Gian Villante ready for UFC 193 fight against Australia's Anthony Perosh
UFC light heavyweight fighter Gian Villante, from Levittown, during Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu training at Serra BJJ in Levittown on July 17, 2015. Credit: Mario Gonzalez
Australia presents its share of differences with Long Island, where Gian Villante grew up and still lives.
Different hemisphere, different accent, different time zone.
The shift in the world clock created a seismic shift in the body clock of Villante, who fights Anthony Perosh at UFC 193 this weekend in Melbourne, Australia. He's been waking up at 7 a.m. since arriving in Melbourne last week, something the 30-year-old Villante hasn't done regularly in more than a decade.
"Not even in high school," said Villante, who grew up in Levittown and starred in football and wrestling at MacArthur High School. "I was late to my first-period class all the time. Maybe like 10th grade -- 10th grade, I was pretty good about getting to school on time."
UFC 193, headlined by Ronda Rousey defending her women's bantamweight title against Holly Holm, airs live in the U.S. beginning with prelim fights at 6:15 p.m. Eastern time on Saturday night. Melbourne is 16 hours ahead of New York, so while Villante's fight will air here around 8:30 p.m. (on Fox Sports 1), it takes place around 12:30 p.m. Sunday at Etihad Stadium.
It wasn't until Villante (13-5, 3-3 UFC) arrived in Melbourne that he figured out what time of day he was going to be fighting Perosh. Villante said he didn't adjust his training schedule to adjust for the time change. He usually sparred around 1 or 2 p.m., which is typical for him regardless of a fight's location.
"I got a rule, [Chris] Weidman will tell you about that," Villante said, referring to his sparring partner, best friend and reigning UFC middleweight champion. "I refuse to be punched in the face before 12 o'clock. Any time after 12 is fine."
Villante fought overseas twice before, including a June 2014 win in Auckland, New Zealand. That's an 18-hour time difference, and the experience then is benefiting Villante now. Familiarity with operating far from home goes a long way, especially in a business as physical and mental as mixed martial arts.
However, punching and kicking and grappling and defending techniques don't change based on hemisphere. Villante is in Australia to do his job.
"Make it a Gian Villante fight," Villante said. "A fight where I go in there and do what I like to do and make it my type of fight, not let him do what he wants to do."
Perosh, 43, is from Sydney, Australia, and likely will have the crowd on his side. And it figures to be a significantly loud crowd, what with 70,000 fans expected to fill Etihad Stadium. This is just the second stadium show for the UFC, with UFC 129 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto bringing in 55,724 fans in 2011.
"It'll be cool, it'll be loud, I'm sure it'll be crazy," Villante said. "I'm fighting an Australian. I'll probably be booed a little bit, but I don't care much about that. I just care about that after the fight, they enjoyed the fight and they're cheering it."
And before the fight against Perosh (15-9, 5-6), as he makes his walk from backstage to the octagon amid a venue and crowd four or five times larger than his other fights?
"I'll probably be doing what I usually do," Villante said. "Look at the ground and make sure I don't trip."
Mark La Monica is a deputy sports editor at Newsday. He also covers mixed martial arts.
