Dean Howard, Middleweight Champ of Bellicose

[Ernieply]

Dude "Hello, It's been a bit but I'm back and I'm back with the submission master and champion of 185 with a 7-0 record, it's Dean Howard" "How are we today?"

Dean "I'm doing good, how 'bout you?"

Dude "Mainly excited, it's not every day you meet with someone with such a title"

Dean "I'm glad to be here, really happy at my success in the pros, also really happy with the money I make."

Dude "Such high profile ones too, like Jake Paul for example"

Dean "Yeah, the opponents are getting harder, but I went pro late for these things, so things get harder. So far, I'm holding up well. I keep gaining skills. I'm told I impress people with how I pick things up, so that's helping."

Dude "How would you say that fight went?"

Dean "That couldn't have been better, took him down real fast, then my first try at a sub, he tapped. I didn't even break a sweat!"

Dude "Seems like you've got a habit of first round subs, would you say that's a large part of your success? Are there any other large reasons for it?"

Dean "Well, the thing that the rest of the team tells me that it amazes people how fast I pick up skills. And so I get the quick subs because I have the wrestling skills to get people down and then also BJJ once it's on the ground. One without the other wouldn't be half as good. Truman Roosevelt, the same management group, tried to develop to be like me and he couldn't learn anything so they ditched him.
Somehow, I don't think of myself as especially smart, but I pick up skills well it seems."

Dude "A quick learner, do you think you'll have to learn anything new for your Tim Horton"

Dean "He's a major challenge because he can destroy me standing up as long as the fight stays there and he'll be harder than most to take down. He went pro much younger than I did, and those guys catch up faster. I don't want to give away what I'm working on specifically, but they definitely have me working on stuff specifically to beat Horton."

Dude "A major challenge eh? So out of 10, how confident are you that you're going to win?"

Dean "I have to say about a 5. Depends which of us is ready for what the other's gonna do, could easily go either way. We've always been able to come up with good tactics to win fights, and I just have to hope that I and the group that manages me, come up with good ones again. If we don't have the better tactics, it'll be really hard."

Dude "Well fuck, it's a classic story of standup vs ground game. Both skilled but mainly in their own domains"

Dean "Neither of us is one dimensional. I've learned to be an okay boxer, for example. He sure has some ground skills too. But I'm not the striker he is, and he isn't the grappler I am, so when it comes down to it, it probably is both about both dictating where the fight takes place but also surviving when you're in the other guy's domain. I have to avoid being KO'd standing, and he has to avoid my arm and leg twisting talents on the ground, because chances are some of the fight will be in both places."

Dude "It's like a tug of war"
"the both of you are pulling for the ground and the feet"
"Anyway, why did you choose to specialize in grappling?"

Dean "Back when I was on the wrestling team in high school, where I just had natural talent, was the star back then, even got an athletic scholarship for wrestling that got me through college, and then I thought I was done, because there's no professional stuff for wrestlers that isn't scripted, might have ended up some office drone, but I heard if I studied BJJ I might be able to use it in real MMA...so I did that, and my BJJ coach got me into seeing the Britt group, and they watched me spar and agreed to be my agents. It was at their insistence that I sparred a lot of Boxing to have some stand up skills too, to hopefully get me through fights like the Horton one."

Dude "Damn, you know I've been hearing a lot about The Britts and I'm curious, how are they?"
"obviously, they're skilled especially with a HOF manager"

Dean "I really like working with them, they'll start with older fighters more than many will, the group of fighters they have really feel like a team. Ike Wellstone kind of is an unofficial captain. He lost his title, but would've kept it in a 3 round fight. The one thing I hate is that their flagship gym is in Japan. If you think I felt outnumbered growing up as a black guy in Vermont, that's nothing like being a black American in Japan. But Ike and I, two black Americans, go out on the town at night in Tokyo sometimes, and that's cool, and sometimes we go with others from the group. The Britts really insist we're all one big team, and it feels like it, and mostly we win."

Dude "We mostly win feels like an understatement, 115 wins and 34 losses is a damn good record considering just how many fighters they have"

Dean "I'd say I'm really happy with their management, but they get those wins by being picky. They start out with guys others might not, who others might say are too old to start as pros or something, but they also will tell fighters when they aren't cutting it anymore and will sack 'em. Though we're such a family the sacked guys come and visit and hang from time to time, too. Someone like me or Ike will get more latitude from them, but those who never accomplished much had better not lose a couple or they're out of the management group. So they know how to manage, but also win by getting rid of guys who they don't think will still win. That may be a negative, but on the other hand when I'm through, whether that's a year or several years away, they'll bluntly tell me, and I don't even want to be an anchor on the team when that comes about. I'll still go hang around with the guys I got to know among the team, though at times. Ike and I, I think will be friends for life, for example."

Dude "Brutal but it makes sense, they want winners"
"Are there any noticeable fighters that you knew who got sacked?"

Dean "Edward Smart being sacked was a bit of a shock. He started out so extremely successfully, got two title shots in a really tough org. Really though he won all his non title fights, but they didn't like what they saw in his second title loss, so he was gone. He got picked up by another manager quickly, too. Truman Roosevelt was a good friend and had such similar talents, so I was sad to see him go, but he really didn't pick up much from his coaches and I could tell when we'd spar Wrestling or BJJ I kept getting better and he didn't, but I was close to him, another wrestler who studied BJJ to fight in MMA, but he took some losses and the Britts saw he wasn't picking up new skills so they cut him. He'll hang with me and Ike, comes out to Bellicose events in New York to cheer on the other guys from the Britt group. He's not dumb, too bad he didn't learn things faster or he could be, well, another guy like me."

Dude "Let me just search Smart up" *tapping* "I mean 5-2 isn't bad as his two losses were to belt holders but he was a bit of a gatekeeper. Defeat him and you're ready for a title fight type thing"

Dean "Yeah, Smart's sacking really shocked me. He got subs well too, and he seemed to be learning okay and everything. It's not my place to tell the Britts they're wrong to sack someone, but...I thought they were pulling the trigger on Smart pretty fast. Ike called him, and told me Edward's pretty angry at the Britts for that, too. I'm glad we're in different weight classes, so I'll never have to fight him, because I'm sure Smart would be so pumped to beat a Britt fighter that if he ever fought one of us his adrenaline might make him a really dangerous opponent, against any of us. Makes me worry about a guy like Backman. He lost a title fight, and had won everything else before it, including holding the BMF title when it went down, if he loses one more, is he gone? But the Britts have been good to me, so I don't go confronting them with that sort of thing."

Dude "If they're willing to let someone on the cusp of a belt go, I think they'd do the same thing to Backman" "I think that's a good place to end it, any final words before we go offline"

Dean "Well, I just hope fans will be watching my big fight against Horton next week and rooting hard for me, any good vibes might be the difference in what should be a really tough matchup!"

Dude “I'm sure they'll be roaring for ya, cheers"