Sam Stout turned heads on the undercard of UFC 131 with his highlight reel knockout of Yves Edwards. With that win under his belt, he is working on stopping bullying while also thinking about his next fight. He talked to Cagewriter about his win, his future and more.
When discussing his knockout, Stout said he didn't know that he scored such a jaw-dropper when he connected with Yves Edwards.
"The thing is with the big knockout shot, when you make that perfect connection, it's like when you hit a home run in baseball. It doesn't feel like it's big. It didn't hurt my hand. It's that perfect connection right on the button."
Though it would have been permissible for Stout to jump on top of Edwards to make sure the bout was over, he didn't. As soon as he saw that Edwards' eyes were rolled back in his head, Stout held back.
"For me, mixed martial arts is a sport. I'm not out there because I'm trying to hurt anyone. Especially Yves Edwards. He's a great competitor, great guy, class act. We have a lot of respect for each other. I didn't want to do anything to hurt the guy. "
Stout now has two wins in row in the UFC, and would like to continue facing tough opponents.
"I've been so focused on this fight with Yves Edwards that I haven't been looking after him, right now, I'm still soaking it in. Enjoying it. There's a huge list of guys to choose from. I know Donald Cerrone kind of called me out, not in a disrespectful way, but he's a great opponent. There's Anthony Pettis, and so many great fighters and great possible match-ups for me right now. I want to fight another top 10, top 15 guy and keep climbing my way up the rankings."
In the meantime, he's spending working with his trainer Shawn Tompkins and teammates Chris Horodecki and Mark Hominick on teaching children about the dangers of bullying.
"That's one of our major responsibilities as fighters, to let people know that it's not OK to fight in the street. It's not OK to pick on someone because you're bigger and stronger. It's an important message for us to portray to kids who might not be able to decipher the difference between a fight in a ring and fighting outside the sport."
It's a cause that many fighters feel strongly about. Dan Henderson visited a Chicago school last week to discuss bullying's problems. Ben Henderson and Daniel Cormier have done the same, and Jason "Mayhem" Miller's television show was built around people standing up to their bullies.
Though Stout says that he was never the victim of bullies, he saw how much they tormented others.
"I was never picked on, but it's something I knew was wrong. My parents always raised me to stick up for myself, and to stick up for people who couldn't stick up for themselves."
Now, Stout shares that message with the young students of the Tapout Training Center in Las Vegas.
"It's a message we really portray with the kids program. If any of them get into trouble, especially with violence at their schools, we encourage the parents to let us know. We sit down and talk with them, and if it's something that continues, we let them know that they won't be allowed to train. Most these kids are having a lot of fun with it, so it motivates them to be better people."
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