Brian Foster- Fighting with a Purpose

Brian Foster, one of the UFC’s rising welterweights, may seem like just an average guy. Well, that’s because he is. The fighter who grew up in eastern Oklahoma, in a town with so few people that his entire town could come to his fight at UFC 129 at the Rogers Centre, and there would still be tens of thousands of seats left, is new to Mixed Martial Arts.
Foster who says he likes to relax with friends, play basketball and eat pizza is exactly the definition of a fighter. Always a hard worker, Foster worked with his brother at Comfort Coils, a bed manufacturer. They loaded the supply trucks together until one tragic day, neither showed up to work.
“My brother died April 30 , 2006, when I was 21 years old,” Foster said.
The pair were hiking up a local trail to their favorite swimming hole, and once they reached the top, Brian went for a swim. His brother, Brandon sat on the edge of a rock ledge, and looked out over their hometown of Sallisaw, Oklahoma. Seconds later, the rocks gave way, sending Brandon hurtling 200 feet to the ground below. Brandon died shortly after the fall.
“I needed a way to cope with his death,” Foster said. “I turned to helping a childhood friend, Jeremiah Caves train for a fight.”
At 21 years of age, Brian Foster decided to take his anger from the loss of his brother out in the gym.
“I went into the gym with (Jeremiah) and just never came out,” he said.
Foster began his training as a boxer, and later moved on to training in wrestling so as to become a more rounded fighter. He made his pro debut on July 14, 2006, winning by knockout. In his second professional fight, which took place on the same night for Oklahoma City’s Masters of the Cage promotion, he lost by submission in the beginning of the third round. Foster, who began his career late in life with no experience, had fought seven professional fights by the end of his first year inside the cage.
From October 2006 to May 2008, Foster compiled a seven-fight win streak, finishing all of his opponents. Four of the wins in that time span came by way of knockout. Then, on June 27, 2008 Foster lost a fight to Brazilian, Diego Brandão in his hometown. The fight, for Brandão, was the first in the US.
Before his next fight, Foster left his hometown and began to train at The H.I.T Squad in Granite City, Illinois. The H.I.T Squad, which stands for Hughes Intensive Training, was started and owned by UFC Hall of Famer, Matt Hughes until mid-March of 2011, when Strikeforce fighter, Jesse Finney purchased it. Foster said that nothing is much different with the ownership changing hands. “We’re still running on the same training regimen,” he said. “It’s a great move business-wise, and I plan to continue here for the rest of my career.”
Foster won his first three fights after beginning training at The H.I.T Squad, and after finishing all of his opponents in yet another win-streak, Dana White of the UFC came calling.
In his UFC debut, Foster was originally set to face highly touted Englishman, Paul Daley, who later took a fight to replace Mike Swick in another bout. Foster, who had been training for the right-handed striker, Daley, received a southpaw wrestler in Rick Story.
“I’ll fight anyone the UFC puts in front of me,” he said. “But, when you train for six weeks expecting a certain fighter and get somebody totally opposite in style, that’s a really bad thing.”
After losing his UFC debut, Foster knew the heat was on. White, who is notorious for cutting fighters at the drop of a hat —Paul Daley was cut the fight after he stepped in for Swick because he punched opponent, Josh Koscheck after the bell — undoubtedly had his eye on the prospect.
“I love this sport, I’ll never stop” Foster said. “There will always be a winner and there will always be a loser. I love being a professional athlete, and I’m never going to stop fighting.”
Foster didn’t give up; he went back to the H.I.T Squad and regrouped. He looked at the things he did wrong, corrected them and began to put in work on his next opponent, solid wrestler Brock Larson. In the first round of the fight, Larson was docked two points for an illegal knee and an illegal kick to the head. Foster, determined to not win off of point deductions, ended the fight at 3:25 of the second round, winning by TKO via strikes.
“I just wanted everyone to know, including Brock, that it’s going to take a lot more than illegal strikes to take this guy down,” Foster said.
Foster’s next fight is on April 30, 2011, exactly five years after his brother’s untimely death at 20 years old.
“Its pretty weird that the dates worked out that way,” he said. “I’ll just take it as a sign and go out there and win this one for him.”
Foster will square off against Canada’s own Sean Pierson at UFC 129 at the Rodgers Centre in Toronto, Ontario. It is expected to be the largest event in UFC history, featuring Canada’s golden-boy, Georges St-Pierre, featherweight champ, José Aldo as well as MMA legend, Randy Couture. A card stacked with Canadian-born fighters, the crowd is sure to be heavily leaning in their favor. Foster said he isn’t worried at all about the 55,000 screaming fans, fans who will probably be screaming at him rather than for him.
“They’ll hate me walking in, but they’ll love me walking out,” he said.
Foster said his game plan going into the fight might surprise the fans, and hopefully Pierson.
“I’m going off of a hunch,” he said.” He is going to want to show the fans, and the UFC that he is more of a well-rounded fighter than people think. I think he is going to try and wrestle me, but he has never fought anyone as tough as me and he is going to get knocked out trying to do so.”
The fighter with such humble beginnings becomes more and more confident every time he steps into the cage.
“I want to fight the best at 170 and 185 pounds,” he said. “I’ve said it a bunch of times, I’ll fight anybody.”
The Ultimate Fighter kicked off its 13 th season recently, featuring fellow welterweights, Foster said he tuned in to watch and shared his thoughts.
“The UFC knew that these guys weren’t good fighters so they brought in Brock (Lesnar) for good ratings,” he said. “The first fight on that show was really boring. The fans want finishers, and if you look at my résumé that’s what I do. None of those guys on TUF can touch me.”
People may say that Brandon Foster is gone, but if you look closely, you’ll see that it isn’t true at all. Every time Brian Foster steps into the cage, his brother is with him, watching over him, willing him to win. Brandon and Brian Foster enter and exit the cage as one.