Here at MMA4Real we continue to bring you the best coverage of North Carolina up and coming MMA fighters. I was able to catch up with the VERY busy Adam DeHart, who sports an official amateur record of 7-3. Adam has fought an incredible 10 times in 2009, and speaks to us about the logic of fighting so often. He also gives us a preview of his upcoming fight on December 12th against Jose Martinez(3-1) in Ohio, and his thoughts on turning pro, and who he thinks are the best fight camps in North Carolina. Check it all out below:
KH-Adam, tell us a little about yourself and how you got into MMA.
AD-Lets see. I'm 21 and I wrestled in high school and I loved it. I watched my dad train for submission tournaments back when I was about 10, and I realized watching those practices this is what I really really wanted to do.
KH-Tell us a little about who you train with, and what's the best thing about training with those guys?
AD-I train with Team Huskey...the thing I like about that the best is that we're a catch wrestling school, and that is in my opinion, the best way to train for mma. Essentially, it just mean ass wrestling :) Johnny Huskey, Mike Allen(Cornbread), and Patrick Greene are my main coaches. They help me out so much with everything. Johnny Buck, Ryan Bedini, and Matt Covan are my training partners. What I like about them is just the meanness and dedication we put into training. Like, when I go to a training session with Johnny(bananas) I know its gonna be one of the best workouts you can get. and another thing... we're hungry and know what it's like working hard labor jobs and being broke, to hell with all that. If I'm gonna be working my body to the limit, I want it to be worth the hard work.
KH-Right on. You have fought an incredible number of fights this year. In fact you've already fought ten times. What's the logic behind fighting so often? Do you plan to keep up this pace in 2010?AD-I feel like the way you get better is by having experience, and the more times you go in the cage the more experience you gain. Not just fighting experience... but cutting weight, re-hydrating, waiting all day, getting a good warm up, getting your mental game ready. If you aren't mentally prepared then you might as well not fight. Learning all of these things are just as important in my eyes, as the training for the fight.
KH-That makes sense, I hadn't thought about the ENTIRE process like that. Out of all of your fights thus far, what's the most valuable thing you've learned from a fight?
AD-There are soo many important things to learn from a fight... but most valuable thing I've learned from the fights is to get a gameplan down, and follow it. If you are a stand up fighter, then learn defenses to take downs, how to get up off the ground, things like that. If you are a ground fighter, learn the defenses in the stand up game, and pick apart your weaknesses. There's no such thing as too good at anything. Oh, and also to learn from your losses!!! Pick apart what you did wrong, and fix it! Work on it until it is tattooed into your brain.
KH-Right, they always say you learn more about yourself from a loss than a win. Almost all of your fights have taken place in North Carolina. What's it like fighting here, and give us your opinion on the MMA scene in North Carolina right now?
AD-I love fighting in my home state.. I love fighting everywhere else too, though.. any time, any where! But, my opinion is that the mma world in NC is steadily increasing! It has only been legal for 2 years now, and we're light years ahead of then. I'm just excited to see how much bigger we can make it.
KH-In your opinion, who are the top 3 MMA camps in North Carolina?
AD-Team Huskey first and foremost. We work harder, train harder, and are hungrier than any team around us.... Next I would say is Joe Hurst jiu jitsu.. there's a lot of really tough fighters that train down there, and some top notch coaching with Joe Hurst. These guys train like madmen, and when they come to fight, you know its gonna be a fight. After that...I would have to go with Team Rhek. I trained with the team, fought with them and they also are really tough competitors.
KH-No love for the eastern North Carolina camps! You were scheduled to fight in Ohio against Jose Martinez who's on a 3 fight winning streak on December 12th. If that fight is still on, tell us what you know about Martinez, and how do you see that fight going for you?
AD-The fight as of today is still on, however, things change frequently for me. Haha. All I know about Martinez is he going to get knocked OUTTT in the first 20 seconds of his first fight and that he's short. Which is a bad combination when you are fighting me. I feel like I've busted my ass all year with no longer than a week out of training, and I'm gonna go up to his home state and hopefully end the fight early.
KH-Sounds like fighting words to me! You already have the required number of fights to turn professional. When do you expect to make the leap?
AD-Well, I'm still really young with only about a year of good solid training. So its not a huge deal to me to need to turn pro. I'll have a few more amateur fights, and maybe some kickboxing fights, submission tournaments, and talk it over with my parents and coaches to choose a time that's right for me.
KH-Very sound decision, I wish more young fighters would take that approach. If you have any spare time, what do you like to do when you aren't doing anything involving MMA?
AD-Well I don't have much spare time, but, when I do.... I enjoy spending time with my family, especially my niece Kyleigh. She's so important to me, but I enjoy riding bmx bikes, playing football, basketball, and other different sports.
KH-What's something about Adam that most people would be surprised to know?
AD-Hmmm.. maybe that I am a good cook. I loveeee to watch people's faces as they eat my food, and tell me how good it tastes. Haha
KH-Oh man, they might fight a spot for you on TUF since you can cookDo you have any words of wisdom or anyone that you would like to thank?
AD-I would like to thank Billy Wicks (carny catch wrestler) Johnny Huskey, my parents Glenn and Caroline DeHart, Cornbread, Patrick Greene, Chris Rogers... without all of them, I wouldn't be doing this interview right now!!! I wouldn't even be fighting if it were not for their support. But also, I'd just like to say that if you had a dream to do something as a child... work as hard as you can to reach your goal.. I promise, if you put all your energy toward a goal, you can achieve it.
Well done Adam, and thanks again for speaking with us here at MMA4Real. Best of luck in your fight on the 12th, and we look forward to having you on the site in the future.
Loading comments...