UFC's Yves Edwards Is Not Scared Of The McKenzie-tine: "This Ain't The French Revolution!"

UFC Fight For The Troops 2:  Will Yves Edwards' "Thugjitsu" avoid the McKenzie-tine & celebrate with Lay's BBQ Chips?

 

UFN 23's Yves Edwards scared of guillotines? "This ain't the French Revolution"

by Steven Marrocco on Jan 18, 2011 at 4:15 pm ET

Apparently, it's not easy to avoid getting caught in a guillotine choke by "The Ultimate Fighter 12" cast member Cody McKenzie.

Just ask castmate Aaron Wilkinson, who fell prey to the choke in the show's finale, or the nine other fighters who have done the same in McKenzie's three-year pro career.

A lot of guys would tear out hair fretting over the possibility. Yves Edwards (38-16-1 MMA, 6-4 UFC) is not one of them.

It's hard to scare him about a move he's been doing since McKenzie (12-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) was watching Sesame Street.

"I'm not going to die in a guillotine," Edwards recently told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio). "This ain't the French Revolution."

Edwards is next to contend with McKenzie's long arms and good grip when they meet Saturday at "UFC Fight Night 23: Fight for the Troops 2," which airs live on Spike TV from Fort Hood in Texas.

Edwards said he has a pretty simple plan for dealing with McKenzie's primary weapon.

"You just avoid those types of positions," he said. "That doesn't mean you don't pass his guard, or you don't get in his half-guard and try to elbow his face in."

Besides, Edwards only has so many taps in him per month by his own rules, and he's not going to give up an extra one.

"It's good that this fight is at the end of the month," he said.

Another shot at the top

It's also another chance at a second life inside the octagon.

With 56 fights under his belt, Edwards has seen enough ups and downs for several careers. There were many times when he felt he would never get a chance to become the best in the world. That ship had sailed when he was submitted by Mark Hominick at UFC 58 and stopped by Joe Stevenson at UFC 61.

Once considered the rightful heir to nonexistent 155-pound title, he was forced to confront the reality of being a regional attraction.

But after a conversation with UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta at the previous installment of "UFC Fight for the Troops" – his American Top Team teammate Luigi Fioravanti fought Brodie Farber on the preliminary card – he realized that he had a chance to work his way back into the world's biggest fight organization. So he pulled himself up by the bootstraps and went back to work.

He went 4-1 in his next five outings, and when a handful of injuries shuffled the UFC Fight Night 22 fight card, he was on the short list for a short-notice fight. He made the most of it and outpointed John Gunderson, a fighter also expected to threaten him on the ground.

Looking back, Edwards doesn't appreciate the career seesaws any more than he did when he was in the middle of them. But he's glad things worked out, and he's ready to put in another run for the top.

No guillotine is going to scare him on the way.

"When you're doing this, you want to be the best guy in the world, and for me, the best guy in the world is the lightweight champion of the UFC," he said. "So, that's the guy I want to beat."