Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Madison’s Paul Georgieff in the Ultimate Fighter Finale

by Nathan Schafer



Madison, Wisconsin resident and student Paul Georgieff is going to be fighting in The Ultimate Fighter 6 Finale tomorrow night against UFC and TKO veteran Jonathan Goulet. The team here at http://www.wicombatsports.com/ and all the MMA fans here in Wisconsin would like to congratulate and support him in his upcoming bout tomorrow.

Paul Georgieff is a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at the Madison Jiu-Jitsu Academy and trains at the Twisted Fitness Gym in Madtown. Mark Plavcan is the owner and head intstructor and the school is a Jorge Gurgel affiliate. Other fighters at the gym include Ron Faircloth, Pat and Mike O’Malley, Jason Cleasby and Dennis Anderson.

Georgieff sports a (7-1) MMA record according to fcfighter.com and is the current middleweight champion of the UCS. Ultimate Combat Sports is an organization based out of Minnesota, which is his where he originates. In Minnesota he trained with Team Bison, which is located in Bloomington, Minnesota.

Georgieff is primarily a ground fighter with all of his wins coming via submission. On the Ultimate Fighter he was notified that his 19-year old cousin had passed away. He would have to leave the show to attend the funeral, but not before having to fight. Paul faced off against Troy Mandaloniz in episode 5. Not fighting with a clear head, he ignored his fight strategy, which was to keep the fight on the ground. He decided to exchange blows with Mandaloniz and a single shot would knock him out.

His opponent, Jonathan Goulet is no stranger to the Octagon. His UFC record is (2-3) is not characteristic of his ability and this fight is a must win if he wants to continue to fight in the UFC. He is riding a two-fight losing streak in the UFC to Dustin Hazelett and Josh Koscheck. With a MMA record of (20-9) he has a wealth of experience.

Georgieff is also the only cast member of the show to have to fight a UFC veteran. While it may not seem fair, he could earn instant credibility with a victory over the French Canadian, who has a weakness for submissions. Georgieff must stick to his fight strategy in this bout because Goulet is more well rounded, and a much more dangerous striker than Mandaloniz was. The fight is not on the televised portion of Spike’s program but a quick submission victory could get him on the air.

The question remains how seriously Georgieff trained for this bout. He is a full time grad student at UW-Madison studying structural engineering; he works part-time in the research department and is training for a fight. That seems to be a full plate for anyone. This bout could determine whether he devotes himself full time to the fight game or goes out into the career world. Either way, we’re behind him 100%. Good luck tomorrow night.

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