From 100 Bucks to a World Title, the Journey of Rob McCullough

By Thomas Gerbasi

Its funny how the most obscure moments can be the most important in your life; how a seemingly offhand comment can instead lead you in a direction you never imagined before. But as 18-year old Rob McCullough punched and kicked a heavy bag at his local gym in Huntington Beach, California, back in 1995, what started out as a way to round out his workouts turned into something much more.

“That’s a pretty good kick,” said one of the trainers in the gym to McCullough, who at the time was juggling jobs as a busboy and a landscaper while doing what he describes as “the couch tour”, jumping from house to house of friends who would let him crash for a bit.

“That planted a seed right there,” said McCullough of the first compliment he got on what would become some of the most dangerous kicks in mixed martial arts today. “Those were positive words of encouragement I didn’t let go.”

Every day from that day on, McCullough would hit that bag, harder and harder, and with better technique each time, even though he was working without a trainer. Soon, he was asked to warm up the class at the gym, and then after that, to fight.

McCullough, now 30 and currently the WEC Lightweight Champion, chuckles when he thinks about those early days, especially his first Pro-Am kickboxing fight.

“They flew me out to Vegas,” he recalls. “They gave me a hotel room and a hundred bucks. It was 1996 and I thought, ‘wow, this is something I can do for the rest of my life.’ (Laughs) A hundred bucks at the time was a lot of money for me. I thought I was the man.”

After winning his fight by knockout that night, McCullough and his buddies partied the night away in Vegas. And while that hundred dollars wasn’t going to pay the rent, he definitely found something he loved and was good at at the same time. A friend of his from high school, Tito Ortiz, was making a similar discovery as a mixed martial artist, and he tried to convince the 150-pound McCullough to make a jump into the growing sport. It was a plea that fell on deaf ears for a while, until “Razor Rob” saw the UFC’s first lightweight champion in action.

“I saw Jens Pulver fight and I said, ‘I can beat that guy,’” said McCullough, and by 2001, he was making his pro MMA debut in WEC 2 against Jesse Heck. McCullough won the fight in 24 seconds, and with Ortiz getting him up to speed on wrestling and ground fighting and McCullough returning the favor when it came to Muay Thai, the future was bright.

Or so it seemed. Like many MMA fighters who are highly skilled in one aspect of the sport, McCullough got the itch to show he wasn’t one-dimensional, and it wound up costing him as he lost two of his first four pro bouts.

“It’s funny, but when I first started, I felt the pressure, and it wasn’t so much from anybody else; it was from myself,” he said. “I wanted to show these guys that I spend time on my back and on the mat, and that I’ve got some submissions myself. So when I wound up on the ground in my first few fights, I was trying to submit guys. And I lost those fights where I tried doing that. Then I realized that I just want to punch and kick this guy as hard as I can, and every time I’ve done that, I walked away victorious. So I said, why don’t I learn how to hone my wrestling ability so guys can’t take me down, or if they do, I get right back up and punish them. And since I started doing that, I’ve been on a roll.”

After losing a decision to Josh Thomson in 2002 which put his record at 2-2, McCullough has been on a roll, winning 12 out of 13 fights, with the only loss coming via a split decision to Harris Sarmiento in January of 2004. Strange what a little change in philosophy can do for you.

“It freed my mind up a little bit to say I’m doing this for myself, I’m enjoying it, and punching and kicking people, that’s what I like doing, and it’s winning me fights,” he said. “Rolling around on my back and trying to jump guillotines and armbar guys, I didn’t feel uncomfortable doing that, but it’s just not my game. Fans want to see people get knocked out, and that’s my style.”

That style was never more evident than in his WEC 19 bout against Olaf Alonso in March of 2006, where McCullough scored one of the most memorable knockouts this scribe has ever witnessed. But while it was exciting in terms of visceral brilliance, it was also scary as Alonso was rendered unconscious by McCullough. Does he ever worry about hurting anyone in the cage?

“When I prepare for a fight mentally, I make myself hate that person,” explains McCullough. “And not in a disrespectful way, where if I see him at the weigh-in I’ll talk s**t to him. I’m a gentleman, but in the back of the mind I’m thinking how bad I hate that guy. But the second that fight is over, I want to buy that guy a drink and say ‘hey, that was great.’ So sometimes when I hit a guy and I see him fold and he’s down, I do get worried. But I’ve got to remember that if they could have done that to me, they probably would have.”

This take no prisoners attitude, along with McCullough’s tendency to knock people out, has made him a fan favorite, and it’s a role the fighter is comfortable with. Of course, being with Ortiz throughout the years makes that adjustment to the spotlight quite a bit easier.

“I think to the average guy, like the guys that were coming off the TV show, they got this new celebrity and with some of them you can see it went to their head,” said McCullough. “But growing up with Tito and his career, training with him and working his corner in these huge fights, it kinda honed my personal skills. I sat there and watched him do interviews and I saw the way he was with the people, and I said, ‘that’s how I want to be.’ He’s a class act in and out of the cage, him and Randy Couture and these other guys, and it does make things a little easier.”

And once McCullough put WEC gold around his waist by beating Kit Cope in the first round in January, he finally reached a point in his career where he doesn’t have to worry about where the next paycheck is coming from.

“It’s a great feeling,” he said. “I’ve spent 11 years fighting and training for it and I wasn’t making any money doing it. And now all of a sudden the fruits of my labor have come about, and it’s pretty cool because at a certain point you start thinking, ‘wow, I’m getting older. This stuff actually costs money (laughs) – a house, a nice car. So that reality starts to set in when you’re about 25 and you’re thinking, ‘okay, I’m fighting these fights and not making too much money. Can I actually make a living doing this?’ And then all of a sudden, bam, you’re making a living and you’re having fun doing it. It’s surreal.”

But now the tough part comes, and that’s defending that hard-earned title, which McCullough will do on Wednesday against veteran contender Rich Crunkilton. It’s a stern test, but that’s just the type of challenge the champ wants.

“I think taking out Crunkilton certainly puts a notch on my belt and makes people go ‘wow, this guy is the real deal,’” said McCullough.