Well, Im glad this blog is named “Road to the Pro’s” and not “Road to Second Amateur Belt”. I would like to state that the number one goal of amateur MMA is to ensure that nobody gets hurt. In my fight on Saturday night after a very short exchange on our feet I went for a single leg and took Adam to the mat where he proceeded to land some hammer fists. The referee (Mr. Kevin Dornan) said due to my lack of response to the punches he stopped the fight. I did not respond to the punches because they were not doing any damage to me and I was pre-occupied with trying to advance on my opponents leg. In no way do I feel as if the call was wrong. Any call made in the safety of a fighter is always the right call in any amateur sport. I looked over at Mr. Adam Ryan who I know and respect and he was confirming to Kevin Dornan that it was a good stoppage, so I trust from both of their points of view that it looked as if the fight needed to be stopped. I feel bad for Adam (Santos), when I won my middleweight belt it was to a crowd cheering with excitement and it was a great experience. Adam had to deal with the crowd booing and even throwing beer into the cage (booing anyone who gets up in front of you and performed his or her best is definitely one of my biggest pet peeves). In all reality Adam went in, did what he needed to do to win the fight and had no control over the referee stopping it. Believe me as much as I would have liked a chance for the fight to have continued, I’m sure that Adam would have really enjoyed punching me for a while longer too.
It wasn’t all negative, the benefit of amateur MMA from a fighers point of view is that once we go pro it’s all erased, the good and the bad. Some positive things that happened on the day of the fight were, I was able to eat properly, I stayed very calm, and I even felt like I was going to have energy for days as I walked into the cage. I took the fight for experience, while i’m upset with the way things went down, in the end I got to experience things about fighting that you simply can’t practice. There is no way to simulate the way you feel on fight day, the way your body feels on competition day is different than practice. I felt that I handled the pressure very well and that I am better prepared for my fight against Jer Kornelson in November than I would have been without taking this fight.
Battlefield 12 is going to be in November and it will be my 6th appearance in BFL. I will be fighting in my third main event in a rematch from Battlefield 8 against Jer “the Jerk” Kornelson. Jer is a tank; he will come into this fight in shape and ready to take my head off. He comes from a smart camp (Impact MMA in Naniamo), so I have no doubt that this will be my biggest challenge to date. I still feel I will have the advantage, I am younger and newer to the sport and feel that I will have improved in all aspects of the sport faster than Jer. Im sure he disagrees and we will find out in November when they lock us in a cage together for 15 minutes. Stay tuned for all things “Bully” vs. “Jerk” , as im sure there will be some classic one liners in the banter back and forth and the fight will be the best fight that Battlefield has ever had.
I would like to thank: Forum Sports Bar 1161 Granville St, Vancouver for hosting an after party for me even though I lost. I will do my best to unsure that the next one is a much happier party! And of course my sponsors Tapout Canada, Dominant Ground, Reflex on Kingsway, Klench Kustom Guards, Fine Arts Bartending in Victoria. And Passion Sports. I would also like to thank MMASucka.com and www.kombatnation.com
Also, I want to thank MMABC for all the hard work behind the scenes work they do to make the events possible.