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This past summer, despite winning his last four mixed martial arts fights, Frank Trigg was feeling like a desperate man. The 37-year-old Irondequoit native had been dominating mid-level fighting organizations for two years. However, he was eager to return to the sport's main stage, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), and he was willing to do just about anything to get there.
"I called them up and begged," says Trigg, a former standout wrestler at Eastridge High School. His plea worked. This past May, Trigg signed a multi-fight contract with the UFC. He previously spent two years with the organization, from 2003 to 2005, when, at 170 pounds, he was one of its top welterweight contenders. Now Trigg will make his comeback during the UFC 103 pay-per-view event on Saturday, Sept. 19.
"The UFC doesn't need me now," says a humbled Trigg, during a recent phone interview from his home in Las Vegas. "They're doing me a favor by bringing me back into the organization and saying 'Let's take a shot on you and see what you can do.'"
Trigg's first fight won't be a cakewalk. He'll take on Josh Koscheck, a former NCAA Division I wrestling champion who's currently at No. 5 in the world welterweight rankings. In fact, Trigg is the biggest underdog (in terms of betting odds) on UFC 103's main card.
"Josh is a younger, less experienced, faster version of me," says Trigg. "It's really strange fighting this guy. He's probably one of the tougher opponents to prepare for."
Trigg's been getting ready for the fight in Las Vegas with friend and UFC legend Randy Couture at Couture's training camp. Trigg says he gets up at 4:45 a.m. and sometimes trains three times a day.
Like his opponent, Trigg's specialty is wrestling. He was a Section V champion at Eastridge before compiling a record of 53-1 as a Junior College All-American at Phoenix College from 1992 to 1994. He became an assistant wrestling coach at the University of Oklahoma and then decided to permanently leave Rochester for the warmth of the Southwest and to compete in MMA full time.
"I moved out of Rochester because I hated the cold," says Trigg, who hasn't been back here in five years. "But I miss the Garbage Plates, Lilac Festival and Woody's bar."
Trigg's first fight in the UFC was in November 2003 against then-welterweight champion Matt Hughes, which Trigg lost. He earned another shot at Hughes six months later, but lost that fight as well. Trigg went on to lose two of his next three MMA fights and actually retired for eight months in 2006.
"I was completely out," he says. "I was done. I was walking around at 230 pounds, doing nothing but drinking two bottles of wine a night and eating."
After some urging from friends, Trigg returned to the sport and has won six of his last seven fights overall. And now that MMA is one of the fastest-growing sports in the world, he's hoping to make one last run at a title.
"It's amazing how big the sport has become," Trigg says. "When I started, it was illegal in 48 states. Now the UFC is everywhere. At 37 years old I don't have much time left. Let's find out how much I have in me."
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