Frank Trigg eyeing one last title run

Justin M. Bowen

Frank Trigg works out with a medicine ball at Xtreme Couture gym in preparation for his UFC 103 fight against Josh Koscheck on Sept. 19 in Dallas.

By Andy Samuelson

Thursday, Sept. 17, 2009 | midnight

UFC 103: Prepare for the Unexpected

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Local fighters Frank Trigg and Martin Kampmann talk about their upcoming fights at UFC 103. Trigg returns to the Octagon to face Josh Koscheck, while Kampmann fights Paul Daly.

Justin M. Bowen

Frank Trigg shadow boxes during a training session at Xtreme Couture gym in preparation for his UFC 103 fight against Josh Koscheck on Sept. 19 in Dallas.

Frank Trigg knows he’s good at running his mouth.

The veteran fighter made a secondary career as a fight broadcaster for PRIDE Fighting Championship.

But at 37-years old, the former wrestler at Oklahoma University knows his fighting days are numbered. That’s why Trigg is looking at his comeback with the UFC has a final opportunity to claim the welterweight title that has so narrowly eluded him.

“Let’s be honest: This is a title run,” said Trigg, whose first return test in the UFC is against former collegiate wrestling standout Josh Koscheck Saturday night at UFC 103 in Dallas.

“I’d rather run myself into a brick wall and fail at the attempt than keep running my mouth. Let’s face facts, guys: I’m a good mouth runner. I can talk about anything at any time I want. But the real guys will talk about it and then go out and do it.”

While Trigg’s last fight in the UFC was all the way back in August of 2005, when he was submitted by Georges St. Pierre at UFC 54, Trigg (19-6 overall MMA record) credentials are quite impressive.

Trigg — whose most famous fight, and arguably one of the Top 5 fights in UFC history, came against Matt Hughes for the welterweight title at UFC 52 at the MGM Grand — owns victories over Kazuo Misaki, Jason Miller, and Dennis Hallman.

But in Koscheck, Trigg not only sees a near mirror image of himself, but a new breed of fighter.

“Fighting him is basically like fighting myself,” Trigg said. “At the same stage of my career. I didn’t know what jiu-jitsu was. I didn’t know what boxing was. I just grabbed a guy by the head and shook him around a little bit until he fell down and then I punched him in the face until the ref stopped it.

“Guys like Koscheck, it’s a totally different ballgame. These guys are developed and they understand what the sport is all about. They have time to develop themselves.”

Riding a four-fight win streak, Trigg knows his time to strike is now.

“I don’t have much time left. I’m 37 years old and I’m only going to be around four, five more years,” Trigg said.

“(MMA) is going to develop too much around me. No matter what I’m going to do, I’m not going to be able to develop. Age and wisdom can only take you so far before age catches up to you. I want to go up at least having made the attempt of being one of the best guys out there.”

Even if the end result means Trigg failed to do so.

“One of the best presidents America ever had is Abraham Lincoln. How many times did he fail? Because of his failures, he kept going forward. It’s the same thing with me,” Trigg said.

“If I had won early in my career, and if wining had been easy for me, I would have stopped and gone on to something else. I’d probably have become a wrestling coach at Division I somewhere. Because of my failures, I decided to keep on fighting and that’s why I still chase it.”

Andy Samuelson can be reached at andy.samuelson@lasvegassun.com or 702-948-7837.