Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016 | 2 a.m.
UFC 195 press conference (mistake begins at 9:50 mark)
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Unlike pre-fight press conferences, the UFC thankfully doesn’t pan its cameras onto media members asking questions at post-fight press conferences.
That’s the only thing that could have made my last two days more embarrassing. It was a saving grace that viewers could only hear my Herculean gaffe after UFC 195, not see it.
Being on video would have also made the whole debacle more hilarious, but let’s be honest, it’s plenty funny already. In case you’re not one of the more 100,000 people who have watched the lowlight, allow me to try and explain.
UFC 195 concluded Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena with Robbie Lawler and Carlos Condit engaging in quite possibly the greatest round in the history of mixed martial arts. I provided the equivalent in terms of media bloopers less than an hour later.
I momentarily mistook Albert Tumenov, who beat Lorenz Larkin by split decision in a pay-per-view undercard bout, for Lawler, who defeated Condit via split decision in the main event. The misidentification occurred when the procession of fighters entered the ballroom for the press conference and walked up to the dais.
There was a man wearing a beanie, as Lawler has in the past, who shared the champion’s dimensions at 5 feet, 11 inches tall and weighing in at the 170-pound welterweight limit the day before.
I figured it was Lawler without ever giving a second thought before it was far too late. I didn’t look back at the faux Lawler until I had begun asking a question for the real Lawler, who was not present at the time.
Then panic set in. I stammered and there’s a second or two of awkward near-silence in the video, but my internal noise was as loud as Condit’s signature Rage Against The Machine-charged arena entrance.
“Robbie’s not up there,” I remember blasting through my head. “So who am I talking to? What happened in his fight? What should I ask him?”
I couldn’t come up with the answers to any of those questions. Not because I didn’t know who Tumenov was, but because I was completely flustered and not thinking straight.
If I ever seek a career change as the comments sections I’ve avoided have surely suggested, let’s all hope it’s not in crisis management. Then we’d all be doomed.
My undoing was in failing to pivot out of the way of impending disaster. For reasons I can’t explain, I determined the best course of action was to continue on with the question, deal with the fallout and issue a sheepish apology.
In fighting circles, many have uttered the phrase that you never know how someone is going to deal with getting punched for the first time. Let’s just say I didn’t respond like Lawler and awaken with my best work after eating a strike.
This was the first self-inflicted knockout in the UFC since Gray Maynard’s infamous slam of Rob Emerson in 2007.
I’m just glad my voice took the hit — and not my face.
Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.
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