UFC QUOTABLES: UFC on Versus 3's Joe Stevenson - "2010 sucked, 2011 is my year"

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

[Being knocked out by Mac Danzig] was more emotionally disturbing. I had never been knocked out before. I had fought Jens when I was 16 and he broke my orbital. I wasn't knocked out ? I was in a lot of pain. But it's definitely the punch you don't see coming and the one you least expect. I was not even thinking that he would swing on me. I was thinking 'I rocked him, here it goes.' And that's what I get for being greedy and trying to get the finish early when I didn't stick to my gameplan. You watch the tape and you can hear (trainer) Greg (Jackson) go 'stick to the gameplan Joe.' And I take full responsibility for that. But I got a lot of questions out of my head. I kinda wondered what it would feel like to get knocked out, and it doesn't really feel like anything.

2010 was definitely a year that I needed to take a lot from as far as what I did, veering from gameplans, letting the crowd take control of me like in Australia and things like that, and learn from those experiences. I'm gonna learn from my mistakes and not allow that to ever take place. 2010, forget about it, it sucked, and 2011's my year."

-Joe Stevenson talks to UFC.com ahead of his bout with Danny Castillo at UFC on Versus 3 and reflects on his December loss to Mac Danzig.

Penick's Analysis: Stevenson's been a gatekeeper to the elite for awhile, but the loss to Danzig really hurt. It was his fourth loss in his last six fights, and put him at 3-5 over his last eight. If he's been able to go back to the drawing board ahead of this fight with Castillo he can get himself on track, but Castillo, despite fighting a lower level of competition in the WEC than Stevenson has in the UFC, is still an extremely dangerous opponent and cannot be take lightly. Stevenson's got to be fighting for his job now as well with the massive cuts coming in the lightweight division, as a third loss in a row will likely spell his end in the UFC. He can avoid all that on Thursday with a win in Louisville, and fans can tune in for that one as it will air on Facebook.com.

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