Twice in the past two years, Tim Carpenter has entered a Bellator light-heavyweight tournament, and twice, after having won in the quarterfinals, he fell in the semis — the first time to eventual champion Christian M’Pumbu and more recently, to Travis Wiuff.
Taking a loss is something every fighter has to deal with in their career — but Carpenter doesn’t get emotional, allowing the anger and frustration to build up inside him until it reaches volcanic levels.
Carpenter prefers a more analytical approach — face it, you lost. But how did you lose, and what do you need to do to win next time?
“I look at it objectively, what I should’ve done and what I shouldn’t have done … I figure losses happen and you’ve got to learn from them,” he said.
Carpenter entered the inaugural Bellator light-heavyweight tournament in 2011, beating Daniel Gracie by split decision in the quarter finals. Then, in the semi-finals, he met French striker Christian M’Pumbu and lost by TKO/Ref stoppage, in what some called an early stoppage.
M’Pumbu then went on to win the tournament and the title, only to lose to veteran Travis Wiuff in a non-title fight. Carpenter fared far better, KO’ing Ryan Contaldi at Bellator 54.
Carpenter’s second tournament was a last-minute situation, harkening back to the early days of the UFC, where fighters would be ready to replace others in the organization’s tournaments.
“I wasn’t supposed to be in that tournament,” he said.
Leading up to Bellator 71, Carpenter was matched up with Ohio’s John Hawk in a LHW feature bout. On the same card, the promotion was staging the quarter finals of the second LHW tournament to determine a challenger for M’Pumbu. At the last minute, LHW tournament competitor Rich Hale became sick. Carpenter was moved up to replace him and fight Beau Tribolet, leaving Hawk without a match-up.
Carpenter weathered the last-minute opponent change, chasing a retreating Tribolet during round one. In round two, Tribolet came out more aggressive, but Carpenter absorbed the punishment and when the fight went to the ground, pulled off a slick arm bar, forcing a verbal tap from Tribolet.
Carpenter knew he had a tough fight ahead of him in the hulking Wiuff, who reportedly cuts 50 or more pounds to get down to 205.
“I got taken down, I got taken out of my game right away,” he said of his fight with Wiuff. “He did a couple things I didn’t expect … the way he positioned himself in the guard … I didn’t change up my attack.”
Following the fight, it was back to training for Carpenter, and looking ahead to his next fight in Bellator. As has been the case throughout his career, securing this upcoming fight has been a battle in itself.
“I’ll have a fight and then it’ll fall through; they’ll back out or get injured,” he said. “I’m hoping to fight in December. … I’m always training; I could fight tomorrow.”
Carpenter continues to train at Nak Muay for his striking, and Balance Studios and New Jersey Martial Arts for his all-round game. He also teaches classes at Nak Muay and NJMA. Carpenter is represented my Jimmy Binns Jr. of Binns Management.
“The East Coast has a real good fight scene — Philly, New Jersey, New York,” he said. To the fighters’ benefit, Bellator has recognized that, and features a bevy of East Coast fighters every time they are in Atlantic City, or, on Oct. 19, in Reading, Pa. “It gets East Coast fighters’ names out there,” he said.
Sundays at Balance remains the place to be in Philadelphia, with fighters from the school and many others jumping in for an open mat time, Carpenter said. The guys he trains with, including Tim Williams (7-1), Kyle Cerminara (3-0), Sam Oropeza (5-2) and Anton Berzin (2-1), would do well anywhere, against anybody, he said.
