Ovince St. Preux had no intentions of going from the gridiron to the cage, but trainer Eric Turner tricked him into fighting mixed martial arts. Turner saw the potential in the former Tennessee Volunteers' linebacker and convinced him that the punches in the cage weren't that hard.
Four years later OSP is the one dishing out the pain. Joe Cason felt his power tonight in Las Vegas when he ate a knee to the face and a shin to the ribs. Cason was shot. Seconds later, the fight hit the deck where St. Preux eventually got off five huge shots, splattering Cason's blood on the canvas, and the downed fighter tapped due to strikes at 1:12 of the first round at Strikeforce Challengers 17.
The Haitian-American, who was a high school football star in Immokalee, Fla. prior to his time at Tennessee, has won eight straight and is 5-0 with Strikeforce. OSP thinks it's time for step up in competition and a promotion to Strikeforce's bigger shows.
"I think the fans have been talking about it. I think the fans want it. I'll be calling out lots of people ... Gegard [Mousasi], [Renato] 'Babalu' [Sobral]. I'm definitely ready to step up," said St. Preux, 28.
OSP (11-4) still works out of Knoxville, Tenn. the home of the University of Tennessee, but with some time off after his last fight in January, he made sure to travel around the country to train with new camps.
Most of his learning in 2010 came in the cage as he fought six times. With some time away from active fights, he worked with Dan Henderson's camp in Temecula, Ca. and also made his way to Denver to train at Grudge Training Center, the home of fighters like Brendan Schaub, Nate Marquardt and Shane Carwin.
Cason comes from a good camp as well, with Duke Roufus in Milwaukee, and it was clear the formerly unbeaten light heavyweight had a swagger about him and came to fight. But his aggression actually cost him as OSP used good footwork to avoid big shots and get off some counterstrikes.
The strike that destroyed Cason was unique. Cason charged St. Preux and the rangier ex-football star attempted a body kick. The leg never fully uncoiled, but with Cason coming forward he got drilled under his chin by OSP's knee and his shin crushed his ribs. The double-dose of pain wobbled Cason and he never recovered.
St. Preux has told the "tricked into fighting" story many times including again this week when he appeared on ESPNRadio1100 in Las Vegas.
"My biggest thing was about getting hit," said St. Preux, who played football at 6-foot-3, 248 pounds. "[Turner] had some 18-ounce boxing gloves on; he kind of hit me in the arm. He said, 'This is the hardest you're going to get hit.'"
When St. Preux fought for the first time and got blasted by an opponent who was wearing MMA's official five-ounce gloves, OSP realized he'd been duped. St. Preux knew he was in a fight, but he didn't freak out. His athleticism showed when he first started in the game and it's really paying off now. Cason was too slow to avoid the inevitable beating tonight in Sin City.
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