#9
Mike Swick
“Quick”
“Quick”
Summary: Striking, Speed, Aggression
Fighter Info
Nickname: | Quick |
From: | Houston, Texas USA |
Fights Out Of: | San Jose, CA USA |
Age: | 31 |
Height: | 6' 1" ( 185 cm ) |
Weight: | 170 lb ( 77 kg ) |
After his first professional loss, Swick entered the first season of The Ultimate Fighter, a reality television series produced by the UFC. Swick participated as a light heavyweight on Randy Couture's team. Chris Leben also participated as Swick's teammate. Leben insisted on talking about his victory over Swick, which irritated him. Swick's first fight in the show came during the semi-finals. He faced Stephan Bonnar, but was defeated by triangle armbar at 4:55 of the first round, eliminating him from the show.[citation needed]
At The Ultimate Fighter 1 Finale, Swick defeated Alex Schoenauer by knockout just 20 seconds into the first round, earning the nickname "Quick" from UFC announcer Mike Goldberg. Though he had lost the show, Swick signed a contract with the UFC.
Swick lived up to his nickname with several quick stoppages in his subsequent fights. At UFC Ultimate Fight Night Swick stopped Gideon Ray by technical knockout in just 22 seconds. He followed up with two first-round guillotine choke submissions over Steve Vigneault and Joe Riggs at UFC 58 and UFC 60 respectively. Swick jokingly called the move his "Swick-otine". At UFC 63 Swick faced former title challenger David Loiseau and earned a unanimous decision victory. He suffered ligament damage to his hand during the fight.[citation needed]
Swick's first UFC defeat came at UFC 69, losing by unanimous decision to Japanese middleweight Yushin Okami. He had Okami noticeably rattled toward the end of the second round with a flurry of punches, but ultimately succumbed to Okami's superior wrestling and physical presence, as he was taken down comfortably and suffered an onslaught of ground and pound for the majority of the fight. Chris Leben was then asked to fight a rematch with Swick at UFC Fight Night 11, but Leben turned down the fight, later claiming that his management turned down the fight without his knowledge. Swick was then scheduled to fight Jonathan Goulet, but withdrew from the fight due to a rib injury
Swick dropped down to welterweight and headlined UFC Fight Night 12 against Josh Burkman, winning by majority decision.[1] Swick next appeared at UFC 85 against Marcus Davis, who was riding a six-fight win streak in the UFC coming into the bout. Swick controlled the fight with disciplined striking skills en route to a unanimous decision victory. He next faced Jonathan Goulet at UFC: Fight for the Troops. Swick opened up with a characteristically aggressive flurry of punches, knocking Goulet out on his feet. Swick rushed in with ground strikes before the referee stopped the fight.
Swick next faced Ben Saunders at UFC 99. After he reversed Saunders' takedown attempt with a quick sprawl and takedown of his own, Saunders held Swick in his guard for several minutes, stifling any offense and prompting Swick to taunt him for stalling. In the second round Swick's hands loosened up and he dropped Saunders with a clean straight right after landing a few punches, following up with a quick flurry to round off an impressive performance. In the post fight interview, Swick pointed out his record of 9–1 in the UFC and announced his interest in a title shot.[citation needed]
Swick was scheduled to fight Martin Kampmann on September 19, 2009 at UFC 103. The winner was set to receive a title shot against Georges St. Pierre.[2] However, this changed when it was announced on September 4 that Swick had suffered an injury while training and would be unable to fight Kampmann at UFC 103. Paul Daley, who made his UFC debut on the undercard, stepped up as Swick's replacement and defeated Kampmann via TKO.
Swick replaced an injured Kim Dong-hyun and faced Dan Hardy on November 14, 2009 at UFC 105.[3] The winner was to get the next shot at Georges St-Pierre's welterweight championship.[4] In an interview[5] prior to UFC 105, Swick revealed he was pleased to have dropped back to Welterweight but admitted he could not focus on Georges St-Pierre until after UFC 105. Swick was rocked by a straight right hand from Hardy early in the first round and appeared to be uncomfortable competing toe-to-toe with Hardy. He was then rocked again by Hardy in the 2nd and 3rd rounds and went on to lose the fight by unanimous decision.
At UFC 109, Swick lost to Paulo Thiago by a d'arce choke after taking a counter left in an exchange in the second round. Swick refused to tap to the choke forcing him to lose the fight via technical submission.
In early September, Swick stated that he had been mis-diagnosed with a stomach disease. The disease which he was incorrectly told he had, forced him onto a very bland and restrictive diet, which made it virtually impossible for Swick to put and keep on any muscle mass. Swick is currently undergoing treatment and, barring surgery, will be able to return to action in early 2011, as a middleweight.[citation needed]
Swick was expected to return to action against David Mitchell on January 22, 2011 at UFC Fight Night 23.[6] Although it was thought he might return to action at middleweight, Swick and David Mitchell verbally agreed to a January 22 fight in the welterweight division.[7] However, Mitchell was forced out of the fight with a back injury and Swick felt as if his stomach condition was not completely healed, so the bout was scrapped from the card altogether
