Phillipe Nover was cutting through the competition with ease. The Brooklyn native was the favorite to win “The Ultimate Fighter” reality series and a six-figure UFC contract. UFC president Dana White compared him to a young Georges St-Pierre.
You talk about pressure? Phillipe Nover knows pressure.
Four years ago, Nover was one of the top rising MMA stars in the world. Saturday night he was fighting on the unaired prelims of Bellator 74 at Caesars Atlantic City.
“I’ve had so many obstacles in my life as I’ve tried pursuing my fighting career,” Nover said. “There’s been so much negative stuff. It’s been very stressful.”
With the help of a sports psychologist, Nover has “balanced his life,” as he put it. Three straight controversial losses knocked him out of the UFC in 2010. He’s been on the comeback trail ever since and he believes Saturday’s second-round submission over Derrick Kennington will put him on the right track.
Nover, a lightweight, lost to Efrain Escudero in “The Ultimate Fighter” finals, was knocked out by Kyle Bradley though it was a questionable referee stoppage and then lost a razor-close decision to Rob Emerson. Many people thought he won the latter fight, but the UFC cut him.
Before that last match with the company, Nover had to pull out of a fight in September 2009 after what White described as a seizure backstage. Nover says he never had a seizure, he just fainted – a recurring problem for him, even in “The Ultimate Fighter” house.
The passing out ended up being a mental problem and not a physical one. Nover sought help in the form of a sports psychologist.
“People hear you’re seeing a shrink and they think you’re crazy, but it’s not like that,” Nover said.”You need to have some type of mental game plan, a mental edge to prepare yourself. I feel so comfortable now before fights. It’s so enjoyable.”
After being released by the UFC, Nover defeated Jake Murphy at Hoosier Fight Club 8, a small show in Indiana in August 2011. He lost his first Bellator fight by – you guessed it – a controversial decision against Marcin Held last November.
He looked like the Nover that was so highly touted against Kennington on Saturday night. Kennington hyperextended Nover’s arm in the first round with an armbar. But Nover, a Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt, took him down in the second round, worked ground and pound, eventually got his back and locked in a rear naked choke.
“I felt like I couldn’t throw a right cross,” said Nover, whose arm was in a sling afterward.
He joked: “I thought my arm was gonna snap off my body and I’d be throwing my dangling arm at his head.”
Nover, who works as a registered nurse, is interested in competing in Bellator’s next lightweight tournament. The winner of that receives a title shot.
For now, though, he’s ready to start a winning streak free of controversy and fainting.
“I think the mental aspect is 90 percent of fighting,” Nover said.