USA TODAY: 'Working man's champ' a role UFC 165's Eddie Wineland embraces

(This story appears in today’s edition of USA TODAY.)

There are blue-collar fighters, and then there’s Eddie Wineland.

Maintaining a day job while fighting in the UFC is nothing new, especially for low-profile fighters.

But Wineland is in a rare position this week.

Wineland (20-8-1 MMA, 2-2 UFC) fights interim bantamweight champion Renan Barao (30-1 MMA, 5-0 UFC) on Saturday in the co-main event of UFC 165 at Air Canada Centre in Toronto (pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET). But the day before leaving for the biggest title fight of his life, Wineland was working a full shift at his job as a firefighter in the northwest Indiana city of LaPorte.

It’s nothing new for Wineland, who was the first bantamweight champion in World Extreme Cagefighting, years before that promotion merged with the UFC. He’s been doing the balancing act between fighting fires and fighting fighters for years and has been making it work.

“Having my full-time job works out perfectly for me; I only work 110 or so days a year,” Wineland tells USA TODAY Sports and MMAjunkie.com. “The other 250 days, I’m in the gym and staying sharp. Both are physical jobs, so they require me to be in good health.”

Wineland, 29, is a 4-1 underdog against Barao, who brings a 31-fight unbeaten streak into the title bout. But he says Barao has never seen an opponent like him.

On paper, Wineland figures, that might be true. Barao beat Scott Jorgensen on points. But Wineland became the first fighter to knock out Jorgensen, one of the two wins he needed after back-to-back losses to Urijah Faber and Joseph Benavidez to earn his shot at the interim titleholder. It was delayed from a planned June meeting by an injury to Barao.

“It’s no secret that Barao’s winning streak is amazing,” Wineland says. “I don’t care about that. They’re all opponents, all men as he is. But he has yet to face me, so we’ll see how that winning streak fares after Saturday.”

Wineland’s time with the bantamweight belt was short-lived when he was in the WEC.

In May 2006, he took a fight in California at WEC 20. Few were expecting him to win. But midway through the first round, after kicking Antonio Banuelos in the head and beating him up a bit on the ground, he had a belt around his waist.

He lost it in his first title defense 10 months later, but going through the genealogy of that title, it eventually became the UFC’s 135-pound belt, and Wineland wants it back.

“It’s a homecoming for me,” he says. “I held the belt first, and I want to hold it again.

“I’m prepared to do everything in my power to make that happen.”

Even though oddsmakers might be stacking the deck against him, his only plan is to go back to Indiana with a title and then start thinking about a potential bout with sidelined champion Dominick Cruz, who is expected back in early 2014.

But don’t count on him leaving that firehouse job if he wins the belt. Unlike the rest of the UFC’s current champions, Wineland has no problem keeping both jobs.

“I don’t see a point in giving up a job that I can hold and still fight at the same time,” he says. “They’re supportive of it and are behind me in my fighting. I like to work and stay busy in my downtime.”

If he’s doing that next week with 12 pounds of UFC gold around his waist, he might take on another role along with being champion — new hero for the blue-collar set.

“Working man’s champion is exactly what I am,” Wineland says. “I like to work and stay busy. I create too many side projects and headaches for myself if I’m not working or in the gym. I don’t mind getting my hands dirty and earning my keep.”

For more on UFC 165, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.