Paulson, Ford Meet in Unlikely HDNet Main Event

HDNet, a television network founded by billionaire business mogul Mark Cuban, is primed to host its inaugural mixed martial arts event tonight in Dallas. While the show could foreshadow many possible good things to come, the main event isn't exactly what fight fans might expect.

In a rather peculiar scenario for the mighty Cuban's debut fight show, the two featured fighters on the bill are an unlikely duo, especially as headliners.

That's not to say Erik Paulson or Jeff Ford don't belong on the marquee, but the timing and arrangement of their encounter has raised a few eyebrows.

Ford is primarily a standup fighter with a decent professional boxing career and a relatively vast kickboxing career, which was capped by several K-1 appearances. Paulson has made a name for himself as one of the leading coaches in the sport after a successful career fighting in Japan for the Shooto organization.

However, Ford has only four professional MMA bouts under his belt and has been on the receiving end of two consecutive stoppage losses. He hasn't fought in almost a year and is still a relative novice to the full-fledged, all-around combat of MMA. Paulson, for all of his accomplishments in Shooto, where he was a champion, hasn't competed professionally for more than seven years.

Nevertheless, Paulson versus Ford is an intriguing showdown that pits two men on opposite ends of the MMA spectrum. There's no telling what Paulson would have achieved had he not stepped away from the sport almost a decade ago, and now he's itching to see what he's still capable of.

"I had planned on coming out of retirement for quite some time," Paulson says. "I got sick and tired of just cornering guys and watching these other guys fighting. I see these guys who I know I could fight, and I said to myself that if I was in shape, I'd fight any of them. I'd see some guys who were just not that talented, and when I found out what some of them were getting paid, I was [blown away]."

A torn ligament in Paulson's knee contributed to his retirement. That wasn't the only reason he hung up his gloves in 2000, though, the same year the New York Yankees last won a World Series title. He had wanted to stay active, but he was obligated to fight under the Shooto banner, a loyalty he says damaged his career and left a horribly pungent taste in his mouth.

"They kept hinting at me and asking me when I was going to retire," Paulson says. "I know that at the time, when fighting in America, the pay scale was very low. There were only two organizations in America that were paying guys anything back then and that was HOOKnSHOOT and Super Brawl. They were paying these guys from the Midwest like $500 or something to fight. I had two different belts in Japan and what they offered me was a joke. I was going nowhere with Shooto, even though I was very loyal to them.

"I then formulated my letter of resignation from Shooto. Here I was with offers, literally, from Pancrase and PRIDE, but I couldn't fight because I was ‘an official fighter' for Shooto. I'd see guys like Randy Couture (Pictures) and John Lewis (Pictures) pocket paychecks of $25,000-$30,000, but I was getting nothing. I basically just said screw it and walked away."

Paulson could not fight full time then and had to bartend to pay his bills. He believes Shooto was embarrassed to have an American as a champion and says the organization would feature its four Japanese champions on fight posters and programs but omit him.

Paulson ventured to smaller shows, which, he says, elicited grief from the suits within Shooto. He even begrudgingly entered a bare-knuckle tournament, a decision he regrets not only because he was paid peanuts but also because it was too easy to sustain injuries.

"I didn't really want to do the bare-knuckle thing, but I did anyway, and all I got for the tournament was $1500," he grumbles. "I wound up getting a black ear from the fights, and I had bruises around my groin for about two months. After a little time, I had had enough and walked away."

Although not fighting, Paulson remained active in the sport, cornering top-level fighters like Josh Barnett (Pictures), Ken Shamrock (Pictures), Guy Mezger (Pictures), Renato Sobral (Pictures), Sean Sherk (Pictures) and Cub Swanson (Pictures). While watching his pupils and training buddies succeed and start to pocket some hefty paydays, Paulson decided his retirement was over at the ripe age of 41.

But after being away from actual combat for more than seven years, many wonder how rusty he'll be and if some pre-fight jitters will take control of his psyche.

"I'm not nervous about that at all because I spar all the time," Paulson says. "Just because I haven't been [fighting] doesn't mean that I haven't been in the cage or ring. I'm not just holding the pads when I train with all these guys. I am sparring, rolling, wrestling with all these top guys."

Ford, his taller opponent who has a debilitating striking ability, doesn't think Paulson's activity equates.

"Taking off for that long, considering what we're doing and at what level we're on, is not really a good thing," Ford says. "Regardless of whether you're training fighters or doing something else within the sport, it's still never the same thing as being in a fight. I think there's going to be a lot of ring rust, and I think he'll second-guess himself, and I think he'll be unsure of what's going on. That's where I'll step in and make my presence felt, so to speak."

Ford readily admits that he might not try to keep the fight standing up, even though his striking background would make some think otherwise. He thinks that Paulson's age and rust will hamper the older fighter's game, including his takedown attempts. Even if Paulson does get a takedown, Ford's confident that on his back he'll be as comfortable as a fish in water.

In fact, Ford says he hasn't worked much on his striking for this fight because he didn't need to. Instead he has been working feverishly on ground defense and offense.

"Standup guys typically do what standup guys do once the bell rings, and they go and standup, just like ground guys go to the ground," Ford says. "I'm not going to try and keep it from going to the ground. I'm going to standup, but if the fight does go to the ground, you'll see how proficient I've become. I'll be comfortable wherever the fight goes."

Paulson knows his time in MMA is short. He sees this fight as an opportunity to show his talent has not dissipated during his disappearance, but he has to take out Ford decisively to be considered a legitimate contender.

"I know he's got longer arms and legs than I do, that's for sure," says Paulson, adding that he hasn't seen much on Ford but has seen enough. "I don't know where his head is, but I'm sure he's prepared for MMA. I don't know if he's sure what he's up against in fighting me. I don't know if he thinks I'll just go in there and grab him and take him down and that's it. I can strike; I can do everything. Now I'm not going to go toe-to-toe with him and prove to him that I can kickbox with him, but I do know what to do and I can defend what he'll try to dish out."

While Paulson is adamant that he'll be able to compete at a high level and probably even challenge for a legitimate world title in the not-too-distant future, Ford freely reveals that he has been contemplating retirement for some time.

"I've raised some hell back in the days, and I'm trying to recapture that," Ford says. "If that doesn't hold up or if the talent is that much better than me, I have to admit to myself that I have got to step away."

This bout against Paulson is a litmus test for Ford to see exactly where he stands physically and mentally. If he takes out Paulson like the kickboxers he's squashed, he'll stick around. But if he is shellacked, he says he'll quietly walk away and focus on his post-fight career (Ford has a few film gigs).

Either way the HDNet main event is an alluring matchup between two fighters at different points in their careers. Looking a little closer at the bout, which has been changed from a light heavyweight to a heavyweight showdown, it's not a bad main event for an organization's debut show.

When all is said and done, the fight world should know if Ford will saunter off into the Hollywood sunset or if Paulson will reclaim his lost potential.