as soon as I walked into my cell block, I received a standing ovation from all of the inmates.

I felt like I won most of the first round by using my jab. Baki landed a few hard shots at the end of the first round, but I was able to take over from there. During the fight, I happened to break Baki’s nose. I didn’t know it at the time, I just started seeing blood all over him. I ended winning via a unanimous decision.

I ended up winning a four round decision. Donovan Craig was a fantastic debut opponent. He was tough as nails and took everything I had to throw at him. You wouldn’t have thought I won the fight by looking at my face though.