Bellator 249’s Da’Mon Blackshear is coming off an important win in his last contest, when he submitted veteran Kody Nordby in the second round at CES 59. Prior to that bout Da’Mon had lost three of his last five bouts and knew the importance of securing a big win over a fighter with a name. “It was extremely important, especially for myself, to know I can go out there and have a good performance,” he said ahead of his bout against Mike Kimbel this Thursday. “I looked good and I knew what I was doing. I had a good game plan going into the fight. That was extremely important for me.”

Two of those losses were disappointing decisions to Pat Sabatini and Kris Moutinho. Blackshear discussed what he learned from those setbacks and how he has grown as a fighter since. “Honestly to go in there and be completely prepared not just for anybody but to be prepared for a specific opponent,” was one takeaway. “I am going in there and going to fight Kris Moutinho, as an amateur its okay to go in there and even as a pro its okay to go in there and be prepared to just fight anybody but when you get to a certain level you have to specify your training to your opponent.”

‘The Diamond’ hasn’t slowed down too much during the pandemic. He has been training consistently and keeping his skill set sharp. We discussed what things have been like for him thus far in 2020. “I am training like normal, it was hard at a certain point it was hard to get into some of the gyms because they were closed but now things are normal for me.”

Now, Da’Mon Blackshear returns to work. His full attention is focused on another exciting young fighter who has intentions of making a future for himself as well in this ultra competitive MMA game.

Blackshear explained that he likes Mike Kimbel outside of the cage, but come fight night things will be all business. And a win is all that matters. “I feel like for his last couple fights he is good for the first round,” said Blackshear. “He comes in really hard, he has been past the first round and he is either the guy that comes in and dominates or he is the guy that folds. I have been in there five rounds against guys. I’ve been in there three rounds, I have finished it early, I am prepared for whatever he brings. and I think its gonna be a hell of a fight and I am going to bring it to him. I can see it going down in the second round, yea, I’m a second round finisher”.

The future seems bright for this burgeoning star out of North Carolina. With a win at Bellator 249, the former wrestler could be in line for an even bigger name on the Bellator roster or even a shot at Contender series or the UFC.

Tune into CBS Sports Network this Thursday, October 15 to catch the Bellator 249 main card, topped by Cris Cyborg vs. Arlene Blencowe. The preliminary card action, including Blackshear vs. Kimbel, will stream online, including right here on Cageside Press. And be sure to check out the full interview with Da’Mon Blackshear right here.

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Ahead of the fight, Rose explained that she has known about this Contender Series opportunity for quite some time now.“I have actually known since end of February or early March, so I have known for a really long time and I’ve had to keep it in and not share. There were some people who knew and some who didn’t so when I could officially share and announce it was really exciting and I was anticipating that day.”

Rose is on a four fight win streak since being finished in her professional debut in 2018. She trains at a couple of different gyms including USMMA, Lauzon’s MMA and Skill of Strength. The New England based fighter describes the change in her game and how she has been able to turn the corner as a mixed martial artist. “Losing that pro debut really set a fire under my ass and my goal is to make it to the UFC and eventually become a champion and be in the top 10. I think losing really lit that fire and I was dedicated and wanted to absorb and learn,” she said. “I am also a coach of young kids and being able to mentor them and show them that loss is okay and you can come back and be strong was a big thing to so I had all of them pushing me to come back and be better.”

Hilarie Rose shed some light on what her training has been like during the pandemic. Thankfully she has been able to stay active and take everything in stride. “Lucky for me I have been training at USMMA since I was 14 years old so I’ve grown up there I’ve had the same coaches from the very start,” she explained. “There’s apartments there so I live there and I’m an instructor there so I’ve had that advantage of being able to use the gym and have a small group of people that would come in, and like I said, I thought I was fighting in July so I’ve already been training hard core in small groups.”

Now, Rose will focus on the last two weeks before the most important fight of her career thus far. She’s expecting a game opponent, but a win is all that’s on her mind.

“I think that I’m definitely more fast twitch. She is very tough. She’s not afraid to throw, she knows she is gonna go in there and get hit and hit me. I am expecting that if it ends up on the ground that my grappling is going to be much better then hers.” Rose went on to predict a submission win come fight night. “I think I could definitely get a submission victory and that’s what others seem to think too. I envision my fights all the time and I can’t seem to envision how this fight is going to go but I can envision my hand being raised.”

Watch our full interview with Hilarie Rose below! Rose debuts on Dana White’s Contender Series on August 18 at the UFC Apex.

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Flores may have not fought in over a year but the Team Elevation standout has been keeping his skillset sharp even through an unprecedented pandemic. We caught up with Flores recently, and he explained what training has been like for him. “It’s been great, when quarantine started we had a real small group so we’ve been getting more attention from the coaches which is good. There were some days when we would even have more coaches than we would have guys sparring so it was good to get all the feedback.  It started with just a couple of us and we would have a pretty solid big guy group. It was all heavyweights and light heavyweights. We made a lot of improvements getting one on one from the coaches.”

Outside of MMA, Ty loves to hunt and explained to us what he has been doing outside of his MMA training. “I am a pretty big hunter so I have been getting ready for this season. I got Elk in September, I wanna try Bear as well, go back home and get some deer and of course I’m a big boar hunter as well. I’ve just been reading books on that, reading maps, practicing my tracking and going up the mountains and staying active with that. But when it gets closer to the fight I don’t really feel like camping it’s a lot of energy”. 

The Team Elevation fighter is on a five-fight winning streak and is more then ready to put on a show at the UFC Apex. Flores feels very confident in his skillset and expects to be the better fighter wherever this match-up with Jacoby goes. “He is a kick boxer and I am more of a wrestler. I think the difference is he knows I want to take him down and I know he wants to knock me out. I know he’s not gonna take me down, that would be really dumb. But I’m also not scared to strike with either, I’ve fought tough strikers and I train with Alistair [Overeem], Curtis [Blaydes] and those guys hit so hard. I am not worried to strike with him either and we are gonna fight at my pace. I am going to dictate that, he is always going to have to be worried about the takedown.”

Flores continued, explaining why he believes a finish may be in order come fight night. “I am in such good shape right now that I think I could wrestle him for 5 straight rounds if I need to, and strike with him too. I am going to be closer to 230 on fight night and I think he walks around closer to 205 and I’m gonna put my weight on him. I have some brutal ground and pound. The last guy I fought I broke his jaw after two or three hits. I think I’m gonna get him on the ground and he is gonna feel that, and I’m gonna zap all his energy.”

Be sure to tune in to watch Ty Flores make his Contender Series debut on August 4, live on ESPN+.

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Unfortunately that fight did not go his way, and the light heavyweight prospect was caught by a knee and ultimately lost in the second round to Aleksa Camur via ground and pound. The New England-based fighter finally has his next fight lined up on July 24 at LFA 86, when he meets Erick Murray Jr. in South Dakota.

Cherant (4-1) was supposed to fight for Cage Titans earlier this year against Carlton Little, but that fight never came to fruition. We asked Fabio to elaborate as to why he never shared the cage with Little. “I wish I could tell you bro. Calf strains or something, he forgot to put his tampon in that day I guess and he pulled out. Whatever, sh*t happens, good luck to him the rest of his career. I can’t stress the stuff I can’t control,” he said.

Like many others, Cherant also felt the squeeze of the pandemic and explained how it has affected him and his training. “It sucked for sure but it definitely helped me out a little, it’s given me some time to think and heal. It’s opened my eyes to a lot of stuff; I am kind of happy it happened but I can’t wait for it to be gone too. It’s been too long and not being able to train like I want to, I had to sneak in my training for months at 4 AM. Which sucked but somebody has to do it.”

Fabio recently posted on social media that he was having a difficult time finding a location open to use a sauna so he could cut weight. He elaborated on the situation, saying “I found a place, but it’s not a gym, it’s just a regular cryotherapy place that has an infrared sauna. I also have a portable sauna so I am making due with what I have right now.”

Fabio told us that Sean Lally will be the guy making the trip with him to South Dakota for LFA 86, and he is more than ready to step in on short notice and put on a show. We asked Fabio to tell us how he sees this fight against Erick Murray Jr. playing out come fight night. “Knocking him the f*ck out. You know the fight game is a strange game, anything can happen. I just see myself hurting him really early and I’m not gonna explain how or what I’m gonna do, I just see myself hurting him really early. Do I capitalize? I don’t know I just see myself finishing the fight.”

And with a win over Murray, Cherant hopes to be “hopefully one step closer to proving I belong in the UFC.”

Catch our full interview with Fabio Cherant ahead of LFA 86 below.

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We caught up with Rivera, the Tiger Schulmann’s standout fighter and coach as he prepares to snap the only two fight losing streak of his career. When Frankie Edgar‘s opponent fell off, Jimmie wanted to jump at the chance to fight the longtime UFC legend. However that fight did not come to fruition and instead a match-up with Stamann is now scheduled. Rivera explained how this match-up came about. “They called for Stamann, and then I found out about Frankie and said I’ll take that fight. And as far as I know he chose not to fight me and found someone else to fight. So I asked if Cody was still on the table so I said I’ll take that fight.”

In a previous interview with colleague and Cageside Press contributor James Lynch, Rivera announced that both himself and his wife were infected with the COVID-19 virus earlier this year. We asked if he could explain what his symptoms were and how bad he felt. “I had a backache for three days, I had a fever the first day and then the second day it was on and off, and then the third day it was nothing. I was really fatigued the first day, the only thing that was crazy, I did lose a sense of smell even though I can’t smell that well anyways because my nose is all jacked up. My wife had it a little more serious than I did but she is better now.”

Rivera is in Las Vegas now and through the first COVID-19 testing step for the UFC. He will make the 16-hour flight out to Abu Dhabi tomorrow with his team and go through the rest of the process to get cleared. Rivera told us he will have to get tested at least two times more once he arrives on fight island.

As for the fight, Jimmie Rivera knows that Stamann will not be an easy out. Cody has a stellar record and a similar skillset to the decorated wrestler. However, Jimmie still feels very confident leading up to this scrap. We asked him where he feels he will have the biggest advantages in this fight. “I’m not trying to be cocky but just everywhere. I think he is like me but I have more experience on him because I’ve been doing it a lot longer. I’m not a wrestler turned striker, I’ve been striking my whole life. I’ve been wrestling since middle school and I’ve just been doing it a lot longer.”

Check out our full interview with Jimmie Rivera below!

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Barrett was originally slated to fight Danny Henry in April until the coronavirus pandemic struck and forced his debut to be rescheduled. We caught up with the popular New England based fighter, and he gave us his thoughts on his excitement for his dream to become a reality.

“I think it’s a great match-up, on paper it’s a fantastic fight, the fans are gonna win that night too,” a clearly excited Barrett exclaimed, just days after news of the fight had made the rounds.

Barrett went on to explain the differences in preparing for Garcia instead of Henry. “Garcia is a southpaw, that’s about it. Both are strong strikers, mid-level wrestling, decent ground game. You didn’t see much of wrestling or BJJ in their recent fights but they have very good anti-BJJ,” he explained. “They know how to keep the fights standing, and they are good on the cage so stylistically the only difference is Garcia is a southpaw. Otherwise we were preparing for an aggressive striker and Garcia is an aggressive striker, so like I said you couldn’t ask for a better match-up.”

‘Slippery Pete’ has worked as a bartender for a while now to facilitate his MMA training. He explained what his current situation has been like during the pandemic. “I am on unemployment because of everything with corona, the relief package that went out in Massachusetts has me living on like $700 a week right now. It’s not ideal but I can make it work and there’s not much I can do to change that. I can of course run privates with people but pretty much its $700 a week right now and it forces me to keep my money on my food, my training, gas and bills.”

A fight that has been long rumored in the New England area is Barrett against former TUF runner up Joe Giannetti. In a recent interview I conducted with Giannetti, he made it clear he wants to fight Barrett and hopes to fight him soon. When asked about this potential fight, Barrett was rather dismissive of it, but not opposed if the fight happens in the UFC. Barrett explained, “Oh for sure, if we are gonna fight we are gonna fight. I just honestly don’t believe he will ever be in the UFC again so it’s not anything I put any energy towards. I haven’t thought about that kid’s name in close to a year. If it ever happened and he came down to 145 then sure. I’d like to see the discipline out of that kid to make 145 , it will never happen he cant make 155. He let a promotion fly him to London to miss weight. So I don’t see him making 145 in any near future.”

Barrett will now turn his attention to Steve Garcia and a UFC debut he has been dreaming about for 33 years. Peter had some strong thoughts on how this fight will play out. “He gasses in the first round, he gasses in the second round, he breathes heavy by the three minute mark. I’ve got all my cues. We are watching, we are doing our homework. I’m going to destroy this kid. I’m gonna pick him apart and I am coming home with an extra 50 grand, he hasn’t been knocked out recently and I’m definitely putting this kid to sleep.”

Be sure to check out our full chat with Peter Barrett below!

The post Peter Barrett Says He Is Putting Steve Garcia to Sleep in UFC Debut appeared first on Cageside Press.

The longtime Roufusport standout fighter made the difficult decision to depart from the popular Wisconsin based gym for a variety of reasons. Gordon explained that “My fiancee is living down here, she owns some businesses here and I was flying all the time and it was becoming too much. When I was here I was training with Henry [Sanford MMA] and I think the style of training here is more suited for me, and my fiancee needs me, so I decided to make the full switch.”

Gordon discussed a couple of his former training partners with us, most notably, Belal Muhammad and Brendan Allen who both have fights in the coming weeks. I have had the pleasure of speaking with Allen on multiple occasions recently and I asked “Flash” just how good can the middleweight be. “I think he has super high potential, works really hard and he’s a killer. He’s not there to dance around and win on points, he’s there to finish you. I’ve cornered him in some fights and he’s a killer man, he hits hard, smooth good striking, he’s got good get ups, he knows how to hold you down and ground and pound with good submissions and he’s fought a lot of tough competition.”

Gordon is known for having a strong belief in God. This strong faith came after Jared battled drug abuse as a young man. Now Gordon is clean and healthy and in a great place. “My belief in God has evolved over a long period of time and over the last couple of months and weeks even it’s got stronger. I’ve had to rely on him to get sober according to the program I was in. I go to AA meetings and they tell you that you have to have a higher power,” he explained. “So at first I was like ‘okay, I just need God to get sober,’ then I looked at my whole history growing up as a young kid and a lot of the things that happened to me and my family and I came to the conclusion that he controls everything. I just have faith and when things aren’t going well I just rely on him.”

Now Jared is making the move to featherweight and believes his best days in the UFC are still ahead of him. Jared told us the weight cut won’t be an issue. “I am a month out eating a ton of food and drinking two gallons of water a day and I am waking up at 165. In three weeks hopefully I will be 158 then I’ll cut 10 pounds in a few days which will be nothing.”

Gordon also told us he is excited to compete at Fight Island. “Oh I am pretty excited, especially my first fight back at featherweight and against a guy stylistically is a great fight for me. I’ve made a lot of adjustments, I truly believe I haven’t showed even close to my full potential yet. I think in my first two UFC fights I showed tons of potential against a 45er and a guy that was a 45er and I dominated those fights so I think I’m back where I’m supposed to be and ready to go on a tear — and I think this is my time now.”

First up at featherweight is Chris Fishgold. Gordon was candid when explaining how he believes the two will match up come fight night. “Chris is a gritty tough guy, he has good submissions. I don’t think the quality of his opponents are even close to the opponent that I’m gonna be, especially on the ground. He seems to fade in later rounds where I’ve been known for pushing the pace and my good cardio. It’s gonna be a fun fight to watch and I see myself getting on top and finishing him on top.”

For more check out our full interview with Jared Gordon below!

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Solecki was a little nervous in anticipation to get his next fight secured, and it had nothing to do with any potential opponent. Solecki and his wife are expecting their first child in September, and the thought of not being present during the birth was weighing on the lightweight prospect. “This is perfect timing with everything. All along, I’ve had this stress with fight week thinking ‘am I gonna be gone when this baby is here?'”

Speaking to Cageside Press/Between Rounds Radio, Solecki explained that “I was supposed to fight in May or June, then the pandemic came and I was like ‘oh no I’m gonna miss it!’ This couldn’t be more perfect, so yea we are so pumped. I get to fight, go out there and have a great performance. Put it all on the line and then a couple of months later meet my baby girl.”

With the pandemic effecting all of us in different ways, we asked Joe how it has effected his ability to train. “It was great for me because I am always on the go. I am constantly on this wheel traveling, and being stuck at home [means] getting all the training I’ve needed. So I’ve had like a twelve week camp being able to sleep in my bed every night, go where I need to go and come back home. It’s kept me from that physical burnout of being on the road all the time and I’ve been able to spend time with my wife while she is pregnant.”

Solecki’s first official UFC fight was a unanimous decision victory over Matt Wiman (16-8) in December of last year. We got Solecki’s thoughts on his overall performance against Wiman. “I wasn’t disappointed I didn’t finish him. I would have liked to, and I thought for a second I would, but when it didn’t happen I said ‘this is a tough guy, he doesn’t get finished much.’ I got to log three full rounds in the UFC cage and that was a very big deal to me so that was good for me long term.”

Cage time, of course, is crucial. Now Solecki turns his attention to Hubbard on June 20.  “I think I match up very, very well. My coaches seem to think so, and I think so,” Solecki told us. “I know he’s a very tough dude; he is durable and gritty. He comes from a great team out at Elevation. I know this is a well rounded opponent. I know if I make a mistake he’s gonna find it. We know he is game and dangerous, if I want to put him away I have to play up and be a complete hammer in this fight.”

We asked Joe what his biggest advantage in this fight will be. Most fight fans would point to his excellent BJJ, but the Gym O product gave a different answer. “My ability to think, my ability to find a way you know, if I’m outmatched in an area I always find a way to work around it and I think it’s the same case here. It’s good decision making, I think that’s where I’m gonna have the edge, being disciplined, knowing when to go and when not to, and when to pull the trigger.”

The UFC’s June 20 card will air on both ESPN and ESPN+ in the U.S. Tune in to this exciting lightweight match-up when Solecki meets Hubbard! Catch the full interview with Joe Solecki below!

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Finding a fight hasn’t been the easiest for “All In.” Allen has had two fights fall through recently. One was against the aforementioned Heinisch, which was a match-up he really wanted, but timing was an issue. The other, and a match-up with ground specialist Eric Spicely.

“I got a call to fight Ian, that was a fight that I really wanted, but business wise it just didn’t make sense,” sai Allen. “I’m not willing to gamble much anymore with timing, with my wife and my daughter, especially about to go into a new contract. So business-wise I didn’t take it and it made me a mean person for about a week or so. I guess it’s just the competitor in me.”

Allen went on to explain what transpired after he declined the short notice fight with Heinisch. “They wanted me to fight him on May 30 and this was like the second week of May. I told them if they can push it back until June I will make it work no questions asked.” The promotion budged — but only a little. “They called me back and said the latest they could do is June 6, which gave three weeks of training literally coming off the couch and one week of cutting in Vegas. It’s just not a smart gamble.”

When this fight fell through, Allen moved on and focused on training more and preparing for whatever fight the UFC wanted to set him up with. Then came the news that Allen’s teammate Gerald Meerscheart would be matched with Heinsich on June 6, in Las Vegas. UFC 250. This did not sit well with the surging Roufusport product. “Apparently they had told Gerald that they would wait a week or so after June 6 for him, but they did not want to wait for me cause [Ian Heinsch] is a bit*h. I try to keep my cussing out of it but I think that highly of him, he’s a bit*h.”

The next call was for the Spicely fight. “They called me to fight Eric Spicely on June 20, so I said let’s do it. Then, they called me back the next day and said he can’t fight,” recalled Allen. “I didn’t ask any questions, I just said ‘what’s next?’ I haven’t heard back yet and I told them I would fight at 205 or 185. Hopefully I’ll see some people I know in Vegas this week and find something out.”

In years of interview Brendan “All In” Allen on the regional scene and in the UFC, I can honestly say I have never seen him this frustrated. When asked to elaborate on his frustrations, Allen was quick to respond. “I’ve asked for everyone possible that I think is smart. Right after Spicely said no to the fight, I said what about Trevin [Giles]? Never heard anything. What about Zac Cummings? I called him out Twitter, I called out [Krzysztof] Jotko twice and never heard anything. I try to be realistic, they are not going to give me anyone over the 13th ranked guy in my mind. I’ll fight anyone they want but it’s whether or not they will give it to me and right now it’s looking like I won’t fight until July.”

In the meantime, Allen leaves for Vegas this week to help Meerscheart as he prepares for a tough match-up with Heinisch. Brendan expects “GM3” to control the fight regardless of where it goes and bring home a win for Roufusport MMA. “It’s all about G right now, I want him to win. Honestly, as long as he comes out on his P’s and Q’s I don’t see any way Ian will do anything to him, and the way Gerald has looked in training, Ian is screwed.”

Buckle up for a fun fight weekend in Vegas as UFC 250 comes your way on ESPN+. After this weekend Allen will turn his focus to finding his next dance partner.

Check out our full interview with Brendan Allen below!

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Now, “The Happy Warrior” is set to return against Lauren Murphy later this month, on June 20. The show will presumably be held at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

With the coronavirus pandemic effecting all of us in an adverse way, we recently asked Roxy how she has been getting her training in to prepare for this fight. “It’s been crazy. I feel like I have two parts to my camp, the first part of my fight camp was in my Muay Thai coach’s garage,” she told us. “I went to AJ’s garage cause the gyms were closed, and I have to keep training so every day I was hitting mitts with him. And doing strength and conditioning in Lorenzo’s back yard, so I’ve been training really hard and now I am working more with JoJo [Joanne Calderwood] and some of the girls so its been kinda crazy.”

Modafferi’s last win may have been her most impressive performance to date. However, her detractors, and Barber herself, put an asterisk beside the win due to the fact that Maycee was hurt early on in the fight. Modafferi isn’t bothered by what the detractors have to say however. “The best part about that was that nobody agreed with her,” said Modafferi. “All of the fans were like, ‘ya, no, you lost.’ When people were talking about it, I was reading social media and everyone was like ‘Roxy was beating her anyways,’ so it was cool everyone was on my side so it didn’t really matter what she said it just kind of made her look bad.”

With the UFC still unable to hold events with fans in the stands you can imagine it might present an issue for some fighters. However, Roxanne Modafferi is used to fighting without fans present, thanks to two stints on The Ultimate Fighter. “When I fought on The Ultimate Fighter it was eerily quiet, you could hear a pin drop. But you know they are watching, you know that thousands of people are watching you [at home] but I got over it. I fought multiple times on TUF, I could hear my coach really well, but I can always hear him anyway, so it’s fine, it will be great.”

The match-up on June 20 sees “The Happy Warrior” facing a tough Lauren Murphy. This fight with Murphy will pit Modafferi against the #6 ranked fighter in the division, so a win is crucial as both ladies climb towards a title shot. “I am super excited for this match-up, I think that the things I am good at are going to let me win this fight,” Roxy predicted. “I don’t think I need to learn any new skills to defeat her, although I do have a new super power attack, a finishing move. But it’s too powerful for my body to handle so I have to be careful how much I practice it and how much I throw it.”

This is a match-up of two very well rounded mixed martial artists and Roxy knows it will not be an easy fight. “I really want a knockout in my career and I’m not so sure she is the right one to give me that, cause she has a hard head. She is really sturdy. So I don’t know, I am gonna try, we will see. Whatever way I can win, I will try to win.”

The high stakes flyweight showdown will air June 20 on ESPN, with Roxanne Modafferi (24-16) vs. Lauren Murphy (12-4) representing an important bout for the 125lb division. 

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