The last two months of my life were pretty hectic. Well shoot, now that I think about it, the last five years of my life have been hectic! Oh well, sometimes flying by the seat of our pants is what keeps us moving. If you can’t slow down, you just have to forge ahead with a positive mindset. Seriously though, in the last two months I relocated my whole family consisting of myself, my wife and two small children. That means new jobs, new schools, new gyms and a whole lot of playing catch up. I resumed training as soon as we moved after a five month layoff due to an injury and had only six weeks to get back into shape and prepare to defend my Impact Fight League Heavyweight title with Donofrio MMA. I have to say though, as hectic as it's been, everything fell into place nicely.
When I got the call from the promoter, Mr. Joe Donofrio, I faced the challenge of getting prepared. This was a challenge that I very much welcomed. Pressure and obstacles are what make me rise in anything that I do. I have people who believe in me with a lot of love and support, and I use that to drive me. Six weeks ago, I weighed 260 pounds, and was far from fighting shape. My technique was rusty and I needed to develop a plan of outstanding training and nutrition to make this work and show people that I was still here, on my path of destruction and ready for the “big show."
To get started, I needed a good gym to train at...maybe a few. I went to the area’s local gyms to feel out the training environment. My best choices seemed to be the farthest ones from my home, but solid preparation would be worth the commute. I found a good home for my grappling and MMA training at MASH Gym in Redford, MI. “Big” Don Richard is the coach there, as well as an old friend, so I knew what I could expect. Not to mention, the MASH Gym team of fighters carry a great reputation in Michigan for their MMA skills and fight record. They always come prepared. It's a well-ran gym with a great staff. Don has a wealth of great experience in combat sports. He's a veteran of the game and has been at it for a long time. He was an all-state wrestler, a successful Muay Thai fighter , an accomplished Mixed Martial Artist, and achieved black belts in both Judo and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. He fought tough opponents in large shows (Jeff Monson, Brandon Vera and Dan Severn). He was the pioneer of MMA in Michigan and was in my same weight class, so he was great for me to work with. I made the drive (45 minutes each way) to train at MASH 2-3 times a week and it was well worth it. You can learn something new there every day, and the other fighters provide a great push. They work hard and really have a great team unity. As my training progressed over the six week period, I got in good shape and it helped my preparation greatly.
I needed boxing training as well, that is a must for me. I found that boxing really helped my style all around. This is because of my coach, Mr. Bill Bustance of Trigger Boxing in Traverse City, MI. Our chemistry is unbeatable and if he tells me that I can do something, I believe it! He doesn’t sugar coat anything. He’s a straight shooter, and if you don’t like it, he’ll gladly show you the door. He trained boxers with amazing success and created champions out of anybody that dedicated themselves to the sport. He trained numerous Golden Glove champions, Olympic and National fighters, as well as professional boxers. Since the rise of MMA, he helped give guys the hands and boxing skills to take to the cage and win championships. Bill is a coach that really fine tunes the details and he's one of the few boxing coaches that modified his style for Mixed Martial Arts. I think that anybody would be a better fighter if they spent any amount of time with Bill. I cannot exclude his wife, Robbin, as she is a great coach too. She has been in the business for decades and really holds it all together. The two of them really backed me up and put together a great plan that I have confidence in as I go into a fight. Although I now live four hours away from them, I still go to them for my boxing, as I haven’t found anything close to that here, even in the Motor City. My great friends at Powerhouse Gym in Clinton Township provided me with a boxing space to work in, equipment, mirrors, bags, and a great environment to train my strength and conditioning. I worked on my skills there on my own, and went up to see Bill and Robbin periodically to fine tune.
I also worked with a good friend, Louie Robinson, who is a great student of the game and a wonderful teacher...and elementary school teacher. He has great patience and is an amazingly thorough instructor. We share very similar theories and views on the rapidly evolving sport of MMA and since we’ve been friends since the age of 15, we also have a great chemistry. Louie made the drive from Lansing, almost two hours, just to train with me. He's a 260 pound behemoth with awesome wrestling, Jiu Jitsu and clinching skills. We worked hard and he was a great asset to my training and will remain a part of my team of support. You can’t do it alone in this sport. It truly takes a team effort to build a good fighter. The team has care and love for me and they want me to succeed. That creates a positive environment and creates a great drive that I think is unstoppable.
As a nutritionist with Troponinnutrition.com, I was able to build a nutritional plan to suit my needs. I dialed-in my diet with these goals in mind: reduce inflammation, maximize recovery, and shed the unnecessary body fat and extra weight. I felt great and after only six weeks, I reduced my weight from 260 to 236 pounds at weigh-ins. This also helped greatly with my speed, strength and conditioning.
Now let's talk about this fight...
I initially had an opponent that would've provided a great looking fight, with two lean and mean-looking fighters. The fans enjoy that, right? Well, not after he dropped out of the fight with only a one-week notice! I was disappointed, but the promoter had a back up guy training and ready. The only thing that sucked was that the backup guy declined when the opportunity presented itself. The reason is beyond me. As a fighter, the mentality is to step up! I mean, it’s for the most highly coveted title in Michigan MMA! The promoters guaranteed me the fight, and actually found a tougher opponent, who gladly accepted the opportunity. He was smaller, at 5’10” and about 220 pounds. My last fight was against a 6’8”, 265 pound giant, so this was a big change. I'm not a big heavyweight either, so this was fine. They made sure that I knew not to take this guy lightly, that he is a warrior nicknamed “The Giant Slayer” for a reason. He finishes fights, and you have to respect that. He utilizes superior speed and conditioning to defeat opponents larger than he is and has some nice knockouts to his name including one in nine seconds. He has three titles, as did I, and if he gets in and hits you, it's "gonna" hurt. I watched his films and realized that this guy was serious. Still, nobody was going to take my title from me! He hadn’t fought me! If I don’t carry that belief in myself, what am I doing here?
As the week of the fight unfolded, I worked a lot of fight scenarios over and over in my head and in the gym with my trainers. We put together a plan for this guy that would lead me to victory. I was prepared for anything. People usually don’t stand with him. He explodes in tenaciously, causing guys to fall back or dive for a leg or go for a clinch. We wanted to pressure him instead, making him fight backing up. If I needed to, the clinch would be there and I could effectively use my wrestling and ground game to win the fight. First, as Bill put it, we would go out and slap him around a bit and go from there. I would throw straight punches, keep my hands up and my eyes on his. This was pretty much the fight plan.
The weigh-ins were the night before the fight. I met my opponent just before getting on the scale. I typically don’t like to meet the guy that I’m fighting beforehand, but the photographers wanted some posed pictures of the two of us. He was a real nice guy, and that's why I don’t like to meet them first. His crew was with him, holding on to his title belts. They were telling me that he was tough and deserving of the fight. They were trying to intimidate me a little bit no doubt, telling me how powerful he is and all that. They were cool about it, though, they weren’t trash talking or anything. They were just confident in their boy. I left the situation quickly and handled my other business at the weigh-in. I hit the scale at 236 pounds, the lightest I’ve ever been for a fight. I had a lot to prove to myself training for this fight, and I was satisfied with the work that I put in. Now it was time to go home and get some sleep and prepare for fight day.
Usually I don’t sleep very good the night before a fight, but this time I got a good seven hours in. I slept through the entire night and it was awesome! I ate a nice clean breakfast, and prepared the food that I needed for the rest of the day. I packed up the necessities: fight shorts, cup, mouth piece, water, food, and some fly duds to throw on post fight for the celebration. Then, I spent some time watching training videos from my previous weekend training up with Bill at Trigger. I wanted to see the fine points and remind myself of those keys to focus on. Bill is great for fine points. Louie spent the night at my house as well, so we were discussing clinch work and fight strategy. My Dad was on a plane from Las Vegas to see me fight for the first time, so I was excited about that. Around noon, my wife took off with the kids to get him and I wouldn’t see the kiddos again until the next day, so I gave them lots of lovin' first. I couldn’t stop hugging them and smelling them and telling them how much I love them. It's always like that for me before a fight. I have to leave and clear my mind from everybody, but before that I like to reflect on how much I love them and how truly blessed I am. It increases my courage and inner strength. I would do anything for them and I will try my best not to lose for them as well. They took off and so did we shortly thereafter.
Louie and I met up with Bill and Robbin at their hotel room near the venue and just chilled out for a bit. It's always cool with them because they always have me laughing my ass off and we have some of our best conversations before a fight. Louie was meeting them for the first time, and today, Lou and Bill would both be in my corner, so it was great that they hit it off right away. Around 4PM, we left for the venue at Meadowbrook for a rules meeting and to get settled in our dressing room.
Upon arrival, it was a warm welcome, as usual, by the Donofrio staff. They run such a professional show. You can tell that they are passionate about it and always trying to do a good thing. They are constantly making things better and better and they really handle themselves with integrity. They have a great team. When you do this stuff, you come across some shady characters. It's awesome to deal with people who do what they say they will do and really take great care of all of their fighters. You know what you’re going to get with these guys. So does the crowd, they just put on a heck of a show, including special effects and the whole nine yards.
Referee Marc Fenell gave the rules meeting. It was full of all the same ol' stuff. Then, we ate some grub that they provided for us and off to our dressing room we went. The venue is sweet, it's a huge outdoor pavilion with a nice stage for the cage and a big screen right behind it. The place was filling up fast and it was a sold out show, as it should be, they had every title on the line for this annual festival! The music played, and as the show began, I could hear the roar of the crowd down below in the dressing room. It's crazy, but that's how we count fights. The noise tells us when a fight is ended or finished. The crowd goes nuts and it sounds like the place is going to come down. I could feel the crowd roar through the walls. It's pretty freakin' intense!
I'm the main event, the 10th fight of the evening. To have ample relax as well as warm up time, Bill began taping up my hands in between the second and third fight. We chilled out for the first bit, just chatting and staying relaxed. Some of the other guys from MASH Gym were there too, so we just hung out and chatted it up with them. They’re a great bunch of guys. Every now and then I need to calm myself down and just close my eyes and relax. I just take deep breaths and try to get into a meditative state. I usually say some prayers as well, this is really relaxing for me and just part of the process. It is such a crazy time and your mind can spin if you let it. This night is important. A win is great, but I'm focused on a devastating result. I have to win huge to make waves in this ever growing sport because that's the only way to get noticed. I can’t go lay on a guy for five rounds, because that's not going to get me anywhere. I have to put it on the line and take some risks. On the other hand, a loss can set you back very far. When you have a loss, it's back to the drawing board. Therefore, it just can’t be an option and I have to visualize myself winning. I have to see myself holding MY belt. I even think about what I'll say in my victory speech. I think about how I'm going to feel afterward and how happy I'll be. I can’t let myself think about “what if I lose?” I know it’s there, somewhere in the back, but I gotta phase it out and see what I am about to do. It’s amazing that I can visualize something and actually will it to be so. We can go as far as we want to if we allow ourselves to believe and work for it.
By about the sixth fight, we started with some light warm-ups. Then, Louie and I did a little pummeling and clinch stuff. We went over some side control and guard maneuvers, as well, tuning in my top game. There was a good chance that I would take this guy down and work some ground and pound, so we wanted it to be fresh. After that, Bill put on the mitts and we started crackin' them. This is important. This is when I have to get my feet moving. I've got to get into a rhythm and really be feeling it, so that when I go out there I can stay relaxed and do my thing. When you’re amped up, anxious and all that, it's hard to relax your upper body. Bill wants me to loosen up, let my shoulders down and keep the elbows in. I've got to keep the pocket tight and a good tension in my legs and hips so that my upper body can relax. My lower body is where the power will come from, my upper body needs to stay relaxed. This way I can accommodate punches, move better, breathe and not gas out. Sometimes you can have great cardio leading up to a fight, but still gas out because you didn’t relax or you let the nerves get you. It's a chain reaction. Then, you go out and look like you didn’t even train. Getting a flow so that my shoulders and arms would relax is important. A lot of people don’t realize that it's not about punching the mitt hard, it's about moving your feet well. If your feet are on, your punches will be. Everything falls into place if your feet are moving well, at least when it comes to striking. I felt tight and jumpy at first, but we were working it out. Then we rested for a bit. I didn’t like how I was hitting and Bill told me to sit and just chill. I kept getting up and pacing and he would make me sit. Then after a while, he said, “Get up, let's do it again.” This time was much better...stopping and thinking worked wonders. Now, things were working like I expected. Today was not a good time to “have a bad day.” We went upstairs and outside to a wood patio to warm-up because that would feel a bit more like the floor in the cage, provide less traction, give a little bounce and be more spacious. Bill was yelling at me about my punches and my footwork, the bend in my knees, too wide, too narrow, where my hands were, faster, faster, drive it, etc etc. Then, when I start to flow he gets excited and we just get this thing going on. It pumps me up and when enough is enough he calls it and we go back to chill out. People always make comments when they see us hitting these things. Bill has a very unique way of working them, I’ve never seen anything like it. And I don’t mean that we jump around, throw nine strike combos with pivots and maneuvers, flying knees and fancy stuff, we just make the basics look lethal. It always gathers a few spectators. About that time, we call it quits.
Two fights and I’m up, time to go relax again.
The importance of my win is running through my mind. I'm staying focused on the fight, my eye is on the prize. We talk about starting the fight. Bill reminds me the usual, to keep my eye. Stare at him and see everything coming. I don’t see the crowd, I don’t see my friends or family, I just see his eyes. I stay intensely focused on my opponent. I will force him to look away and take that opportunity to strike. As Bill says, “All you gotta do is reach out and touch somebody. The eraser baby! Throw that eraser and the fight’s over.” As I listen to him, he forces my eye contact there as well. He reminds me to have confidence in my movement. I move my feet well and that is one of my assets.
I'm on deck!
We roll out. I put my hood up and it's time. My mouth guard has been in for an hour at least, and I’m ready to go. I hop around lightly and feel the tension in my legs, butt and hips. I'm ready to move and feel the ground under my feet. I hear the announcer riling up the crowd for the main event...they are roaring and pounding. My opponent is called out first. I take some deep breaths and again remind myself what I’m here to do. Louie turns to Bill and says, “Nice work coach, he looks good, he looks ready. Congratulations.” Bill replies, “Don’t fucking congratulate me right now! We gotta do this damn thing first!” I barely paid attention, but I remembered it after the fight and had a laugh. Now I hear the announcer call me up. Donofrio’s team leads us out. I come around the curtains and see the crowd... packed house! It was nuts and the crowd was going crazy! The music was pounding and I stepped up to the stage under a ring-of-fire type of thing with crazy lights and smoke and all that. I looked out at the crowd that I could no longer see because of the lights in my face, and threw a few punches in the air. Right then I felt like I could chew somebody’s leg off. I was ready to enter. I turned and forged toward the cage. Bill tells me to step up in there and wipe my feet like I got shit on my shoe. I step up to the commission guy for my grease and cup check and I strip down. Off comes my hoodie, then my elitefts™ t-shirt, and lastly my fight shirt with Trigger Boxing on the front. My shoes are taken from me and I step in with a couple stomps. The crowd is going nuts, screaming my name! It is such a rush, I am flying high. I skip around and get a good feel for the mat and head to my corner. Immediately, my eyes lock to my opponent and I don’t look away. Not for a second. The announcer says a few things, and he’s out. Bill shouts to me to “move that back foot.” Louie and Robbin are saying, “Come on Shaun! You can do this!” I know I can at this point. Bill has taught me this thing that works well for me. I don’t go in there thinking, well, I'm gonna do this, then he might do this. So I'll go here...none of that. I work on my skills and go in there to fight and win. THAT is my plan. Other than that, all you can do is start the fight. The other fighter’s eyes tell me how to start the fight.
The door slams shut and the referee looks at each one of us and gives us the, “Fighter, are you ready?” deal. That is the moment of truth. I can't explain it. Pure uncertainty and excitement. It all comes down to this. The place is tense! All are silent and waiting. Am I ready? Hell yes! “Lets get it on!”
Oh here we go.
I expected him to rush in like he did in other fights, but this night he didn’t, or at least didn’t have time to. He skipped out and kind of looked hesitant. I lunged in, with my head back of course, and threw out a quick jab that connected and rocked him. I put some ass on that thing! By reflex, he countered with an overhand right, which I dodged and came back with a 1-2-3 (jab, cross, hook) combination. He was still standing there, but I saw his eyes roll back, so I threw a cross and he collapsed and the referee jumped in. It was fast, a 12 second knockout win! The fastest for me, for sure. The people in the crowd were fanatic! Everybody just rushed to the front of the crowd and I was screaming and just amped up. For the first time, I looked at all the faces in the crowd. It was so intense. The medics ran in, then the photographers, the promoters, camera crew, and my coaches. My wife and Dad came up and in to the cage as well, I was so happy to share that moment with my family. My Mom, Dad, Sisters, my wife’s parents and much of her family from Canada, a ton of close friends, I mean a lot of people came out to support me in this crazy sport that I love and am passionate about. It just hits home. I felt the love at that moment. Everybody was just excited and proud.
The announcer, Phil “The Voice” Davey did an outstanding job. He came back in and asked me some stuff and handed me the microphone. It was just like I had envisioned, only I forgot most of what I was going to say. That's alright though, it didn’t matter. I said everything that I needed to in 12 seconds. Now it’s time for bigger and brighter things. I'm waiting for an opportunity to show what I can do. Four out of five of my most recent fights have been fast knockouts in the first round. I'm coming out to be an exciting fighter and I need a chance to see what I can do. I am one step closer.
During the fight, they brought my family close to the cage. My Dad watched me fight live for the first time ever and was able to come into the cage with my wife and put my belt on my waist. It was an awesome moment. I can’t explain the feeling of a big show under the lights in front of tons of people screaming for you, like what you’re doing matters. At that moment, it does. I could barely get out of there, taking pictures with fans and awesome little kids, signing autographs and just sharing the whole moment with them all. It feels amazing to have people enjoy what I do in there, it is my passion!
Fighting is so personal and intimate in a way. You pour your heart into it, day in and day out. It takes all you've got, all the courage that you can muster and extreme focus. You can’t hide your fears and anxieties in there. Everything comes out and is showed to the world. You win, lose, feel pain, shame, or success in there and it's all on display. You either thrive off it, or you crumble. You have to deal with it all each and every time. It doesn’t change. You have to have something to fight for that can overpower your fears.
At fight time, I have to get rid of the fears. Fear during the fight will make me hesitate. I have to go on instinct and awareness in there, because if I hesitate for a second, then things can go wrong. I must stay focused and present in the fight.
My coach gave me a lesson once on letting love drive me. We fighters are emotional, sensitive people, believe it or not! I was going through some personal stuff that was getting in the way of my life and could really negatively impact my fighting career. I had a fight coming up and I needed to change some things to succeed and he gave me a lot of help through it all. We really bonded through it, and I was lucky to have somebody like him there. It redirected the preparation of my fight mentally, to where I had to think of the things that I love and fight for them. I hadn’t put those thoughts into words, but after my win last December, a great KO in a minute and a half, he pointed out to me that I had succeeded not just in the cage that night. He said that we tend to do things as a response to one of two emotions, fear or love. When we act out of love, the outcome is so much better. That really sunk in and hit home. I agreed, I could really feel what he was saying. Our actions out of fear are hollow. From then on, I knew that I would let love cast out my fears and fight for that. That sounded really familiar to me, then I realized what it was..."There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear; because fear hath torment."--I John 4:18. Sometimes reading something this simple will put my head in the right place. It’s a personal journey, but I fight for much more than a belt.