LOREN NELSON COMMENTARY: Fighting back: Taylor rebounds after nearly squandering his career

By LOREN NELSON - Staff Writer | Thursday, July 10, 2008 10:52 AM PDT ∞

It was a six-figure screw up. The kind they catch on Las Vegas casino surveillance cameras. The kind that can kill a career.

There was Jesse Taylor, wild and wasted, kicking out the windshield of a limousine.

Ultimate Fighting Championships president Dana White saw the video, then had a chat with Taylor, the mixed martial arts fighter he had spent months grooming for stardom.

"Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son." ---- Dean Wormer to Flounder, "Animal House," 1978.

That, in effect, was the conversation. Then White booted Taylor, the 25-year-old 4S Ranch resident, from the live finale of "The Ultimate Fighter."

Gone went the chance to earn a hefty guaranteed contract. Gone went the shot at instant fame.

All that was left was hope, a faint one, for another chance.

"I lost some money, yeah, I'm bummed about that," Taylor says. "It's the story of my life."

You know this story. Maybe it belongs to a friend or relative. Could be that it's yours.

There's some natural talent. A lot of hard work. A string of small successes.

But, just before that big breakthrough, something always goes wrong. Sometimes it's bad luck. Sometimes it's a bad decision. Sometimes it's the booze.

That's what bit Taylor this time. The booze.

If you know even a little about Taylor, it's as easy to see how this could happen as it is impossible to condone.

Described as a kid that, "was always going 100 miles an hour," by Wayne Branstetter, his wrestling coach at Poway High, Taylor, indeed, has just one gear.

Right now, he is working out as many as seven hours a day in Murrieta, preparing for a July 19 fight in Las Vegas.

"I've been telling him he needs to cut back and get his rest," said Dan Henderson, a former mixed martial arts world champion who owns Team Quest and has been helping train Taylor for his UFC debut.

Yes, Taylor works hard. Always has. Problem is, he parties the same way.

About 2 million or so viewers saw that side of Taylor when he was in front of the cameras for "The Ultimate Fighter," a reality TV series that puts 16 young fighters in the same house and has them compete for a guaranteed six-figure UFC contract.

When the taping of the show was over, Taylor, who won all four of his matches, wasn't done. He and some fellow cast members decided to celebrate. Taylor drank too much again. He acted dumb and then some. The worst of it was caught on the wrong kind of cameras.

"It was a good thing," Taylor says. "An attitude adjustment was needed."

Taylor came home. He didn't stop drinking. Not right away. He watched himself on "The Ultimate Fighter" at a Rancho Bernardo tavern. He drank right up until the last of the taped episodes.

"The next day, I went to an AA meeting," Taylor says. "The day after that, I had an interview with Spike TV."

White had relented. The UFC wanted Taylor to fight C.B. Dolloway, "The Ultimate Fighter" runner-up. The fight will be part of a show that will air live on Spike TV and go head-to-head with a pay-per-view event promoted by Affliction, one of UFC's numerous start-up mixed martial arts rivals.

"Without a doubt, (Taylor) deserves another chance," White told Yahoo! Sports.

"He made himself look like a fool, and he's aware of that, but everyone deserves another opportunity and we're going to give it to him.

"He acted like a moron. He's embarrassed by it, which he should be, but what he did doesn't amount to enough to ban him forever. Come on. He was just young and stupid, but at least he seems to have learned from what he did."

Taylor said he has received an abundance of support and encouragement from Henderson. Most of it, though, isn't fit for print.

"I'll put it nicely," Taylor says about Henderson's coaching. "He says, ‘Don't mess up again.' "

Taylor said the best advice, strangely, might have come from Dolloway's wrestling coach at Arizona State, Thom Ortiz.

"He said, ‘You seem to self destruct. You don't feel like you really belong there. Live in the moment' " Taylor says. "I've squandered enough chances."

Because you know his story, because you know someone just like him, Taylor is the kind of guy you want to see succeed. He is young and talented and has the potential to be great in a sport that White believes someday will surpass the NFL and World Cup soccer in worldwide popularity.

We'll see about that, just as we'll see about Taylor.

This story is just beginning.

Loren Nelson, sports editor, can be reached at (760) 740-3551 or lnelson@nctimes.com.

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