One could argue Ed Herman and Tim Credeur will both be winners as soon as they walk into the cage Saturday night.
A string of knee surgeries has kept Herman out of action since UFC 102 in August 2009. An unknown mark on a brain scan had Credeur, who last fought in September 2009, fearing for his life.
Happily both middleweights are returned to health – and looking to resume their mixed martial arts careers on the live finale to Season 13 of “The Ultimate Fighter” in Las Vegas.
“One way or another we’ll probably knock the ring rust off each other pretty quickly,” said Credeur (pronounced Crater).
Also on the card at the Palms Casino Resort, Anthony (Showtime) Pettis meets Clay (The Carpenter) Guida in a lightweight fight that has title contender implications. And middleweight Tony Ferguson faces Ramsey Nijem to decide the Season 13 winner of the reality TV show.
Edmonton’s Ryan McGillivray, beaten by Ferguson in the show’s quarter-finals, takes on Shamar Bailey on the undercard.
Credeur (13-5) was slated to fight in May 2010 in Montreal, when doctors noticed something that shouldn’t have been there on a pre-fight brain scan.
They didn’t know what it was – the worst case scenario was a malignant tumour – so they did scans every two or three months to see if the spot had changed.
It took until early December for them to figure out that it was just a birthmark.
“It wasn’t something they could look at it and say ‘This is what it is,'” said the 33-year-old Credeur. “So deep into the brain, it’s very difficult to be exacting about something so small but possibly so serious.”
“The fact that there was something there was a problem, and we just had to go find more specialists until we could get an answer
Adding to Credeur’s discomfort was that 10 minutes after the doctor told him about the initial problem, as he was walking to his car, his wife called to tell him she was expecting their first child.
“That was really difficult,” recalled Credeur. “With such uncertainty in my fighting career and my future and realistically even in my life, was I even go to be here for this baby was very difficult.
“But sometimes thing like that happen and it’s an opportunity for you to face them courageously and show your integrity and build yourself into something stronger and something better.
Get daily National news
“I’m just glad we came out on the better side of it. It could have went way worse. You’re just blessed, you move forward and you be happy for the things you have and you don’t take things for granted.”
Herman (17-7) hurt his knee in his last fight when he fell awkwardly while being taken down by Aaron Simpson. He kept going but his knee folded underneath him when he tried a kick.
It turned out he had torn the anterior cruciate ligament and damaged the meniscus. He had surgery but had to have the same operation again in January 2010 after reinjuring the knee in training.
He needed more surgery in March 2010 to complete the repair job.
Surgeons removed screws that had been put in his knee the first time – “those bothered me all the time” – and used bone plugs. This time it took.
Herman, 30, has been training for some nine months now and says the knee feels 100 per cent.
Still the uncertainly engendered by the injury made for some trying times.
“It’s been rough, I’ve really had to scrape things together,” said Herman, who went back to bartending last year.
“I was working six days a week, 10, 12 hours a day and then coaching a little bit too, just trying to pay bills and support my family.”
His longtime girlfriend Crystal, with whom he has three-year-old twins, had to put her school on hold to go back to work.
“It’s been rough man, but you know that stuff makes you a stronger person,” said Herman.
Thinking he needed a change from Oregon’s Team Quest, he moved from Portland to Fort Collins, Colo., last August to open a gym – Trials Martial Arts Fitness – with longtime teammate Ryan Schultz.
“That’s been going really well but still financially we’ve been struggling. You don’t make money when you open a new gym right away that’s for sure.”
Herman’s car was paid off but he took out a loan to help finance the gym.
He made the move to Colorado at the suggestion of Schultz, a Nebraska native who had lived there.
“I kind of fell in love with the sunshine,” he said.
Both Herman and Credeur are making the most of their second chance.
“It changes everything,” Credeur said.
The biggest plus for Credeur is his daughter, five-month-old Audrey.
“She keeps me happy and laughing and so appreciative and I can’t figure out how come I didn’t do this a whole lot earlier,” he enthused.
His business has also prospered.
Unable to fight, Credeur poured all his efforts into his Gladiators Academy gym in Baton Rouge, La. He proudly notes that he had 60 to 70 students prior to the brain scare and now has close to 300 in a new, larger location.
“Fighting for me now is just my dream, it’s not what I have to do to pay my bills any more. It’s just something that I love to do and it’s extra, it’s not our living and that’s makes its so much easier, to just come in there and perform without the pressure of ‘I hope I can win so I can pay my bills.’ That’s not the case any more. I’m blessed with that.”
Herman also says his injuries have changed his attitude to fighting. The stress and nerves he often felt before fights have gone.
“This fight I don’t feel a lot of that, I feel just more excited and blessed to have this second opportunity to revitalize my career and make another run.”
“You don’t realize how great things are sometimes until you lose them,” he added. “And a lot of different things in life are like that.”
“To be there for as long as I was and then it all to be over possibly is pretty scary. To get this opportunity to come back really puts stuff in perspective – how fast things can be taken away from you and how fast this can all be over.
“This is a fun thing to be able to do, to travel and fight and be around so many awesome people and meet so many great people. This is an amazing life. We’re all blessed to have this opportunity.
“It’s not a right, man, it’s a privilege to be here.”
During his time on the sidelines, Credeur gained some exposure thanks to the documentary “Fightville” which focuses on his gym and talented featherweight Dustin (The Diamond) Poirier.
Credeur comes across as a tough but fair, a coach who really cares about his young charges.
“That’s what martial arts is supposed to be,” he said.
“I just stand on the shoulders of others that changed my life and gave me something that I can never ever thank them for. The only way I can is to hopefully work hard every day to be that for somebody else.
“My goal as martial arts teacher is to change young guys’ lives and help build them into better men and help build people into better people.”
Comments
Want to discuss? Please read our Commenting Policy first.