mixed-martial-arts-brad

BRAD BLACKBURN

A Good Laugh With a Bad, Bad Man

photos © IFL

For a top welterweight, known as ‘Bad’ Brad Blackburn, this IFL fighter sure knows how to have a good laugh. And his laugh is infectious, because Brad’s born to party - whether he’s inside or outside the ring, he’s just a happy guy. And he makes everyone around him feel good – with maybe the exception of his opponents.

Brad has just arrived home at the time of this interview. “I was out practicing – doing full-contact sparring with Dennis Hallman, Drew Fickett, Wesley Welsh, and Joey Guel,” says Blackburn.

Fighting for the IFL means Brad’s fights go for four-minute rounds rather than the five-minute rounds that many other MMA events such as UFC employ. Blackburn believes the main difference is that the four-minute round generates more jam-packed action.

“Well when you’re watching them you can’t really tell the difference. And when you’re fighting, of course it’s going to have a little more action, because in the back of your mind you know you’re fighting for four minutes – not five, but no matter what, you go. Like if somebody tells you you’ve got a twenty-minute round, you’re not going to be a firecracker the whole time – you know you’ve got twenty minutes. So it probably gives a little more action, I would say.”

Brad normally goes for a run at six in the morning, but he missed today’s outing because he has a match coming up on the weekend. And he only runs on a couple of days during fight week, as the activity is not his main conditioning preparation for a bout.

“Your muscles and body have to be conditioned for what you are doing. I’m not getting ready for a track meet – I’m getting ready for a fight and for going to the ground. You get a kickboxer and you grapple with him for three minutes, and he’s done. You get a wrestler and you make him stand up for three minutes, and he’s done. You’ve got to be conditioned for everything in this sport.

“What I did today was… when I wrestle and grapple I go rounds… They did ‘iron man’ on me – they took turns wearing me out. I got a fresh guy every two minutes.”

Lucky you, Brad.

“I didn’t feel lucky. It was the absolute worst damn practice I’ve had since I started training for this fight. I felt kinda bad today.”

How many days a week do you do weights?

“On average, I do weights four days a week.”

Do you concentrate more on high reps or poundage?

“Higher reps and explosive. I do poundage for deadlifts and squats, but for everything else, I do higher reps.”

Boxing was your first fighting art. What made you make the switch to MMA?

“When MMA guys trained at the same gym and I practiced with them for one day and I felt like a little girl, I figured I was in the wrong sport,” laughs Brad. “I was like, ‘Damn,’ because I’m a good boxer. ‘Man, you guys kicked my butt. I’m in the wrong sport.’ I started training with them ever since that happened.”

How did you get your ground skills?

“From MMA – practicing with wrestling and jiu jitsu guys. I don’t have a wrestling background; I started boxing when I was twenty-two; nothing before that. I didn’t even do sports when I was in high school.”

Your fighting system is listed as pankration on the IFL site. Have you competed in pankration or is that just the style you work in?

“That’s just the style. To my knowledge, the word means ‘all power’, and I try to be strong in all avenues of the sport.”

Although you’re a true mixed martial artist, do you prefer to stand and bang?

“I do prefer to bang: Whether it be on the ground or on the feet, I prefer to hit. Honestly, if there’s a submission there I’ll go for it, but I’d rather just hold position and hit.”

Against Rory Markham, you won the first round. Did you literally drop your guard in the second round and come out too eager to finish him off?

“You know what, I just came out flat-footed. I do feel in that fight that I was okay when the ref stopped it. I wish the ref did not stop it. When I first fell I was rattled. But by the time the ref stopped it I was okay. I could have continued.

“But I just came out to a slow start: I don’t know, it’s hard to explain, I just came out flat-footed. You can see at the start of the round that I was fixing the string on my shorts… I don’t know, man, I don’t really have an answer for that one except - shit happens.”

I noticed when the ref did stop it, you weren’t happy about the stoppage – you wanted to bat on. But you can’t change that now, of course.

“No, and that’s why I didn’t complain when it was all over. But right when the ref stopped it, I said, ‘What are you doing? This is MMA: You don’t stop it like a boxing match when I fall. Let him get on me and start hitting me a few times before you stop it. I trained two months for this damn fight’.”

Are you likely to get a rematch through a Tiger Sharks vs. Silverbacks meeting down the track?

“Yes. I’d like a rematch: I felt that it was unfinished business. But I’m not denying that I got caught. I was rattled, but by the time the ref stopped it I was okay. So yes, I’m definitely looking forward to a rematch. That would have been the difference in my team winning, too.”

So the team aspect is important to you guys?

"Oh, yeah. If I had won that fight my team would have won the championship. It wasn't just me - and because of me the team didn't win, so I kinda feel bad about that. It adds a little pressure 'cause you're losing, so that's one notch down for the whole team."

Brad, I’ll just quote you here from the IFL site… Your approach to this game is: “I want to be recognized as one of the best fighters in the world, and I want to fight the best fighters in the world.” Is that correct?

“That’s correct. That’s my motto. I want people to think I’m one of the best – belts come and go – I just want to fight the best and be recognized as being one of the best. And hopefully the money’s there.”

Are your most lethal weapons your overhand right and your powerful jab?

“With my jab, now – with this thing Maurice’s got me doing. I’ve got to give Maurice credit for getting me to pump that jab out there. He did get me to add that to my stand-up game. But my right hand has always been a little sneaky – I’ve had several knockouts with it that they don’t have on Sherdog.”

Against Gusto Machado, you seemed disappointed that it was a split decision. Do you think it should have been unanimous?

“Well that was the first decision I ever won in my career. Right when they said split decision, I was like, ‘Oh, gees, I lost,’ because I can’t seem to win a decision to save my life. So I thought, ‘Here we go again.’ That was the first decision I ever won.”

What’s it like having Maurice Smith as your team coach?

“Well, ha ha, Maurice is definitely somebody who can definitely improve my stand-up game and make it stronger – tighten everything up. He has a lot of experience; he helps me with conditioning which I feel was my biggest downfall, because every fight I’ve lost – except for my last one with Rory – was through conditioning. And when I fought Machado that was the first time I actually fought for three rounds in twenty-three fights. And I felt good for the three rounds. So Maurice helped me with that too.”

When is your next fight?

“This Saturday, September 9. I’m fighting Chris Wilson.”

Are you looking forward to it?

“Yeah, it should be a good fight. He’s a good striker; he likes to strike; he’s tall; and he has good jiu jitsu… So, it sounds like the makings of an exciting fight. It doesn’t sound like I’m going to have any easy ones in the IFL.”

You said you wanted to fight the best.

“I sure did, and I sure do,” laughs Brad again.