MMA

Brad Blackburn: On the Heels of Greatness

Posted By Brett Atchley on the Jun 10 2009

I walked into Next Level Gym on 25th and Jackson in Seattle, Washington recently to meet up with Brad Blackburn where he was honing his already crisp stand-up for Edgar Garcia in his upcoming Ultimate Fighter Finale 9 bout on June 20th.

The gym is old-school where one goes to “get down and dirty” as the owner of the gym, Carlos Hernandez puts it. Carlos has spent most of his adult life training boxers on all levels and most recently was the boxing coach for the IFL’s Tigersharks where Brad was a team member. The gym’s atmosphere was overwhelming to the eye as well as the senses in the just the raw intensity and energy. Nothing fancy, just the necessities.

I arrived about the same time that Brad pulled in. I was getting my equipment out of the car as Brad jogged by saying, “Gotta get in there bro. I’m runnin’ late, see ya in there,” to which I replied, “Ya, cool.”

I’ve known Brad since the beginning of his MMA career, back then in the late 1990’s when it wasn’t so much a career as it was as just to be a part of something for him. He came up in his early “career” with Dennis Hallman, Benji Radach, Josh Barnett and Ivan Salaverry. Years passed, Brad went through his apprenticeship in small shows in the Pacific Northwest with moderate success. It wasn’t until he got the opportunity to be a part of the, at the time, new organization International Fight League’s team Tigersharks did he then realize that just maybe he would have to bump his commitment up a few more levels. He performed pretty well during his tenure on the team but, soon due to financial constraints and miss-management, the IFL folded leaving Brad with no place to call home. That is until the UFC saw something in Blackburn that it thought it could utilize, so they signed him.

Brad is on a five fight unbeaten streak with one No Contest against Travis Cox in 2007. The stoppage was controversial and not warranted in most everyone’s eyes except the presiding official. “It is what it is; I personally don’t count it as a loss. I had that fight from the get go,” Brad later explained.

I asked him what he attributed his current success to. “I was trying to work, be a father and fight. It didn’t work for me and I knew that after the IFL. When the UFC approached me I solicited some advice from Dennis and Benji and basically it was that if I want to do this, now is the time. I’ve got a small window of opportunity to participate on a stage that most only dream of and I think that my performance and dedication to the sport and the organization reinforces that. I do this full time, I’ve got a career I can fall back on in the financial field if something doesn’t work out but, for now, I’m in this for as long as I can do it. I’m 32 so I’ve got some good years ahead of me.”

Brad goes on to say that, “I split my training up with gyms. I work with Victory Athletics down in the Olympia area most of the time and come up here to Seattle to work with Next Level on my stand up. Carlos is old school and he did me good when he was coaching me with the Tigersharks. It was just a natural transition when the opportunity came.”

I asked him about what he thought about his upcoming opponent Edgar Garcia. “I don’t know much about him other than he’s pretty tough and really strong, sure he’s 7-0 and has 5 TKO’s but he’s never fought a top level fighter. So, all kinds of things can happen with him personally and mentally. I’m focused on this fight alone and being in the best condition I can.”

When I asked him what he saw as what the UFC had in mind for him going forward he explained, “Again, I really just have this on fight on my mind and it consumes me. I don’t know what’s ahead. There was talk of me possibly fighting Mike Swick in the future. That of course, is largely dependant on my performances in the next few fights. I like the UFC; they treat me well and actually listen to what I have to say. They had me set up to fight Chris Wilson. I beat him already back in September of 2006 and didn’t see the value in terms of rankings as to how it would benefit me. I mean we’re both different fighters right now in terms of our skill development but why do it now? I think it would benefit us both to be matched up later. I communicated this to them and they listened. I fought Chonen instead and beat him. It was a great fight for me and Ryo is a warrior. I think I illustrated to the fans that I am not someone to be taken lightly.”

I watched as Brad got into the ring and worked out. It was an “Ironman” workout. That being non-stop, three minute rounds while fresh fighters are fed to him consecutively. It was full speed and brutal. The caliber of training partners was impressive. Blackburn demonstrated that he was comfortable in the gladiator type environment and was definitely giving more than he was getting. It seemed a bit to risky to me watching it but Carlos is a firm believer that if you don’t get it in there and it happens in the cage the consequences will most certainly be disastrous. Brad was non-stop for thirty minutes and at the last ten minutes he was making the adjustments to compensate for the fatigue which in itself was the determining factor in whether a fighter can succeed under the indicated pressure.

He stepped out and cooled down for a few minutes and we resumed our conversation.

I asked him where he trained when he was in Vegas. “I train primarily at LA Boxing, as well as Warrior Gym. Bristol Marunde is down there, and we were teammates as well as friends. Bristol trains at Xtreme Couture, but I don’t go in there because I just don’t want the competition to get that good a look at me.”

Get a good look at you?

“Ya, Mike Pyle and Jay Heiron. I went in there one time and I could just tell that they wanted to see what I had so, I didn’t engage in the sparring much. I mean, I like those fellas fine and have a deep respect for them but I just didn’t want to give them any kind of edge. I gotta keep the big picture in front of me and implement some unnecessary damage control, if you know what I mean.”

I noticed Brad had what appeared to be the early growth of a full beard. He commented that he wanted me to make sure that whoever would read this knew that it was in memory and tribute to the late Evan Tanner. “Evan was one crazy dude. He saw the world through a different pair of glasses. Evan was kind, soft-spoken and very humble. He had that pure warrior spirit, and those are the kind of people I look up to.” He laughed and shook his head a little at the reflection of an onslaught of memories about Evan and his soft, solid demeanor. “Evan was something else,” he said.

Brad Blackburn is a guy that you hope that good things will happen to. He has a million dollar smile and with the right opportunities has all the makings of being a champion. He’s cordial, respectful and somewhat shy but when he puts on those gloves and steps into battle, a transformation takes place right in front of your face and there is nothing that exposes anything less than a sheer will and determination to win.