The Cinderella story of Jason Day came to an abrupt end when he collided with Michael Bisping at UFC 85: "Bedlam" last month at the O2 Arena in London, England.
"Dooms" scored one of the early upsets of the 2008 fight season when he stopped the super tough Alan Belcher in the first round of his Octagon debut during their 185-pound scrap at UFC 83: "Serra vs. St. Pierre 2" back in April.
Of course, in the UFC no good deed goes unpunished. So when Chris Leben was jailed for a probation violation just weeks before his fight with "The Count," the promotion turned to Day on relative short notice and offered him the biggest fight of his career.
It didn't go his way. However, Day is determined now more than ever to prove that he was not a one-hit wonder.
"I took a few weeks off after my loss to regroup and relax because I had been training constantly since last September and needed a break," Day recently told MMAmania.com. "Obviously, the result in London was not the one I was looking for but I am just getting started. And that loss just motivated me to make the changes necessary to take my game to the next level."
Those changes include making a full-time commitment to training. Yes, believe it or not even fighters who compete at the highest level in this sport often need to supplement their incomes. Day is no different -- when he is not training or fighting he is building houses full-time up in Canada.
In fact, he owns a home building company with his parents; however, the pair have been very supportive by picking up the slack when Day has to take off to train or fight.
That slack will more than likely increase as Day dedicates more time to his blossoming fight career.
"I am currently making arrangements to stop working and make fighting my full time job," said Day. "I am very anxious to get back in the cage and avenge my loss, but I want to take the time to have a solid training camp and be the best fighter I can be next time I step in the Octagon."
That journey to become the best fighter he can be has already begun. Day just returned from an intense week of training in Las Vegas, Nevada, with several high-level Brazilian jiu-jitsu players who all share the same management agency.
It was a fantasy camp designed to help fill-in the gaps and help him prepare for the super talented opponents that lurk on the horizon.
"I had the oppurtunity to train with Frank Mir, Tim Boetsch, Miguel Torres -- who is the current WEC 135-pound champ -- and James Horn who I think will be making waves in the near future in this sport," said Day. "Our sessions were lead by Robert Drysdale who is an absolute wizard on the ground. It was a great eye opener and Robert helped correct alot of little details in my ground game."
It was an eye-opening experience and one that will certainly not be the last now that he has made the decision to make more time to refine his game. With more time to train and more time to improve his skills, Day hopes that the focus and hard work will translate to more wins within the eight-sided cage.
"I am hoping I will be fighting at the end of October or November," Day said. "It will be more than enough time to get sharp and continue to maximize my potential."
And now with a full-time commitment perhaps Day's fairy tale will pick up right where he left off, taking dudes out with bunches of punches.
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