Ed Herman finally, mercifully, has a fight this weekend at UFC Vegas 10. Fingers crossed. We don’t want to jinx anything.
Herman (25-14, 1NC) was supposed to fight Da Un Jong, then Gerald Meerschaert, at various points during the pandemic. Both fights fell through. The bout with Meerschaert was rebooked for this Saturday night. He withdrew, and was replaced by John Allan. That opponent didn’t take either.
Finally, Mike Rodriguez took the fight. Both men successfully weighed in Friday. Herman isn’t ready to breathe a sigh of relief just yet.
“I was at Fight Week last time. And I found out the day of, my fight was canceled. So I’m not counting anything until I step in that cage,” he told Cageside Press during the UFC Vegas 10 media day this week.
So many opponent changes, admitted Herman, “kind of reminds me of the beginning of my career, when you wouldn’t even know who your opponent was.”
“You’d always have changes,” he continued. “There was no, it wasn’t like it is now with all the social media. I think we had MySpace back then. Reminds me of that a little bit.”
The key to dealing with the stress of fights repeatedly falling through, said Herman, is by “not giving a f*ck.” Which, no doubt, is easier said than done. Herman’s been in the game a long time, however. He turned pro in 2003, after all. He’s seen fights fall through. But he also knows that the clock is ticking.
“Where I’m at in my career, each fight could be my last. You never know with injuries and things going down,” noted Herman. “With all this COVID stuff and fires burning and tornadoes and hurricanes. Who the hell knows what’s gonna happen? All I know is Saturday night, I’m gonna go in there and get the job done. And you know, that’s all I can do.”
Herman’s been with the UFC through the Spike TV era, FOX, and now ESPN and the pandemic era. He admits that it can be “a little weird to think about” at times.
“I’m just trying to enjoy the moment,” Herman added. As difficult as that may be in 2020, no doubt. “There’s a lot of years where I let the nerves get to me, and just uncomfortableness of doing what we do.” Now, he reiterated, it’s about not taking it too seriously. Or maybe just seriously enough.
“I’m just riding the wave and just trying to enjoy it,” added Herman. “Enjoy my time here so I can look back some day and and say that I enjoyed it, and have good memories.”
UFC Vegas 10 takes place this Saturday, September 12 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. The card airs live on ESPN+ (TSN in Canada).
