Jason “Dooms” Day will have his hands full when fighting Kendall “Da Spyder” Grove at UFC 96 Saturday in Columbus.
Flashy nicknames aside, Day predicted his bout against Grove should be a quick one either way.
“It should be a good, hard fight,” said Day, who moved to Calgary from Lethbridge, Alta., last September to prepare for the fight. “I see it ending in knockout or a submission. I’m a high-pressure kind of fighter. I don’t hold back.”
Day, who has a professional record of 17-6, has been in two Ultimate Fighting Championship events so far, going 1-1. He scored a technical knockout in April 2008 over Alan Belcher in front of 22,000 fans at the Bell Centre in Montreal.
“It’s a rush. It’s an adrenaline high,” said Day, who lost by TKO in the first round to Michael Bisping two months later in London, England.
“Over there the energy was still crazy. Here the energy was amazing. It was a different feeling having 22,000 people for me as opposed to against me.”
This time, the 6-foot-1, 185-pound fighter will take on one of his toughest opponents yet. Grove, who won the third season of the reality show The Ultimate Fighter, weighs the same as Day but is five inches taller.
“He’s really scrappy,” Day said. “He’s a tough guy. He doesn’t go down easy.”
Day took up the sport seven years ago and trained out of the Canadian Martial Arts Centre in Lethbridge, where an onlooker gave him his “Dooms” Day nickname.
“It grew on me,” said the 29-year-old native of Fort MacLeod, Alta., who has since moved north to Calgary to train with Brian Bird, a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. “He’s sharpening up my ground skills.”
Day also credited Calgary-based trainers Eric DeGuzman and Tanya Lee for preparing him for his upcoming fight.
“Calgary’s solid,” Day said. “I fell in love with the city. It has everything I need. I surrounded myself with really good people there so I have good energy.”
Day is finishing up his training in Hammond, Ind., with Miguel Torres.
“He’s got a ton of great guys for me to train with so it’s a good environment,” said Day, who’s tried to cut out any and all distractions. “I don’t have to deal with anything. I can just focus on my fight.”
