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Travis Browne's 2013 was pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty good. Not only did he win all three of his UFC fights last year, but he won each of those contests via first round knockout. He also earned Knockout of the Night for each of those finishes, pocketing an extra $175,000 for his six minutes and 19 seconds of work inside the Octagon. On April 19 Browne will look to carry that momentum into 2014 when he faces Fabricio Werdum in the main event of UFC on Fox 11.
There's more on the line for Browne (16-1-1) in this fight than his winning streak, knockout streak and bonus streak. If he defeats Werdum (17-5-1), Browne will most likely be the next fighter to face UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez.
On Wednesday, the highly ranked heavyweights (Werdum No. 2, Browne No. 3) appeared on ESPN 580 in Orlando for a pre-fight press conference. Browne, clearly in a good mood, was full of humor during the course of the brief media event. When asked how it felt to travel with Werdum, the man he will be looking to make his fourth consecutive knockout victim, Browne said, "Fabricio's a very animated character and he has such a great sense of humor that it has actually been a joy to be here and to do these interviews with him, and besides the time he spends on his phone - and I feel like a neglected girlfriend, other than that, he's a dreamboat."
Browne became more serious when discussing his opponents skill set and how Werdum, once looked at as strictly a jiu-jitsu guy has developed into a more well-rounded fighter, "Everybody knows his strengths, but what everybody doesn't know is how hard he has been working on his weaknesses to become his strengths. I've had the honor of training with Werdum years back, and since then he has come such a long way in his training and in his development as a complete fighter, and you can't take that away from him."
As for a game plan, well, let's just say that Browne's sense of humor was in full effect when he said, "What I'm thinking about doing, and I haven't ran this past my coaches, which I'm pretty sure they'll be on board for, but I'm thinking about going out there and while he raises his hand to touch gloves, I'm just going to try and pull guard. I'm going to throw a flying triangle and I'm going to land it. That's been my game plan this entire time, and it'll catch him off guard so fast that he won't even know what happened to him, and then I'm going to pinch his toe."
It was refreshing to hear such an animated Browne during the event, but we can be certain that his good humor will be absent when he steps in the Octagon at the Amway Center to face Werdum in April.
Tickets for the event go on sale on Friday, which as Browne was kind enough to point out, is Valentine's Day. In full salesman mode, Browne pitched the idea that tickets to UFC on Fox 11 would be a perfect Valentine's Day gift for all the men in Florida to purchase, "Buy you and your woman a ticket so that she can come and stare at us, half-naked, all sweaty, fighting," Browne said. "Do you not understand what that's going to do for you that night? You're welcome. You're welcome."
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