It was a pretty good weekend for Nova Scotians, particularly those in Cole Harbour.
On Friday, the small town’s most noteworthy athlete, Sidney Crosby, saw his Pittsburgh Penguins advance to NHL’s Eastern Conference final as he seeks his second Stanley Cup. Meanwhile on Sunday, Nathan MacKinnon, the potential “next” Sidney Crosby, scored a hat trick as his Halifax Mooseheads won the Memorial Cup.
And in the middle of it all, Saturday night at UFC 160 in Las Vegas, T.J. Grant delivered a big upset with a tremendous knockout of Gray Maynard — and in the process earned a shot at the UFC’s lightweight championship.
Grant was a guest on Sportsnet 590 The Fan’s Tim and Sid show Monday to discuss his huge win and the great past few days it has been for his friends out East.
While he said the results on the ice made bigger headlines than his exploits in the cage, he did appreciate the quickly-increasing attention he has been getting.
“I just delivered a hard knockout and the Maritimers are behind that,” Grant said.
Grant was also asked if there was something in the Cole Harbour water that could explain the big success being seen recently.
“It’s just hard work. We just keep popping out talented dudes,” Grant said. “Obviously we have strong hockey traditions. Growing up everybody played — well I didn’t play it, I couldn’t skate.”
Grant’s knockout was so stunning — a straight right that toppled the very durable Maynard and was followed by a flurry of punches — that many thought he had the Knockout of the Night bonus in the bag with just three fights remaining on the pay-per-view card.
That was until Junior dos Santos put Mark Hunt down with a huge spinning kick to the head in the co-main event.
“Afterward, (fellow lightweight) Donald Cerrone came back and saw me and said, ‘I dunno man, I think you just lost Knockout of the Night.'”
Fortunately for Grant, former boxing champion Mike Tyson, who was a guest at the event at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, convinced the UFC brass to give the US$50,000 bonus to the Canadian.
“Thanks Mike Tyson,” Grant said. “I did it with my hands, so I like to think he appreciated that.
“Both were good knockouts, they were equally impressive. Junior had a great knockout over a guy who’s very, very durable, and he didn’t even need to throw that, he was ahead of the scorecards.”
The hosts and Grant got a little playful at that point as they talked about when he can expect his loot.
“It used to be that they just handed you a cheque at the press conference, which was nice. Right now, they’ll test my urine and make sure I’m not smoking weed or doing steroids,” Grant said, making reference to the rash of recent fighters who have been nailed for positive drug tests.
“Anything you can tell us now? We can break a story,” replied Sid, possibly referencing Nick Diaz, who has twice tested positive for marijuana and caused an uproar during the week prior to his UFC 158 fight vs. Georges St-Pierre in Montreal when he was a guest on Tim and Sid and said he couldn’t guarantee he would pass his post-fight drug test.
“I’m all good,” Grant said. “I’m sure I’ll get a knock on the door in a few weeks from FedEx (with the paycheque.)”
It has been a great last month for Grant, who welcomed his first daughter Casey with fiancée Belinda.
“It ranks straight up there with the best month of my life,” said Grant, whose UFC career began with alternating wins and losses before his current five-fight win streak since dropping down to 155 pounds. “The last few years have been up and down. Life is on the way up.”
Next up for Grant is champion Benson Henderson. As for when they’ll meet for the title, Grant, who is getting married in October and wants to fight for the belt before that, said he wants to do it at the expected late September show in Toronto show, but he thinks it will be in Boston at the first UFC event on the new FOX Sports 1 channel on Aug. 17.
UFC president Dana White told MMAjunkie.com Sunday that their fight is one of four options they’re looking at to headline that card.
If it does end up in Toronto, it will give local fans another chance to see a Canadian try to win a UFC title on home soil.
And you can bet there will be plenty of Maritimers making the trek west, whether it’s in Toronto or across the border in nearby Boston.
