UFC 128: Trevor Wittman Responds To Dana White's Criticism

Following a unanimous-decision loss to the love child of William Hung and Liu Kang (from Mortal Kombat), Yushin Okami, at UFC 122 this past November, Nate Marquardt and his cornermen received some heavy criticism from UFC president Dana White.   

White called Marquardt a “choke artist” and accused his corner of telling the former King of Pancrase that he was winning the fight rather than telling the middleweight contender to “go for broke” in the third round of a bout that may not have been scored in his favor.

Trevor Wittman, the owner and operator of Grudge Training Center in Colorado and one of MMA’s premier striking coaches, was in Marquardt’s corner for that fight.

A lot of what White said was directed towards him, and while one would assume that Wittman would feel insulted, he actually applauds White for speaking his mind in the way that he did.

“The thing is I think it’s great. For [Dana White] to push for more exciting fights, I think, is the best thing he can say. He’s out there pushing his brand, he’s a promoter, he’s promoting fights so for him to say something like that is great,” Wittman said.

“Now do I think he talks a little bit emotional? I think so, and I do [that] too, I’m passionate about what I do. I’m  not mad at him at all for saying what he said, it wakes me and Greg [Jackson] up a little bit and gets our fire going and makes us more passionate to show you what kind of trainers we are and what type of team we have.”

White was also very critical towards the “play it safe” game plans of the Greg Jackson camp. Many Internet fans have voiced similar disdain for the recent strategies of fighters such as Marquardt and UFC welterweight champion, Georges St-Pierre.

Wittman argues that it isn’t a fair assessment and that many of his fighters, including Marquardt, have been involved in memorable battles in the recent and distant past.

He also says that White was incorrect in his assumption that Marquardt’s corner told him he was ahead in the fight against Okami.

Just the opposite was true.

“Our fighters are known for finishing, we’re known for getting the fight of the night. Before [the Okami fight], Nate stopped Palhares and before that he got the fight of the night [with Chael Sonnen]. But did we tell him that he was winning that fight [with Okami]? No, not at all, Greg and I both told him that he was losing the fight and needed a knockout to win,” Wittman said.

“I thought he lost the first two rounds and squeaked out the third round. Nate asked me in the corner after the fight was over, as we came in, he said, ‘What did you think, coach?’ and I said, ‘I thought you lost the fight,’ and Greg said the same thing. I don’t think Dana really heard what was going on in the corner.”

Marquardt himself thought that he had done enough to earn a victory over Okami and that could be why White believed his coaches felt the same.

Wittman blames himself for the loss and feels that, as a coach, he could have done more to prepare Marquardt for the bout.

“Nate did go in to the press conference and say that he felt he won the fight, he thought he won a technical battle which you can make a case that he landed the harder counter-punches and got more takedowns but you also have to look at it from a judging perspective,” Wittman said.

“Me, as a trainer, I felt that I did not do enough as a trainer and I take full credit for that loss because our game plan going into that fight was to out- counter-punch Okami but I didn’t work any finishing combinations whatsoever. I just think we did not do enough and there were times when Nate had hurt Okami and I felt we could have gotten in more finishing combos and done a lot more so it woke me up as a trainer.”

Stepping in for former foe Chael Sonnen, Marquardt will look to return to the win column against Japanese sensation, Yoshihiro Akiyama, at UFC 128 next month.

Wittman is very confident in his fighter heading into the clash.

“You’re going to see a different Nate Marquardt in this fight and I praise Dana for doing that because it lit a fire underneath us and I’m excited for this next fight,” Wittman said.

“We’re not going out there and worrying about winning or losing, it’s all about performance. If he goes out there and performs like Nate Marquardt should, he’s a finisher and has a lot of punching power. [Michael] Bisping hit Akiyama all night with right hands and I don’t feel Bisping has that much punch, technically he throws a great punch but Nate has punch. I’m looking for Nate to stop Akiyama and, like I said, we’re not going out there to win or lose we’re going out there perform and I guarantee you we will perform that night.”

UFC 128 takes place March 19 at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. In addition to the Marquardt bout, Wittman will also corner fighters Brendan Schaub and the returning Eliot Marshall.

Also, Team Jackson’s Jon Jones will headline the card against UFC light heavyweight champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua for the title.

UFC 128: Shogun Rua vs. Jon Jones: Results, News and More

Mitch Ciccarelli is the sexiest columnist in MMA. A staff writer for Heavy MMA, featured columnist for B/R and host of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Leprechaun MMA Radio, Ciccarelli is also a future United States Airman beginning basic training this March (next week). He is also engaged to Eva Mendes and Jessica Simpson Michele Gutierrez.

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