Janes gaining speed after slow UFC start
After a slow start to his UFC career, Canadian middleweight Ryan Janes has hardly stopped moving.
The 35-year-old native of Grand Falls-Windsor, N.L., who now makes his home in Victoria, B.C., was set to makes his UFC debut last August in Vancouver, only to have his opponent pulled on the eve of the fight due to a possible drug violation.
He was subsequently slotted onto an October card in the Philippines, a show that was cancelled 11 days ahead of time when headliner B.J. Penn was injured.
The cards have come fast and furious since, however.
“It’s been crazy,” he said. Janes (9-2-0) won a decision over Keith Berish in December in Albany, N.Y. — becoming the first Newfoundlander to fight in the UFC — before losing via firstround submission to Gerald Meerschaert in February in Halifax.
On Sunday, the web developer for the B.C. government takes on hard-hitting Welshman Jack (The Hammer) Marshman (21-6-0) on a televised card in Glasgow. Iceland’s Gunnar Nelson, ranked eighth among welterweight contenders, meets No. 14 Santiago Ponzinibbio of Argentina in the main event at the SSE Hydro arena.
Even though eight time zones separate Victoria and Glasgow, Janes asked to be on the Scottish card. Prior to moving to Victoria, he did a three-month work stint at the University of Aberdeen and “absolutely loved the place.”
Despite the stop-and-start beginning to his UFC career, Janes says he was always confident the fights would come and has been treated well by the promotion. He saw the Berish fight as a chance to get rid of the UFC jitters and show off his skills before a hostile crowd.
Meerschaert, who has 19 submission wins, proved to be a different story. Janes opened well and took his opponent down, only to get caught in an armbar after making a mistake while in top position.
“It was just a little slip of the mind, a little blip,” he said. “I probably rushed the grappling exchanges a little too much. But beyond that little blip, if I had to fight him again, I’d do the exact same thing ... It was the best minute and a half of my fight career.”
The next four seconds saw him tap out.
“You make a little mistake and you pay for it,” he said.
While he lost the fight, he savoured the week in Halifax with family and friends coming over from Newfoundland in numbers to cheer him on.
Marshman, a former paratrooper in the British army, has power in his hands. He lost to hard-nosed Brazilian Thiago Santos last time out, but not before knocking the 14th-ranked middleweight contender on his butt.
The 6-foot-3 Canadian will have a three-inch advantage in both height and reach.
It’s a great matchup for me. I’m excited about this fight because he will definitely engage in the standup.
“He’s used to fighting taller guys,” cautioned Janes.
Still, he likes his chances. “It’s a great matchup for me. I’m excited about this fight because he will definitely engage in the standup. And I’m more comfortable more so than he is everywhere.”
Sunday marks a year to the day that Janes signed with the UFC. Because of the cancellation of his first two cards, he’s been in training camp mode almost the entire time. He’s not complaining.
“I love to train. I love everything about it,” he said of MMA. “This year, I don’t think I’ve ever been happier with it.”
Janes trains out of Zuma Ultimate Martial Arts, which has long been the home of former UFC fighter and Strikeforce champion Sarah Kaufman. He works during the day and trains at night, making up any lost time in what’s left.
Janes didn’t take up the sport until he was 25. He says the late entry makes him appreciate everything more.
It started out of a simple desire to get into shape. Bored lifting weights, he was taken by a kickboxing movie and looked through the phone book to find a gym that offered Thai boxing. That let him to Zuma.
“I called and that was it,” said Janes, now a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.