Let’s kick off with my favourite.

Dousing myself in petrol and setting myself on fire.

Now here’s the science.

Basically if you can endure 5x5min hard rounds on pads while burning then going 5x5mins against one opponent is going to seem like a walk in the park.

Being engulfed in flames really limits the oxygen you can take in as the fire is using all available oxygen to get burning. This really makes your lungs work hard and feel the burn….literally.

Snorkel training….underwater.

I’ve been doing most of my sparring while underwater. What I feel this develops is awesome punching speed.

Having to punch and kick through water resistance is like punching with really really heavy weights, but more extreme.

In my experience , More extreme= Better.

look,even Ali did it.

Last but not least is something that Danny Gray has been doing a lot recently in the early build up to his SFC title fight.

He’s replicating high gravity training by wearing a giant haemorrhoid.

Danny has said that his conditioning has improved to immeasurable levels….so we can’t actually measure it.

amazing stuff.

Ok ok enough jesting. I am of course takin the piss out of the current vogue training system of ‘gas mask’ training.

Would it be cynical of me to suggest guys like Sean Sherk are getting paid a shite load to say that they use this type of training? I’m no expert but wearing a face mask isn’t going to in anyway replicate ‘high altitude’ training.

None of these fads really appeal to me,they sound like far too much work for too little reward.

I’d rather train and get good at all the disciplines individually then spar hard with good training partners who push me.

For my second fight v Pete Wilson I did a tonne of extra cardio(hill sprints,treadmil sprints,tabatas) but because I wasnt comforable wrestling I was blowing out my arse after 5 mins. Now after improving my wrestling and Jiu jitsu I feel like I can relax a bit as i’m more comfortable with whats going on.  

Prime example of this is my man crush….GSP. From what i’ve read he doesn’t do any extra curricular cardio just a bunch of sparring in all ranges along with things like ‘shark tank’ and pressure drills. When was the last time you saw him get tired in a fight?

Speaking of fighting, i’m on this weekend.

I’d planned on being mega busy competing this year but so far i’ve not been able to do anything. I got ill the night I was supposed to be boxing and had no extra cash to afford to do the Scottish Open BJJ comp. Baws.

So my first outing this year is V Karsten Lenjoint at Fight UK.

Sadly for me…..Karsten looks pretty god damn good. WTF?!?! Not fair, I want cannon fodder. I want someone who is going to let me tee off on them as is my want. I want to be able to practise all the cool shit i’ve learned on some poor unsuspecting git.

But nnoooo….Ian Dean finds me someone who can fight.

Who trains from a good camp.

Who has a winning fucking record!

Thanks Ian…thanks a fucking bunch.

Ah well, better just get on with it. Been training hard as tits as all our guys have been out fighting. Been a crazy couple of months at the Griphouse. Prepping over 20 fighters from MMA,muay thai,BJJ and boxing. It’s been incredible to watch the level of the guys jump up.

Topped off by some awesome and inspiring performances last weekend.

Stand outs for me were,

Graham Turner punching Jasbutis through the floor.

Coach McVeigh putting on a fine performance defending his title at CW

Jimmy Doolan in a battle with Michel Hamersmid

and Rab Whiteford sticking solidly to the gameplan and knocking out his opponent.

Great work guys.

Hopefully I can top off a fine week for the team by winning on Sunday night. Before eating my way though the Chinese bakery across the road from the gym

Feeling good for this fight, best prepared I think i’ve ever been(touch wood) every area of my game is feeling spot on and got some new toys to play with. If you’re watching I hope you enjoy the fight and are impressed by my performance

Dean

www.twitter.com/hurricane_dnft

Thankfully however Jay is not a cunt and a couple of days later this lovely box of treats turned up-

In the box was a selection of White Chocolate Almond and Double Chocolate Chip protein cookies.

First off lets look at the facts.

Per 75g:                                                                       

White Chocolate Almond Flavour 
Energy: 320kcal
Protein: 37.5g
Carbohydrate: 20.1g
(of which sugars): 7.4g
Fat: 10.0g

Double Chocolate Chip Flavour          
Energy: 315kcal
Protein: 37.5g
Carbohydrate: 19.25g
(of which sugars): 7.21g
Fat: 9.85g

37.5G of protein per cookie! That’s a lot of protein all while being slightly easier on the carbs compared to a lot of similar products i’ve seen on the market.

The cookie itself is quite a substantial size and weight and proved to be very filling. I shared out the samples to get feedback from a few people and most struggled to finish in one sitting,except me however I am an experienced cookie eater and renowned greedy bastard.

This became my staple breakfast for the duration of the trial

breakfast of champions

After having this spectacular concoction at 10am,I was training for an hour and coaching some mental marine dudes for 2 hours. By the time the session ended I still wasn’t really that hungry,normally i’m the first one across the road to the cafe to get fed. Testament to the filling properties of the cookies i reckon

Taste wise I really enjoyed both flavours. The white chocolate one tastes a lot like battenburg cake,never a bad thing and the chocolate one….well tastes like a chocolate protein bar.

They are quite chewy but not to the point you’ll break your teeth, if anything it stops me stuffing it down my throat at a breakneck speed. 

I could wax lyrical about how good they taste however I feel this video says more than i ever could

These cookies would be a great meal to have when dieting and you don’t have time to prepare a proper dinner or as a replacement for a protein shake post workout however at 315 calories per cookie don’t get too addicted to them.

I personally found them to be a great lazy breakfast or food on the go when coaching and training a lot.

If kind fellows from myprotein.com wants to send me anymore of these cookies as a thanks for the favourable review you can find me at www.twitter.com/hurricane_dnft

2010 wasn’t quite the year i hoped it would be to be honest.
My aims at the beginning of the year were to still work semi regularly offshore to keep some green in my back pocket to fund my goals of fighting aplenty.

Neither of which happened.

Partially due to my lack of working offshore my relationship with my Mum has been rocky at best which after making strides of improvement in 2009 has been frustrating.

Fight wise I only managed to get 2 in,plus a boxing match. I had my first loss at the hands of the sneaky Russian Maxim Ionov. I also lost the boxing match,however in my defense i took it on 12 hours notice after about 4 hours sleep on a couch so i wasnt at my best.

Thought I did ok after weathering the early storm,here’s the video. I love Pernell Whitaker and Roy Jones Jr.

This year I also found I neglected my jiu jitsu a fair bit and felt my progress stalling,on the plus side i think my boxing,wrestling and thai got a shit load better.

Been really enjoying training this winter, after my last fight I decided that I was going to start building towards next years goals rather than trying to squeeze in another fight.

I really want to be busy as hell next year, so far I have a rematch with Ryan and the SK boxing promotions show on the 29th of January then on the 6th of March I have an mma fight lined up. Also i’m hoping Mr Ian Dean is going to get me on the April Cage Warriors card. I’ll hopefully jump into any Gi or Nogi comps inbetween all of these and maybe fit a thai fight or 2 thoughout the year.

This approach has been semi inspired by Allan Love who with a similar campaign in 2008-2009 got really good really quickly.

Training wise i’ve already started on my goals this winter. I’ve stuck the pyjamas back on after being harassed by Boomtime and i’m now really loving rolling in the Gi. I’ve also embraced the process of getting stronger by following programmes from Flex Mcveigh,feeling the difference already,looking forward to starting the next one on Tuesday.

Work wise this year has been kinda strange. I’ve managed to pick up and retain 4-5 pt clients as well as coaching at the Griphouse. I’m hoping that the plan I have in my head works out and that I don’t have to sod off offshore again. Weird that last year was the opposite plan with the opposite effect :p

Next year myself and Kieran will be coaching classes at a new gym on the Southside of Glasgow,its basically going to be an offshoot of the Grip,i hope i can help make it a success.

I really enjoy coaching,I dont care that i get paid a fraction of my offshore wage as i really feel that i’m making a difference to people and actually contributing something in the world,albeit violence

This post has been a tad random as i’m just spitting it off the top of the dome (been listening to too much rap again)

i’ll leave you with my favourite video from this year,its been the source of much inspiration and stolen ideas.

Happy New Year Shags

weight cutting is awesome

By Dean Parr

Dean Reilly (3-1) will participate in his fifth Professional bout tomorrow evening on the Fight Ikon 5 charity event, as he takes on the durable Nathan Thompson in the Featherweight division. In anticipation of this contest, the Dinky Ninjas fighter caught up with BritMMA.co.uk for a Q&A.

Q: This weekend, you’ll be fighting on Fight Ikon 5 in Salford – how excited are you for this?

A: I’m pretty excited about the fight. I’ve not been as busy as I would’ve liked this year. I’ve kinda struggled to get matches; things seemed to come up three at a time was was a bit annoying. I tried to get on Ikon earlier in the year. It looks like a good show and the promoter seems a good bloke.

Q: Does the fact it’s a charity show make it better for you?

A: It’s pretty cool thats he’s running a show for charity. Here’s me thinking the majority of promoters were in it for the money! I hope it goes well and plenty of cash is raised for a good cause.

Q: I believe your opponent will be Nathan Thompson. What do you know about him?

A: I’ve seen Nathan fight a couple of times,it seems these days that he’s willing to fight anyone anywhere which I think is cool. He’s got a good triangle and no fear. He seems a nice dude.

Q: How has training gone? Where have you been preparing, and has it gone well?

A: Training has been terrible, totally gash.Those guys at The Griphouse and Dinky Ninjas have not even paid attention to me.I’m so underprepared it’s unbelievable. I’ve been holding pads for myself, training Jiu Jitsu with a Gi jacket and Wrestling with heavy bags.

Q: Recently, you signed to Warrior Promotions Fighter Management. Has this move pleased you, and why did you decide to sign?

A: The Warrior Promotions thing is pretty cool. I’m really pleased for all my Homeninjas who got signed. It makes things seem a bit more legit, that there actually is a purpose behind getting our arses kicked everyday.Hopefully they can pimp us all out a bit. A fair few of our guys don’t bother with the internet and therefore don’t get the recognition they deserve. Internet banter and fighting poor opposition seems to be the number one method of getting a good rep these days.

Q: In your last bout, you were submitted in two by Maxim Ionov. How gutted were you with this?

A: Maxim Bloody Ionov. Man, I was so mad I could’ve kicked a baby. The whole weekend had a bad feeling about it for me. I dunno, I just wasn’t feeling it. Maxim was a cool dude and really talented and a great athlete but I didn’t perform to the levels I set myself on the day. I found out a couple of weeks later that he was a brown belt in Jiu Jitsu and used to train Combat Sambo in the Russian army so he was no slouch. I feel that given another chance I’d do much better.

Cliche time – it did make me take a look at my game and a few other things and lead to some improvements so it’s worked out well in that sense. I’d love another chance with him though.

Q: What are your plans for 2011 MMA wise? Have you got any particular goal or ambition?

A: 2011? Fight on Cage Warriors and do well. I’ve always wanted to be on that show since I started. I won Paul’s CW belt a couple of years ago in a drunken punch machine challenge, but the dream is to get my own. I just want to be busy and have fun and see all my ninja bros do well….oh and see McVeigh in UFC, just so i can get free tickets.

Q: For those who’ve never seen you fight before, what will you be bringing to the table on Sunday?

A: I’ll be bringing a cheap version of all the people who have inspired me since i started training. Think Diet Doolan, Poundland Pacquiao, Multisave McVeigh, BOGOF Malone and Jose Aldi’s.That, along with a vicious moustache and gorgeous eyes.

Q: Have you got a prediction for the bout, and how do you see yourself winning (and which round)?

A: I don’t really have a prediction for you. I think it’s kinda disrespectful and anything can happen in a fight but I believe I’m going to win…hands down.

Q: Is there anything else you’d like to say?

A: I would like to thank Guy and Paul for opening The Griphouse and giving me somewhere to hang out with my mates, make some money and avoid a ‘real’ life. Also, all the ninjas who’ve helped me train for any fights,in particular…

Flex (cheers for the vials), Disco, Malone, Boomtime, Titan, Grandmaster Dougy Doug, Brick, Love machine, ‘Megastar’ Sean Wright and Cougar. That’s just off the top of my head; if i’ve forgotten anyone I blame the weight cut. sorry shags.

Oh, and sugar free red bull for keeping me alive on a daily basis.

I’d also like to say hi to my better half Frankie and my mum for scran.

If i had any sponsors i’d thank them but i don’t so instead i’ll thank Nike and Winning boxing in the hope that one day they’ll give me shit for free.

The future’s bright, the future’s Ninjas.

For more information on Fight Ikon 5, please visit http://www.fightikon.com

As I type i’m currently entering my 4th hour of a 24 hour fast. Making weight is the worst part of fighting but it has to be done,it’s part of the job.
My aim is to be 66kg tomorrow,i’m currently 70kg.

My leisure plans this evening consist of filling the bath with hot water(as hot as i can take it ) pouring 1 kilo of salt into said water then sitting in the bath for approx 20-30 mins. This is an extremely shite way to spend an evening so i’ll be expecting sympathy about now…………..

No? fuckers.

After this salt bath i’ll proceed to lie butt naked on the bath room floor as the world spins around me. Then I shall attempt to drag my sorry carcass into my bed room and lie there until i’m feeling a bit more human.
From there I shall no doubt have a sleepless night and any sleep I do manage will be filled with dreams of cups of tea and slices of toast.

'D'YOU WANNA BE A FUCKIN' FIGHTER!?!?'

eh at the moment…not fucking really thanks very much

To get myself through such trying times I have a few thing to occupy myself with.

Marvel Zombies

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 which i last played this time last year when cutting weight

Manny Pacquiao book which i bought today.

Pacman has over the course of the past 3 years become my favourite fighter of all time and watching him manhandle Antonio Margarito last week was amazing. I’ve watched the fight 3 times since and i’ll probably watch it many times again.

He doesnt cut weight anymore either the lucky fucker! If i choose to fight at my walk around weight i’d be fighting guys cutting down from over 80kgs,which wouldnt be so bad if we were just boxing but once grappling comes into it…even 5 kilos feels a lot.

for constant updates on my moaning -> www.twitter.com/hurricane_dnft

 Anyway all of this pales in comparison to many other tragic things happening in the world right now. In other words…i’m being a bitch.

Sadly on  Wednesday Michael Strachan and his sister Maia were killed in a car crash.

Big Mike was one of the Griphouse members and fighters.

I didn’t know Mike that well but he was always a nice chatty dude and fun to spar with. 5’10 me versus 6’5 him made for an interesting spar.

He was only 28 and recently married.

At my fight this weekend i’ll be carrying a squadren t shirt that he gave me for coaching his Marines into my corner.

I hope that that or this doesn’t come across as a cheesy tribute, just want to wish the big guy well and have him go out fighting.

R.I.P

5 guys in tough fights and 5 wins…along with JoJo winning again at Power of Scotland 8.

Renowned sexual deviant Teen Titan was first up. Titan fought last weekend at the Viper show and got arm barred after losing focus so he was dying to get back in the saddle and make amends. Fine performance from him resulting in choking his opponent unconscious in the 3rd. I thought he dominated the whole fight with excellent wrestling and did well to survive the vicious ground and pound from the bottom.

Next up we had Kieran the Hater in his final semi pro bout. Again he controlled the fight with his wrestling and picking up a dominant points win.

Both Kieran and Titan have massive potential and their games are much better suited to the Pro game. Looking forward to seeing Kieran making his Pro debut at Cage Kombat on the 30th May with hopefully Titan following along a few months later.

Alan McAulay had the fight of the night with the Vipers Bobby McVitie. It was an epic back and forth war with both guys taking huge shots. At the time in the corner I felt Alan won the fight but i’ve not had a chance to watch it back yet. By all accounts it was mega close. Was super impressed with both guys,best version of Bobby i’ve seen and I hope he competes like that in SFC.  Alan pulled his hamstring in the second and still managed to finish the fight strong.  Great fight

Dan Hope won his second fight in a row as a ninja against Chris Carmichael. I was pretty confident that Dan would win the fight as he’d already beaten Chris’ team mate Joe Nugent in convincing fashion and added to the fact that Dan is one of the toughest dudes i’ve ever met.  Dan landed a solid low kick right at the start that seemed to mark Chris’ leg instantly,this prompted Chris into action with a really nice double leg take down and from their Chris did everything he could to submit Dan, kimura,triangle and an armbar that i’m sure the majority of people would’ve tapped from. Dan responded with some ground and pound throughout the round.

Second round played out a bit more on the feet until Dan dropped chris with an elbow and followed up with a lot more elbows on the floor.  Once it was over Dan came back to the corner and told us he thought his arm was broken in the first. Fucking nutter,gets his arm almost halved then proceeds to beat the guy about the head with it.

Last up was Graham Turner against a tough tricky veteran in Olivier Pastor. Was super impress with Gee’s composure in this match. Pastor looked like he was trying to do an Anderson Silva impression but Graham didn’t let it bother him one bit and chipped away at him for 3 rounds. Although i’m biased as Gee is my mate i think he won all 3 rounds pretty comfortably.

While all this was going on Jojo was dropping some girl at POS and extending her record to 15-0 now! She’s awesome and a lovely lass to boot.  Next up is pick ‘n’ mix and take aways then Thailand and a World title fight.

I’d originally wanted matched on AC3 but in a way i’m kinda glad i wasn’t,got to see my mates being awesome and got some more experience cornering and prepping guys for fights. I think i’m as into that as i am fighting my own fights.

Next up we have….Mark Conner at Cage Conflict in a 4 man tounry,James Doolan in Hong Kong on the 22nd,same day we have Paul McVeigh defending his Cage Warriors title and John Quinn fighting for Dan Hardy’s old Welterweight title, bit jealous of Quinny as i’d love to get my hands on one of those CW belts…they are the shiz!!

Finally we have Kieran making his aforementioned Pro debut at Cage Kombat and Lovey fighting for his first British title at Strike and Submit on the 30th.

Busy busy month for us and i’m sure i’ve probably missed a few guys out…sorry!

I’ve been trying to sort something out but nothing much is happening as of yet. At one point the other day I went from having a fight in Spain against Cedric Jouvet to not having a fight within the time it takes to watch an Ironman movie . I do have a match on the 1st of August in Newcastle but i’d have liked something before then.

Speaking of Ironman, we went to see it on Friday night in the Imax….it was freaking awesome. Really want to go see that and Kick-Ass again. I loved the first Ironman and the second is a great follow on. I would seriously cut off my balls to be Ironman…..yes i’m a child.

Before i forget, Myself and Kieran are putting on a series of summer schools coaching wrestling at the Griphouse from July to August…if you have kids from ages 5-17 and you’re looking for them to have a fun activity and learn some new skills then get in touch..here’s the poster.

Spread the word please

Finally folks,i’ve been getting asked a lot recently if i’m Darren The Samurai Smith.

I would just like to say that “NO I AM NOT THE SAMURAI!!!”

Darren is a member of our gym,he’s a bit mad and delusional but a good guy at heart.

I help him out by putting his videos online…speaking of which…here is his latest video

What have I been up to?
eh well nothing exciting as far I can remember.

The gym has been busy with people preparing for fights.
Things have been going pretty well for the team so far this year,sadly we have had a couple of losses however you can’t win them all.
For the most part though things have been pretty awesome.

Been trying to sort out a fight for myself recently,went from no offers to 4 in about 2 days then heard bugger all since.
I think I may have something confirmed for the next couple of weeks,just waiting to hear that the moment.

Work wise,well i’ve done bugger all offshore,half by choice half by not really wanting to.

Trying to make the transition to working back home,working on getting some more coaching clients as well as a couple of other projects. Hopefully everything works out and i can make reasonable coin doing this…failing that it’s back offshore. baws.

While i’m on the subject….anyone wanting some coaching give me a shout

Paul McVeigh finally bit the bullet upon returning from Rio and set up a Griphouse BJJ grading. I’m not big on the whole grading thing,but i liked the way Paul wanted to grade us so went for it. Got myself a blue belt thought i performed well on the day though so i took the opportunity to award myself a few more

I’d also like to take this moment to congratulate Allan Love on getting his long overdue purple from Marcos Nardini.

Love Machine was also named number 8 in FIGHT! magazines  UK middleweight rankings. PLAYA!!

Been working a lot with the Griphouse and DNFT young phenoms Kieran Malone and Teen Titan. Both of them are still teenagers,already super strong,great workers and keen to learn.  Titan is on this Sunday down at the Viper show in Port Glasgow,really looking forward to watching him,he’s made great improvements in all areas of his game.

Malone(the wee bollocks) is fighting what will probably be his last semi pro fight at Absolute Combat 3 on May 1st.

Really looking forward to him turning pro and i’m glad he’s in my team.

These 2 guys make me want to be a good coach,they’ll be fighting in this sport longer than I will,i’d love to be a part of their progress.

As far as my on training is going,working a lot on my boxing. I’m a massive fan of Pacquiao so been watching a lot of him and Freddie Roach. I’d love to go over and train in the Wildcard gym one day…even just for a couple of weeks. I’ve also been doing a lot of wrestling,for me this is probably the toughest part of the mma puzzle for me. Trying my best and slowly seeing improvment.

 makes your ears look and feel like shite though

Ok so it’s not the worst cauli you’ve ever seen but it’s hardly nice.

Last couple of things,went to see Kick Ass last week. awesome film….really want to see it again. Got the book for my birthday and it’s awesome as well.

Been listening to Plan B’s new album,also pretty awesome however don’t be expecting it to be anything like his first one. No death or underage sex. sorry to disapoint you guys,bitching album though.

And finally…for those of you yet unaware of Scotland’s number wan cage fighter i’d like to introduce you to

Darren ‘The Samurai’ Smith

and for all you thai fighters out there this is for you…

until next time

Only thing i like as much as that is watching my friends punching people in the face and winning fights.

So its fair to say this weekend was pretty epic,Thunder Kat was making her pro mma debut,in fact her mma debut as well. Straight into pro…which is pretty pimp.

Trained on Friday morning while waiting for Lovey to skive off early from work and drive us down to Watford. Before we left ,Lovey had to train with Gaz for a bit but that provided us with some awesome entertainment. 2 massive guys wearing headguards and big gloves trying to knock each other out..i have it on video but not uploaded it yet. its spectacular.

Lovey forgot to bring a change of pants,socks and trainers but thankfully the big man is suggestable and was persuded to just buy new ones at the Fort,this also provided a handy stop to buy refreshments on the way…stones thrown 2…burds killed 1(in joke there)

As we ventured down south Lovey proceeded to give Kat a history of Lanarkshire,i’m not sure why but I took it as a sign to fall asleep….so I did.

Our long drive was punctuated with Lovey’s constant over explanations,a journey through hip hop,the building of atmospheric metal,a pit stop at a Wimpy( i didnt even know they still existed!!) and me breaking a childrens patio set at a service station…it looked cast iron but was actually plastic….fucking death trap it was!!!

We arrived at our hooker and yardie packed hotel tired and hungry but relieved to have made it.

Hooked up with Rosi Sexton and Nomad MMA in the corridor for a lengthy chat and banter session before Lovey and I ventured out into Watford city centre for scran.

Our 20 minute walk about proved to be a massive success…we found 2 strip clubs(Kat loves strippers) got a Subway,a cookie and Red Bull plus got an accidental flash of some Watford burds arse. Short walks rarely prove as fruitful!

This was to be the highlight of our night however as we got an early night while watching some shite movie Kat chose and fell asleep in our freezing room without any blankets and a heater that only heated up the surrounding inch of the heater! baws.

Woke up at my usual 7-8am despite getting a shite sleep that involved me putting on more clothes as the night wore on.Despite that i was feeling pretty good and looking forward to the day ahead.

Lovey went off to get breakfast for himself while Kat and I tried to find something good to watch on the telly.

It turns out there’s fuck all on the tv at that time on a Saturday morning….unless of course you class kids skipping and dancing in an X factor style competition compelling viewing. We all sat and verbally abused everyone from 10 year old contestants to the judges….the general opinion being that they were all cunts.

Bets thing to happen that morning was the discovery that Kat and Lovey apparently both love porridge and cock. Lovey insists that Oats ‘o Simple is the way to go…Kat was less forthcoming on her porridge choice.

Met up with the Nomad lot and walked to the venue to get Kat weighed in.

At the weigh in managed to size up Kats opponent Claire Vagges,she was about 2 inches shorter than Kat and weighed in lighter despite having massive fake knockers. Good news as we’d expected her to be alot bigger.

Kat also managed to offend Bushido Challenge champion and Kayo MMA co-promoter Dave Lee by calling him a perv. In her defence she was kidding but he didnt really see the funny side….which Lovey and I found hilarious to say the least.

Got Kat fed,for some reason we never went to Nandos which I was quite gutted about, and went back to the hotel to chill and have some banter with the Nomads.

Lovey and I went off to the venue early as we wanted to get some training in,did some stand up rounds and a wee bit of rolling,think some people thought we were really keen fighters on the evening show,we explained we were just energetic idiots who will train anywhere.

Usual fight show pish ensused…rules meeting,medicals,checking out the cage plus some unusual stuff…pictures for tv,staredown kinda stuff and Kat being interviewed by commentator for some background knowledge. Pretty cool.

From there we met up with Trish who had made a heroic 6 hr train journey on a sunday to come to the show and then we went for food in a smashing restaurant in the centre….i had steak. it was awesome!

Went and got our shit together in our dressing room,turned out we were sharing with Nomad(which is good) and a couple of kickboxing plonkers(which is bad)

Wrapped Rosi’s fighters hands first which was handy practise for wrapping Kat’s as i hadn’t done it in a while,once i’d got my eye in though I was back to being the technician

Kat was on pretty late in the crad so we had plenty of time to chill…watched some fights and generally loitered about as per usual. Watched the kickboxing dude in our changing room warm up. His warm up was epic….bit of shadow boxing in the mirror,followed by chatting to Rosi for a bit,stretching his right leg really high,bit for chatting and topless shadow boxing. Awesome…pretty sure he got beat and fast. Really nice UFC t shirt though and business card with a Benny The Jet quote on the back

Went through all the warm up stuff we do,got her ready to go just as some runner comes through and tells us there is going to be a 20 minutes break….magic eh. Lovey was pretty pissed off by this and rightly so but not much you can do so we just tried to relieve the tension by bantering with everyone and keeping Kat chilled.

Think she was pretty nervous but she handled it really well. After what seemed more like 30 mins we were good to go.

Walked Kat down and into the cage,gave her one last quick pep talk and left her to do her thing. I won’t give you a full run down round by round on the fight as i get involved and always forget most of whats happened til i see it on video but Kat was ace.

 Looked composed standing and was landing the better shots, the girl really pushed the clinch most of the fight but didnt really trouble Kat with it though would liked to have seen Kat be a bit more aggressive with dirty boxing etc

Kat took her down in the first, cut her with an elbow above the eye,the girk had a good guard but Kat did well to follow her hips and was never really in any trouble.

In the final round she landed some lovely straight shots and think had the girl a bit rocked at one point and either in the 2nd or 3rd landed some really nice gnp from half guard and i think the crucifix position. Looking forward to seeing the tape back so i can watch out without losing my voice from shouting

When the final bell went we knew she’d won a clear decision but it was still a relief to here it confirmed. Kat was delighted although the first thing i remember her saying in the changing room after was ” that bitch fucked up my nose”

One of many hilarious things she said all weekend.

Watched the end of the show,said oour goodbyes to Nomad MMA and headed back to the hotel. Kayo had kindly booked us in for that night ut the sugar in the bag of Mini Eggs convinced Lovey that he was a pimp and could drive us back to Glasgow that night. Nothing was for changing his mind…especially after the coin toss that insisted we must leave that night.

Left Watford about 1215am and eventually got back to Glasgow about 7am….pretty sure Lovey started to regret his decision almost instantly and really regretted it about 6am when he realised just how far away Glasgow actually was!

Thanks to Trish for keeping Lovey awake so we didn’t die and thanks to Lovey’s mondeo stereo for breaking so we didn’t have to listen to shite metal for 6 hours….not that i was awake anyway

Highlight of the journey home was finding a McDonalds that was open at 4 am and having a Big Mac….it was no doubt reheated from about 6 hours before but i couldnt give a shit at that time!

some pics from the weekend

skinny wee boot...just before she called dave a perv

venue

WINNER!!! post fight interview

All in all it was an awesome weekend.

Thanks to Lovey for all the driving,Trish for the support and being a better co pilot than me.

Thanks Rosi for the help warming up Kat,congrats to Gaz Pilot and Sarah Moras for Nomad on their wins.

And finally,Kat for being a pleasure to deal with all weekend and for an awesome performance!

Congrats Thunder….you did so well that yes..YOU can go surfing in Milton fucking Keynes!!! daft wee boot

Dean

www.twitter.com/hurricane_dnft

This is currently my 4th attempt at updating my blog in the past 3 weeks,twice the wordpress app on my ipod has deleted what i’ve written and wordpress just wouldn’t work on my laptop last time i tried.

So,whats been happening? Not much to be honest,work is still shit…well the inconsistancy is a bit shit but the jobs are generally alright when they come up.

Not heard to any offshore work recently which means I still can’t really plan to move out as of yet.

Trying to sort out a regular income while back home through coaching and if i can get my hours up to a decent level i may take a part time job to subsidise then just work from home. We’ll see i guess. I really like coaching…remains to be seen if i’m any use at it though

 Fight wise i don’t have anything confirmed though hopefully i’ll have good news on that next week sometime. Hopefully get matched on Absolute Combat 3 in Edinburgh.

I was a bit fed up when i tried to write this blog a few weeks ago, there was a couple of well known shows looking for featherweight opponents but at that time i wasn’t long back from work and in no shape to take either fight.

I’m not saying my coaches would’ve let me take the fights or if the promoters would’ve wanted my paltry 3-0 record sullying the good name of their show but it would have been nice to at least offer my services.

Ah well whats for you will not go by you i suppose. In the mean time i’ve been training just to get better rather than for an opponent.

Hmmm what else have i been up to? Winding up Uk no3 and euro no4 featherweight Paul Reed on Cage Warriors

Basically a wee kid turned up to the gym and Mark ‘the smashing machine’ Conner pointed out he looked like Reedy…me being a Wedgie wide-o decides to take a pic with him and post it online which resulted in an 8 page thread that almost threatened to get physical. As usual some of it was hilarious and some down right ridiculous. My mum always said my big mouth would get me into bother…………………….

McVeigh is off to Rio for a month at the moment,and he’s (foolishly) left me and gazz in charge of his flat….if you’re reading this Paul…everything is fine,most of the flat is still intact and if you could email me instructions on how to work your central heating so i don’t get hypothermia when i crash there that would be great.

Heading down to Watford tomorrow for Thunder Kats mma debut. She’s been dynamite in training recently and i’m really looking forward to unleashing her on someone her own size. Kat is a great competitor,and really well rounded i really think she’ll do great things in this sport.

Looking forward to meeting up with Gaz Pilot,Sarah Moras and Rosi Sexton at the show as well. Hopefully Rosi can have a look at a wee niggling injury i have

Sportfight Scotland is back in Lanark this weekend,sadly i wont make it but best if luck to all the Ninjas fighting. Expect everyone to come back with wins and continue our great start to the year.

I’m currently pretty obsesseed with BJ Penn and boxing so i’m off to watch some of both then bed.

oh and how cool are my new boxers….

Dean

However 2009 was ages ago now so all i’ll say on that was it was totally bitchin’ for me on a personal level. Turned pro….won 3 fights….magic.

But thats all done now so not being one to rest on my laurels lets get looking forward to 2010.

Recently it seems to me the more i make definate plans the more some kind of spanner gets thrown in the works and fucks my plans up….. so i’ve abandoned my initial plan of 2010 that had set goals and i’m going to continue drifting along nicely and let good shit happen to me.

Well kinda…..i’m going to try get more shit done though. already got 2 books finished i was taking too long with,booked in for recert work courses and 1 upgrade course and updated my cv and sent it out. still have to do one online course this week though…hopefully do that tomorrow.

This year i have a few modest aims….win more pro MMA fights,get better at all aspects of fighting,improve my coaching and hopefully find a way of not having to work away as it can be a pain in the arse!

For those of you that dont know,i work offshore as a rope access and NDT technician.

Now i quite like my job,the people i work with are usually pretty cool and good fun and yes working offshore pays pretty well.

 however its either a feast of a famine. i guess i make it a bit harder for myself as i like to take time off to train and fight,the last company i worked with,Servtech were pretty cool about this actually,letting me come and go as was my want, but now its seems their current projects have come to an end and it seems like i’m back to square 1 again. waiting by the phone for someone to call with work.

this kinda makes planning life and fights a bit of a c**t.

my initial plan was to work most of january and february then take march and april off to fight on Absolute Combat 3 but it doesnt look like there’s goin to be much work this month so back up plan is possibly fight on the Oran Mor show on March 14th…however i could end up getting a call to work near the end of the month. do i let the promoter down and take the job or do i not work and therefore not get paid?

it also makes it hard to do lifes ‘normal’ things. ideally i’d like to move in with my girlfriend….as shes pretty fuckin’ cool. but i cant really commit to a mortgage or rent if there’s the chance i wont have work for 4-5 months

the simple solution is to take work all the time but that ain’t goin to help me get…or win any fights. it will also lead me into depression,not see my mates,family or missus as i’m away all the time and i’ll be a massive fat bastard as they feed you tonnes! not good

so in the spirit of ‘getting shit done’ i’m trying to find solutions to this problem. i’m still working on this though so i think i’ll keep it under my hat for now.

what have i been up to recently? well….mostly trying to get stronger as strength really isnt my strength. its a labourious task but i’m sticking with it. hopefully my numbers will start to go up and people will notice a difference soon.

i’ve also been watching a lot of boxing. mainly mosley v margaito,cotto v mosley,and pacquiao against anyone.

i find i pick up stuff better if i just watch it over and over then try implement….or blatently copy things i’ve seen into what i’m doing. already feel that my boxing has improved…maybe just cos i’m thinking about it or maybe i feel that i have to improve it to justify spending nearly 200 notes on my new Winnings gloves(they’re fucking awesome btw)

my top boxing tip today is…..litening to this improves your footwork about 37.61%

the 2 books i finished in the last month were the Watchmen and Ranulph Fiennes book ‘Mad Bad and dangerous to know’ both were excellent…really enjoyed the Fiennes book. He is one tough crazy dude. He suffers from vertigo so decide to climb Everest and the Eiger to try get over this “silly psychological problem” legend.

Started on Four Kings the other night which i’ve heard good things about while still reading Definitive Wolverine

Busy couple of months at the gym just now…loads of guys,and a couple of gals fighting. really good to see new people coming through the ranks and it keeps everyone on their toes,shaping up to be another eventful year for the DNFT!

or as i like to think

“Some got hopes and dreams
We got ways and means
The supreme dream team always up with the scheme”