Brian Stann talks to the media after a news conference in advance of UFC 130 Wednesday, May 25, 2011. Stann will take on Jorge Santiago in a middleweight bout on Saturday.
Friday, April 13, 2012 | 3 p.m.
Unspeakable tragedies have a way of giving those involved a sense of perspective, especially in the world of professional sports where wins and losses feel important above all else.
UFC middleweight Brian Stann was still down about his UFC 136 loss to Chael Sonnen last December when he got a devastating phone call. The voice on the other end informed Stann that his 26-year-old brother-in-law had passed away in what he only described as “a very violent death.”
It was two days before Christmas and Stann’s wife was gathering luggage at an airport baggage claim when he had to pass on the word.
“There is nothing worse than watching the woman you love be completely devastated and heartbroken by a piece of news you’ve delivered to her,” Stann said.
“Unlike the Sonnen loss, the death of my brother-in-law was a genuinely trying situation.”
Stann (11-4 MMA, 5-3 UFC) has used preparations for his fight tomorrow against Alessio Sakara (15-8 MMA, 6-5 UFC) at UFC on FUEL TV 2 in Sweden, which is televised locally at noon, as an escape.
He relocated his training camp from Albuquerque, N.M., to his home in Atlanta so he could be with his family. They’ll be on his mind when he steps into the octagon in Stockholm.
“My brother-in-law was a huge supporter of my MMA career, and I will dedicate this win to him," Stann said.
Tragedy has unfortunately followed Stann throughout much of his mixed martial arts career. He started fighting while still enlisted as an infantry officer in the Marines and stationed in Iraq.
Stann won one of the highest military honors, the Silver Star, after helping his unit survive an ambush. It’s a memory that stirs so much emotion in Stann that he recently vowed to never talk about it again.
Hours before a fight last year, Stann received news that one of the soldiers he served with had died in combat. Like the fight against Sakara, he dedicated a performance against Chris Leben at UFC 125 to Sgt. Garrett Misener.
“Fighting has always been a release from the toughest parts of life for me,” Stann said. “When I fight, there’s a moment of complete clarity.”
Stann has always seen fighting as fun. In Sweden, he’s got an opponent who takes a similar approach.
Sakara, a seven-year UFC veteran, was the most lighthearted fighter at a press conference for the event shown on UFC.com earlier this week.
The Italian boxer joked about ditching pasta to reach the 185-pound weight limit and spoke highly of Stann, who also prefers to fight on his feet.
“I love when a fighter is a striker,” Sakara said. “They meet in the middle and bing-bong-bang.”
Sakara hasn’t fought in more than a year, since tearing his ACL, but said he was motivated to put on a memorable performance by the way MMA has grown in Italy.
Italians were always interested in the UFC, according to Sakara, but weren’t willing to wake up in the middle of the night to watch him fight in America. That’s no issue this time around with the bout in a European country.
“I fight at 10:00 and people will have a pizza and see me on television,” Sakara said. “I’m very happy, because this fight is close to my country.”
To Stann, enjoying the opportunity to fight is a necessity. Any setback in the UFC pales in comparison to the news he had to relay last December.
“It was one of the lowest points of my life,” Stann said.
Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.
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